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9/5/22 Emirates flight to Dubai; passengers predominantly Indian and Arab. Watched some Middle Eastern TV shows just to see what they were like. They were moronic melodramas. Bar and restaurant on plane. Prayer times listed on TV screens in the bar—conflicting message? (Aren’t Muslims not supposed to drink?) White-haired Indian guy sitting behind me who […]
The post Lions and Daughters first appeared on Harper's Magazine.
Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbZ3HzvFEto
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38444719
Points: 106
# Comments: 25
Article URL: https://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2023/11/how-apples-developers-reflashed-mac-roms-in-the-90s/
Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38429460
Points: 101
# Comments: 35
In 1974, a large American bank, Franklin National Bank, failed. Over the coming years, many others would follow. While there were some commonalities between Franklin National Bank and the other banks that failed, this bank was peculiar. It was peculiarly badly managed. What is illuminating though is how bad management seemed to self-perpetuate at…
The post Franklin National Bank appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
Improvements in infrastructure had tremendous effects on both trade and finance, perhaps most notably in the 19th century. Canals and railways first connected cities within countries and then connected continents. These improvements made trade in merchandise and commodities more efficient, creating opportunities for exchange that did not previously exist. Even communications technology, like…
The post London, Telegraph, and the World appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
The advent of a market for credit relies on a supply of and demand for surplus financial resources. The demand for credit can be driven by trade or investment or even large consumer purchases. The supply of credit can come from deposits with banks or the reserves of insurance companies. Today, the endowments of…
The post Temple Loans of Classical Greece appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
Population growth and rising living standards increased demand for meats in Britain during the Industrial Revolution; however, diseases that reduced cattle herds meant more imports were needed to satisfy demand. Some of this demand was met by imports of fresh beef from America. This was extraordinary considering that up to this moment in history,…
The post British Capital and American Cattle appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
The market for railway company bonds grew quickly in the mid-to-late 19th century. Laying new track was very expensive and the returns would not come until a line was completed. For larger projects, such as those rail links crossing an entire continent, this could be years away. Thus, financing was as important an input…
The post Jay Cooke and the Panic of 1873 appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
Over a century ago, railway companies were among the largest issuers of bonds in the market, second only to governments. Indeed, one could say that it was financing railways that really built the modern bond markets. Because many railway issues had very long terms, some a century or longer, a few vestiges of this…
The post Obsolete yet Irredeemable Bonds appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
Under a gold standard regime, exchange rates were understood to be self-regulating courtesy of the ‘price–specie flow’ mechanism. Expansions or contractions in the money supply from trade surpluses or deficits would bring about stability in exchange rates without threats to the gold standard and with minimal or no need for changes in interest rates.…
The post American Dollar Securities Committee appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
In the late 18th century, marine insurance in a nascent United States was put to a stressful test. During an undeclared naval war between America and France known as the Quasi-War, merchants were ruined and losses to insurance underwriters rose, as did the frequency of insurance disputes. In the end, insurance not only survived…
The post Marine Insurance and the Quasi-War appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
Exactly how much of a fiscal burden governments can bare is the subject of frequent debate. Some believe any debt is problematic and others believe that, at least for some countries, there is no limit to the fiscal headroom available. Historically, it is in times of war that governments push themselves to the very…
The post Financing Britain’s WWI Spending appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
In the first fifty years of its history, insurance in the United States was a growing but scarce product. Few insurance firms existed and those that did were typically small and focused on just a couple products: fire and marine insurance. They also offered coverage only in specific areas near where they were founded.…
The post Insurance and the New York Fire of 1835 appeared first on The Tontine Coffee-House.
Donald Trump’s campaign said that those who compare his rhetoric to that of fascist dictators would be “crushed.”
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrators brawled outside Los Angeles’s Museum of Tolerance.
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
Several people who attended ApeFest in Hong Kong were diagnosed with welder’s eye.
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
“Of course, I advocate for “reality” as much as possible, in the hope that exposure to violence, especially to the real consequences of war by way of brutal images that lay bare both death and injuries, will make the world wiser.”
The post Violence in Pictures appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
Scientists studied the ways in which sperm defy Newton’s laws of motion.
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
In the stacks: on the tristate collectors of yesterday’s future
The post Pulp Fiction appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
A New Orleans tattoo shop owner was cleared of charges in a ransom plot to turn the Jefferson Davis memorial chair into a toilet.
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
It was reported that a Kansas teacher and stand-up comedian had been fired for TikToks in which he described “crop dusting” students with “big milky lactose intolerant farts” and teaching them that Abraham Lincoln was the inventor of the car.
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
Several Amish people were reported shunned after the U.S. government’s Wireless Emergency Alert test revealed that they had phones.
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
A Chucky doll was handcuffed and arrested in Colombia after a man used it to intimidate robbery victims.
The post Weekly Review appeared first on Harper's Magazine.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Economy and business category.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Economy and business category. If you’re old enough and have witnessed the birth of Google and Facebook, I’m sure you understand my feelings about OpenAI.
Eleventh issue of Slower News Quarterly was published.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Demography category.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Work, education and skills category.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Blockchain category.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Energy category.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Geopolitics category.
New link (with rationale) on Slower News - Culture, Beliefs And Ethics category. Aesthetic patterns are unveiled by time but I believe this one (as a "catch all" category) is consentual. It expresses a nostalgy from a time where we believed our civilization could influence our future. I may be biased here.
Tenth issue of Slower News Quarterly was published.
