Humans found a bunch of rocks and made wifi out of it, kinda incredible

It seems we like the coin again.

Rising political populism is an immune response to structural imbalances.

Many people think this trade war just happened out of nowhere. There's some truth to that, meaning that Trump didn't have to engage in it in the way he did. But you have to look back several steps to get a bigger picture.

The way the dollar reserve currency system is structured, the world needs an ever-growing number of dollars, and the US supplies those dollars via a permanent trade deficit. Those two aspects are joined at the hip. This hollows out the US industrial base, and hurts some regions (e.g. the Midwest) and helps others (e.g. NYC and DC).

Eventually those cumulative imbalances get so big, combined with other imbalances as well, that political realignments shift in generationally important ways. The "blue wall", referring to the northern part of the Midwest that's at the center of the rust belt and historically voted Democrat, has shifted Republican or otherwise become more mixed. The trade deficit and other imbalances have become front and center.

Establishment-type folks are going to keep being blindsided by this type of thing as long as the imbalances persist. They're going to keep pointing to one-time phenomenon, like one specific election, or one specific person, but really it's the underlying imbalance that's at the heart of it.

After driving my Hyundai for 16 years, it’s finally starting to fail.

So I’m going to join the rich life now… and get a Toyota.

Here’s to the next 16.

It’s a beautiful day to be alive.

After driving my Hyundai for 16 years, it’s finally starting to fail.

So I’m going to join the rich life now… and get a Toyota.

Here’s to the next 16.

While I have nothing against short fiction, the reason I’m not drawn to it is that I want to get to know the characters. That takes time.

My sweet spot tends to be a long stand-alone novel or a duology/trilogy.

When you go longer than that, into some epic series, I’m skeptical. By default I view it as someone writing for a career rather than to tell their optimal story, with *very* limited exceptions.

Stocks down, bonds down, and currency strength down simultaneously represents a balance of payments problem.

It’s the type of thing that usually happens to emerging markets.

Anyway, GM.

What are your favorite negative character arcs?

A negative character arc is one where the protagonist gets worse over time rather than better. They might or might not turn for the better in the end, but the majority of the time is spent on a negative descent.

A well-done example would be Frodo. The ring wears him down through the course of the story.

An example that should have been good but wasn’t executed as well as it should have been, would be Anakin in the Star Wars prequel.

What are your favorite negative character arcs?

A negative character arc is one where the protagonist gets worse over time rather than better. They might or might not turn for the better in the end, but the majority of the time is spent on a negative descent.

A well-done example would be Frodo. The ring wears him down through the course of the story.

An example that should have been good but wasn’t executed as well as it should have been, would be Anakin in the Star Wars prequel.

Stocks down, bonds down, and currency strength down simultaneously represents a balance of payments problem.

It’s the type of thing that usually happens to emerging markets.

Anyway, GM.

Today I found out that Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy, and Paris the psychotic assassin from Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, are the same actress.

That's it. That's the note.

The fact that bond yields are UP today is the most noteworthy thing, imo.

Had an interesting interaction with a cashier today.

This young man in his 20s was ringing people up. His voice and mannerisms were basically like Napoleon Dynamite.

In front of me, the customer said “thank you, have a good day” and he said back “that would be impossible, but you have a good day ma’am.” I was only half paying attention so I assumed I misheard.

He then rang my products up as I focused on packing my bags. I pay and say basically “thanks, have a good day”. He says, “that would be impossible ma’am, but you have a good day.”

I paused, hearing the repeated statement. He started scanning the next customer’s items. Part of me wanted to ask why it’s impossible to have a nice day. It’s so specific. But doing so would interrupt his focus on the next customer. I took my bags, walked out, and looked back a couple times.

In hindsight, I wish I’d asked. That would be more important than risking the next customer’s checkout time by a couple minutes.

Next time I’m at the supermarket, I’m going to do a scan of the cashiers to see if he’s among them.