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Sat, 04/03/2023 - 05:45
This is my sixth post on MacAskill’s What We Owe the Future. (The first here; the second is here; the third here; the fourth here; the fifth here; and this post on a passage in Parfit (here.)) I paused the series in the middle of January because most of my remaining objections to the project involve either how to […]
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Sat, 04/03/2023 - 05:30
It’s time for CPAC again, the annual gathering of the most committed members of the right wing in America to catch up with their fellow travelers and own them some libs. Lately they’ve been holding their little convention several times a year in different places like Hungary and Texas but this weekend they’re back on their favorite stomping grounds in DC. There’s a bit of controversy over the fact that certain probable presidential candidates aren’t bothering to show up this year, something that would have been unheard of in years past. Instead of attending the traditional hate-fest they’ve decided to go to a big donor confab hosted by the Club for Growth. Why? Because CPAC has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the MAGA movement with Donald Trump topping the bill as keynote speaker. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to attend the donor meeting rather than go mano a mano with the former president, taking refuge with the group that has said it’s dedicated to depriving Trump of another term. DeSantis isn’t the only one. Former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, South Dakota Gov.
Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:57
Many Australians have turned to non-mainstream sources of news. They are often more reliable, and cheaper. Without them, the Nordstream pipeline sabotage of September 2022 would still be unexplained. Even before Pearls & Irritations’ timely publication of Seymour Hersh’s (literally) explosive expose of the Biden administration’s long-planned operation to prevent Russian gas reaching Germany, online Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:56
The very modest superannuation changes have been well received by most people, but the worry is the unwillingness of the Government to acknowledge, let alone tackle, the much bigger fiscal challenges that lie ahead. On Tuesday, the Government announced what it termed a “modest change” where from 2025-26 the earnings on superannuation balances above $3 Continue reading »
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Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:54
Will the Albanese government restore Medicare as a universal system? Covid is still killing about 500 Australians a month; and crazies in the Liberal Party branches try to undermine their few remaining sound parliamentarians. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues Continue reading »
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Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:53
In the early 1940s ‘phony war’, before Pearl Harbour in December 1941, many Australians were not interested in the ongoing European war, even given our troops in Greece and North Africa. In 2023, in reverse, while the Covid-19 war continues, ‘pandemic fatigue’ has taken over, as if we are ‘post-war’, that is ‘post-Covid’. Numerous ‘presenters’ Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:50

On the passing away of Edward J. Kane

Everyone at INET is dismayed by the news of the passing of our long-time colleague, Dr. Edward J. Kane. Ed Kane worked with us for many years and no short discussion can adequately convey the importance of his many contributions. INET was born out of the conviction that the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 pointed to serious defects in how mainstream economics analyzes finance. Dr. Kane’s strikingly innovative and beautifully argued papers showed better than anyone else’s just how correct that supposition is.

His papers and some of his presentations for INET can be found here:

Short introductions to his leading ideas include:

Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:50
In a new article titled “European antiwar protests gain strength as NATO’s Ukraine proxy war escalates,,” The Grayzone’s Stavroula Pabst and Max Blumenthal document the many large demonstrations that have been occurring in France, the UK, Germany, Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium and elsewhere opposing the western empire’s brinkmanship with Russia and proxy Continue reading »
Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:44

I’ve done it.

After years of biohacking and tweaking, I have become… optimal.

Body fat percentage, optimal. Triglycerides, optimal. Dietary fiber, weekly activity levels, resting heart rate, 365-day meditation app streak, all optimal.

Now I can spend the next one hundred years staying optimal until I die.

I go for a long hike on a moonlit mountain trail, watching my step counter the entire way.

I feel the morning sun warm my face, and rush inside to use my sun lamp, which stimulates vitamin D production without skin damage.

I sit motionless on the floor of an empty room, enjoying the perfect harmony between my omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Last week, I was offered a new job—creative, frightening, and meaningful. The challenge of a lifetime. I turned it down because it lacked the optimal combination of ten thousand daily steps, adequate income, and zero stress that I enjoy as deputy floor manager at the Sanderson Cardboard Box Depository.

I have not eaten cake since my sixth birthday. My lifestyle factors predict I will live at least 120 optimal, cake-free years.

Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:35
Short slide presentation, mostly numbers.

ECNS (Chinese official English news service)
Number of Chinese netizens rises to 1.06 billion
Staff

Long-form article with details also at ECNS

The report shows the internet environment has continued to improve, and the increase of Internet of Things (IoT) terminals has promoted the connection of everything.
5G is already widespread and increasing quickly.
Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 04:00
This is not a joke, unfortunately: Donald Trump and a group of individuals incarcerated for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 riot have collaborated on a song called “Justice for All.” It will debut Thursday at midnight on streaming services, including Apple Music and Spotify, according to a person with knowledge of the project. The track interpolates Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance into “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which is performed by a group of about 20 inmates, called the J6 Prison Choir, housed at the Washington, D.C. jail. The song ends with the inmates chanting, “USA!” Profits are slated to benefit the families of people imprisoned for their alleged roles in the Capitol riots that left five people dead. A music video featuring footage of Trump performing patriotic acts during his presidency and shots of the riots, including police firing tear gas, will debut later Friday morning on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. Trump recorded the Pledge of Allegiance at Mar-a-Lago a couple of weeks ago, specifically for this track.
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Sat, 04/03/2023 - 03:38

Long time without a blog post, but I have been active on social media. I had an issue on the website with posting new article and I fixed it this afternoon (oh, the joy of self hosting... -_-`). Anyway:

I'm still penciling on the next episode of Pepper&Carrot, and this week, I did my daily warm-up before working on the pages with the sketches you'll find here under.

Here is a cleaned compilation of them (credits in image descriptions). These are all mascots of Free/Libre and open-source web services interoperable using the activityPub protocol (eg.Peetrube/Mastodon/Misskey/Pleroma/PixelFed/Funkwhale), the global name of the network resulting of the interaction of all these apps is named the Fediverse.

Sources will be uploaded later here.

Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 03:34

This past month has been consumed with the fact that there’s something in the sky! By now, you know a lot about the Chinese balloon and its fate. The U.S. sent F-22 fighter jets with F-15s and others in support, to blow it out of the sky with a Sidewinder missile. It’s a good thing […]

The post Not Just The China Balloon, the US Has A History of Hysteria appeared first on MintPress News.

Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 02:30
And is it too early to start drinking? You might want to put off watching this Jon Stewart clip until after noon. Firearm death stats for kids here. This tweet featuring lies and lying liars is easier to take somehow. After my post below, I’m a bit wrung out. We have a lot to worry about. OTOH, rewatching this clip helps: We have won victory after victory after victory to get here.
Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 02:25
Note: this is an unedited draft chapter section from my inflation manuscript. I am not too happy with this, but perhaps getting savaged on the internet might give me some additional things to add. This section follows more detailed discussions of equities and residential real estate.
We will now conclude this chapter with some general comments on the relationship between inflation and the overall financial markets. What we see is that there are some areas of direct linkage between inflation (as measured by a consumer price index) and some financial assets, other assets have a more complex relationship. As a result, making generalisations is difficult – equity prices are not going to move the same way as the prices of cheesy snacks at your local convenience store.…
Bond Economics
Created
Sat, 04/03/2023 - 02:21

How often do you proclaim ‘Thank God it’s Friday!’ after a gruelling week at work? For those of us whose lives are structured into five-day work weeks, weekends are our chance to rest, pursue hobbies and leisure, and spend time with friends and family. We’ve never known anything else.   But the weekend is a relatively […]