Our Anxious Futures

[nicejewishguy]

Wtf is sephora

It sounds scary

[starcades]

isn’t that the guy with the long white hair from final fantasy

[venatus]

no your thinking of sephiroth, a sephora is an angel belonging to the highest order of angels

[punlich]

No you’re thinking of a Seraph

A sephora is a second year college or high school student

[one-eyed-pom]

No, you’re thinking of sophomore. A sephora is when you use your phone to take a picture of yourself.

[lethalneuroses]

no, you’re thinking of a selfie. a sephora is a calm breeze.

[waffle-sorter]

No, you’re thinking of a zephyr. A sephora is one of those Greek vases with the two handles and the pictures.

[leeshajoy]

You’re thinking of an amphora. Sephora is the web browser you have to use on iOS devices.

[animatedamerican]

You’re thinking of Safari.  Sephora is an informal term for the seven-week period of counting the days between Pesach and Shavuot in the Jewish calendar.

[hhertzof]

You’re thinking of Sefiras. Sephora is a bright blue gemstone best known for combining with Ruby to create Garnet and lead the Crystal Gems, training Pokemon, and/or assisting Steel to fight against time’s intrusions into our realm.

[rareandradiant-maiden]

No, you’re thinking of sapphire. Sephora is actually a part of a flower; it protects the flower in bud and supports the petals in bloom.

[jewishdragon]

No, you’re thinking of sepal. Sephora is the wife of Moses, who lead the Israelites people out of Egypt. 

[osheamobile]

No, you’re thinking of Tzipporah. Sephora was an ancient Greek poet who inspired a lot of lady-lovin’.

[jeremywhitley]

No, you’re thinking of Sappho.

Sephora is the youngest of the five Marx brothers.

[optimysticals]

No, you’re thinking of Zeppo.

Sephora is the Heimdall’s sister.

[flatbear]

No no no guys, you’re thinking of Sif. Sephora is a venereal disease that turns your brain to swiss cheese, going so far as to destroy external features like the nose. Famous gangster Al Capone suffered from sephora.

[corruptinnocent]

No, you’re thinking of syphilis. Sephora is that radiant feeling you get when you have found perfect peace and happiness.

[emceescabaret-deactivated201812]

No, you’re thinking of euphoria. Sephora’s a fucking makeup store you dipshits.

[alexexotic]

Only blogging because this is my favorite tumblr post and i can never find it when I need to.

[anxiousfutures]

If every person on Earth adopted a vegan diet – without milk, meat, honey, or any other animal-sourced foods – the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the

In class we have talked a lot about the Anthropocene and the bleak state our future will be if we continue on the trajectory we are on of self destruction. Though, we have not discussed many options for how we can take some real responsibility for the degradation of our environment. This article discusses the potential befits mother earth would have if the entire world went vegan. I know this is never actually going to happen but every single time we consume with consciousness we are making a difference. It may seem like an incredibly small difference but I am of the opinion that we need to try to do what ever we can to help the planet. If we continue to blame capitalism, huge corporations, other nations, certain groups of people, etc. then the blame game will with out a doubt end in our collective destruction. We did not ask to burden these consequences but neither will our future generations and we all need to start taking responsibility for the future of our world.

 Also, Dan’s last video he played on Tuesday seemed to stir up quite the reaction within the class, but if we are not taking responsibility to clean up our world then why would we want to create a new generation that will only have to suffer due to our over-indulgence, ignorance, and lack of responsibility. It is honestly unfair to the next generation to leave them with this mess of a world we are creating. 

[tournesollaid-deactivated201801]

I have a feeling, in a few years people are going to be doing what they always do when the economy tanks. They will be blaming immigrants and poor people.

Mark Baum (The Big Short)  

CCID: aaladha #gradedpost #week13

This quote is from the movie “The Big Short”. The movie’s central theme revolved around the finance industries irresponsible actions which lead to the meltdown of the world economy. The quote is important and relevant to our class as it focuses on politics and the finance side of things. Prior to the Holocaust, the economy was going down and the scapegoats were the Jewish people. With Donald’s Trumps campaign, the scapegoats became the immigrants which is interesting as history is repeating itself.  

[anxiousfutures]

Renewables cut Europe's carbon emissions by 10% in 2015, says EEA

European Environment Agency reports solar and and wind is reducing fossil fuel dependency but clean energy capacity still not growing fast enough

In 2015, the use of renewable energy helped Europe cut its fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by about 10%. The use of renewable energy has been rose to 16.7% in Europe. Although the use of renewable energy is making progress, it still not fast enough to prevent the high fuel emission and the accelerating global warming. The European Environment Agency (EEA) suggests the EU should achieve 20% emission cut and 20% renewable energy usage by 2020, and bigger targets by 2030 and 2050.

The use of fossil fuel is a well-known reason of climate change, it is good to know the use of renewable energy is making progress and has replaced tons of oil usage. Nevertheless, people still need to work on making renewable energy economical in order to reduce more greenhouse gas emission.

[anxiousfutures]

Ask A Banker: What's A Derivative?

I will tell you what a derivative is, but I will take a while to get there, and you may feel cheated. That is okay. If you want to understand derivatives, you must learn to live with uncertainty, and also with feeling cheated.

This article, posted on eClass this week, thoroughly explains the meaning of a derivative. As well, it also explains the effect that graphs can have on decision making. The author goes on to explain the way banking derivatives can be understood using graphs, and mentions that there is a high level of uncertainty when creating these graphs. 

Graphs can be very persuasive when used for convincing, and are used in many domains. For example, in the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore presents a graphical analysis for which he climbs a latter to reach the top of a set of exponential data points, emphasizing the effects of climate change.

In one study participants were divided in two groups: one group read prompt that described the efficiency of a new medicine, while the other group saw a graph that showed that people that took the new medicine compared to a placebo group were 45% less likely to be ill. As a result, 96% of people in the “graph group” said that the drug would truly reduce illness, while only 67% of people in the “test group” said the medicine would work. 

It can be argued that instances like the ones above take place because graphs (and formulas) are associated with scientists, which are highly respected groups of people in our society. On the other hand, it can be argued that people better understand graphs because visual information is processed differently in the brain compared to written text. 

I believe that persuasion associated with using graphs is closely related to themes in the movie The Big Short, and even the investing domain as a whole. The Big Short paints a picture of a system that relies on glorified (and falsified) data - namely, the attractive tripe-A-bond-investing opportunities that played a big role in the world wide economic crash of 2008. While graphs provide a scientific basis, triple A bonds provide numerical and economic basis. Nonetheless, both use different types of credibility to reach a shared goal: persuasion. 

[anxiousfutures]

Stockholm "terrorist" truck attack causes deaths, injuries: officials

Eyewitnesses said there was panic at the scene after the truck plowed into the Ahlens department store in the city's downtown.

The incident comes two weeks after a man rammed a car through crowds in London and killed four civilians before stabbing to death a police officer. As we can see, it is too easy to launch a terrorist attack only a truck could do a lot of damage. The low cost of terrorist attack now is a huge issue How do we prevent those things happened again and how to identify a person buying a gun for hunting rather than killing someone ? We need to deal with those things from the very beginning and let those security agencies make more preparation. Terrorists just want us lving in fear but we still need to stand up and continue our lives and show that we are not afraid.

[robertreich]

#4. BUST UP WALL STREET

When Americans think of how the economic rules are stacked against them, they naturally think of Wall Street. 

When the Wall Street bubble burst in 2008 because of excessive risk-taking, millions of working Americans lost their jobs, health insurance, savings, and homes.

But The Street is back to many of its old tricks. And its lobbyists are busily rolling back the Dodd-Frank Act, intended to prevent another crash.

The biggest Wall Street banks are also much larger. In 1990, the five biggest banks had 10 percent of all of the nation’s banking assets. Now, they have 44 percent – more than they had at the time of the 2008 crash.

They have a virtual lock on taking companies public, play key roles pricing commodities, are involved in all major U.S. mergers and acquisitions and many overseas, and responsible for most of the trading in derivatives and other complex financial instruments.  

And as they’ve gained dominance over the financial sector, they’ve become more politically potent. They’re major sources of campaign funds for both Republicans and Democrats.

Wall Street banks supply personnel for key economic posts in Republican and Democratic administrations, and lucrative employment to economic officials when they leave Washington.

It’s a vicious cycle. The bigger they get, the more likely it is that government will bail them out if they get into trouble again. This, in turn, confers on them an ever-larger competitive advantage over smaller, community-minded banks that don’t have the implied guarantee – which gives the biggest banks even more economic and political power.

What should be done?

First, resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act that used to separate investment from commercial banking.

Second, put a small sales tax on every financial transaction. This would discourage speculation and slow down the casino. Not incidentally, such a tax could generate billions of dollars a year for, say, better schools.

But the most important thing we should do is bust up the big banks. Any bank that’s too big to fail is too big, period.

Antitrust law should be used the way it was against the big oil trusts and the telephone monopoly. The idea was to prevent too much economic and political power from concentrating in too few hands. And that’s precisely the problem with Wall Street.

The only sure way to stop excessive risk-taking on Wall Street so you don’t risk losing your job or your savings or your home, is to put an end to the excessive economic and political power of Wall Street.

It’s time to bust up the big banks.

[anxiousfutures]

This post goes over the general point of what the movie “The Big Short” explained about what lead to  the bubble burst of wall street in 2008, as well as it goes over what should be done to limit the big banks on how much economic and political power they hold over and that if the big banks keep on doing what their doing there will be no difference at all

[anxiousfutures]

The Big Short: is the next financial crisis on its way?

Steve Eisman saw the last crash coming and was portrayed in an Oscar-winning film. Now he believes Europe’s banks, especially Italy’s, are at risk

This article mentions about the next financial crisis will most possibly occur in Italy. The reason for that is the banks there are stuffed with “non-performing loans” (NPLs). Borrowers are barely paying the loans handed out to companies and households, and the Italian banks have not written down those loans. Instead, billions upon billions are still on the books, written down as worth about 45% to 50% of their original value. What Eisman found is that the NPLs should be valued at just 20% of their original price. If the Italian banks recognise their loans at their true value, it wipes out their capital, and they go bust overnight.

“What is very negative is that in every country in Europe, the largest owner of that country’s sovereign bonds are that country’s banks,” Eisman says. As the bonds decline in value, then the capital base of the banks deteriorates.

ccid: jnian

[anxiousfutures]

U.S. launches missiles at Syrian base over chemical weapons attack

President Bashar al-Assad 'choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children,' President Donald Trump said in remarks from Florida.

This decision by Trump can be seen in so many different ways. It was a bold move and is going to be greatly criticized.

This attack cost millions of dollars. For this kind of money, I think that Trump should have consulted with a lot more people and done more research before hand.

This brings up the idea of whose in control. Does the states have the right to intervene in other countries affairs? I think that when a country has been making chemical attacks, like Syria was, other counties should consider using their resources to protect the people of that country.

The fact that Trump only attacked the perimeter of the air base was a good decision in my opinion. He sent a strong message that they need to clean up their act because the US has what it takes to do it for them. 

[anxiousfutures]

Zacharie Rabehi's ethereal photos document some of New Delhi's most polluted sites.

These pictures are of river Yamuna, which is considered to be one of the longest and the holiest rivers in India along with the river Ganga. It is the river on whose banks the ‘Taj Mahal’ exists.                                                                                                     At a first glance, someone might think that it is a layer of snow on the river but actually it is foam formed due to the untreated chemical sewage being dumped into the river from industries. The Hindus still bath and pray in the river Yamuna because they consider it to be sacred. These common people are too naive to understand the harms of taking bath and using water from an intoxicated river. For them their river is still holy and pure as it had been from centuries. But the present massive industrialization and urbanization has changed everything. Our land, our air and our rivers are not the same anymore. The domestic and industrial waste has polluted the river Yamuna to such an extent that now it is almost impossible to reverse it!

-Karanvir Sangha (kssangha)

[anxiousfutures]

The picture depicts the effects of American crisis on the rest of world as alluded to in the movie “The big short”.The bursting of the US’s housing economy in 2006 impacted not only Americans but had a domino effect on rest of the global economy. The effects resonated and resulted in the global financial crisis and recession. The crisis were a result of the fact that the mortgage debts exceeded the values of the house and for one sixth of the homes, the debt had risen 20% higher than the price of house. 

In Canada as a result of these crisis an economic slowdown was observed. As a result of America being Canada’s largest trading partner the trembling of american economy resulted in a weaker Canadian exports and further created problems for the manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the economic slowdown also serves as a barricade in the advancement of the strong Canadian energy and natural resources sector and resulted in their sufferings. Thus, despite of feeling insulated towards the America’s worst financial crisis, the effects have resonated in our nation and continue to effect our economy even today. Although indirect, as a result of the American mortgage crisis, several of the Canadian factors slowed down and stumbled due to the resonating effects.

Globally the effects were felt in almost all of the major global economies. As a result of the mortgage crisis and stumbling of their major ally economies, the European nations especially suffered a big loses and crashes in their economies. The Greece economy was destroyed with majority of people losing their funds and other countries right behind.

CCID: smshah

[anxiousfutures]

Slated to launch in 2018, NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 mission will observe sea ice thickness, an essential measurement of Earth's climate.

In March, the Arctic sea ice pack is supposed to reach its greatest extent. Satellite observations currently reveal how much of the ocean surface is covered by ice, but there is another critical measurement to make. Satellites have been continuously measuring sea ice since 1979, and have mapped the downward trend of ice extent. Determining the thickness of the remote sea ice pack, however, is difficult with existing tools. And it’s an essential measurement.

ccid:zyixin

[anxiousfutures]

This article does really well in combining the concepts we discussed in class. With overwhelming evidence and classroom discussions, climate change is no doubt happening. In addition, the consequences of climate change are already showing to be detrimental. Whether the consequences are frequent and violent natural disasters, increasing global temperatures, or violation of human rights, all can lead to severe effects on human psychology. PhD psychologist Susan Clayton discusses some of the phenomena caused by climate change, including global increases in PTSD rates and other mental illnesses. She also discusses some of the therapeutic interventions that are currently under study, which can be used to treat the increasing number of people that are psychologically affected by climate change. Many of these psychological effects can lead to general health issues if not dealt with, which could decrease life expectancy in humans. Therefore, it is critical that studies such as Dr. Clayton's are focused upon, especially when the effects of climate change are constantly becoming more severe. CCID: jingru3

[anxiousfutures]

Barely 18 months after the historic Paris Climate Agreement, only 3 (of 27) European countries are on track to meet or exceed their emissions targets.

What happens when environmental reform lives outside the overwhelmingly dominant political and economic discourse? Business as usual. As “The Big Short” and “The Great American Bubble Machine” illicit, these patterns of exploitation will persist indefinitely.

If a cap-and-trade system was ever established in America, the results could be disastrous. Thankfully, the majority of Canada seems to be on board with a carbon tax. An explicit and known price is the preferred method of carbon levy by both industry and consumers.

But even this probably won’t be enough. And the rich continue to get richer.

When does the bubble that we call Global Civilization collapse?

[anxiousfutures]

Roosh V shows a very interesting perspective of the future of the world in this video. He states that the future of the world depends on the differences of nationalism vs. globalism, and which will end up dominating the world. According to Roosh V, the globalists are the most powerful and dominant forces driving the world right now. Although, as we see people like Trump coming into power nationalists are starting to rise up against globalists. In order to maintain power globalists are manipulating their "puppet" polititions into organizing mass immigration all over the world in order to eliminate the nationalists rising power. This will inevitably end in some kind of catastrophe whether it be a nuclear war with Russia or China, or the nationalist movement will be defeated and the authoritarianism and oppression of the police state will be so strong that it will have more power than ever before to control people who support nationalist ideas. I connected this to our class in that this video is an interesting prediction of the future. As well, as the fact that it makes very strong connections to the future of our world and the individuals with the most power many of which are involved with the curroption of Wall Street that we talked about last class. Trump for example will be playing a huge role in the future of the world and he is one of the biggest dogs on Wall Street. I think one of the most important take always from this video is that we all need to be more aware of whether nationalist or globalists are in control of our country as compared to the world in general and what the implications of either having power will be for the future of our world. #gradedpost

[anxiousfutures]

World’s Largest Polluters Set To Meet By Rising Sea. Will Climate Come Up?

One’s a believer and a doer; the other doesn’t buy it. No matter, the threat will be right outside.

The meeting between the leaders of the two largest economies with the highest emission of greenhouse gasses will not be discussing climate change. 

Surprisingly, despite Trump’s claim of climate change being created by the Chinese, neither party will be discussing this. Throughout the article, they discuss how Xi has created changes to reduce emissions and have asked the U.S to attempt to do the same. China will definitely take control of this meeting - especially in regards to climate change. 

With Trump’s current term - there have been no scientific, backed up discussions or claims about climate change. Ignoring this problem, and allowing another leader to bring this topic up shows how much the U.S screwed up with their political choices. 

Hopefully, Xi will be able to bring about changes to the Trump administration concerning climate change for the good of the global population. 

[anxiousfutures]

The world economy is now emerging from the shock of the first global financial crisis and synchronized world-wide recession since the 1930s. Given the perceived sophistication of financial markets, the regulatory and surveil- lance structures established by major countries and interna- tional bodies, and the perception of structural changes to better absorb risk, how did …

This article touches base on some key differences between how the 2008 “Global Recession” played out in both Canada and the US. To say that Canada wasn’t affected by the global financial crisis is misleading, though compared to the US and other European countries like the UK, it held up against the recession fairly well. 

One of the reasons is that Canada has increased regulation of banks, insurance companies, and investment dealers than the US. The Office of Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) of Canada meets on a regular basis with the management behind some of the country's largest financial institutions to make sure these institutions are governed to be as stable as possible. As a result throughout the 2008 recession, Canadian banks remained profitable and continued to give out loans, whereas major banks in the US like Bank of America went bankrupt and had to be bailed out.The article then goes into detail about eight observations made about the entire situation and what possible lessons or reforms could be drawn from them for future reference.

As made clear in the film “The Big Short”, one of the key issues in the US leading up to this issue was that banks were no longer restricting mortgages based on income and financial credibility. They started giving out these so called subprime mortgages to anyone who asked, regardless of that person’s credit history or current employment income. In Canada, government regulations have a set standard that needs to be met first, which requires insurance for high-ratio mortgages.

The combination of all the mentioned regulatory systems and corporate government structure and more is why the World Economic Forum has rated Canada as having the soundest financial system worldwide, and why we weren’t hit as badly as the US when the inevitable happened.