Random Thoughts: Lessons for Richardson, Texas?

2025-05-06: Lessons for Richardson, Texas?
"In the early 2020s, the economic model that had sustained Chinese economic growth since 2008 basically collapsed. This model was based on massive real estate investment — the biggest development boom in the history of the world. Real estate sales funded local governments, so local governments basically approved and supported any and all development that would increase the value of land."
Thoughts on Sinofuturism - by Noah Smith
noahpinion.blog/p/thoughts-on-...

POTD: Nærøyfjord

"Steep walls touch the clouds,
Mountains cradle mirrored skies.
Nature's breath is cold."

— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 07 09 Flam

Today's photo-of-the-day shows the Nærøyfjord in Norway. "The narrow fjord is a branch of the large Sognefjord. The 11 mile long fjord is only 500 metres wide in some parts." "The Nærøyfjord has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has also been rated by the National Geographic Society as the world's number one natural heritage site along with the Geirangerfjord."

A bonus photo is after the jump.

POTD: Undredal

"Fjord hugs quiet town,
Goats outnumber village folk.
Brown cheese slowly cures."
— h/t ChatGPT

From 2024 07 09 Flam

Today's photo-of-the-day shows Undredal, Norway. "Undredal is a small village in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The popular tourist destination of Undredal is located along the Aurlandsfjorden which is a branch off the massive Sognefjorden in Norway's 'fjord-country.' It sits along the Aurlandsfjorden, about 5 kilometres south of the mouth to the Nærøyfjord."

Book Review: The Vegetarian

From The Vegetarian, by Han Kang:

Amazon

"As far as I was concerned, the only reasonable grounds for altering one’s eating habits were the desire to lose weight, an attempt to alleviate certain physical ailments, being possessed by an evil spirit, or having your sleep disturbed by indigestion. In any other case, it was nothing but sheer obstinacy for a wife to go against her husband’s wishes as mine had done."

TIL: Manufacturing in America is Going Strong

The appeal of MAGA is an imagined past where America used to make things, before globalization took all the manufacturing overseas. Today I learned that the basis for that belief is just wrong. The graph above shows why. America is still making stuff — about ten times more today than we made in 1947, in inflation-adjusted dollars. That's stuff made right her in the USA, not in China. What gives? Why don't we have ten times more Americans working to produce those goods? That's because of a growth in productivity. While we're making ten times more, the number of Americans working in manufacturing has stayed pretty much flat from 1947 to 2025. Productivity growth through technology, not globalization, is the more important story here.