From: bill.sloman@ieee.org   
      
   On 6/02/2026 11:47 am, john larkin wrote:   
   > On Fri, 6 Feb 2026 00:27:47 +0100, Jeroen Belleman   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 2/5/26 23:38, john larkin wrote:   
   >>> On Thu, 5 Feb 2026 23:23:24 +0100, Jeroen Belleman   
   >>>  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> On 2/5/26 17:11, john larkin wrote:   
   >>>>> On Thu, 5 Feb 2026 14:52:49 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
   >>>>> (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>> Don Y  wrote:   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> I fully expect this to happen during Trump's administration.   
   >>>>>>> He probably realizes he won't be able to do anything about it,   
   >>>>>>> especially after his designs on other foreign countries and   
   >>>>>>> alienation of his main allies.   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> ["No, you haven't been ATTACKED by China so Article 5 doesn't   
   >>>>>>> require us to come to your aid..."]   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> Of course, more and more manufacturing is TRYING to be on-shored.   
   >>>>>>> But, I suspect that is nowhere near enough to address the   
   >>>>>>> potential of Taiwan going off-line -- even briefly.   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> I'm thinking back to how screwed up the supply chain got during   
   >>>>>>> COVID and wonder what manufacturers and investors will do when   
   >>>>>>> the future is far less certain than a "pandemic".   
   >>>>>>>   
   >>>>>>> Opinions?   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> We have sleepwalked into this and the few who have raised the alarm have   
   >>>>>> been (and still are being) ignored and ridiculed.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> There is a wider problem: we have become 'travel junkies' and rely too   
   >>>>>> much on transport.  "I can get it cheaper from..." doesn't take into   
   >>>>>> account the hidden costs such as liability to supply disruption, loss of   
   >>>>>> control over the design and the fundamental need to teach underlying   
   >>>>>> principles and train people in making things themselves.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> We haven't got the factories.   
   >>>>>> We haven't got the machines.   
   >>>>>> We haven't got the people who know how to operste the machines.   
   >>>>>> We haven't got the machines to make the machines.   
   >>>>>> We haven't got the people who know how to make the machines   
   >>>>>> We haven't got the material.   
   >>>>>> We haven't got the undustry to make the materials.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> We? Does that refer to the UK?   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I think there is a trend in the USA to not going to college and   
   >>>>> getting an expensive degree in something useless, but going to a   
   >>>>> 2-year community college or an apprenticeship and learning to do   
   >>>>> something useful. Last night we sat in on a class at City College SF   
   >>>>> and I was impressed by the campus and the kids. We gave away some AoE   
   >>>>> books. I might do a lecture now and then.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> In the thrall of Greenwash we have simply exported the 'dirty' jobs to   
   >>>>>> other countries and then added to the pollution by shipping the goods   
   >>>>>> back.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> If Russia could do to the UK what it is doing to Ukraine, the country   
   >>>>>> would have to surrender within a week.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> TSMC and Intel are building world-class semi fabs in Arizona.   
   >>>>> Louisiana, of all places, will be an AI hub because it has water,   
   >>>>> energy and land and is close to 90 degrees longitude.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> The US is making plans to both stock strategic rare minerals and   
   >>>>> develop new non-Chinese sources.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Since Xi is as insane as Putin, nobody knows what he will do, but he   
   >>>>> should be getting the message that he shoud be more collegial or   
   >>>>> things will get bad for China.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Why do communist countries all wind up with homocidal   
   >>>>> lunatics-for-life in charge?   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> John Larkin   
   >>>>> Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   >>>>> Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Goof grief! Haven't you got a lunatic as president or what?   
   >>>   
   >>> No. People dislike him because he has common sense and Enlightenment   
   >>> values and puts the USA first. He has zero megadeaths to his credit so   
   >>> far.   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> Common sense? Promising drug price reductions of 500% or even 1000%   
   >> does not strike me as common sense. Menacing allies doesn't either.   
   >>   
   >> Jeroen Belleman   
   >   
   > Menacing allies sounds good to me. He wrote a book about making deals.   
      
   There was a ghost-written book about making deaks published under his   
   name. The ghost-writer complained that Trump's attention span was short   
   enough to make it difficult for him to extract the personal details he   
   needed to make it looks as if the book might have been written by Trump.   
      
   Menacing allies is one way to make start making a deal, but it gets the   
   negotiation going in a rather adversarial way. Skilled negotiators don't   
   work that way.   
      
   > One negotiation approach is to act crazy and dangerous at the   
   > beginning. I've done that and it usually works.   
      
   I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who wasn't actually crazy (and thus   
   potentially dangerous). The one time I started negotiating with you, you   
   copied the e-mail straight on to Jim Thompson, which did abort the   
   negotiations - you may have intended to achieve that result, but you   
   might have been crazy enough not to realise this.   
      
   --   
   Bill Sloman, Sydney   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)