Sunday/Perfection

Nobody is needy in the market economy because of the fact that some people are rich.--von mises

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To fulfill [Biden’s] vision of an emission-free grid by 2035, the U.S. needs to increase its carbon-free capacity by at least 150%. Expanding wind and solar by 10% annually until 2030 would require a chunk of land equal to the state of South Dakota, according to Princeton University estimates and an analysis by Bloomberg News. By 2050, when Biden wants the entire economy to be carbon-free, the U.S. would need up to four additional South Dakotas to develop enough clean power to run all the electric vehicles, factories, and more.--bloomberg

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An abstract:
This paper studies gender differences in performance in a male‐dominated competitive environment chess tournaments. We find that the gender composition of chess games affects the behaviors of both men and women in ways that worsen the outcomes for women. Using a unique measure of within‐game quality of play, we show that women make more mistakes when playing against men. Men, however, play equally well against male and female opponents. We also find that men persist longer before losing to women. Our results shed some light on the behavioral changes that lead to differential outcomes when the gender composition of competitions varies.


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Sunday/Perfection

Today's is one of the difficult gospels--and insights--of the New Testament: the 'love your neighbor' gospel. Christ's position is almost unfathomable, especially for the times. National hatred was, and is, an elaboration of tribal hatred, something inherent in us. Christianity's broad reassessments--charity, equality of value of the individual--were not just revolutionary, they were unheard of. (Aristotle thought women were incomplete men.) Christ's realignment of thought here was simply stupendous.

And an astonishing demand, a challenge to any non-theologian with an opinion, for Christ is asking for perfection, behavior eerily similar to Christ's coming Passion.

But it seems to be more a tableau, a portrait of the problem rather than a simple solution. Turning one's cheek in Ukraine will be fatal, surrendering your family to slavers almost collaborative. The purity Christ asks for is less a demand than a context, a way of measuring the moral failures that are guaranteed by our natural limits and those of our natural world. Christ's sacrifice is humanity at its purist, his torturers, man at his worst. Between those extremes, Christ expects us not to be Pilate.