Special K: I think he was gone by the time I understood who he was.
30.4.22
29.4.22
As in 'do not'
Solid Goldstein: <pic>
{Image © 2022 Overtly Honkey Productions. All rights reserved. Used by permission.}
27.4.22
Just take your Timex
b1-66er: When you die, what does a pacemaker do? Just keep shocking until you're breath smells like magnifying glass ants?
b1-67er: I think so. You take a licking but it keeps on ticking.
Loose leaf Economics
b1-66er: https://nyti.ms/3Kc9mTq
D4rw1n: I am no economist. My D+ in undergrad Econ 101 is a lasting reminder of that. But I have always understood the link between unemployment and the stock market quite differently than described in the article.
The article lays out the case that unemployment is a lagging indicator. Low unemployment rates indicate we are at the end of a period of good economic performance.
It describes the stock market as a leading indicator. Poor stock market performance indicate that we are at the beginning of a period of bad economic performance.
That to me is somewhat new. It is also somewhat compelling. It seems to fit with the data, at least as I understand them right now. It seems like we've come off of a long period of excellent economic performance. It also feels like we're coming into a period of inflation and slow growth.
But I've always understood it slightly differently. The way I think of it, it is much simpler: companies love unemployment as a matter of simple supply and demand. The more applicants per job opening, the lower wages they have to pay.
In my explanation, the stock market is reflecting how investors are valuing companies right now. So when unemployment starts to fall, investors know that companies are going to pay higher wages. That means they will have higher overhead. That means they will have lower profits. That means an investor will pay less to own equity in that company.
I like my explanation better than NYT's, since it does not require me to predict the future. Calling something a leading indicator inherently requires speculation. But noting that current labor supply and demand either favors high wages or low wages is much more straightforward.
b1: Much.
D4: But take all of that for what it's worth. I was notorious in Econ class for getting things exactly backward. If the correct answer was X, I frequently (very frequently) answered -X
b1: Your D+ serves you well.
I'm glad you passed.
D4: The only class I ever did worse in was Russian 101. And I had to drop that class mid semester to avoid a fat F. It turns out it's very difficult to master (or even, really, gain the first freaking clue about) a brand new language when the class meets five days a week and I was off campus every Monday and Friday at debate tournaments. The one consolation was that the textbooks were published in the Soviet Union. So the illustrations were all very heroic, and the vocabulary was all about factories, trains, and workers
I tried to keep that textbook as a souvenir. But it was so cheaply made it fell apart within a year
Come to think of it, so did the Soviet Union
The normal form of 'curious'
b1-66er: https://news.stanford.edu/2022/04/27/early-covid-19-mindset-predicts-well/
Special K: Interesting but not surprising.
b1: EXACTLY the words I use to describe you to my friends.
26.4.22
A pinch of Canadian heaven for < US$10
b1-66er: <claw package pic>
And so it begins.
<claws on steamer tray>
<prepared claws resting on ramen>
D4rw1n: That crab situation looks delicious
b1: Yeah.
I was in Walmart getting my second booster and saw lobster claws half off for hitting their expiration date...
Bargain expiring shellfish at Walmart seems like a recipe for disaster for with the kid who's had deathly food poisoning in his life...
... But the siren call of DISCOUNT crossed with lobster was a gravity my mortal human couldn't avoid.
Steamed them in water with a touch of 100% lemon juice.
Really really good.
I very rarely fix something 'fancy' for myself.
D4rw1n: Fancy bargain expiring shellfish dish. Good band name
b1: <Wombo>
D4: Or Dr. Seuss title
b1-67er: Culinary Russian Roulette
{Pics ©2022 Polterzeitgeist Productions. All rights reserved.}
24.4.22
Wait a second...
Special K: "Time Might Not Exist, According to Physicists"
b1-66er: How long did it take them to figure THAT out?
Special K: ALL and no time.
Horrible yes ... but EXPENSIVE
KĻ: On the opposite end of my yummy Omsom meal...I just opened my 3rd bottle of fancy non-alcoholic beverage. It is terrible. Of the 3 bottles (that cost about $100) I found one to be okay, one I didn't like much, and this one is just nasty.
"Spicy, fruity, with a hint of vinegar"
They forgot to mention "rancid"
[Pic ©2022. Pig E Pixels. All rights reserved. Used by permission]
21.4.22
Where IS that bottle of acid?
b1-66er: <Wombo>
b1-67er: If Wombo would lay off the psychedelics it might have a better chance of finding what it's looking for.
18.4.22
A certain type/typography of grumpy old man
b1-66er: I think K and U are particularly bad.
Z: The font is cool but what do K and I share? Messiness?
b1: K and U share unintelligibility and lack of individual clarity.
Z: Oh I get it now. Seems like you and I share unintelligibility as well. š
b1: Yes.
I have no problem with fanciness or flourish.
I have a lot of problem with indiscernibility...
... Since the alphabet acts as the most atomic elements for making things understood.
Z: I would say that font is sort of like most modern UI's today - it's striking and beautiful, but largely incomprehensible. In short, it fails at the one job is should be good at.
17.4.22
¡A Salty Easter to You!
b1-66er: <Wombo>
Major Math: My kindergarten days were boring in comparison
b1: They wanted to hold me back in kindergarten because they felt I wasn't 'socially mature enough,' enraging my father and resulting in me talking to a couple different school psychologists...
... And you can see the results.
They were clearly right.
M²: You should have brought some margaritas in. That would have displayed a little social maturity.
16.4.22
Put yer Bitcoin where your avatar's mouth is, bitch!
Special K: This is the most dystopian future, science fiction sports thing I've ever seen. A football league that plays in a big TV studio, with plays called by fans via their cryptocurrency wallets. https://www.lx.com/culture/sports/how-to-watch-week-1-of-fan-controlled-football/51218/
15.4.22
Treadmilling Life
b1-66er: Just got a call from the cardiologist's office.
"Your heart stopped for 3.8 seconds on the last trial.
You need to come in for a stress test."
Followed by The Accomplice speaking very loudly...
And me following up by saying loving things like, "have you ever noticed I don't tell YOU how to live YOUR life?"
Lawrencian: Oh jeebus.
Seems like a glitch to me. That's over a period of weeks, right?
b1: A month, yes...
First time they said my heart stopped for 7 seconds.
L: 2.62 million seconds in a month
b1: I'll make sure to tell them that as I'm pacing on the treadmill.
(I haven't been able to RUN for 5 years.)
L: And what is the probability of your heart stopping during the stress test? A lot higher than not during a stress test I assume
b1: Well, at least you have a cardio there...I guess.
L:Said Mr. half glass full to Mr. half glass empty
14.4.22
More like a squawk
b1-66er: https://www.coldstonecreamery.com/icecream/signaturecreations/peepssweetspring/index.html
Comp-U-serve: I developed type II diabetes just looking at the preview picture!
b1: Do I have to send you a pic of an insulin rig now?
CU: How about a pic of Super Pancreas wearing a cape?
Bellying-up the bird
b1-66er: https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/14/23024905/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-twitter
Special K: Wow•
With Elon in charge, Twitter could be worse than Facebook. Or I guess it could be good for humanity in some way I don't see. I've long thought Twitter has tremendous potential - but not necessarily as a commercial entity.
12.4.22
A final quack
b1-66er: Gilbert Gottfried died. He had MD.
b1-67er: Boy I don't think of muscular dystrophy patients making it into their 60's.
66: Me neither. He did remarkably well. I didn't even know he had it until I read his obit.
Once I saw I tiny TINY bit of a stand-up piece and said to The Accomplice, 'I would swear to you that he's had a stroke...'
... Almost.
67: Yeah that is a Steven Hawking run ... Top Tier Performance in the face of daunting illness.
8.4.22
The steaming event horizon
b1-66er:
b1-67er: That's interesting but well off the beaten path. I've never even heard of Rico hot springs
D4rw1n: Nope me neither. South of telluride. "It's not the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from there"
7.4.22
If he's gonna drink, you better raise the borstal
b1-66er: <Wombo>
b1 -67er: It looks like he really did turn into a tech executive.
