What's the whole story of the Soviet Union? - Isn't it strange that Vietnam is named the way it is? Imagine a counter factual fictional world where a dark regime called the Sobrit Union was defeated in a long cold war, and then somehow a small country called Britain, which had been part of the Sobrit Union emerged. Wouldn't you wonder what role Britain had played in the Sobrit Union? Wouldn't you wonder how this odd naming coincidence had occurred? Wouldn't it be super weird if literally no one was asking that question or even aknowledgeing in any way, that it was even a little bit strange? #
2023/10/17 #
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China's Dilema - Jeff Snider does some analysis of the situation in China. Broadly speaking that the government was able to transform the economy over the past 40 years. They needed to move a billion people away from subsistence farming, and into cities, creating and growing a middleclass in the population.
It's been grueling, with many authoritarian regulations, but the promise has been that people's children would have a better more middleclass life. It's been a successful strategy so far, however the economy is now faultering, and it looks as if 300 million people have not made it to the promised land. The leadership is slowly acknowledgeing the reality and is trying to break the news that the economic miracle is coming to an end. #
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Bankless discovers eurodollars - Interesting episode of Bankless, interview with Nick Carter, all about the Eurodollar system. Lots of interesting titbits, like the fact that there are 4 times as many eurodollars in the world as actual dollars, that they are issued by private non-US banks, that they enable global trade, they aren't backed by actual real dollars, and that the FED has very limited control. They make the case that crypto dollars, a.k.a stablecoins, will become the successor to the eurodollar.
It seems a bit odd to me that the Bankless guys are only discovering this central pillar to the global financial system now. #
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They will undermine everything - Anytime you think you have secured yourself in some way, whether that be with food, water, shelter, electrics, software, literally everything, they will undermine your move, just so you know they are in control. That's how it appears in any case. Even if it means undermining themselves in the process. That's been my experience. Then they will blame you for everything, conveniently forgetting that they already undermined everything.
Eventually there will be no safe moves. #
Today’s links:
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Killed by Google - For those in any doubt that Google has a habbit for killing iff its often very popular projects, here's a site that lists all the projects in the Google graveyard. The recently announced they are killing off Google Podcasts. I think it's a huge shame because there really isn't a comparable site that lists podcasts. It's important because a huge amount of podcasters don't have their own websites. I've noticed this from compiling the newsletter for the past few years. This is podcasting's Google Reader extinction event, and I don't think folks realise. Hey Google, will you open source the Google Podcasts website? Let someone else try to run it for the benefit of the community. killedbygoogle.com #
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Metaphors We Web By - A look at the metaphores that we use in the modern web. It's one of those topics you never think about, like a fish never thinking about the water around it. The metaphores actually have very subtle and impactful influence on the design and functionality we imagine and ultimately build into the web. maggieappleton.com #