Yearly Archives: 2023

2:00PM Water Cooler 7/3/2023

~ Today’s Water Cooler: Open Thread ~

The Candidacy and Claims of RFK Jr.

Economist Rajiv Sethi has a look at RFK, Jr.’s election prospects and thinks mainstream experts are underestimating him.

Links 7/3/2023

How Scammers Use Psychology to Create Some of the Most Convincing Internet Cons

Keeping up with the latest Internet scams, and how they work.

Are the Californian Wildfires Really “Natural” Disasters?

California wildfires and real estate interests

Links 7/2/2023

Climate Risk Stress Tests Underestimate Potential Financial Sector Losses

Given the complexity of the link between climate shocks and financial sector outcomes, the authors argue that current methods have several key limitations that may lead to significant underestimation of potential financial sector losses.

Links 7/1/2023

Are Rocks The Future Of Solar Power Collection?

Why rocks like granite may have potential as thermal storage media.

2:00PM Water Cooler 6/30/2023

~ Today’s Water Cooler ~

The New York Times Thinks Worker Suffering Is a Fair Price for Lower Inflation

Per the Times, inflation must be tackled, and the only way to do so is through lowering incomes and potentially jacking up unemployment.

Links 6/30/2023

The Digital Euro, Like All Prospective CBDCs, Has a Serious Marketing Problem

CBDCs may be all the rage among central bankers, but as long as they offer little in the way of public benefit while posing huge risks to privacy, anonymity and other basic freedoms, they will struggle to gain traction.

Rob Urie: Mr. Prigozhin Goes to Washington

Rob Urie uses some widely-ignored aspects of the Prigozhin mutiny as a point of entry to explore the US relationship to Russia.