Happy Holidays. In this special issue we are reprinting our top stories of the past year. This article first appeared online in our “Harmony” issue in July, 2021. Japanese cuisine is so varied and refined that it’s hard to happen upon something unpleasant to the palate. My personal procedure in Japan is to take a… Continue reading Life Always Wins. Follow Me – Issue 111: Spotlight
The Most Popular RAND Research of 2021
The year began with a deadly attack on American democracy. On January 6, a mob of insurrectionists, persuaded by falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election, laid siege to the U.S. Capitol, attacking law enforcement officers and calling for the sitting vice president to be hanged. And while 2021 was the year of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines,… Continue reading The Most Popular RAND Research of 2021
Why The First ‘Summit For Democracy’ Should Be The Last
Authored by Branko Milanovic via ConsortiumNews.com, More than 100 nations’ presidents, prime ministers, and kings met virtually at the Summit for Democracy on Dec. 9 and 10. It was the first meeting in history on this scale where the application — or ostensible application — of the democratic principle in the governance of national affairs was used as a criterion… Continue reading Why The First ‘Summit For Democracy’ Should Be The Last
What Hot Dogs Can Teach Us About Number Theory
Notice that shifting a remainder of 7 up by 1 makes it 7 + 1 = 8, and if a number has a “remainder” of 8 when divided by 8, it’s actually a multiple of 8, so its remainder is really 0 mod 8. This means that the system of congruences x ≡ 1 mod 5x ≡… Continue reading What Hot Dogs Can Teach Us About Number Theory
Helping People Affected by Conflict: Q&A with Jacqueline Burns
Jacqueline Burns joined the U.S. Air Force because she wanted to help people, face to face, on the ground, whose lives had been torn apart by conflict or disaster. She was still in training when the attacks of 9/11 changed the mission. Burns, now a senior policy analyst at RAND, spent 12 years as an… Continue reading Helping People Affected by Conflict: Q&A with Jacqueline Burns
Turbo-Taper Sends Stocks & Bond Yields Lower On The Week
The Fed’s hawkish statement and Powell’s modest ‘good cop’ effort left rate-hike odds all higher on the week with May 2022 now the most likely ‘liftoff’ for rates… Source: Bloomberg While stonks kneejerked higher on Wednesday, this hawkish shift ended up dragging markets lower on the week. Nasdaq was the week’s biggest loser; The Dow… Continue reading Turbo-Taper Sends Stocks & Bond Yields Lower On The Week
Christmas on other planets, when Christmas ends, from St. Nick to Santa, 12 days of Christmas code? . . . & Weird Questions
Podcast: Download MYS186: It’s Christmas, so Cy Kellett of Catholic Answers Live is asking Jimmy Akin Christmas weird questions from listeners, including how we would celebrate Christmas on other planets; when Christmas ends; how we got from St. Nick to Santa; and whether the 12 days of Christmas is a secret code; and more. Get… Continue reading Christmas on other planets, when Christmas ends, from St. Nick to Santa, 12 days of Christmas code? . . . & Weird Questions
Many Neuroscience Conferences Still Have No Black Speakers
The death of George Floyd in 2020 sparked intense emotion, and increased recognition of the need to take active measures in matters of race within science and academia. This piece considers the field’s immediate actions with regard to Black representation at neuroscience conferences, and whether we are rising to the occasion in an area under… Continue reading Many Neuroscience Conferences Still Have No Black Speakers
Taiwan Would Be Better Off Alone
And then there were 14. That was the new tally of Taiwan’s official diplomatic partners following Nicaragua’s decision earlier this month to swap ties with Taipei for Beijing. The Solomon Islands and Kiribati did the same in 2019. But a curious fact has been overshadowed in the coverage of Taiwan’s losses: Taipei has at times… Continue reading Taiwan Would Be Better Off Alone
Bitcoin Is The Perfect Option, And Central Banks Will Have To Buy In
Authored by Greg Foss and Seb Bunney via BitcoinMagazine.com, What happens if the market realizes that kicking the can down the road is delaying the inevitable? A sustainable form of insurance in this event would have to be bitcoin… In “part one” of this article, we provide a high-level overview on options, the components that… Continue reading Bitcoin Is The Perfect Option, And Central Banks Will Have To Buy In