https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYmt4qu00uc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa8MQWNek_8

YouTube is literally chockablock full with nutcases who propound crazy stuff about anything from guinea pigs to Putin.

It's also a major source of wilful misinformation.

This is a music group, we don't need the above.

On Tuesday, February 21, 2023 at 12:46:24 AM UTC-8, Herman wrote:
> YouTube is literally chockablock full with nutcases who propound crazy stuff about anything from guinea pigs to Putin.
>
> It's also a major source of wilful misinformation.
>
> This is a music group, we don't need the above.

We don't need you.

dk

On Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at 3:11:35 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:
> We haven't heard much about the state of Putin's mind, apart from loose talk about him being "mad" whatever that means. We have comments from Macron that he seems to have changed recently and become more isolated from dialogue. We have had talk of him trying to emulate Peter the Great and his expansionistic outlook. He himself has stated he regards Ukraine as part of Russia. So my interpretation is that he has become a man in the grip of an obsession, or "idée fixe" - a preoccupation of mind firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it, a fixation. The victim of idée fixe is understood to be unaware of the unreality of their frame of mind. A person in the grip of this can think, reason and act like other people, but is unable to stop a particular train of thought or action.
>
> Examples of an idée fixe would be Don Quixote and Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle writes in The return of Sherlock Holmes
> "There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called the 'idée fixe', which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man might form such an idée fixe... and under its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage".
>
> Even the West has experienced this relatively recently. George Bush's counter-terrorism chief Richard A Clarke said of him:
> "Iraq was portrayed as the most dangerous thing in national security. It was an idée fixe, a rigid belief, received wisdom, a decision already made and one that no fact or event could derail". More sinister forms were Hitler's obsessions and Napoleon's obsession with imposing a neo-Roman political culture on Europe.
>
> Political leaders in the grip of an idée fixe do not last - they are deposed or defeated in war. I'm guessing that Putin doesn't have too long to go as the leader of Russia. I'd probably give him to the end of the year.. I don't see his idée fixe leaving him. It is the people around him that will start leaving him. Those in the grip of an idée fixe should be aware of The First Law of Holes. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Concerning "Putin's state of mind":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgON7IksxJw

On Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at 3:11:35 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:
> We haven't heard much about the state of Putin's mind, apart from loose talk about him being "mad" whatever that means. We have comments from Macron that he seems to have changed recently and become more isolated from dialogue. We have had talk of him trying to emulate Peter the Great and his expansionistic outlook. He himself has stated he regards Ukraine as part of Russia. So my interpretation is that he has become a man in the grip of an obsession, or "idée fixe" - a preoccupation of mind firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it, a fixation. The victim of idée fixe is understood to be unaware of the unreality of their frame of mind. A person in the grip of this can think, reason and act like other people, but is unable to stop a particular train of thought or action.
>
> Examples of an idée fixe would be Don Quixote and Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle writes in The return of Sherlock Holmes
> "There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called the 'idée fixe', which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man might form such an idée fixe... and under its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage".
>
> Even the West has experienced this relatively recently. George Bush's counter-terrorism chief Richard A Clarke said of him:
> "Iraq was portrayed as the most dangerous thing in national security. It was an idée fixe, a rigid belief, received wisdom, a decision already made and one that no fact or event could derail". More sinister forms were Hitler's obsessions and Napoleon's obsession with imposing a neo-Roman political culture on Europe.
>
> Political leaders in the grip of an idée fixe do not last - they are deposed or defeated in war. I'm guessing that Putin doesn't have too long to go as the leader of Russia. I'd probably give him to the end of the year.. I don't see his idée fixe leaving him. It is the people around him that will start leaving him. Those in the grip of an idée fixe should be aware of The First Law of Holes. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Is the collapse of Russia imminent?:

https://news.yahoo.com/west-must-prepare-imminent-collapse-165539408.html

On Sunday, 5 March 2023 at 02:34:21 UTC, gggg gggg wrote:

> Is the collapse of Russia imminent?:

Far from it. Putin is still more popular internally than many Western leaders. And he has been consolidating his position with China, India, South Africa and a growing number of countries, because to start with Russia has oil and has created several dependencies in countries that need it.

On 3/5/2023 6:35 AM, Andy Evans wrote:
> On Sunday, 5 March 2023 at 02:34:21 UTC, gggg gggg wrote:
>
>> Is the collapse of Russia imminent?:
>
> Far from it. Putin is still more popular internally than many Western leaders. And he has been consolidating his position with China, India, South Africa and a growing number of countries, because to start with Russia has oil and has created several dependencies in countries that need it.

I am by no means on expert on Soviet history, but few, if any, experts, seemed to be predicting the collapse even in the increasingly unstable 1980s.

Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises predicted the eventual fall of communism as early as 1922 (the prediction, not the fall), based in what he saw as the inevitable failure of central planning.

On Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 6:40:51 AM UTC-8, Frank Berger wrote:
>
> Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises predicted the eventual fall of
> communism as early as 1922 (the prediction, not the fall), based in
> what he saw as the inevitable failure of central planning.

If one waits long enough almost all predictions eventually come true.
Did Mises also predict WWII? That could have been more valuable.

My Audi's engine will certainly fail in the next hundred years.

dk

On 3/5/2023 4:33 PM, Dan Koren wrote:
> On Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 6:40:51 AM UTC-8, Frank Berger wrote:
>>
>> Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises predicted the eventual fall of
>> communism as early as 1922 (the prediction, not the fall), based in
>> what he saw as the inevitable failure of central planning.
>
> If one waits long enough almost all predictions eventually come true.
> Did Mises also predict WWII? That could have been more valuable.
>
> My Audi's engine will certainly fail in the next hundred years.
>
> dk

The point was the reason for the prediction. I don't know if von Mises would have been surprised that the Soviet Union lasted as long as it did.

Can you predict the cause of your engine's failure?

On Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 1:37:09 PM UTC-8, Frank Berger wrote:
> On 3/5/2023 4:33 PM, Dan Koren wrote:
> > On Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 6:40:51 AM UTC-8, Frank Berger wrote:
> >>
> >> Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises predicted the eventual fall of
> >> communism as early as 1922 (the prediction, not the fall), based in
> >> what he saw as the inevitable failure of central planning.
> >
> > If one waits long enough almost all predictions eventually come true.
> > Did Mises also predict WWII? That could have been more valuable.
> >
> > My Audi's engine will certainly fail in the next hundred years.
>
> The point was the reason for the prediction. I don't know if von
> Mises would have been surprised that the Soviet Union lasted
> as long as it did.

Reasons don't matter if predictions come true -- or if they don't.

> Can you predict the cause of your engine's failure?

Wear and tear.

dk

On 3/5/2023 6:35 AM, Andy Evans wrote:
> On Sunday, 5 March 2023 at 02:34:21 UTC, gggg gggg wrote:
>
>> Is the collapse of Russia imminent?:
>
> Far from it. Putin is still more popular internally than many Western leaders. And he has been consolidating his position with China, India, South Africa and a growing number of countries, because to start with Russia has oil and has created several dependencies in countries that need it.

Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring.....

On Monday, 6 March 2023 at 14:34:01 UTC, Frank Berger wrote:

> Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring.....

Why don't you contribute something original from time to time? I can assure you it can be done.

On 3/6/2023 11:11 AM, Andy Evans wrote:
> On Monday, 6 March 2023 at 14:34:01 UTC, Frank Berger wrote:
>
>> Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring.....
>
> Why don't you contribute something original from time to time? I can assure you it can be done.

Good one.

On Monday, 6 March 2023 at 21:55:00 UTC, Frank Berger wrote:

> > Why don't you contribute something original from time to time? I can assure you it can be done.

> Good one.

You flatter me far too much. I'm so undeserving.

On 3/6/2023 11:11 AM, Andy Evans wrote:
> On Monday, 6 March 2023 at 14:34:01 UTC, Frank Berger wrote:
>
>> Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring.....
>
> Why don't you contribute something original from time to time? I can assure you it can be done.

I recently discovered Julius Zabreski's piano quintet (his only work not for duo or solo piano?).

On Monday, 6 March 2023 at 22:01:41 UTC, Frank Berger wrote:

> I recently discovered Julius Zabreski's piano quintet (his only work not for duo or solo piano?).

Listening to it now. If this were film music, the hero, a middle European concert pianist about to blow his brains out because of a vicious campaign against him by a critic with a goatee beard, would be suddenly saved by a beautiful thin dark haired allumeuse who turns out to be a Princess in disguise who is being watched by a detective on the street corner. There's sub plot concerning a group of three card players in Albania and a midnight express to Belgrade, but we won't go into that.

On Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at 3:11:35 AM UTC-8, Andy Evans wrote:
> We haven't heard much about the state of Putin's mind, apart from loose talk about him being "mad" whatever that means. We have comments from Macron that he seems to have changed recently and become more isolated from dialogue. We have had talk of him trying to emulate Peter the Great and his expansionistic outlook. He himself has stated he regards Ukraine as part of Russia. So my interpretation is that he has become a man in the grip of an obsession, or "idée fixe" - a preoccupation of mind firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it, a fixation. The victim of idée fixe is understood to be unaware of the unreality of their frame of mind. A person in the grip of this can think, reason and act like other people, but is unable to stop a particular train of thought or action.
>
> Examples of an idée fixe would be Don Quixote and Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle writes in The return of Sherlock Holmes
> "There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called the 'idée fixe', which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man might form such an idée fixe... and under its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage".
>
> Even the West has experienced this relatively recently. George Bush's counter-terrorism chief Richard A Clarke said of him:
> "Iraq was portrayed as the most dangerous thing in national security. It was an idée fixe, a rigid belief, received wisdom, a decision already made and one that no fact or event could derail". More sinister forms were Hitler's obsessions and Napoleon's obsession with imposing a neo-Roman political culture on Europe.
>
> Political leaders in the grip of an idée fixe do not last - they are deposed or defeated in war. I'm guessing that Putin doesn't have too long to go as the leader of Russia. I'd probably give him to the end of the year.. I don't see his idée fixe leaving him. It is the people around him that will start leaving him. Those in the grip of an idée fixe should be aware of The First Law of Holes. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/01/10/an-interview-with-jefferson-morley-on-the-cia-nixon-and-the-assassination-of-jfk/