Losing Gender, Losing Life

This Isn't A Culture War. It's A War On Culture:

Houston has decided that male and female should continue to have separate bathrooms and locker rooms -- and so it is now is some hick backwater with a three term lesbian mayor, worthy of being boycotted and pilloried.

What part of THOU SHALT completely follow and bow to today's aggrieved group is it that they failed to understand? As the linked article put it:

Yet, progressives are so wrapped up in the notion that social change can only be achieved through politics and regulation, that when they do lose a vote, they act like the social order is crumbling and the nation is careening towards a theocratic nightmare.

Boycott Houston!

After gay "marriage", I no longer predict how far the destruction of culture will go, I only know that it will continue. We lost marriage, a cornerstone of culture, it would be no surprise to lose gender next -- ALL culture must be destroyed, and that does mean ALL!

 For a "progressive",  there is nothing that is sacred except today's hot new idea of "progress". In a world of complete moral relativism there can be no culture, because culture must endure from generation to generation to exist. Fads, fashions, memes, mass movements, manias, causes, etc are not culture unless they take hold and survive for multiple generations. We have lost our culture and gained a lot of "flavor of the day".

When  "progress" is primary, culture cannot endure, and since human reality is one of living in a working culture, there is no human reality of existence and life slides to the abyss. So more and more people simply pass away -- naturally as a result of their actions, in killings as they rebel against the meaningless world, or by their own hand, alone in their despair.

In the real world, our sex is determined at conception. Females have two x chromosomes, males have an x and a y. While there is something less than 1% of the population that have somewhat ambiguous sex organs (formerly hermaphrodites, now supposed to be called "intersex"), even the vast majority of THOSE are properly wired prior to birth to one sex or the other. Females  and males have major differences in the brain (the human difference), not just sex organs. One of these differences is the corpus callosum which connects the right and left halves of the brain. In computer terms, men have a dial-up connection, women have a terabit bus. Girls interact earlier and more with others ... we could go on and on.

Once, all  this was completely known to science, like the Vostok ice cores that clearly show four previous warm periods like our current now 10K year old period in the last 500K years. However, like the ice cores, something even as basic as our gender is now on the path to being hidden away in the name of "progress" so a another harmful scam can be perpetrated.

Jeremy Bentham, a founder of "Utilitarianism" ... "the greatest good for the greatest number" assumed that doing away with class distinctions and religion to focus on what he saw as a very simple and easy "moral" (in his mind) of the "greatest good" would clearly produce a wonderful utopia. As all attempts to ignore the wisdom of the ages and God, it has produced a hellish chaos.

Why? A very significant problem with the definition of "good" -- science can say nothing at all of a value judgement like "good". The Bible ... and really Buddhism as well, make "humility" the greatest good -- "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God". People might like to think it is "happiness" -- as in the "pursuit of", but if we still believe in science at all, pursuing happiness for yourself guarantees that you will not find it. Happiness is what sometimes happens when you follow the purpose for your life -- but in a random universe, life is purposeless, so there is no happiness.

Humans only live in the context of a culture. We have destroyed ours, so death is winning -- in abortion, in drug and alcohol addiction, mass killings, suicides ... the list will just keep growing. We gave rejected God, and therefore rejected wisdom -- and we are dying.

Our confusion clearly knows no bounds.

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Frenimies, Libertarians and Conservatives

Fusionism -- Conservatives, Libertarians & National Review | National Review Online:



I blog this mostly to keep track of some good descriptions of the history of American Conservatives and Libertarians -- it's a rocky relationship. Conservatives would largely like to maintain strong relations with a "libertarian wing" at least in recent times, Libertarians mostly like to point out that they are NOT conservatives!



I found the summary a bit too obscure, but with some elements of truth:

Conservatism is an ethereal thing rather than a political system. It has no written constitution to rely on in dark times. And while it is not free of ideas, it is, as a positional ideology, resistant to formulation in a simple, fixed credo. As such, it always stands at risk of being exploited by someone who yokes personal ambition to popular passion in the service of a movement that is conservative in name only. And if that happens, the time will come for libertarians to ask, “Who lost the conservatives?”

Conservatism isn't a political system or religious dogma, but it does have some basic principles. A respect and firm regard  for the mysterious workings of culture and religion, with a strong desire to not abandon either. An appreciation for the limitations of man and his governments, and the wisdom of "First, do no harm!". Civility, manners, restraint, tradition and perspective. 

Oh, and the belief that 20 year old Scotch is superior to fresh swill from the still! 

There were also a couple of GREAT words in the column, in homage to William Buckley I thought ... 

"defenstrated" -- directly "thrown out a window", a more urbane version of "thrown under the bus". 

"syncretic" -- combining different, often contradictory beliefs while combining schools of thought. The Catholic Church co-opting pagan holidays like Winter Solstice for Christmas is a great example. 

Not a gem, but worth a pass.


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28 Year History of Conservative Media

Rush Limbaugh & National Review -- Conservative-Media Revolution | National Review Online:

We often forget just how short a time there has been any sort of a conservative "popular media" answer to the massive amount of left wing outlets. National Review was around as a magazine, but with a very small readership ... it peaked at just over 250K readers an issue in '94.

So Limbaugh came on the national airwaves 28 years ago in 1988, Fox News showed up in 1997, not quite 20 years ago.

Would there have been a 50 year period with no Republican control of the House of Representatives if the American people had been able to listen to conservative mass media over that time? How much did Rush Limbaugh have to do with the Republicans finally taking the House in '94?

I know that when Jimmy Carter convinced me that there HAD to be a different and better way to look at the world than he espoused, I had to SEARCH to find National Review. I've certainly "converted" more than a few people to at LEAST QUESTION what it is they hear drummed into their heads each day by the standard left wing mass media -- "The Mainstream Media" or MSM. Rush definitely allowed millions more to be aware that pretty much all issues have AT LEAST two sides -- if not many more.

Sadly, at nearly 30 years into a major revolution of choice in media, conservatism is LOSING -- badly, and along with it, the ability to maintain anything recognizable as "America" --  God, Family, hard work, delayed gratification, personal responsibility, thrift -- all those "old time" values.

It isn't hard at all to see how the conservative light could be easily extinguished -- a return to a government administered "fairness doctrine" where the FCC decides what is "speech", and what is "propaganda" and has to give the other side "equal time".  Citizens United being overturned -- so the NYTs, NPR, Michael Moore, CNN, etc can say all they want, but conservative political speech is strictly controlled. "Net Neutrality" -- where blogs that are considered "biased political speech" (in the eyes of the government) are blocked, slowed, sanctioned, removed from search, etc. ... the list could go on.

The calls for "doing SOMETHING about the disruptive right wing media" by the left are fairly constant. The hatred of "Faux News" oozes from those who lean left -- and when those from the left hate something, it is not enough to turn the channel, it means that what they dislike should be destroyed!

A lot of prayers and a lot of hard work will continue to be needed to at a minimum slow the leftward slide as much as possible -- and to hope against all odds, the tide will yet be turned!

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Jews Shall Be Silent in MN!

Israeli Speaker Shouted Down at the University of Minnesota | Power Line:



A professor of Jewish thought and philosophy from Hebrew University was shouted down at the UofM Law School yesterday PM. The WaPo reported on it, but according to PL, the Strib has failed to do so.



Christians, Jews, those that disagree with Climate Change being our largest problem, those that believe in some restraint of government, etc -- all are treated to the only left wing argument that really works. SHUT UP! Disagreement with leftist dogma is a "trigger" -- our tenderly wrapped university law students must be spared hearing opinions not in line with left wing diktat!



As always, if the left's view of winning arguments -- intimidation! -- fails, then sterner types are chosen. Have the IRS investigate them, pass some bogus "campaign finance law", call what your opposition has to say "hate speech" and make it illegal. Or, in the case of Israel, just arrange for their enemies to gain nuclear weapons.



Left is control -- right is chaos, but just to the right of center there was LIBERTY ... what America once had. As we skid, slide, slouch and tumble down the left ditch, the day where the argument is won by herding those who refuse to bow to the will of the left into chambers where the "ultimate truth" of the left is exposed in the belching smoke rising from the ovens.



Why do people not figure out what Fascists are about before it is too late? Ask the Star Trib.



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KY Governor Race "stolen"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/businessman-who-has-been-likened-to-trump-wins-kentucky-governors-race/2015/11/03/8693d97e-8274-11e5-9afb-0c971f713d0c_story.html

The WaPo apparently feels that the Governorship of Kay is Democrat property!

Republicans stole a key governor’s seat in a hotly contested race in Kentucky on Tuesday, installing an outsider businessman who has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump as the state’s next chief executive.

Dying White, Cultural AIDs

Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans, Study Finds - The New York Times:

The Bible simply says "Man does not live by bread alone". Brain science says people need connections to others, a sense of competence/value,  and meaning in their lives.

The mortality rate for whites 45 to 54 years old with no more than a high school education increased by 134 deaths per 100,000 people from 1999 to 2014. 

“It is difficult to find modern settings with survival losses of this magnitude,”

“This is a vivid indication that something is awry in these American households.”
Dr. Deaton had but one parallel. 

“Only H.I.V./AIDS in contemporary times has done anything like this,” he said.

We know who these people are. Obama calls them "bitter clingers". Many of them are in the south, or in "flyover country". They are often "racist, homophobic, low information, etc". You don't have to listen to much media to know that these people are not someone that America currently cares about.

While the article claims that it is just "the uneducated", I certainly know of and personally understand the same pains and temptations from those with more education. Life used to have certain anchors -- religion, family, work and community being very large. In the US the left has attacked each of these systematically, along with destroying the culture that was once America -- this is unlike what has happened in Europe and Japan.

In Europe, the state has grown and religion has suffered, but since church and state were intertwined, most of the people are at least nominally part of "the church" -- for baptisms, Christmas, sometimes Easter, weddings and funerals. As a practicing Christian, I don't applaud that, however, it is "something" as opposed to "nothing".

Even more importantly, it is completely fine -- and EXPECTED to be a PROUD "Irishman, Brit, Frenchman, German, Swede, Italian ... etc, etc". The rising statism in Europe was not anti-culture, nor anti the dominant ethnicity of the nation state. One can even take pride in being a German, although the nation was largely responsible for two world wars and the genocide of six million Jews.

Not so white Americans -- we are guilty for slavery over 100 years ago, it is a stain that our leftward marching elite wants ever fresh so that even though they were the party of both slavery and Jim Crow, eternal white guilt must be recognized to keep their black voters voting over 90% for them -- ONLY "Black Lives Matter".

We could go on, but this is likely a case where a more complex analysis obfuscates rather than clarifies. Just as AIDs in the developed world was the result of a complete breakdown in sexual morality among a specific group -- gay males, what we see in middle aged whites is the ongoing destruction of the culture and values of Americans of European descent.

We know that black inner city culture was destroyed by welfare and urban development in the '60s -- their numbers for this same age group are still worse, but whites now largely infected by the same pathogens -- rampant out of wedlock births, welfare and unemployment, dependency, loss of community and religious values, are rapidly falling to the same fates. This was well covered and predicted in "Coming Apart" by Charles Murray ... an excerpt and few comments here.

So far, Hispanic, largely Mexican culture has resisted the statist pathogens -- they cling to the Catholic Church, family and since they are often undocumented, they are more likely to live in packed houses working hard for often less than minimum wage to keep their families intact and send money back to other family members. They don't earn a lot, but they earn what they earn, it is respected, and has value.

the rate for middle-aged Hispanics is far lower than for middle-aged whites at 262 per 100,000.

Will the next generation of Hispanics be able to resist destruction by "The Party" (D)? The temptations for the young women are great -- get pregnant, get aid and raise children with a series of young men -- often with what appears to be a better economic deal, but one that goes very sour at middle age. As I covered here, the unmarried young woman with HS or less education and children has this choice ...

A). Stay at home and get from $20 - $35K a year
(B). Go to work 40 hours every week often at two jobs, since BOcare has mandated benefits MUST be provided for a job regularly over 30hrs, with no vacations and take in MAYBE $30K.

The choice doesn't come with a warning like a pack of cigarettes:

"Warning, living on welfare as an unwed mother may entail risks of depression, substance abuse and even death by suicide before age 60 for you and your sexual partners"! 

Not very likely that the very people that produce and push the values and pathogens that lead to the problem are very likely to warn where it leads is it?

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Hawker Hunter Through Tower Bridge

When A Pilot Flew His Jet Fighter THROUGH The Tower Bridge To Protest A Fly Past Cancellation:



Hadn't heard about this stunt from April of 1968 ... sounds like a pilot that was both very lucky and good, with a cocky attitude that can cause things to go very bad, but in this case did not.



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Can't Handle CNBC, Can't Handle Putin

Obama Goes Trolling: If Republicans Can't Handle CNBC, They Can't Oppose Putin - Breitbart:

BO is pretty sure if you can't handle CNBC you can't handle Putin.

“They say, when I talk to Putin, he’s going to straighten out … and then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators,” Obama said.

BO certainly ought to know -- while the Republicans went ON CNBC and pretty much won the argument in obviously hostile territory, the Dems slunk away from even showing up on Fox in 2007!

So, we have solid evidence that if you don't even bother to show up on Fox, you CERTAINLY can't handle Putin -- which BO has proven complete. BO is making a conjecture that if you show up and respond solidly to media that is not supportive of your position, you will turn out to be just as ineffective as he has been.

Maybe ... but his predictions on a whole bunch of things -- the economy, fuel prices, "red lines", ISIS being the JV team, Russia being any threat, keeping your health insurance, etc, etc have been completely off base.

If there actually was a solid reasonable media, statements like this from a lame duck president with an insanely bad record would be hammered on everything from the actual news to late night television -- as such idiocy and non-presidential partisan sniping ought to be!

Reagan was the "Teflon President" with a rapidly expanding economy, US stature around the world rising, and the USSR running for cover, while the media complained they couldn't take him down like they wanted.

 BO is "The Slime President" -- nothing sticks to him in the face of global and domestic disaster while he goes on disingenuously sliming his opposition while the complicit media gives him aid and comfort!

Slimey!

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This Is A Witch Hunt!

NASA Says Antarctica Gaining Ice, Packers Lose

Antarctica is actually gaining ice, says NASA. Is global warming over?

I very much question how any person with a hint of a scientific bent rather than a pure ideological, financial, or quasi-religious commitment to AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming)  could look at this information and call AGW "settled". It would be very similar to a Packer fan getting up this AM after the drubbing by Denver and saying that a prediction that Green Bay will win Super Bowl 50 is settled! 

The "fact" of rapid Antarctic ice loss has been a cornerstone of AGW orthodoxy. NASA is and has been a significant source of data presented as "proving" AGW. I find this quote to be especially telling:

"The good news is that Antarctica is not currently contributing to sea level rise, but is taking 0.23 millimeters per year away," said Dr. Zwally. 

"But this is also bad news,” he added. “If the 0.27 millimeters per year of sea level rise attributed to Antarctica in the IPCC report is not really coming from Antarctica, there must be some other contribution to sea level rise that is not accounted for."

So if you admit you haven't accurately measured the ice in Antarctica in the past, what makes it certain that you are accurately measuring it or global sea level NOW?

There MUST be another contributor? Just as measuring the total ice on a continent is way less certain than measuring the ice in your drink, precise measurement of global sea level is not the same as measuring out a shot of bourbon no matter how many times you claim to people that such measurements are "infallible". Infallibility is a stance of religion, not science. 

Of course, NASA could be wrong on this measurement and ice may being lost, or maybe it turns out that sea level is not in fact rising -- such is ALWAYS the case with actual science which is only called science because EVERY claim is "falsifiable", but never settled because of the problem of induction ... The Thanksgiving Turkey problem! 

Religion says that we live in a meaningful universe with a sovereign and all knowing God having ultimate and correct reasons and purpose for all, since he created it and us, it is perfectly reasonable that at least parts of it should be validly knowable by human minds. 

Science says that we have no clue on the knowability or repeatability of a completely random and capricious universe -- other than faith that it is knowable and repeatable. Which most scientists choose to believe for the same reasons that religious people believe in God ... "it makes sense to them", "it seems it HAS to be that way", "I feel it in my very core",  etc. Scientists are humans too -- their brains need a "reasonable story" (for them) to operate with so they naturally postulate a clockwork universe "just happened" if they decide that God is "too simplistic / imaginary". 

We can find "useful guesses that work over some domain of time and space" (hypothesis and theories), but like the turkey, we will never know what we don't know. There is no scientific reason to believe in "order", or even that what randomly selected or designed human minds happen to see as "order" is even meaningful -- unless we postulate some sense of "something" (meaning, order, rules, etc) beyond the physical artifacts that we perceive. 

We will never "prove" the existence or non-existence of "god" via science -- but we need look no further than AGW to know that man must have religion! 

BTW, my certainty in the Pack is a bit tattered this AM! 

John Doe Vs Ultimate Super PAC

John Doe Goes to Washington - WSJ:

In the Republican debate this week the CNBC moderators thought Rubio's Senate voting record while running was a good issue ... Rubio absent 45%, Hilly 83%, BO 89%. We know why how often a Senator votes is important in the case of Rubio, but not an issue in the case of Hillary or BO. Because Democrats have the Ultimate Super PAC -- it is called the Mainstream Media!

What is more, nobody needs John Doe investigations to know if they coordinate with the the Democrats, we had the whole "Journolist" thing in 2010 where they obviously WERE doing coordination, making false charges, trying to find a better way of taking down conservatives, etc -- but nobody really cared.

The left finds it to be a good idea to be breaking down people's doors in the early AM hours, finding lists of donors and investigating them just because they donated to Scott Walker and doing the whole thing under cover of secrecy so strong that the targets are under felony threat to even let people know that they are being investigated.

"McCarthyism" was tame compared to what we have now -- at least the USSR actually WAS a foreign government with real spies in this country! Republicans are just a political party that is not completely in lock step with Democrats ... although sadly, they are not nearly as disagreeable with Democrats as they ought to be from my perspective!

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GDP, + 1.5 or - 1.5?

Inventory Correction Masks Resilient Demand in U.S. GDP Report - Bloomberg Business:

Buried in the news is the 3Q first GDP picture ... a very tepid 1.5% growth as reported. In reading the story though, it sounds like the greatest 1.5% growth possible -- not to worry, the BO economy should not be maligned!

Completely missing is the fact that this is now the 2nd installment of the "New Math" of GDP .... supposedly giving it something like a +3% boost over what the "old tired GDP number" used for decades past reported. If that +3% is accurate, we shrank at 1.5% ...

Not to worry ... just listen to the TP media. Things are great!

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Rubio, Rose, Lies

Rubio Explains Hillary’s Lie | Power Line:

Can Charlie Rose REALLY believe that Hillary didn't lie to the American People about Benghazi being a "spontaneous demonstration due to a film" vs a known terror attack? She admitted she knew it was a terrorist attack in the first moments, and emails to both Egypt and family members indicate that she knew that, yet we have multiple videos of her claiming the "spontaneous demonstration" for weeks, including promising the parents of one of those killed in the attack that the FILMMAKER would be punished! ... He was, he was put in prison!

I understand that Rose is a confirmed member of TP, but does he REALLY believe what he is saying on that video, or is he lying just like Hillary? In any case, the MSM nor Hillary supporters care -- they see the "fake film story" as smart politics given the proximity to the election, so their view is "hooray for our side, and we got away with it!".

Does a nation ever "get away" with allowing open corruption and media collusion in politics? TP is founded on it -- as has been every totalitarian state in the history of the planet. The fact that our dominant political class is fine with it shows that we no longer have what it takes to retain our freedom.

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The King Can Spend

No Grand Bargain, but Deal Is Still a Victory for Obama - The New York Times:

It's great to be a Democrat, a member of "The Party" (TP) with the New York Times, NBC, ABC, Public Media, most of the newspapers, etc on your side. You can claim credit for "improving deficit numbers", sign on to "bargains" where you take no credit for the part that provided some MINIMAL control to runaway government spending, and then just renege on it and STILL be a hero to those for whom there really is only one side to any "agreement" ... SPEND MORE!

The budget agreement struck late Monday between the White House and Congress hands President Obama a clear victory, vindicating his hard line this year against spending limits that he argued were a drag on the economy and buying him freedom for the final 14 months of his term from the fiscal dysfunction that has plagued his presidency.

Lovely.

From the moment he introduced his budget Feb. 2, Mr. Obama held firm on his demand that Congress break through the punishing across-the-board cuts known as sequestration in the Budget Control Act to provide equal increases to domestic and military spending. He promised to veto any spending bill that adhered to the statutory spending caps, made good on that threat this month by vetoing a popular defense policy bill,

Remember all that hard work and pain that the stupid R's went through in 2011 to "agree" with a total and complete liar on these TINY sequestration caps? Well, that was a complete WASTE OF TIME! They are GONE ... along with the debt limit until 2017. King BO can spend spend SPEND!

**ANY** attempt to put even MINIMAL control on the completely insane runaway spending is WORSE THAN FUTILE!!! Those that do the hard work of even tiny token MEAGER controls on the spending juggernaut are "cruel, hard hearted, ideologues, reactionaries, etc, etc". When some meager reductions in the deficit result, those that fought ANY controls tooth and nail get the credit (see Slick Willie vs Newt, as well as BO vs the "sequester"), and THEN, when the caps are summarily removed (so much for "agreements"!), the spender is the hero yet again!

Any attempt at even meager controls on spending gets to be treated as a goat coming and going!

We continue toward the financial death that this irresponsible excuse for what was once a country so richly deserves!

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Computing Cloud Cash Rain and Drought

The Cloud Is Raining Cash on Amazon, Google, and Microsoft - Bloomberg Business:

I've messed around with Amazon's EC2 a bit -- really easy to set up a virtual machine and get it running. I use the Google cloud for writing, blogging, pictures, storage, etc -- for personal use, the advertising model seems to produce a sweet spot of easy to use and cheap. I've been exposed to Microsoft's approach to making their productivity suite -- Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc into a cloud annuity for them at "so much a month" vs a package that you have to buy every few years. It seems an understandable model.

The bottom line is that  it is raining cash on Amazon, Google and Microsoft, while IBM, HP and Oracle are seeing a drought ...

The trio shares a reliance on technology that comes from powerful machines lashed together in bunkers the size of football fields. These data centers are capable of providing a broad range of services at a low cost—be it Microsoft's personal and business software, Amazon's e-commerce and computing power, or Google's Web search and advertising algorithms. Contrast that with technology firms, such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, and Oracle, which are suffering from slowing growth or declines as cloud operators shun traditional hardware, software, and services.

Microsoft (at least up to now with the "Surface") never was invested in producing hardware. They certainly reaped benefits off the OS lock in for ages, but they developed a strong application suite that is the desktop standard and a strong DB presence with SQL Server that is allowing them into the Cloud.

Oracle appears to have made a wrong turn with the acquisition of Sun pulling them toward the hardware / OS path, when it would have seemed that migrating customers from private servers to servers in the cloud would have been an obvious route for them. HP is HP ... dominant in printers, but never really in computing.

IBM, locked for decades in "computer archeology" with past super success of the 360/370/Z Series and the host of OS and data management products seems unable to leave the hardware / OS connection behind, and has followed the Kennedy Moon Shot space race strategy -- to try to "leap frog" to the next target beyond the Cloud with Watson -- or "The Cognitive Era" as they like to pitch it.

My problem remains. If Watson is so smart, why hasn't it suggested a winning business strategy for IBM by now?  ... in the form of a question of course! I can see where "big data" has advantages -- and will continue to have advantages with all sorts of relational, statistical, programmatic, etc methods of racking, stacking, packing and arriving at "meaning" that allows better business practice. Is Watson likely to be a proprietary methodology all on it's own that companies will pay IBM a premium to have access to?

I suppose it is possible, but it is hard for me to yet visualize a world in which large companies hold a proprietary AI "entity" in house, carefully maintaining, grooming, connecting, improving it while selling its services to other companies as the zookeeper company's primary revenue source.

Our captive enslaved intelligence is smarter than yours! Step right up and pay the man to get Watson to look at YOUR data and give you the answers that you crave for a mere $xxxxx ???? !!!!

Is Watson a rainmaker?
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