Category: Worth Your Time

Do you use any of these links? If so, then send me an email or comment here, so I can understand if/how you care. I publish these links b/c I like to remember some stuff, but maybe I will stop if nobody cares…

1. This conversation sounds a bit like an advertisement, but it’s on an interesting topic: employee-owned firms.
2. Trump is a chaos machine and who knows where we will be in his “War on Logic” with respect to tariffs, but this article gives some insights into the chaos he’s spewing.  What’s missing is the elephant in the room: The Chinese firms supplying (in my guesstimate) 90% of the parts in the global watch industry.
3. Unfun fact from a student’s paper: More than 54% of Netherlands is used for agriculture, which contributes to 4.1% of GDP. That’s an opportunity cost.
4. Listen: The new head of the EPA doesn’t think CO2 influences climate chaos, but I’m not surprised at the ignorance of a guy who uses “stangulating” “advancements” in his deceits.
5. So this podcast (2/2) definitely changed my opinion of Margaret Thatcher, for the worse.
6. Watch this excellent documentary of the rise of DJs and dance music.
7. Really thin wood planing, Japanese style.
8. A US entrepreneur explains the complexity of supply chains. (The Trump admin seems clueless.)
9. Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.
10. Listen: A(n) history of US taxes (more than just Intuit corruption)

1. Corruption (n.): The abuse of public office for private gain. See also: Trump pardoning convicted felon who “donated” $$ to him (video). Rule of law, RIP.
2. And there’s more (of course — I am only scratching the surface of Trump’s war on America): On March 27, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reshaping the Smithsonian Institution… The order targets funding for programs that Trump claims contain “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology” … The order directs the Smithsonian to prioritize exhibits that “celebrate American heroes” and “promote patriotic education.” Double-plus good!
3. Listen: Nick Denton’s Big Bet against the United States
4. Nice resource! Resources, Rights and Cooperation: A Sourcebook on Property Rights and Collective Action for Sustainable Development [PDF]
5. Listen: Sheilagh Ogilvie on Epidemics, Guilds, and the Persistence of Bad Institutions
6. Trump loves fossil fuels and has changed policy to subsidize them, so banks are piling in with cheap finance, to make sure that the world is fucked.
7. Damn, I didn’t see this coming, but there’s some logic to recent actions and statements: Is Silicon Valley Turning Fascist?
8. Wow. Trump’s “tariff economics” are incredibly stupid.

1. Listen: Why Trump Is Deregulating In The Wrong Way
2. A good discussion on teaching and how to use/abuse AI….
3. “Nothing new happens in the known” (=take chances). Listen.
4. I read Storm Front on the recommendation of someone, but I forgot who. It’s a detective story — think Philip Marlowe 2000 — with a wizard twist. Pretty good.
5. US vs NL — Overweight + obese: 35% + 40%=75% vs 34% + 16%=50%. Smokers: 12% vs 18%. Heavy drinkers (different definitions): 6% vs 6%. Me: No, No, Yes.
6. Bad news: “after we blow past 1.5 °C (this year or next?) it’ll take just 15 more years to reach 2 °C.“
7. The origins (and over-reach) of wokeness.
8. Trump cracks down of free speech (he doesn’t like) in the US. Listen.
9. Everything is Persian. Listen in.

H/T to PB

1. Listen: Concordance Over Truth, aka, there is no such thing as “free speech” on social media.
2. Listen to this fascinating discussion of work, community and meaning.
3. Listen: Why DEI failed and how to better help minorities.
4. Listen to Robert Putnam on how to bring back community.
5. Amsterdam is taking over its failing drinking water company (Waternet). What will happen next [Dutch]?
6. Listen to What It Takes to Make a Great Company. Key point: The CEO of TSMC uses performance reviews (=grades) to help employees improve. When it comes to FIRING employees, he does not use PRs. Instead, he would focus on what part of the company needs to shrink. (But, he’s never fired anyone!)
7. US schools are bringing shop class back, as students realize there’s money to be made.
8. Wow. What a crazy story of a mad? Spaniard in the New World. Listen.
9. Trump likes ripping people off, so he loves “shit coins” — Americans should be prepared to get ripped off. Watch. Related: Listen to a good discussion of how European financial markets are booming as Trump flails, how Europe is finding its own path as Trump rips up 80 years of cooperation, and — finally — how Trump is undermining trust, to bring America’s government down to his level.
10. James Hoffman innovates coffee off the rails. Watch the fabulous.

H/T to CD

1. Listen to this discussion of Amsterdam’s on-again, off-again openness to new ideas and people.
2. These guys make a non-trivial case for fascism arriving (with Trump and his minions) in the US. Listen in.
3. Listen to this early case of Soviet (Russian) disinformation.
4. Listen to this interesting discussion of the economics of the Indian constitution.
5. Listen to the history of disco — or maybe just the song that launched the sound in the early 70s?
6. Listen to this delightful conversation on the history, impact and “soul” of the Habsburgs.
7. Listen to this conversation with Jessica Alba, action hero, mom and entrepreneur
8. The takeover of the US and the rot economy. Listen in.
9. The price of diamonds is crashing as lab diamond costs plunge. Good.

1. Watch How Millionaire Bankers Actually Work
2. Watch London (CA) vs Utrecht (NL) — how they both embraced cars but only one has returned to embracing people.
3. If you — or someone you love — cares a “bit too much” about a conspiracy or two, then have them chat with this bot. It’s patient, uses facts and works with your views of the world.
4. Bond yields are rising (=prices are falling) as supply of bonds (due to governments borrowing more to fund deficits) exceeds demand. I’ve been waiting for these signals to emerge as governments spend like drinken sailors. Where are all the MMT gurus now?
5. New NL warming record: There has been no 24-hour period of sub zero temperatures… for 756 days.
6. “L.A.’s nightmare should serve as a warning to other states: Climate change is crushing insurance markets[insured losses of $15 billion but uninsured losses 10x higher], and the solution is not to artificially lower premiums or rely on public options.” Prices must rise, but even higher prices won’t interest insurance companies that understand the difference between risk and uncertainty.
7. “The global economy could face 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090 from the catastrophic shocks of climate change….At 3C or more of heating by 2050, there could be more than 4 billion deaths, significant sociopolitical fragmentation worldwide, failure of states, and extinction events… Economic predictions… that damages from global heating would be as low as 2% of global economic production for a 3C rise… are wrong because they ignore… tipping points, sea temperature rises, migration and conflict as a result of global heating… They are precisely wrong, rather than being roughly right.” Obviously, those losses will start to accrue well before 2070.
8. An AMOC update: “In a dramatically cooler Britain [5-15C colder], when the winter storms come, higher sea levels mean that water surges in from the coast. The flooding is intense. The winds rip across roads, tearing down power lines. Those without battery storage are frequently cut off. Instead of the UK being a refuge for others escaping climate disruption, we might struggle to support even the population we have now.”
9. “No, Trump didn’t make $50 billion from his memecoin“
10. Watch this classic, compelling TED talk on how schools kill creativity

1. The Year in Climate Chaos shows just how messed up 2024 was, and how much worse 2025 will get.
2. Related(?): “Some Economics of Global Warming” — a view from 1992.
3. “By 1900, 23 of the 25 largest U.S. cities, and 85 percent of all cities, used primarily lead service lines. Many local building codes also mandated that service lines must use lead pipes for construction.”
4. Listen to the last episode (of 12) on The Power Broker… maybe after you’ve listened to the first 11?
5. “It turns out that cryptocurrencies do have a very concrete use case. They are a technology that has latched on to, and then helped build, a culture that celebrates greed and speculation as virtues just as it embraces volatility.” In 2025 with Trump, I think we’re going to see a lot of “innovating” that will take cash from many, which will lead to (a) a worse reputation for some (all?) crypto, (b) calls for regulation, and (c) a lot of learning, gained at great cost.
6. The average Dutch man was 165cm around 1870. The average height for both men and women rose by 15-18cm in the next 120 odd years (to 183 and 169cm, respectively), due to better nutrition, hygiene, social care and natural selection (tall men make tall babies?). Here’s more on nutrition. Fun fact: South Korean men are also about 20cm taller than 100 years ago.
7. Listen to this update on academic fraud, and pay-to-publish [garbage] “open access” journals.
8. Listen to Adam Grant on achieving greatness.
9. A look at renewable energy from centuries ago, when Brits consumed 2% of what they do these days.
10. Global temperatures are now 1.9C higher than the pre-Industrial age, which is around 25 years ahead of schedule our worst (and second-to-worst) fears. (They were +0.9C in 2015 and some sources claim they are now only getting over +1.0C, but there are disagreements over whether higher temps are “normal” or an “anomaly”.)
11. Listen to Alain Bertaud on fixing sick cities.

1. As water scarcity increases, people are getting creative about finding “new” water. In Athens, that means re-opening a 2,000 year old aqueduct.
2. I “met” Pete the shipwright when he was working on Tally-Ho. Now he’s got his own YT channel about “rough and tough” ship restoration. Nice to see how working boats are handled, rather than just yachts.
3. The Netherlands is introducing a heat index because that’s how CC will mess with us.
4. Listen to How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War
5. Waterless urinals use some interesting technology
6. Listen to Why Industrial Policy Is (Almost) Always a Bad Idea
7. Climate chaos is driving demand for weather derivatives to hedge risk.
8. Meanwhile in the Netherlands, people are turning away from EVs as the government removes subsidies and Amsterdam — in a move that strikes straight in my boating budget — has reduced the discount on permits  for boats with electronic motors (against the price of permits for gasoline engines) from 70% in 2024 to 35% in 2025. That’s NOT how you encourage people to drive (or boat) green!

H/T to DL

1. “The government should tax the super rich and burn the money.” Agreed. Listen in. And more by Gary — a very interesting explainer of his background and what to do when society fails.
2. More podcasts by Gary: How I lost faith in the economists and the rich won’t leave if you tax them, since their wealth is businesses and property!
3. Trump’s election and affinity for running cons means that the bad actors in crypto are going to get a free pass…. and a lot of people are going to lose money.
4. Listen to how the Japanese housing policy can help the “housing crisis”
5. Watch a few lawyers explain how The Onion™ bought InfoWars. This case will be in the legal settlements and auctions textbooks!
6. Where’s the dirty side of a hurricane? Watch.
7. How the crazy right (Jordan Peterson et al.) turned the “15 minute city” into a conspiracy. Listen.
8. “The US republic is, flaws and all, perhaps the most striking success in world history. Is it possible that its strengths are now combining with its weaknesses to overthrow that legacy?“
9. Listen to an interview with the economist (?) driving bureaucratic reform in Argentina. The discussion can apply to Musk’s DOGE, but this guy had 1.5 years to prepare the reforms; Musk has 1.5 months (and a tiny bit of attention).
10. Is the U.S. Sleeping on Threats from Russia and China? Yes. Listen.

H/T to GJ

1. When Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics, aka, we’re all gonna die (well, 90%) because of these idiots.
2. Listen to Musa al-Gharbi on Elite Wokeness (too many underemployed humanities majors?)
3. Watch for the 6 reasons Europe is “going down” [use subs] (not much discussion of why it’s not that bad, but let’s stay critical 🙂
4. Listen: How fraudsters are bilking the us government out of billions of dollars
5. Listen to this interview with Robert Caro, author of the Power Broker.
6. Watch Gary explain how rent, interest and profits are all the same thing 🙂
7. Listen and think about the fertility “crisis,” which is maybe a decent way to get to sustainability. (I disagree with Neil about abortion; still an occasional twat).
8. Watch: Robert Putnam on building communities to save democracy
9. We’ve lost 1200 km3 of fresh water (due to over-use) since 2015… and freshwater scarcity will only get worse…
10. We’re blowing way past +1.5C (it’s +1.64 right now), so mitigation is failing. Adapt adapt adapt!