In earlier blog posts, yours truly has discussed the problems of confounding and ‘overcontrolling’ in causal analysis. A good illustration of how attempts to control for additional variables can sometimes worsen rather than improve causal estimates is the so-called M-bias problem. Let me give an example from economics to illustrate the issue. Estimating causal relationships […]
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Private equity is looking to get its cut of the wartime economy.
By sticking to the correct and popular position on Donald Trump's Iran war, the Prime Minister has now forced his political opponents into an embarrassing reversal, argues Adam Bienkov
From the innovators who brought you Taking a Nap and Just Chilling, Free Time is a luxury experience beyond your wildest dreams.
Free Time isn’t just a new product—it’s a total wellness optimization platform. It’s not an app but rather a mind-blowing vessel of unstructured time where you can do anything your heart desires, or nothing at all.
Your Free Time comes loaded with options that are as boundless as your imagination. You can lie on the couch and read a novel, or just space out and drool. Go for a walk if you want. Stop and stare at a bird and take dozens of pictures, if that’s your kink.
Do you want to buy a big pretzel from that German food truck and eat it for twenty minutes, even though that sounds like way too long? Go for it. This is Free Time. Dip it in cheese and stand around like an idiot while you chew your pretzel and watch everyone run around like rats. Why are they all so fast and angry? Because they don’t have Free Time.
Want lower blood pressure? Less work anxiety? Fewer violent urges? Free Time delivers all of those according to groundbreaking research at the Johns Hopkins School of Leisure.
The United States launched a war on Iran, not to eliminate a nuclear threat, but to seize control of the world’s last major accessible oil reserves
Every year, the global campaign organised by the Union for International Cancer Control invites people affected by cancer to share their personal experiences as part of World Cancer Day. These stories provide an important human perspective on the realities of cancer. They help build solidarity, encourage early diagnosis, and ensure the voices of patients, survivors, families and carers are heard around the world.
Want to make the most of your study time? Learn to work with your brain, not against it, by using these smart techniques
- Video by TED-Ed
When a weed-infused treat put me in a psychological tailspin, it reshaped what I knew about fear
- by Ken Cunningham
If you are the sort of person who noticed that Keir Starmer appointed former British head of Amazon Doug Gerr to lead the Competition and Markets Authority and wondered how that could possibly be right, then Cory Doctorow’s Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It might be the book for […]
“The threats posed by Iran to the United States, while potentially serious, weren’t imminent. So Trump and his officials have redefined ‘imminent’ to include distant, indirect, and theoretical risks. They’ve stretched the word beyond any semblance of its meaning.” — Will Saltan, The Bulwark
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Listen up here, you jobless paid agitators. The US had to attack Iran because Iran has been an imminent threat to the US for forty-seven years. Some critics will probably say that a forty-seven-year-old threat doesn’t sound so imminent and that I don’t know what the word even means, or have never seen a dictionary, and don’t really understand how language works. To them I say: photosynthesis. Followed by: This is not the time for linguistic nitpicking.
So, Trump: TRUMP SAYS “I THINK THE (IRAN) WAR IS VERY COMPLETE, PRETTY MUCH” – CBS REPORTER ON X, CITING AN INTERVIEW Israel: A few senior officials in Israel are starting to voice concern about the escalating, open-ended attack on Iran — and suggesting possible exit ramps that might halt the war before it further […]
Written by guest blogger María Fernanda Silva
Something is shifting in how organizations think about AI. The early excitement around what it could do is giving way to a harder, more important question: how do you build AI that actually holds up — at scale, under pressure, and over time?
On 14 May 2026, New York City becomes the place where that question gets answered. The Drupal AI Summit brings together enterprise leaders, digital decision-makers, and senior practitioners from across the US and Europe — not to explore AI in theory, but to share what responsible, durable AI looks like in practice.
“Death toll in Middle East surpasses 1,100 as missile strikes continue.”
— The Independent
Gas prices continue to surge in the US, rising 14 percent in a week."
— New York Times
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Questions are flying, ever since the start of Sepharax the Cruel’s Thousand-Year Blood Reign. Whether it’s the Pit of Souls or the Child Reapers, there’s a lot to be worried about. But most of all? The price at the pump.
It’s confusing, but our explainer has you covered.
The Undead
Unfortunately, the appearance of armies of the dead, awakened to wage indiscriminate war on all humankind, could potentially push gasoline beyond $3.50 per gallon.
False media reports of thousands of Kurdish fighters launching a ground offensive against Iran ended up endangering the very people living under the bombs, reports Dr Charles Kriel
Here’s how Congress can stop Trump from initiating nuclear armageddon.
I’ve made contracts with every sort of lowlife. I’ve been to the crossroads. I’ve been down to Georgia. I’ve signed agreements with legions of lawyers, living, as I do, in the details, and ended up with the souls of everyone except Daniel Webster, that prig-tastic blowhole.
But Donald Trump? Not worth it.
Maybe you thought I already owned Trump’s soul. How else could someone so gob-smackingly incompetent fail upward all the way to a second presidential term? But social media, misogyny, and the ever-loving shit show known as the also gob-smackingly incompetent “Democratic Party”—that’s on you, humans. As folks in our Fifth Circle say about Trump, “Wow, does his shit stink.” And that place reeks so bad, the demons wear gas masks.
The popular game platform offers space to create, socialise, even protest. It’s also a realm of extraction and inequality
- by Gabija Tonkunas
Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – March 08, 2026 by Tony Wikrent War Rubio Says the US Launched a War With Iran Because Israel Was Planning To Attack Dave DeCamp, March 2, 2026 [DefendDemocracy.Press] “It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States, Israel, or anyone, they were going to […]
Wagering on war, stumping on populism, and more from The Lever this week.
Today’s cruel treatment of Muslims and immigrants was originally crafted as an attack on Jews. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 5th March 2026 Our political memory fails us. We treat government policies as if we’re seeing them for the very first time. But much of what appears to be novel has deep historical […]
No philosopher of science has influenced yours truly’s thinking more than Roy Bhaskar. At a time when scientific relativism continues to advance, it is vital to uphold his insistence that science must not be reduced to mere discourse. Science is possible because a reality exists independently of our theories. Our theories must engage with this […]
It’s a truism that every child should be wanted. While there are plenty of exceptions, the birth of an unwanted child often turns out badly for both mother and child (and father, if they are present). Sometimes, once a child is born, the fact that they were initially unwanted fades into irrelevance, and the bond […]