Today’s Water Cooler: Harris, Brown, Beto, AOC, attacking “our democracy,” leading indicators, jobless claims, business outlook, Elon’s tunnel, Amtrak, Zuckerberg, Nissan, human extinction, de-growth, squillionaire vanity projects, hot peppers, Facebook tips
Monday, May 19, 2025
Advertising Trade Association Presses for Federal Data Privacy Regulation
Advertising trade group calls for federal data privac regulationy, in an obvious attempt bet that Washington won’t toughen standards nearly as much as California has done and other states are also considering.
Fracking in 2018: Another Year of Pretending to Make Money
The latest in Justin Mikulka’s excellent series on the fracking beat. The industry lacks even the excuse of profit to justify the environmental costs it inflicts – yet this is a story too little told in the rest of the media, which instead promotes further investments in this sector.
The UK’s Reform of Limited Partnership Law: Dead on Arrival (II)
Commentary on the inadequacy of the UK’s proposed Limited Partnership Reforms
Short-Term Rentals and the Housing Market: Evidence from Airbnb in Los Angeles
Confirming Airbnb’s effects on rentals and home prices.
2:00PM Water Cooler 12/19/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: Young presidential contenders, Beto, Sanders, Mueller, PAYGO, Michelle Obama and George Bush, current account, existing home sales, architectural billings, fish fraud, Elon Musk, scooters, National Parks, trees, mutual aid, quantum computing, radical mycology
Waste Watch: UK Plan Opts for ‘Polluter Pays’ Approach
UK announces long awaited waste plan, which crucially, embraces the ‘polluter pays’ principle. It’s a step forward, despite at least three major flaws.
CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost Pressed Senior Staff to Wear Burgundy to Show Loyalty
No matter how bad you think it is at CaPERS, it’s worse.
“Alexa, Launch Our Nukes!” Artificial Intelligence and the Future of War
Great. Will the new maxim of war be, “He who controls the training set controls the future”?
Don Quijones: Retail Melts Down Before Christmas in the UK, Spreads to Continent
After “the worst-on-record unbelievably bad” November, even e-commerce gets hit, not just brick & mortar, on fears Christmas sales could be terrible. Can we make out any a silver lining in this retail meltdown, signs of a shift necessary away from fast fashion toward a more sustainable future?
2:00PM Water Cooler 12/18/2018
Today’s Water Cooler: Presidential debates, Beto unready, Senate Intelligence Community reports, DNC data, fascism once more, housing starts, modesty in fashion, Tesla, Blue Apron, Bitcoin ATMs, corruption, tech dystopias, Mr. Market and the Fed, package seizures, ambient cruelty, Facebook
COP24: Paris Agreement Rulebook ‘Does Not Deliver What The World Needs’ on Climate Change
Summary of the depressing lack of progress at the COP24 summit in Katowice, Poland, where the participants punted on agreeing to take significant action to confront climate change.
