Quotulatiousness

January 28, 2021

Blade Runner 1921?! – Robot Apocalypse Now | B2W: ZEITGEIST! | E.10 – Winter 1921

Filed under: Books, History, Media — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

TimeGhost History
Published 27 Jan 20201

Modern technology promises a lot, but it can also bring unprecedented horror. This season, the people of Czechoslovakia get to see that for themselves.

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Francis van Berkel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Francis van Berkel
Edited by: Michał Zbojna
Sound design: Marek Kamiński

Colorizations:
Daniel Weiss – https://www.facebook.com/TheYankeeCol…
Mikołaj Uchman
Norman Stewart – https://oldtimesincolor.blogspot.com/
Mikołaj Cackowski
Klimbim

Sources:
Some images from the Library of Congress
Bibliotheque nationale de France

Icons from The Noun Project:
– noun_Sound_3530255
– Microphone by Agung Cahyo s

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
“Epic Adventure Theme 3” – Håkan Eriksson
“I Am Unbreakable” – Niklas Johansson
“Waiting like the Storm” – Rand Aldo
“Le Chat Noir 1” – Martin Landh
“A Single Grain Of Rice” – Yi Nantiro
“Alleys of Buenos Aires” – Tiki Tiki
“Age Of Men” – Jo Wandrini

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

TimeGhost History
1 day ago (edited)
Episode 10 of the series and for the first time we’re looking at a decidedly negative outcome that people imagined might come with further technological progress. Over 100 years later and it’s still something people are fearful of, and it often feels like Artificial Intelligence providing a real threat to humanity’s existence is just around the corner.

We’d be interested to know what you guys all think. Is there a chance that something along the lines of what Čapek imagined actually happening? Let us know in the comments.

NOTE: Unfortunately an error has snuck into this week’s episode. The portrait that is supposed to show Herbert Hoover is in fact of his son, Herbert Hoover Jr. We are working on getting this fixed as fast as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime.

GameStop in a very different kind of game

Filed under: Business, Gaming, USA — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

In the NP Platformed newsletter, Colby Cosh looks at the fascinating gyrations of GameStop’s share price in the grip of an unexpected group of players in the market:

“GameStop” by JeepersMedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0

GameStop has long been seen by institutional investors as following down the road of Blockbuster Video: it’s a bricks-and-mortar retailer whose main product is downloadable from your sofa. For that reason, it is heavily shorted by professional funds who normally eschew short-selling, which does have the risky feature of potentially infinite negative downside.

Enter Reddit, the website for special-interest user forums of all kinds. A Reddit “Wall Street bets” board uncovered evidence in regulatory filings that some hedge funds had legitimately dangerous large short positions representing bets against GameStop’s flaccid share price. A few hobby investors began to buy GameStop out of a sense of adventure and perhaps nostalgic loyalty. More importantly, they began to preach the gospel to others.

This is explicit “market manipulation,” but done in the open; it is surely as legal as any other conversation. GameStop’s price (NYSE symbol: GME) surged upward as word spread amongst day traders and other amateur investors. And as the random-looking rise in price got noticed, the whole scheme, itself rather reminiscent of a video game, went viral.

As of Jan. 12, GME was below $20, which is about where most analysts thought it belonged on merit, or lack thereof. The price as I type this particular sentence is $328.81. The backs of some funds with heavy short positions have been broken.

High finance seems somewhat terrified, as amateur investing websites — ones pioneered by the financial industry itself — begin to throw roadblocks in front of late-arriving GME buyers. For itself, Wall Street will invest billions replacing copper wire with fiber optics to gain microsecond arbitrage advantages in the market; for you and I, the good old portfolio can get conveniently 404ed for an afternoon.

This suggests that Wall Street may not have reckoned with the full possibilities of a world of proletarian shareholders. The stock market has proverbially been a playground of “animal spirits” since long before John Maynard Keynes used that phrase in 1936. What happens to an ecosystem when new animals show up? One can surely count on at least a minimum of chaos; maybe the surprise is that it took so long to take this game-like, combative form.

Japan’s Big Asian Gamble – WW2 Special

Filed under: Asia, Economics, History, Japan, Military, Pacific, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 27 Jan 2021

Access to scarce natural resources and labor was a big reason for the Japanese to invade numerous South-East asian countries. But was that necessary? And did the benefits outweigh the risk? Let’s find out!

Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory

Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Joram Appel
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Maria Kyhle
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Joram Appel
Image Research by: Michał Zbojna
Edited by: Michał Zbojna
Sound design: Marek Kamiński

Colorizations:
Julius Jääskeläinen – https://www.facebook.com/JJcolorization/

Icons from The Noun Project:
asia by Ted Grajeda
clothing by Adnen Kadri
Coal by Eucalyp
Wire by Arthur Shlain
noun_Wool_2842881
noun_rock_12609
noun_rock_481051
noun_hemp_2183488
Iron Ingot by Jetro Cabau Quirós
rock by Bakunetsu Kaito
Medicine by Ladalle CS
noun_rock_481016
noun_silk_3492403
noun_Oil_3319962
Paper by Sergey Demushkin
rock by Aline Escobar
tire by Juan León
soap by Roman
noun_Wood_2177037
noun_Metal_3369307
rock by Bakunetsu Kaito
noun_Mineral_3517065

Soundtracks from Epidemic Sound:
“Sights of the Tokyo Tower” – Sight of Wonders
“Paths of a Samurai” – Mandala Dreams
“Pacific Shores” – Mandala Dreams
“Sights of the Tokyo Tower” – Sight of Wonders
“Save Her” – Jon Bjork

Sources:

Archive by Screenocean/Reuters https://www.screenocean.com.

A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.

From the comments:

World War Two
4 hours ago
Japan wasn’t the only nation that went to war over Asia’s natural resources. Indonesia was a big source of wealth for the Dutch ever since it became a colony, so The Netherlands went to war after World War Two, when the Indonesians declared their independence. We have made a whole series about the Indonesian War of Independence, including a prologue covering the colonial context (including WW2 occupation) of Indonesia. You can watch that prologue right here: https://youtu.be/IkKJSRaeOik

The economic impact of a US national minimum wage of $15 per hour

Filed under: Business, Economics, Government, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

I missed this post by Warren Meyer last week, but it’s still very topical:

I have talked a lot about the negative effects of higher minimum wages on low-skill workers. Two good example background posts are here and here. I covered how a broad range of labor regulation hurts unskilled workers in a cover story for Regulation magazine a few years back. Unfortunately, in a country where the average American buys about $1000 in lottery tickets each year, the willingness to believe we can get something for nothing is strong.

But I want to talk specifically about a Federal minimum wage increase, where one other problem emerges. The best way to state this is — how can one possibly set the same minimum wage for San Francisco at the same rate as one does for rural Mississippi? Here is one source for comparative state cost of living. Doing this by county would make the curve even wider.

Cost of living in Hawaii is more than 2x that of Mississippi. CA and NY are not far behind. A minimum wage that might comfortably be accommodated in San Francisco (and note even there the rise to $15 was ending service jobs in that city long before COVID), would be an economic disaster for rural Alabama. I don’t tend to think primarily along racial lines as seems to be the case on the Left today, but basically this is a policy driven by rich white tech guys in San Francisco that is going to devastate the employment prospects of rural blacks.

Whatever one’s misgivings about minimum wages, it is certainly true that allowing states to take the lead on setting minimum wages (counties would make even more sense) makes a lot more sense that trying to take action at the national level. Even with state action there are disparities.

Doughboy Bringback MP-18,I on the Range

Filed under: Germany, History, Military, Weapons, WW1 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 21 Oct 2020

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

https://www.floatplane.com/channel/Fo…

Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg…

The MP-18,I was most likely the first true submachine gun to see combat use, issued in the final months of World War One to German Sturmtruppen. These guns were originally fitted with 32-round drum magazines form the Artillery Luger, but they were almost all quickly changed to standard System Schmeisser box magazines shortly after the war ended. This is a rare example of one still in its original configuration, as brought home by a US soldier as a war trophy.

The MP-18,I set the standard for basically all future SMGs. It has remarkably gentle to shoot, with a low rate of fire and nice big sights. The drum does throw the balance substantially off to the left side, but it has few other serious problems.

Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85740

QotD: Art for art’s sake

Filed under: Economics, History, Media, Quotations — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

Théophile Gautier didn’t actually say “Art for art’s sake,” but even if he did, it was only about 100 years ago. The notion that a true ahr-teeeeeste would never sully his hands with shekels comes from the fin de siècle, when a bunch of nancy boys sponging off their parents decided their works could only be properly appreciated by other useless mooches. William Shakespeare — a true artist, the finest writer in the history of the English language — would’ve laughed right in these guys’ mincing little faces, because as Larry Correia says, the writer’s prime directive is GET PAID. Shakespeare worked for a living, which means he wasn’t above a fart joke. Whatever got the job done. Ditto Mozart — The Magic Flute was the Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure of its day — and all the rest. The “artist” who trumpets his intention to produce “art” is a poseur, always and everywhere.

Severian, “The Entertainer”, Rotten Chestnuts, 2020-10-08.

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