ROBERTWMARTIN.COM
  • Show Notes (Archive)
  • Gaming
  • Long Form
  • About

Show Notes - Week of August 3, 2020

8/8/2020

0 Comments

 
Welcome from 53.5° north latitude, where I wasn't for the majority of the week. We were fortunate to be able to escape to the mountains for a few days. Being out in nature was a great refresher, and the weather was fantastic which made it even better. 
Picture
Back in March, I posted an article about the Goldman Sachs prediction that the US economy would decrease by 24%. I was thinking about that post as I listened to the Planet Money episode from July 30, entitled "GDP -32.9%???!!!" (emphasis theirs). As it turns out, the 24 % / 32% decreases are a bit misleading. The Planet Money episode describes how the GDP prediction is how much the economy would shrink if the current performance was extrapolated out for four consecutive quarters. 

In fact, the US economy shrunk by 9.5% in the last quarter. Seeing a decrease of 9.5% is far less dramatic than seeing -32.9%, but it is still most likely the worst quarter in US history so the impact should not be overlooked. One economist on the podcast speculated that a lot of that decrease would come back once restaurants, bar, sporting events, and other social events return to previous levels. 

However, I still question how soon that will be. Bill Gates was quoted in a recent Wired article that he suspects we still have between 18 and 30 months before we have a consistent semblance of pre-COVID normalcy in our societies. 
And that makes me feel like, for the rich world, we should largely be able to end this thing by the end of 2021, and for the world at large by the end of 2022. --Bill Gates
If Gates' prediction is accurate, then the temporary nature of the GDP decrease starts to become much more permanent. 
In other readings about the impact of COVID on society and industry, the New York Times had an interesting long article on how COVID crushed the fashion industry, and interestingly how it was already imploding over the last few years. I had not realized how much venture capital influenced the fashion industry, but apparently the toxic mindset of needing quick profits and immediate results was a crushing blow to several small fashion houses. Added to this was the collapse of traditional retail channels, and the fashion industry was ripe for failure just as COVID came along. It is an interesting article as much about bubble economies as COVID. 
Picture
New Music:
I highlighted the band Dead Horses in last week's entry, and mentioned that I was looking forward to checking out their February release of the EP entitled "Birds". After a few listens through, I definitely enjoy the album but I do not find the personal connection that I did with "My Mother The Moon". Still, they are a good duo with good music. 

That is it for new music this week. So much time was spent outside that I did not have much time to dig into anything new. 

New Beers:
Even though I was on holidays and even though the weather was super warm for most of the week, I only had two beers. The first was a great hot weather beer, and the other was unfortunately something that would have been better in cooler weather.

The first beer was the hot weather hit, the Big Chutes Lager from Freehold Brewing in Calgary. ​This is a very good lager, which is a style I tend to dismiss fairly consistently. Big Chutes was clean and very drinkable and is definitely worth keeping around the house, even on less than blisteringly warm days. (3.75 / 5)

The second beer was the Parkway Porter from Folding Mountain Brewing. I was sitting 200 m from the brewery and taproom when I drank this, which is always a nice way to enjoy a beer. It was really hot when I drank it, and a porter is not really a great beer for the heat. I will have to have it again when it is cooler to check my rating. (3.25 / 5)
Picture
New Words:
I picked up a few new words this week, and as you can see, they are all words that are outdated or archaic, which speaks to the setting in the story I was reading at the time. 

scuttle
[ˈskədl]
NOUN
  1. (Nautical) A small, usually circular window in a ship's side. A porthole. 

ague
[ˈāˌɡyo͞o]
NOUN
  1. (archaic) malaria or some other illness involving fever and shivering.

counterpane
[ˈkoun(t)ərˌpān]
NOUN
  1. (dated) a bedspread.

logorrhea
[ˌlôɡəˈrēə]
NOUN
  1. a tendency to extreme loquacity.

ruction
[ˈrəkSHən]
NOUN
  1. (informal) a disturbance or quarrel.
  2. unpleasant reactions to or complaints about something.

slaver
[ˈsla-vər]
INTRANSITIVE VERB
  1. drool, slobber
TRANSITIVIE VERB
  1. (archaic) to smear with or as if with saliva
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019

    Categories

    All
    Afro
    Alberta
    Autobiography
    Beer
    Beers
    Birds
    Book
    Books
    Canada
    Capitalism
    Censorship
    China
    Climate
    Club
    Coffee
    Comics
    Covid
    CRISPR
    Cryptography
    Cycling
    Data
    Daylight
    Disaster
    Drawing
    Drugs
    Economics
    Edmonton
    Equality
    Family
    Festivals
    Fire
    Fishing
    Food
    Freedoms
    Fundraising
    Games
    Gaming
    Genealogy
    Goals
    Healthcare
    History
    Hockey
    Holidays
    Humanism
    Hunting
    Idiot
    Information
    Innovation
    Intelligence
    Internet
    Interviews
    Introvert
    IT
    Kickstarter
    Knowledge
    Language
    Law
    Lawsuit
    Leadership
    Lego
    Life Lesson
    Longevity
    Morals
    Movies
    Music
    Nature
    Negotiating
    Nuclear
    Philosophy
    Phonetic
    Podcast
    Politics
    Prediction
    Pride
    Privacy
    Quote
    Quotes
    Racism
    Ramen
    Reconciliation
    Reddit
    Religion
    Research
    Retraction
    Russia
    Satire
    Science
    Security
    Skills
    Sociology
    Space
    Speaking
    Star Wars
    Stream
    Surveillance
    Tea
    Theory
    Throwaway
    Tour
    Transit
    Us
    Vacation
    Volunteering
    Vote
    War
    Weather
    Wisdom
    Word
    Words
    Work
    Wrestling
    Writing
    Youth

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Show Notes (Archive)
  • Gaming
  • Long Form
  • About