SatStats

On this day:1634
The Burchardi flood – “the second Grote Mandrenke” killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
1649
Sack of Wexford: After a ten-day siege, English New Model Army troops (under Oliver Cromwell) stormed the town of Wexford, killing over 2,000 Irish Confederate troops and 1,500 civilians
1809
Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder’s Stand.

*

Most scientific breakthroughs result from accidents that smart people recognize as important. Breakthroughs are not determined by committees, even Nobel Committees, by the consensus of experts, or by Congressional legislation.--Happer

***

The industrial revolution in England was spurred by the loosening of long-held guild rules, a change that allowed skilled workers to move among towns and trades. In other nations, more centralized control hampered inventors and investors.

***

MIT engineers have developed a printable aluminum alloy that can withstand high temperatures and is five times stronger than traditionally manufactured aluminum.

***

A Word

noli me tangere

MEANING:

noun: 1. Someone or something that must not be touched or interfered with.
2. A warning against touching or meddling.
3. Any of various plants whose seed capsules burst open when touched.
adj.: Relating to prohibition or fear of being touched.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin noli me tangere (do not touch me), from noli (do not), imperative of nolle (to be unwilling) + me (me) + tangere (to touch). Earliest documented use: 1398.

NOTES:
In John 20:17, the resurrected Jesus says to Mary Magdalene: “Noli me tangere” or “Touch me not” (also translated as: Do not cling to me.) Since then the term has been applied to things that are best left alone. You could say noli me tangere is Latin for: “This isn’t a touch screen.”

USAGE:
“[Tarquin Winot’s] fascination with his own text, like all things narcissistic, is half-alluring, half-repellent; a come-on to the reader and a noli me tangere.”
James Lasdun; Suddenly Last Supper; The Village Voice (New York); May 28, 1996.

***

Biden is getting radiation for his prostate cancer, a disease that seems to be diffuse throughout his bones, is detectable with a blood test but, even though he was also president during his Regency, he was apparently undiagnosed.

***

SatStats

Last year, around 15% of handsets sold globally were feature phones — nearly 210 million devices, with a value of $3.2 billion, he said. But only 1.7 million of that total were sold in North America, and only 12 million in Europe, largely in Central and Eastern Europe.

*

Among 13-year-olds, the share of students who report that they read for fun on their own time, almost every day, fell almost by half from 27 percent in 2012 to 14 percent in 2023. The share who say they never or hardly ever read for fun on their own jumped from 22 percent to 31 percent over that same period.

*

The growing 'cousin gap.' “If everyone hypothetically went from having five kids to having four kids, that would mean one less sibling for each child. But it would yield a much bigger decrease in first cousins: Instead of a child having four aunts or uncles who each have five kids—20 cousins—they would have three aunts or uncles who each have four kids, for a total of 12.” Atlantic.
And: “Only about 6 percent of adult cousins live in the same census tract (typically about the size of a neighborhood); the rest live an average of 237 miles apart.”

*

China’s commercial airlines are limited to using 20% of its airspace, giving rise to an average route curvature of 17% compared to 5% in the US and Europe

*


The year-over-year increase in active housing inventory in June is 28.9%, a post-pandemic high but still below pre-pandemic levels as delistings from sellers choosing to wait out the market grew at an even faster pace, according to Realtor.com.

*

What happened when Spain brought back the Wealth Tax in 2011? Using variation in exposure, this paper finds: – No drop in savings, but drop in taxable wealth—mainly via legal avoidance – Asset shifting caused most revenue loss – Estimated revenue loss was 2.75x initial 2011 rev.

*

There's a lot of interesting stuff in this report.

Japan this month said there were a total of 686,000 Japanese births in 2024, falling below 700,000 for the first time since records began in the 19th century and defying years of policy efforts to halt population decline.

The total represented the ninth straight year of decline and pushed the country’s total fertility rate — the average number of children born per woman over her lifetime — to a record low of 1.15…

The median forecast produced by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) in 2023 did not foresee the number of annual births — which does not include children born to non-Japanese people — dropping into the 680,000 range until 2039.

*

When Paul Skenes files for arbitration in 2027, the first year he’s eligible, he figures to be awarded in excess of $30 million.

*

Beijing recently highlighted its economic disarray by suppressing data confirming it. Having reported a youth unemployment rate of 21.3 percent in June — or misreported what might have been above 30 percent — Beijing released no data about youth unemployment in July, thereby fueling speculation about how much worse it now is.

*

Chatbots are only 3% of the search market. Google maintains a 90%+ market share.

*

The Shanghai Stock Exchange composite rose 105% in one day in 1992.

3 of the 10 largest economies in the world - China, India and Brazil - are emerging markets and account for almost 25% of global GDP.

Since their introduction as an asset class in 1988, EM equities have outperformed developed markets.

*

Kentucky has the highest concentration of people with weight-loss drug prescriptions of any state in the US.

*

Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced to death in Vietnam's largest financial fraud case ever. She was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion - nearly 3% of the country's 2022 GDP.

*

France just lost its fifth PM in two years.