“When money is free, crazy ideas get funded. When money has a price, funders and investors want to see a direct link to value. That means ideological pet projects are the first to go.”--Greene
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The Pirates have optioned catcher Henry Davis, infielder Nick Yorke, and outfielder Billy Cook to Triple-A.
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A fascinating review of Snow White centers on the famous question before the talking mirror, "Who is the fairest," which has always been about beauty. But in the remake, fair is fairness; the queen isn't fair because queens benefit from unequal and unfair economic distribution. This is a movie about how stealing is justified because of the evil queen's economic policies. She's not fair because her privilege and selfishness have impoverished ordinary people!
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Betting on the Pope
The Sixteenth Century was a golden era of gambling in Italy, especially in Church affairs and choosing a new Pope.
Sensali — essentially bookies — took bets on everything from the outcome of pregnancies to the identities of new cardinals. Like a Renaissance version of the Polymarket comments section, newsletters sprang up promising insider information on the Vatican’s current thinking. These bets straddled the line between savvy financial hedging and complete degeneracy:
Unsurprisingly, these practices undermined the spiritual authority of the process — and the Church wanted it stopped. In response to poor Cardinal Carafa (the guy falsely accused of being dead), the cardinals ordered the rumor-spreaders to the gallows, and their possessions seized. Meanwhile, popes started issuing bulls trying to shut down the betting markets as early as 1562.
In 1591, the hammer came down. Pope Gregory XIV issued Cogit Nos, a bull punishing a bet on papal duration or conclave outcomes with excommunication.--from No Dumb Ideas
The Sixteenth Century was a golden era of gambling in Italy, especially in Church affairs and choosing a new Pope.
Sensali — essentially bookies — took bets on everything from the outcome of pregnancies to the identities of new cardinals. Like a Renaissance version of the Polymarket comments section, newsletters sprang up promising insider information on the Vatican’s current thinking. These bets straddled the line between savvy financial hedging and complete degeneracy:
In theory, the cardinals were locked in; in reality, brokers were constantly informed on the results of voting, and newsletters circulated with the latest updates from the conclave. Attempts to stop this, including reinforcing the walls of the conclave and arresting brokers, only slowed the process.“Throughout the entire first half of 1584, Rome remained stirred by the possibility that Gregory XIII would make an important trip to his hometown of Bologna. Brokers took bets on whether he would go or not, when he would go, and for how long he would go. The wagering centered on part of a larger discussion. Gregory XIII was very sick throughout that year, and many clergy and papal officials — even Philip II of Spain — worried he might die in Bologna and what repercussions that event could have for the city of Rome.”
— J. Hunt, Betting on the Papal Election in Sixteenth-Century Rome
Unsurprisingly, these practices undermined the spiritual authority of the process — and the Church wanted it stopped. In response to poor Cardinal Carafa (the guy falsely accused of being dead), the cardinals ordered the rumor-spreaders to the gallows, and their possessions seized. Meanwhile, popes started issuing bulls trying to shut down the betting markets as early as 1562.
In 1591, the hammer came down. Pope Gregory XIV issued Cogit Nos, a bull punishing a bet on papal duration or conclave outcomes with excommunication.--from No Dumb Ideas
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