04-19-2016, 10:41 PM
More than perhaps any other era, the 1970s had a way of producing pop songs that got little to no respect at the time but that are now regarded as irresistible classics. Songs like Abba’s Dancing Queen, ELO’s Can’t Get It Out of My Head, Stealers Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle with You, or even a ditty like the Partridge Family’s I Woke Up in Love This Morning were once the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. But now they tend to hit our ears like pure gold. What’s changed? It may simply be that these songs, and others like them, were always beloved, but that a certain critical snobbery that was once in the air has now mercifully melted away. Finally, we can just admit it: when it comes to ‘70s pop, we’re all hooked on a feeling.
BBC - Culture - Vinyl: What was the sound that really defined the ‘70s?
Klein's warning sign is the measure's substantial drop over the past few years. As of Friday, the reading stands at 74.8%. "The reading has declined 4.8% from its November 2014 peak," wrote Klein. "Throughout the near five decade history of the series, a slip of a commensurate amount has always coincided with a recession. The second derivative of the chart has also turned more negative to counter any hope for an imminent shift upward in the data."
Capacity utilization US recession - Business Insider
But to get the desired six-pack does take an awful lot of work. In a small randomised controlled trial in Illinois in 2011 one group did daily abdominal exercises while the lucky control group did none. After six weeks detailed measurements were taken and it was found that the sit-ups made no difference to waist size or the amount of fat around their stomachs.
BBC - Future - The surprising downsides of sit-ups
Don't expect a spinoff of "Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills" to hit China anytime soon. As part of its efforts to downplay inequality, China's media regulator has just banned the children of celebrities from appearing on reality television, according to Chinese news agencies.
China bans rich kids from reality TV: Reports
Humans have a terrible track record of predicting financial crises in time to fend them off. Some computer scientists think that algorithms might help. Given the right information, some crises can be foreseen. In “The Big Short,” Michael Lewis told the story of the scattered few who saw the imbalance growing in the mortgage market and profited as a result. Over decades, academic research has shown that many banking crises come with early warning signals, such as rapidly increasing debt and leverage. Yet economists and policy makers routinely miss such danger signs, in part because the financial world is so complex.
The Financial Threats That Machines Can See - Bloomberg View