Reading

You Can’t Make an Omelette without Exploding Several Billion Dollars’ Worth of Eggs

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/you-cant-make-an-omelette-without-exploding…
Created
Thu, 29/05/2025 - 22:00

“After back-to-back explosions, SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship again on Tuesday evening, but fell short of the main objectives when the spacecraft tumbled out of control and broke apart.” – PBS

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We at SpaceX would like to remind the losers who have been gleefully pointing out how often our rockets explode that exploding rockets are a completely normal part of spaceflight.

Look, things explode. It’s just part of nature. Cybertrucks explode, and it’s no big deal. (Really, it’s not a big deal that cybertrucks explode.) So why should we spend so much time harping on how frequently our rockets explode, when we could, instead, focus on how long they haven’t exploded? Many of our rockets that haven’t launched are stored safely, completely unexploded. Yet does anyone congratulate us on the unexploded rockets? Nope.

Postmodern agnosticism vs informed skepticism

https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/postmodern-agnosticism-vs-informed-s…
Created
Thu, 29/05/2025 - 18:52
Andrew Ross has drawn an analogy between the hierarchical taste cultures (high, middlebrow and popular) familiar to cultural critics, and the demarcation between science and pseudoscience. At a sociological level this is an incisive observation; but at an ontological and epistemological level it is simply mad … Such epistemological agnosticism simply won’t suffice, at least […]

Collateral re-use: unveiling the risk of delivery failures and higher volatility in the repo market

https://bankunderground.co.uk/2025/05/29/collateral-re-use-unveiling-the-risk-o…
Created
Thu, 29/05/2025 - 18:00
Miruna-Daniela Ivan The widespread practice of financial institution to re-use securities received as collateral plays a key role in the repurchase agreement (repo) market functioning. By increasing the availability of securities which can be used as collateral, collateral re-use lowers funding costs under normal market conditions, allowing collateral to flow to where it is most … Continue reading Collateral re-use: unveiling the risk of delivery failures and higher volatility in the repo market →

The Webbs knew more than a century ago that if you pay high wages you get high productivity

https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=62583
Created
Thu, 29/05/2025 - 16:41
During the recent inflationary episode, the RBA relentlessly pursued the argument that they had to keep hiking interest rates, and then, had to keep them at elevated levels, well beyond any reasonable assessment of the situation, because wage pressures were set to explode. They claimed their business liaison panel was telling them that wages were…

How to Solve a Problem Like Productivity

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2025/05/how-to-solve-a-problem-like-productivity/
Created
Thu, 29/05/2025 - 14:05

For more than a decade, economists have been scratching their heads over the productivity puzzle afflicting western economies. The issue has been particularly severe in the UK, where productivity stagnated for over a decade following the financial crisis. Now, we have new data showing that productivity levels have fallen to below pre-COVID levels. Productivity is […]

Marketplace Share Out #5: Turning Insight into Structure

https://www.drupal.org/about/starshot/blog/marketplace-share-out-5-turning-insi…
Created
Thu, 29/05/2025 - 07:31

After weeks of listening, prompting, and pattern-spotting, we’re entering a new phase. The big questions are becoming sharper. The conversation is shifting—from what might be to what must be.

Our early exploration surfaced a wide range of motivations, risks, and hopes for a Drupal Site Template Marketplace. The signal was clear: there’s strong belief in the potential—if we build it in a way that strengthens the ecosystem, not fragments it.

As part of this shift from the breadth of exploration and to the depth of early structure, we’re moving to a biweekly share out cadence. This Share Out #5 update highlights what’s emerging from Slack Prompts #5 and #6, insights from Survey #3 on Governance and Fairness to inform first drafts of the Lean Business Model Canvas and Governance Framework—early scaffolding for what’s to come.