Category: All Posts

Class of Distinction

Here I am in a high school class play. If Elaine looked like she could have been captain of the cheerleading squad, that’s because she was. Such great acting, “pretending” to not be interested in me! 😉

Tonight I will be attending my — ulp! — 50th high school reunion. I just realized I’m dressed exactly the same way as in the picture, so I’ve made no progress at all in half a century. I’ll probably be wearing a party hat before the evening ends. Wish me luck.

Reeling Me In

Facebook wants me to watch their subscriber-submitted Reels. These examples are tame compared to others that have been appearing in my newsfeed.

Being an ‘Arlo and Janis’ fan must be the reason why Facebook’s AI is tempting me with scantily-clad young women. Not wanting to encourage the algorithm, I don’t watch them. The option to “See fewer posts like this” seems to have put more clothes on some of the girls.

Here’s one that YouTube recommends. Guitars and the straps holding them up immediately come to mind. I watched it because she’s left-handed. 😉

What hath TikTok wrought?

Crapto Currency

I’m halfway through Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, by actor Ben McKenzie, B.S. Economics, and journalist Jacob Silverman. It’s one of the new books covered in MIT Technology Review.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/23/1077693/crypto-foul-play/

CNBC has been breathlessly covering the crypto action since it started, almost invariably with a positive spin. In this short segment there’s an attempt to discredit McKenzie’s view that cryptocurrency is a scam. Which is funny, considering all of the investment nonsense that entertainer Jim Cramer spouts on CNBC. Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman also sees no valid economic use for crypto currency.

Speaking of economics degrees, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond checks on the popularity of the major in colleges.

https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/econ_focus/2022/q3_profession