recently, there was a contest to see who could take the best picture underwater. this one seemed pretty good:

Thomas Picketty released a new book–Capital and Ideology–last year; the english translation is set for release next month. He is making the rounds in the podcast universe. Apprarently, the book is even longer than Capital which means I may just focus on some pretty new charts instead.

The Hell of the North is coming. Second weekend in April. Photos from last year’s race, are here. For anyone unfamiliar with Paris-Roubaix, I would argue that you might not even need to be interested in cycling to enjoy this one. Just a pure affection for sport, adversity or competition will do. It truly is the Queen of the Classics.

“Barring a shock to the system, Democrats recapture the presidency.” On July 1, 2019, Rachel Bitecofer posted her 2020 electoral predictions – and she seems to be pretty good at this as of late. Six months later, the following passages may be of interest:

“By and large, I don’t expect that the specific nominee the Democratic electorate chooses will matter all that much unless it ends up being a disruptor like Bernie Sanders.”

“Indeed, the only massive restructuring I might have to make to this forecast involves a significant upheaval like the entrance of a well-funded Independent candidate such as Howard Schultz into the general election”

“…on Election Day Donald Trump will earn the vote of somewhere around 90% of self-identified Republicans. And as 2018 demonstrated, Republicans will increase their turnout rate over 2016. This, combined with a floor for Trump among Independents of around 38% (because of right-leaning Independents) and an infusion of cash that will dwarf his 2016 efforts, Trump has a floor that is at least theoretically competitive for reelection and will force Democrats to compete hard to win the presidency.”

So yeah, COMPETE HARD y’all!

The X100F by Fuji is my favorite camera of any I’ve owned. Fuji is releasing an update, the X100V and it looks legit. There is no reason to own both; if anyone is stuck in a DSLR rut, these cameras might offer a way out.

finally, on a dark note — from Michael H. Keller, NYT investigative reporter:

“It’s not altogether uncommon in investigations, for us to turn up information that is shocking and disturbing. the challenge is when in the course of your reporting you come across something so depraved and so shocking that it demands attention — People have to know about this. But nobody wants to hear about it.

How do you tell that story?“

The Daily (podcast) tries to tell that story – they’ve released Part 1 of a story delving into the problems of online sexual abuse imagery. Of the many, many points made by this first episode in the series, I’ll leave just one here: With a lack of funding to address the issue, law enforcement agencies are forced to prioritize resources; sometimes that ends up being a directive to only address cases involving toddlers and infants.

i am floored.

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