Author: kumbhorg

One often-repeat­ed anec­dote about Mil­ton Fried­man has the famous econ­o­mist vis­it­ing a canal under con­struc­tion in nine­teen-six­ties Chi­na. Notic­ing the sheer num­ber of human labor­ers dig­ging away with shov­els, he asked the offi­cial in charge why they weren’t get­ting the work done faster with exca­va­tors and oth­er mod­ern machines. The bureau­crat explained to him that doing it by hand cre­at­ed more jobs. Fried­man’s reply: “If it’s jobs you want, you should give those men spoons instead.” Whether or not this exchange ever actu­al­ly hap­pened, it illus­trates a con­flict that’s arisen more than once in the his­to­ry of civ­i­liza­tion, pos­si­bly since…

The NBA has lost a beloved alum. Michael Sweetney—the Georgetown University student who went on to play four seasons in the NBA—has died at age 43, as first announced by his wife India Sweetney.   “With the heaviest hearts, we are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our beloved Michael,” India wrote in a heartbreaking Facebook post Sept. 17. “To know Mike Sweetney was to [love] him. No one loved him more and he loved no one more than his family.” A cause of death has not yet been shared for the retired Knicks player, who was pronounced dead…

As a considerable fan of the Resident Evil series of survival horror video games, I had the constant image of the famous Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme in my head while watching Zach Cregger’s hardcore splatter homage. Yet with this studied adaptation he has coined a new, acceptable method of fan service, where those little nostalgic cues are either baked into the narrative or take a cogent place within the backdrop. They never feel like little in-film marketing prompts, desperately reminding you that, as soon as you’ve left the cinema, you need to go and purchase a bunch of merchandise.An original series of films, many of…

New Space Capitalism: The Entrepreneurial Path to the Stars By Rainer ZitelmannSkyhorse Publishing, 2026.Pp. 304, $32.99 (hardcover). The 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey was eerily prescient. On a mission to Jupiter, astronauts Frank and Dave get their news on the equivalent of an iPad, something that would not be invented until 2010. And when their onboard computer, HAL, goes rogue, the narrative anticipates today’s anxieties about artificial intelligence with uncanny precision. The film also foresaw the expansion of business and commerce into space. One character travels to the moon on Pan Am. He stops at an orbiting Hilton, which…

Some stuff I am reading today morning: Noel Tata Vs N Chandra (TT) Noel Tata to provide exit to SP Group (TT) NSE’s big market bet (BI) Sellside Research: Solar Industries (ICICI Direct) Promoter buying in 4 SME Stocks (FE) Gold & Silver Vs The Fed (DR) Chinese solar panels drop to 12 cents per Watt (OP) A tale of two Chinas (Lombard Odier) Every Moat becomes Moot (Kyle Harrison) The era of AI warfare has arrived (FT) Discover more from Alpha Ideas Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Gautam Gambhir has provided an update on Hardik Pandya’s fitness and explained why the all-rounder was not considered for India’s upcoming white-ball series against the West Indies. Gambhir said Pandya is currently not in a position to bowl 10 overs in an ODI and stressed that India does not want to rush him back into international cricket.Hardik Pandya has been out of competitive action since the IPL 2026 season and is now set to use the India A assignment against Australia as an opportunity to regain match fitness. Recent reports have indicated that the selectors want him to demonstrate that…

Manchester City youngster Floyd Samba described his senior debut as “mind-blowing” after netting a brace in the 5–0 EFL Cup third-round demolition of Norwich City at the Etihad Stadium. The 17-year-old forward – son of former Blackburn Rovers and QPR defender Chris Samba – took centre stage as Enzo Maresca’s heavily rotated side easily swept aside Championship opposition to set up a fourth-round tie against Brighton & Hove Albion. FLOYD SAMBA again!! 🌟The 17-year-old curls one in to score his second on his Man City debut with his dad Christopher watching on in the stands 👏 pic.twitter.com/fJ5mfEWBx1— Sky Sports Football…

The Chris Johnson Show: Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie during the “Would Wild Let Hughes Walk?” episode, talking about the Minnesota Wild and Quinn Hughes and what is going on there. Would the Wild let him walk to free agency if they can’t get him re-signed? Is money or playing with his brothers more important? McKenzie: “… let’s move on to Quinn Hughes. We’ve kind of teased that situation enough. He’s extension-eligible, but no deal has been done as of yet. Just to read a bit of a quote that he gave during the player media tour a couple days…

“I think it’s wonderful that people can get to hear the early Davie Jones music,” said Dana Gillespie, an early collaborator of Bowie’s. She met him after a performance at the Marquee Club in London when Bowie was 17. “They’re songs that don’t really sound like David but it’s him trying to find his voice. He was experimenting.”Gillespie became close friends with Bowie, eventually working with him on his “Ziggy Stardust” album. Talmy worked with both artists and Bowie’s song “Andy Warhol”, on his fourth studio album, was originally written for Gillespie.”He was very driven,” remembered Gillespie, who is still…

Two years ago, Bitcoin-backed digital credit barely existed. Today it’s a roughly $16 billion market and Dan Hillery of UXTO thinks the financialization layer on top of Bitcoin could one day rival the network itself. In the debut episode of The Allocators Edge, Hillery breaks down how variable-rate preferred securities like STRC and SATA are priced, why buybacks keep them anchored near $100 par, and what separates digital credit risk from digital equity risk. He also walks through the structured credit fund he’s building, including its senior and junior tranches. 0:00 — Digital Credit Is the Fastest-Growing Part of Bitcoin’s…