old man yells at cloud is written on a newspaper Alt: old man yells at cloud is written on a newspaper

I thought the whole thing was a total waste of everybody's time. We learnt nothing, but lost a bit of respect for everyone involved.

I'm in a conference on monetary policy in Colombia, where there is an open fight between the Ministry of Finance and the central bank, which has increased rates massively (in the run up to election),

and the Minister of Finance is giving a presentation on monetary policy.

There's a strong argument that Spanish flu is what led to the German defeat in 1918.

The S&P 500 trends higher, because it's a nominal price in an inflationary world. Job openings should mean revert over time. These two don't belong on the same chart at all. Over a long enough period they'll always diverge like this.

Japan Scraps Most Curbs on Exporting Weapons in Historic Shift Japan removed most of its restrictions on weapons exports, allowing the nation to sell arms overseas for the first time since World War II in a move aimed at strengthening its defense industrial base.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tensions in the Iran war ratcheted up over the weekend as the US Navy fired upon and boarded an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman.

It’s the first seizure in the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz bloom.bg/4sNMT5o

In 2025, US tariffs hit 9.6 percent, the highest in 80 years. Estimating the short-run impacts and assessing whether the tariffs have achieved their stated goals, from Pablo D. Fajgelbaum and Amit Khandelwal www.nber.org/papers/w35064

Birthright citizenship is a powerful tool for reducing youth crime, from Leander Andres, Stefan Bauernschuster, Gordon B. Dahl, Helmut Rainer, and Simone Schüller www.nber.org/papers/w35070

This used to be roughly the set up in Chile too. Voting was obligatory, if you were registered, and you had to vote where you were registered, which was often your home town. Discouraged young voters and the less committed, but benefitted the established parties.

I'm intrigued. What are his policies?

Mandelson was also billed as a trade expert and it was predictable that trade and trade negotiations were going to be a major part of the new ambassador's job. So here's a Labour grandee, a silver-tongued charmer who enjoys hob-nobbing with the rich and powerful and who knows a lot about trade.

1988 Chilean presidential referendum - Wikipedia

See also:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Ch...

Tibor Fischer wrote one of the best openings to a novel ever, and he did it more than once, so I'm inclined to give him some leeway.

Trump Got Schooled by Iran. He’ll Never Learn Educating Donald Trump has been an expensive and perilous proposition, for the US and the world.

Trump says the US will now block the Strait of Hormuz after failed peace talks. He’ll never learn.
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Trump Says US Will Begin Blockade of Ships to and From Hormuz The US Navy will “shortly” begin a blockade of ships entering and leaving the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post.

The US Navy will “shortly” begin a blockade of ships entering and leaving the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post

Sneaky Battle of Marathon reference?

Recent history is against you on this one, I'm afraid.

No way Kubrick would have got on the plane.

"The Golden Age of civilization was the period between the release of The Stone Roses' first album and The Libertines's second." Discuss.

Esme Read Esme by Saki, a darkly comic tale of two women, a fox hunt, and an escaped hyena named Esme whose appetite leads to horrifying consequences.

Named for the Saki story?

americanliterature.com/author/hh-mu...

Clearly anywhere's better than the vet though, so there's that.

I don't mean to be rude, so please take this question as a genuine, friendly inquiry, but why do people take their dogs to shopping centres? I see it a lot, but I don't understand it. My dogs seem happier hanging out at home, making sure there are no cats and barking at cars. What am I missing?

I like to think of him waving a falchion about.

This is accurate. Arabic lacks a verb 'to be'. Al rajul tawil = the man is tall. Al rajul al tawil = the tall man. Ommka jamila = your mum's hot.

No f-bombs; just bomb-bombs.

Or possibly it's just been ages since he last read Xenophon.

it's absolutely silly how much random knowledge you can accrue with a Bloomberg terminal and a dash of intellectual curiosity.