
Translating…

I’ve been following the Modern Monetary Theory debate for about 18 months, and I’m largely a convert: governments spend money into existence and tax it out of existence, and government deficit spending is only inflationary if it’s bidding against the private sector for goods or services, which means that the government could guarantee every unemployed person a job (say, working on the Green New Deal), and which also means that every unemployed person and every unfilled social services role is a political choice, not an economic necessity.
I was delighted to be invited onto the MMT Podcast to discuss the ways that MMT dovetails with the fight against monopoly and inequality, and how science-fiction storytelling can bring complicated technical subjects (like adversarial interoperability) to life.
We talked so long that they’ve split it into two episodes, the first of which is now live (MP3).
The world’s largest occult library has a public online archive
Amsterdam’s Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (AKA “The Ritman Library) houses more ths 25,000 occult texts, covering “Hermetics, Rosicrucians, Theosophy, alchemy, mysticism, Gnosis and Western Esotericism, Sufism, Kabbalah, Anthroposophy, Catharism, Freemasonry, Manichaeism, Judaica, the Grail, Esotericism, and comparative religion.”
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“The Stab”: a forgotten nearly-was Haunted Mansion changing portrait
The queue area at the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland features a row of changing portraits wherein paintings everyday scenes are revealed as sinister and haunted (originally the effect was done with crossfading slide-projectors; now it’s done with an amazing, crisp electroluminiscent effect).
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Where to catch me at Burning Man!
This is my last day at my desk until Labor Day: tomorrow, we’re driving to Burning Man to get our annual dirtrave fix! If you’re heading to the playa, here’s three places and times you can find me:
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Get trained in platforms like Oracle, Microsoft Azure, and AWS
Need to expand your IT know-how? It doesn’t happen overnight – but there are courses out there that can get you there quickly. Big businesses need the security, storage, and flexibility that cloud computing can provide, and they need competent IT professionals that know their way around those systems. Here are three online training packages […]
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Gamers, gear up with these souped-up keyboards and mice
PC gamers, choose your weapons. We’ve sniffed out summer discounts on a truckload of gear from Azio, a company that gets high marks from users for style as well as performance. Here are a few of our favorites from their diverse line of keyboards and mice. Azio Vision KB505U Backlight Keyboard When you’re on a […]
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Bring the big screen anywhere with this pocket-projector
The weather is settling right into the pocket for an outdoor movie night, so it’s worth spotlighting one of the best – and smallest – projectors around: The Prima 1080p HD Pocket Projector. Even if the performance was sub-par (and it’s not), this gadget would be notable just for how portable and easy it makes […]