squalex's recent activity
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Comment on Steve Albini, storied producer and icon of the rock underground, dies at 61 in ~music
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Comment on Book recommendations, specifically in ~books
squalex Link ParentCheck out A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Plava. It's the closest contemporary novel I've found that gives me the same vibe as IJ. I also am a big fan of anything by Roberto Bolaño. Not the...Check out A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Plava. It's the closest contemporary novel I've found that gives me the same vibe as IJ.
I also am a big fan of anything by Roberto Bolaño. Not the same vibe, but his prose is just as impressive and enjoyable. I actually prefer Bolaño over DFW come to think of it...
Beyond that, I guess you could give Pynchon a look (although reading his work hurts my brain...). Don DeLilo is fun (DFW claimed to be trying to do what DD does when it comes to fiction). And I've always considered Jonathan Franzen to be a lighter version of DFW.
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Comment on Jordan Klepper presses Nikki Haley supporters: Donald Trump or Joe Biden in 2024 US Presidential election? in ~society
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Comment on Jordan Klepper presses Nikki Haley supporters: Donald Trump or Joe Biden in 2024 US Presidential election? in ~society
squalex (edited )Link ParentAs much as I love Jon Stewart and TDS, I've thought for a long time that they share some culpability in how we got into this mess. In short, I think we've suffered a degree of irony-poisoning at a...As much as I love Jon Stewart and TDS, I've thought for a long time that they share some culpability in how we got into this mess. In short, I think we've suffered a degree of irony-poisoning at a societal level. We've become the satire from which we love to derive amusement.
At first, TDS was great at making sense of an incredibly messy post-9/11 world and all the insanity that followed with the Bush administration. With 9/11 getting us so hooked on the 24hr news cycle, we needed someone who could make sense of it. People couldn't find that in the 24hr cable news industry that seemed to go after "shock-value" to attract ratings.
JS & TDS called out all the nonsense in a refreshing way that resonated with people. He didn't go after the "shock-value". He earnestly discussed current events through satire. Some people turned to him for updates on current events over the 24hr cable news channels because of the piercing truth beneath the satire; others turned to him because it was down-right hysterical and entertaining. Either way, he took ratings away from the 24hr cable news. So what does 24hr cable news do? They double down on "shock-value" and over-editorialize their coverage in an attempt to compete with the way TDS operates. People want to be entertained, not informed.
Political-satire is a double-edged sword. It's sub-text will get you the truth. But those who don't understand the sub-text will take it at face value and act accordingly. A lot of people didn't understand the running joke of Colbert's persona during The Colbert Report run on comedy central. And when people act in line with taking the satire at face value, calling it out with more satire only digs us deeper.
Satire can be a great tool for getting us the truth, but it's also kind of weak. It never directly confronts the truth. Every time I heard JS get interviewed during the 2000's / 2010's about the success of TDS and trying to attribute it's influence on political discourse, JS was always quick to claim he was a comedian, and not a political commentator. I always thought that was a cheap way to get out of acknowledging the responsibility he had with his influence - whether he initially wanted that responsibility or not, it was there.
Trump and his followers are easy to laugh at. But satire isn't going to silence them because some people are just too dense to get it. We need to break away from the infinite jest of our culture and get back to informing ourselves in a way that isn't overly reliant on satire.
If we turn to a jester to break things down for us, it makes sense that we end up with a clown running the show.
TDS = The Daily Show!
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Comment on I'm gonna be a dad! in ~life.men
squalex Link ParentVery true. I can't stand when others tell me to appreciate "the moment"...and yet here I am...Very true. I can't stand when others tell me to appreciate "the moment"...and yet here I am...
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Comment on I'm gonna be a dad! in ~life.men
squalex Link ParentI'll add to the co-sleeping points. I was pretty spooked of SIDS with my first and pushed hard on a "No Co-Sleeping" rule with my wife as she just wanted to co-sleep. It was terrible. Neither of...I'll add to the co-sleeping points.
I was pretty spooked of SIDS with my first and pushed hard on a "No Co-Sleeping" rule with my wife as she just wanted to co-sleep. It was terrible. Neither of us got any sleep, which added to stress during the day as no one in the house was sleeping (mom, dad, and baby). We eased up later as our baby moved from newborn infant to toddler and eventually just gave-in to co-sleeping. I also had a hard time trusting my wife's instincts in the beginning, which wasn't fair to her. I was judging her abilities to parent based on mine (she's a lite sleeper and can be cautious with a baby in bed; I'm a super-heavy sleeper and would never trust myself with an infant in a bed). I was also nervous about our baby never being able to sleep on her own and becoming overly reliant on us being in bed with her.
Fast forward 2 yrs with baby infant number 2. We ignored the APA "No Co-Sleeping" rule from day one at the hospital. Things are SOOO much easier. My 2 yr old still wakes up in the middle of the night, but at least puts herself to sleep at this point. I can get a pretty decent night rest and be of more help during the day (my wife wants to strictly breast-feed and straight up told me I'm more help to her during the day rested and was of no use overnight with the infant). Baby number 2 is better rested as well and is such a sweetheart, more than my oldest ever was (probably because of lack of sleep).
Cliché Tidbits:
Certain things are gonna initially suck. Hard. But it will get easier as time goes on (or you've just given in and resigned yourself to accept the new reality of your life....I'm honestly not sure which is more at play).
Trust your partner, you need each other. I joke with my friends and family that "fatherhood is pretty much just picking up heavy things and moving them around".
It's a marathon and no single task is difficult, but they add up and never end.I love my family so incredibly much and can't believe where I'm at sometimes. It's unreal. Everytime I look back at photos and videos, I can't say that I remember any of the hard stuff or how exhausted I felt that day. I just smile and wish that my girls were as little as that again. Congrats on the upcoming fatherhood, man. I hope you guys get through the pregnancy safely, the delivery goes safe, and y'all get what you need. If you need anything, feel free to DM me.
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Comment on Modem help in ~tech
squalex Link Parentall of my devices are USB C. appreciate the help, thoughall of my devices are USB C. appreciate the help, though
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Modem help
Hi all - I need some help troubleshooting my internet and really don't feel like dealing w/ customer service reps. I don't consider myself a tech savvy person, so I'm wondering what this community...
Hi all - I need some help troubleshooting my internet and really don't feel like dealing w/ customer service reps. I don't consider myself a tech savvy person, so I'm wondering what this community might know..
I've been having issues with my internet for a while. we have xfinity with a plan that promises up to 1000mbps. I'm lucky if i get up to 250 on a good day. beyond that, we constantly lose connection, or get very slow connectivity. i'm using a Netgear c7000v2 as my modem/wifi router combo paired with a Google Nest Mesh router. My home is roughly 1000 sqft footprint split level. my computer is in a different room, but there's no doors between and about 600 ft from the modem/mesh routers.
i called xfinity to talk about the issue, they said that my modem likely needed to be replaced. the initial modem was also a Netgear c7000v2, but i figured maybe the hardware just burnt out(?) they sent me an xfinity modem, and everything seemed to work great (still not 1000mbps, but definitely better). when I realized they were charging me more than I was willing to pay monthly for a rental fee on the modem, i decided i'd go back out and buy a new modem. i bought a Netgear c7000v2 again, because it should be able to handle those speeds, and to my understanding is a decent enough modem. i also bought a new coaxial cable to double check. but after replacing, my internet is still spotty and constantly goes in and out.
i don't have any device to plug directly into the ethernet cable (because it's 2023...), so i can't pinpoint the issue through that. i haven't had an xfinity tech come out yet, because apparently that takes anywhere from 6-8 weeks to get a visit...
any ideas on what i should do? part of me is convinced that xfinity is throttling my internet because I'm not using their modem and paying them a rental fee, but i don't want to give into conspiratorial thinking...i'm about to file an FTC complaint on them because I'm just fed-up at this point.
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Comment on New book argues stock buybacks are a mode of predatory value extraction leading to income inequity, employment instability, productive fragility in ~finance
squalex Link ParentThanks - did not notice that! I'll have to add it to the listThanks - did not notice that! I'll have to add it to the list
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Comment on New book argues stock buybacks are a mode of predatory value extraction leading to income inequity, employment instability, productive fragility in ~finance
squalex LinkI'm generally against stock buy-backs. But in their defense they can help a company consolidate ownership of their corporation and protect it from hostile takeovers. I agree that spending money on...I'm generally against stock buy-backs. But in their defense they can help a company consolidate ownership of their corporation and protect it from hostile takeovers. I agree that spending money on buybacks instead of innovation is a poor strategy for sustainable growth.
It's important to point out that issuing dividends can also be a form of corporate abuse. There's nothing to stop a board from deciding to issue out dividends even if the company is struggling financially. This presents a moral hazard as it could funnel money to Senior Management (who often hold a lot of shares of the company), even though they've poorly managed the company. Lehman Brothers paid shareholders $631m in the 2 yrs prior to their collapse; Richard Fuld (LB's CEO) made $500m in the 8 yrs prior to their collapse.
I guess I'm trying to make two points here: 1.) We should judge each action individually and consider intentions behind those actions. 2.) We should really consider how the legal form of the Corporation plays into this. You essentially have a bunch of assets managed by people (CEOs and Company Executives) who don't own them, are legally protected by their poor management of them, and yet can still benefit immensely even when they do manage them poorly. Meanwhile, the owners (shareholders) have no direct claims to those assets. The Boards often have a lot of overlap with Senior Management which creates conflicts of interest.
Ultimately, when shit hits the fan - this allows for a situation where everyone can point their fingers and shift blame so no one is culpable and everyone is off the hook. I don't see how the legal form of corporations don't set us up for a situation with significant moral hazard. Maybe I'm off? I don't know...
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Comment on Towards a New Socialism in ~finance
squalex (edited )Link ParentAdmittedly, I got a little carried away with the last few statements of my initial post and it clearly struck some chords. But that's a good thing. I think the response it generated just goes to...Admittedly, I got a little carried away with the last few statements of my initial post and it clearly struck some chords. But that's a good thing. I think the response it generated just goes to show the conflations of all these terms (even if on my own end).
I still confidently stand by those statements. The dilution on the part of the neo-libs that you point out is exactly what I was trying to bring up. And I know enough to point out that they are, in fact, different terms that need to not be discussed interchangeably. @Eji1700 pointed out a lot of where I tripped up.
Appreciate you calling me out
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Comment on Towards a New Socialism in ~finance
squalex (edited )Link ParentNo nitpicking on your end at all. And I really appreciate the details in your response. Yes - I made a rushed statement without thinking it through more clearly. But I also don't regret it because...No nitpicking on your end at all. And I really appreciate the details in your response.
Yes - I made a rushed statement without thinking it through more clearly. But I also don't regret it because it got the conversation going.
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Comment on Towards a New Socialism in ~finance
squalex Link ParentWhat are the rules and set up to this game? The way you describe it, I'd be really interested in learning how to play itwe played a game called "Beer"
What are the rules and set up to this game? The way you describe it, I'd be really interested in learning how to play it
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Comment on Towards a New Socialism in ~finance
squalex Link ParentAll fair points on the Communism vs Stalinism points. Again, I think our conversation here really needs it's own "Political Economy" group or sub-group - there seems to be demand for it based off...All fair points on the Communism vs Stalinism points.
Again, I think our conversation here really needs it's own "Political Economy" group or sub-group - there seems to be demand for it based off some of the ~finance posts lately
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Comment on Towards a New Socialism in ~finance
squalex (edited )Link ParentPoint taken - and you're absolutely right (that's on me). Admittedly, I need to read the book in the link you posted(and I'm genuinely interested in what it has to say). My initial response is to..."they tried it in the 80s and it was too complex" is a poor argument
Point taken - and you're absolutely right (that's on me). Admittedly, I need to read the book in the link you posted(and I'm genuinely interested in what it has to say).
My initial response is to the premise for the book outlined in the link and the general conversation you hear surrounding this topic. That said - I still have serious doubts about the ability of computer modeling to centrally manage an economy. Shout out and credit to @NaraVara who articulated some of my concerns way better than I could have; I agree with a lot of the points they brought up.
It's just a matter of standardizing and collecting the data. Which is a challenge to be sure...but hardly the hardest one
I think this is a vast understatement. I'd argue that this likely the hardest challenge. Aggregating and cleaning data is a bitch. Yes, "Data Scientists" and the like exist, but these job titles can mean a lot of things. Ensuring that disparate data from multiple sources are translated so that they can be congruently collated often comes with a lot of errors. I wonder what level of error discovered in an audit would be acceptable for the centrally planned economy.
Socialism has largely been seen as an intermediary phase before Communism
This is my point - I think the fact that it has been largely seen this way is the issue. In my view, this line of reasoning plays into the "Road to Serfdom" logic that underpins neo-liberalism. I feel that engaging in this logic only supports neo-liberalism, the paradigm that I feel is the real problem here.
As an aside, FWIW I really feel that Tildes really needs an ~economics main group. I think this conversation isn't exactly ~finance material. ~economics.finance & a separate ~economics.politcal_economy (or ~economics.philosophy) make more sense to me as a taxonomy. Just my two cents
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Comment on Towards a New Socialism in ~finance
squalex (edited )LinkPersonally, I feel that central planning of the economy is absolutely asinine. To make the argument that it would be easier to do because computers have advanced is reductive. Computer models are...- Exemplary
Personally, I feel that central planning of the economy is absolutely asinine. To make the argument that it would be easier to do because computers have advanced is reductive. Computer models are designed by humans, and require assumptions that humans make and aren't always valid. We won't know the impact such models could have either. Milton Friedman (THE champion of neo-liberalism) once promoted using computer models to control the money supply. In fact the FED tried for a bit in the early 80s, but realized it was too complex to be modelled. This is why they target interest rates to influence the supply.
With that said, let's state the obvious: the State and Capitalism are codepedent in a symbiotic relationship. Productivity of the markets give States power, but the markets can't produce without State support and protection (the entire concept of property doesn't exist without the State there to define it). Regardless of how you swing it, the State is involved with the economy. OP hints at this with the enclosure movement and The Commons from 1500s England - landlords would not have been able to enclose land and claim it as their "property" without the courts and State to support such a move. The same is now done with intellectual property, creative endeavors, computer code, financial products, and other intangibles. And yes - we need to establish clear limits about what Capitalism can appropriate as property to turn into an asset and expropriate value. It keeps getting more out of control.
I say all this as someone who self identifies as a progressive and definitely not as a neo-liberal. We need strong State support, management, and protection in the economy - but this doesn't imply Central Economic Planning as the answer. The Welfare State is 100% important and required to protect lower income classes and promote socioeconomic mobility.
But the Welfare State should not be confused for Socialism - because it isn't. And while we're at it: Socialism should not be confused with Communism, or Marxism. These are all separate and distinct terms we're talking about (and the difference between them is not some degree of gradient on a scale). The Soviet Union was Communist, not Socialist.
I hate that false equivalencies are made with all these terms. All sides on the political spectrum seem to make this mistake, and quite honestly it's infuriating.
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Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
squalex LinkRecently I've been getting into building guitar pedals and amplifiers. A few years ago, I built a 5W Fender Tweed amp. A few months ago, I built a klon overdrive pedal. I'm building a Tremolo...Recently I've been getting into building guitar pedals and amplifiers. A few years ago, I built a 5W Fender Tweed amp. A few months ago, I built a klon overdrive pedal. I'm building a Tremolo pedal next.
You can buy the kits online that come with all the parts and instructions. When you get it, its basically just Legos but with a soldering iron. I'd like to get to the point where I can start designing my own, but that requires knowledge at a level of essentially being an electrical engineer (which I'm absolutely not anywhere near).
It's still fun nonetheless. Especially when you paint the box for the pedal. It's a really satisfying feeling when you turn it on and it works AND you don't electrocute yourself....
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Comment on What are your favorite ways to cook eggplant or dishes containing eggplant? in ~food
squalex Link ParentI forget off the top of my head. My Dad taught me how to make it. I do know that's an old dish from Ancient Rome.I forget off the top of my head. My Dad taught me how to make it. I do know that's an old dish from Ancient Rome.
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Comment on Analysis - Financial Times article - Lex in depth: how investors are underpricing climate risks in ~finance
squalex (edited )LinkOf course investors are underpricing climate risks in the long run. But based off the way the game is played, they're absolutely pricing in the risks - and that's the problem. Yes - we're starting...- Exemplary
Of course investors are underpricing climate risks in the long run. But based off the way the game is played, they're absolutely pricing in the risks - and that's the problem.
Yes - we're starting to see impacts in the markets as far as physical risks are concerned (i.e. All State / State Farm pulling back on underwriting new insurance policies in CA, FL). And there's even evidence that banks price in flood risks based off FEMA maps.
The issue is that banks generally don't think beyond a 5 yr time horizon. No single 5 yr time period will experience rapid enough climate change where banks can't manage the risk. Sure, over time smaller banks and investors will fail - they're not as diverse and are far more concentrated than larger banks. Larger banks, meanwhile, can weather the storm (no pun intended). Banks, investors, and profits don't care about the long run. This, of course, is Mark Carney's tragedy of the horizons.
We're in the boiling frog analogy, except we won't jump out because we'll just indefinitely try to adapt.
The big danger is of a “climate Minsky moment”, the term for a sudden correction in asset values as investors simultaneously realise those values are unsustainable.
Personally, I don't see a Minsky moment occurring with climate. The system will consolidate to the biggest players in the game and inequality will just get worse. Ultimately, if the financial sector is going to get serious about contributing to the fight to curtail anthropogenic climate change, than we can't keep trying to apply solutions built on premises of the status quo. The rules of the game need to change.
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Comment on Bank of England outage hits key payments systems processing billions in ~finance
squalex Link@BitsMcBytes, can you post some key points from the article? I can't get through the paywall. This seems like a pretty big deal. I wonder how many banks and businesses were impacted by this.@BitsMcBytes, can you post some key points from the article? I can't get through the paywall.
This seems like a pretty big deal. I wonder how many banks and businesses were impacted by this.
Incredibly sad to hear this. He played such a big role in keeping an authentic part of the industry alive. Thank you, Steve, for giving us so much. At least we get one more posthumous gift from you - i look forward to hearing it