On my way to India, I connected through Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). During my one-day layover, I toured not only Abu Dhabi, but its more famous sister-city, Dubai. Here are my main thoughts.In Dubai, these are not empty words.Per-capita, UAE is the most amazing country I’ve ever seen. With…
From Kiwiblog – Research NZ found: Change name to Aotearoa 8% (-5% from 2022) Change name to Aotearoa New Zealand 19% (-5%) Change name to something else 2% (+2%) Do not change name 66% (+7%) Unsure 5% (+2%) So the current name is 8 times more popular than Aotearoa and 3.5 times more popular than Aotearoa […]
Trump is now favoured to win by four of the six prediction sites. It remains a remarkably close race with none of the seven swing states having a lead of more than 2%. As the average polling error in US presidential elections is 4%, it will come down to who does better than their polls. […]
Since it appears increasingly likely that the winner of the popular vote for president will not win the election, we are already seeing calls to “dump the electoral college.” Predictably, since the Democrat is the candidate who is likely to win the vote but lose the election, these calls are … Continue reading →
Here’s Bill Maher’s monologue from his most recent Real Time show, arguing that voters should not expect an “October surprise”. He argues that because Trump has been so persistently awful in familiar ways, that there will be no change in his character before the election (remember that it’s just about two weeks away). He’s in five […]
By Paul Homewood h/t Ian Magness It’s good enough for Google, but not for Mad Miliband! Google has struck a deal to buy the world’s first private mini-nuclear reactors, as technology companies race to secure power for their data centres. The US search engine giant has ordered a fleet […]
(Berlin at the end of World War II) Today Germany finds itself as the strongest economic power in Europe, in addition to possessing major military influence due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its influence in Europe is strong and many of the goals of the Nazi regime during World War II have been achieved […]
TweetI can pick a few nits with this eight-minute-long video from the Wall Street Journal on tariffs – for example, for all of their many problems, tariffs do not (contrary to what’s reported in the video) cause any net, economy-wide loss of jobs. Nevertheless, this video is quite good, not least because it features the…
Up to $41 billion of the funds distributed to climate causes by the World Bank between 2017 and 2023 are unaccounted for due to poor accounting standards, according to an audit from Oxfam International published Thursday.
Sir Apirana Ngata is on our $50 note. He was a lawyer and then was the MP for Eastern Maori for almost 40 years. He was Minister of Native Affairs for six years.He made huge contributions to Maori land reform, language and culture. He also wrote a booklet in 1922 on the Treaty of Waitangi, […]
I am certain I posted both of these songs before, but I was just listening to “Big Love “ by Lindsey Buckingham and performed by him beside Fleetwood Mac in The Dance tour and album; and I thought I would pair that one with what I see as the best solo by his erstwhile bandmate […]
Nate Silver has a good way of explaining why he will vote for Kamala Harris. Before he looks at anything else, he asks is there anything that is disqualifying about a candidate. His answer is Trump’s support of January 6 disqualifies him, and there is nothing Harris has done that is disqualifying, so he will […]
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
In Hume’s spirit, I will attempt to serve as an ambassador from my world of economics, and help in “finding topics of conversation fit for the entertainment of rational creatures.”
“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert”. - J Robert Oppenheimer.
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