Reading

Created
Fri, 05/09/2025 - 03:01

Welcome, parents. I am excited to lead your children through second grade, and I look forward to discussing all the progress they will make.

Simultaneously, Back-to-School Night is traditionally a time to meet the teacher and learn about their life. If we linger on that, the discussion will not be fun. I predict that outside the classroom, my life will continue to resemble the B-plot in a near-future dystopian series on the CW.

Each day, I will rise in my studio apartment, which I share with Charles. Charles recently lost his electrician’s license due to the misuse of multimeters. I will shower and dress, eating a small amount of toothpaste, trying to balance my need for the trace calories found in toothpaste against the danger of fluoride poisoning. Charles and I will bid each other a formal goodbye. He will, without rising from the couch, tip his ball cap, and I will, in turn, awkwardly hold up my shoulder bag in nonsensical reciprocation. Charles and I are roommates only, hardly more than passing acquaintances. His friends call him Chuck. I do not.

I will then travel to school on foot, walking 2.4 miles along the frontage road. There is no sidewalk.

Created
Thu, 04/09/2025 - 22:00

“A new history exhibit commissioned by the Trump administration has some historians perplexed…. The museum features over 40 AI-generated short videos of these historical figures coming to life to share their stories…. In one video, an artificially generated John Adams says, ‘Facts do not care about your feelings’—a phrase often used by conservative commentator and PragerU presenter Ben Shapiro.” — NPR

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“A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.’” —George Washington

“You also had some very fine people on both sides.” —John Adams

Created
Thu, 04/09/2025 - 18:00
Rhiannon Sowerbutts The Bank of England Agenda for Research (BEAR) sets the key areas for new research at the Bank over the coming years. This post is an example of issues considered under the Financial System Theme which focuses on the shifting landscape and new risks confronting financial policymakers. Institutions matter. And in the world … Continue reading Regulatory independence and financial stability
Created
Thu, 04/09/2025 - 13:08
Someone asked me to back up my claim that since 1976 China has lifted more humans out of poverty than all of nations combined in the entirety of human history. Since it would be hard to go back to Greek and Persian times I made an executive choice (capricious no doubt) to begin with the […]
Created
Thu, 04/09/2025 - 11:08
I don’t have much time today as I am travelling a lot in the next few days for various work commitments. But recently I did a podcast for Real Progressives in the US about trade and the external economy. I started the discussion with an interesting quote that I will reproduce here. Regular readers will…
Created
Thu, 04/09/2025 - 08:35

Amid the US refusal to provide military support to Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram in 2014, then-President Jonathan Goodluck turned to Russia and China for arms. New documents show that all the while, British state media was engaged in an influence campaign which would help see the African nation’s leader ousted. This article was originally published by West Africa Weekly. An explosive investigation by The Grayzone has revealed that BBC Media Action, which portrays itself as the “charitable” […]

The post UK funded radio show to sway Nigerian voters, leaked docs show first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post UK funded radio show to sway Nigerian voters, leaked docs show appeared first on The Grayzone.