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The NFTs of the 1630s: Tulipmania was due to the oversupply in silver currency in Holland, in part because of pirates bringing home Spanish booty, argues this paper (by Doug French, former head of the Mises Institute). The new cash had to go somewhere… why not ? pic.twitter.com/W3Up8chAO9

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) September 9, 2021

I mean, this is true, but it’s also trivially true. Of course there has to be excess currency for a bubble (or bubble-like) event to occur. That’s just tautological. Knowing the actual cause is interesting but the fact itself that excess currency causes inflation isn’t any kind of insight.

We can see this happening now, in fact. The US Fed has splashed trillions of dollars into the economy and most of it went to the rich. Therefore, housing (and asset) prices have gone through the roof.

That’s what happens when 1 out of 7 homes is purchased by a hedge fund that doesn’t really care how much it costs due to the free money bonanza. The way the housing market works, the last few sales and what happens on the margins matter a whole lot. This is what drives price. All that “free” money dumped into the market — as with the tulip craze — is the enabler.

My “smart” book I’m reading now. I have to say I only understand about 70% of it.

I’m reading a buncha “dumb” books too, but the one above breaks my brain so it’s the only one I’m reading from the “smart” pile.

Walking down the street with a ridiculously attractive friend of mine one day:

Friend: If you saw me on the street, would I turn your head? Would you notice me if you didn’t already know me? Because I’d notice you. My head would be a-turnin’.

Me: …

Friend: I assume your silence means no, then? Awww. (Then she looked a bit sad.)

Me: How do I say this? You turn absolutely everyone’s head. Literally everyone notices you. We walk by a cemetery, and you hear bones creaking and tomb doors sliding open so the dead can get a peek. You’re very tall and have human thoroughbred genes and hair straight out of a shampoo commercial. So yes, I definitely would’ve noticed you.

Her: Good! Because I only really care if the people I like notice me. I was worried there when you didn’t say anything. Meanie!

Don’t get me wrong, she fully knows she’s conventionally extremely attractive, but she’s just used to being noticed so she doesn’t even notice the noticing anymore. It’s just her world’s background noise. I thought her reaction to my incredulity was pretty cute.

If someone is intentionally coughing on myself or my children, am I legally allowed to hit them in self-defense?

Who cares if you are legally allowed to do it? Punch them in the throat and then deal with the consequences of dispensing deserved justice.

The Voyeurs review – Amazon’s fun and sexy erotic thriller throwback.

Huh, an article that recognizes the weird increase in prudishness and that actually decries it.

Decades of chastened blockbuster heroes, their ascent at the expense of the mid-budget character pieces for grownups that have all but gone extinct, have estranged the public from the combination of maturity and libidinous fun that once made the erotic thriller a dominant industry force in Hollywood. We’re starved for touch, though perhaps it would be more accurate to say we’re thirsty. A dry, flavorless cinema has left viewers with a taste for the lurid parched.

Yep, want to see this film. “Erotic thriller” isn’t even really a category anymore, but there used to be dozens released a year.

I hope this movie makes many, many people angry. And even more than that, I hope it’s good.

Thomas Eakins, “Female nude kneeling on table” (ca. 1884).