Reading

Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 23:01

Congratulations—the metamorphosis you didn’t know you needed has just begun. Whether you’ve stumbled upon OK Computer while drifting through a midlife crisis, or a forty-something coworker threw shade on your music playlist (again), it’s clear you’ve embarked on the pilgrimage into Radiohead’s dark, dreamy, and disorienting world.

Welcome, abandon all hope, smile, and settle into the uneasy feeling of being stuck somewhere between melancholy and smug satisfaction.

Setting the Mood

First, dim the lights. No, dimmer. That’s it. Make sure that either it’s raining outside or you’ve got one of those ambient noise apps playing the sound of rain, but like a computerized rain—kind of like if you were taking a shower in the ’90s and logging on to AOL.com at the same time (if you have to ask, just search for fax machine sounds on YouTube). Now, sit in your most uncomfortable chair. This isn’t about comfort, friend. This is about understanding.

Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 21:27

The Coding Standards Committe is announcing two coding standards changes for final discussion. Feedback will be reviewed at the meeting scheduled for 07 November.

Issues for discussion

The Coding Standards project page outlines the process for changing Drupal coding standards.

Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 21:18

Welcome to new members!

We're thrilled to extend a warm welcome to the latest additions in the coding standards committee. 

Meet our newest team members:

  • Aaron McHale (AaronMcHale) 
  • Björn Brala (bbrala)
  • Derek Wright (dww)
  • Urvashi Vora (urvashi_vora)
     

We believe in the power of diversity and collaboration, and we’re confident that their contributions will add an incredible value to the committee.

Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 20:21
Clinically vulnerable people are among the many realities denied in the endless drive for “normality”. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 16th October 2023 For some people, going to hospital may now be more dangerous than staying at home untreated. Many clinically vulnerable people fear, sometimes with good reason, that a visit to hospital […]
Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 11:30
We consider structural vector autoregressions subject to narrative restrictions, which are inequalities involving structural shocks in specific time periods (e.g. shock signs in given quarters). Narrative restrictions are used widely in the empirical literature. However, under these restrictions, there are no formal results on identification or the properties of frequentist approaches to inference, and existing Bayesian methods can be sensitive to prior choice. We provide formal results on identification, propose a computationally tractable robust Bayesian method that eliminates prior sensitivity, and show that it is asymptotically valid from a frequentist perspective. Using our method, we find that inferences about the output effects of US monetary policy obtained under restrictions related to the Volcker episode are sensitive to prior choice. Under a richer set of restrictions, there is robust evidence that output falls following a positive monetary policy shock.
Created
Thu, 26/10/2023 - 10:30
Just chaos and culture war. That’s about it. Philip Bump digs down a little to find out what really animates them. And it’s not surprising: One of the central refrains of Donald Trump’s campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — a refrain focused, justifiably, on a general election rematch against President Biden — is that the economy was more robust during his tenure in the White House. Trump and his allies make this argument constantly, one that largely focuses on inflation and that almost necessarily includes an asterisk that excepts the months of the coronavirus pandemic. But any person asked to evaluate the central themes of this race would very quickly identify the economy as a central part of Republican support for the former president. As it is, it seems, until a competing priority is presented: the need to “preserve American culture and way of life.” Then, the reality emerges. On Wednesday, PRRI released the results of its annual American Values survey, a look at broad themes in American political and religious thought.