Podcasts about how heavy

How Heavy is Your Record Collection? You can measure it a couple ways. Raw weight. Number of Slayer albums. Quality vs. quantity. This is all really just an excuse to talk more about music and how we consume it and to express even more of our questionable opinions. Music pick of the week: Robot – […]

In this Biome Bite, Dr James McIlroy 3 myths and misconceptions about the gut microbiome. Timecodes: 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:56 Weight of the microbiome 00:04:39 We're more microbial than human 00:07:00 Microbiota is inherited from our mothers  What we're talking about today on this Biome Bite is microbiome myths and misconceptions. We're going to cover 3. There's this lovely article written by Professor Alan Walker, who's been on the podcast, highly recommend you watch and listen to that episode, and Professor Leslie Hoyles and it's in Nature Microbiology, so really nice high-impact scientific journal, and they go through a lot of the things which you hear within this space, be it in social media, be it in when you're speaking to someone who's just generally taking an interest in the microbiome, even in scientific papers, this still comes up, even though it's been refuted and proven to be untrue. Arming Our Listeners With Facts About the Microbiome So we're going to arm you as the listeners to Inside Matters with this knowledge so that you can truly start to become an expert and you've got your finger on the pulse of the field. And if you hear it, you go, I heard on inside matters. That's not true.  So the first one is the human microbiota weighs one to two kg. You hear this a lot, several kilograms, almost like a weight plate at the gym. Wow, that's a lot.  Now although it's mentioned many times in literature, although you hear people talking about it, people say it weighs as much as a grapefruit.  And what the professors do in their papers, they explain that. The majority of the microorganisms reside within the colon,  i. e. the large intestine. And if you've listened to the previous Biome Bites episode, we walk through the digestive tract, the gut, what the gut is, what the digestive system is, how it all links together and how the microbiota fits into all of that.  And in that episode, if you've not listened to it, what we say is that the vast majority of the microbiota, i.e. the microorganisms, particularly bacteria that reside within the body live in the large intestine.  And what's interesting is when you take a stool sample, or we can just use the other word, a poo the microorganisms typically account for roughly 50% of the weight of the faecal solid mass.  This has been published, but also we've done a lot of stool collection and stool analysis in EnteroBiotix. In fact, we may collect more stool regularly and analyze stool in a more in-depth manner than anyone else in the world at the moment.  So we know a fair bit about it. How Heavy is the Microbiome? The size, shape, mass, and composition of stool can vary within an individual and also differ among various people. According to the paper, an average human stool typically weighs less than 200 grams when wet. However, in our experience, we have observed significant variations, which makes it a likely accurate statement. And when you're running a donor program like EnteroBiotix, you actually want to target people who donate larger amounts, but also who have a good ratio of microorganisms versus solids. And that's driven by fibre and fibre content.  Now, they say a really interesting paper in patients or people, unfortunately, who have had a sudden death. The human microbiota, particularly the gut microbiota, plays a crucial role in maintaining our health. The weight of these microorganisms has been the subject of many studies, and recent findings suggest that the total weight is likely to be less than previously thought. In sudden death cases, post-mortem assessments of the total colonic contents have shown a range between 83 to 421 grams. This data challenges earlier estimates that placed the weight of the human microbiota in the range of one to two kilograms. Researchers concluded that barring unusual instances of severe constipation, where an individual's colon is compacted with a large amount of faecal matter, the total weight of the gut microbiota is more likely to be under 500 grams. This new understanding shifts the narrative about the microbiota's mass and provides a more accurate picture of human physiology. It also emphasizes the importance of considering bodily variations and conditions when making generalizations about biological metrics. These findings have significant implications for medical science and nutrition. A more precise understanding of the microbiota's weight can impact how we approach digestive health, the development of probiotics, and the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. It underscores the importance of continual research and reassessment in the scientific field to ensure our knowledge remains as accurate and useful as possible. The human microbiota, particularly the gut microbiota, plays a crucial role in maintaining our health. The weight of these microorganisms has been the subject of many studies, and recent findings suggest that the total weight is likely to be less than previously thought. In sudden death cases, post-mortem assessments of the total colonic contents have shown a range between 83 to 421 grams. This data challenges earlier estimates that placed the weight of the human microbiota in the range of one to two kilograms. Researchers concluded that barring unusual instances of severe constipation, where an individual's colon is compacted with a large amount of faecal matter, the total weight of the gut microbiota is more likely to be under 500 grams. This new understanding shifts the narrative about the microbiota's mass and provides a more accurate picture of human physiology. It also emphasizes the importance of considering bodily variations and conditions when making generalizations about biological metrics. These findings have significant implications for medical science and nutrition. A more precise understanding of the microbiota's weight can impact how we approach digestive health, the development of probiotics, and the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. It underscores the importance of continual research and reassessment in the scientific field to ensure our knowledge remains as accurate and useful as possible. And that's based on the average weight of human stool. And the study shows that the average wasn't backed up by lots of wet research and scientific logs and books, it's just the back of an envelope.  And since then there's been a lot more detailed analysis. and the true figure is probably more like one-to-one. Now that's still really impressive. That is a lot of microorganisms.  And the interesting thing is, just to bring it back to the last point about the number of microorganisms in a stool sample,  whether you're more microbial than human or more human than microbial based on the number of microbial cells on the inside of you versus human cells depends on perhaps when you've been to the toilet.  Because if 50% of your stool which is a sum product of the colonic contents is a microorganism then if you've just been to the loo you may be more human than microbial and vice versa. So a bit of trivia there for you.  The other point to note which is highlighted in the paper is that it probably varies as well depending on where in the world you are. So if you're in a hyper-clean environment, you have less than someone who's living in an environment where there's no soap and no antibiotics like somebody in the jungle somewhere. So pretty interesting stuff.  Now, the last one then,  is that the microbiota is inherited from the mother at birth.  And you hear this one a lot and it usually ties into how someone's been born. So people say things like if you've been born by C-section, you're more likely to have autism or you're more likely to have metabolic syndrome. You're more likely to be obese, all of which are potentially true based on population-based studies, i.e. they take large cohorts of people who have something, in some cases autism, metabolic syndrome, or obesity, and they ask the question, how were you born? And if more people cluster towards a particular birth method than when you take a healthy control group,  then it's possible that this particular factor contributes to the development of the disease or the syndrome or whatever we're talking about here.  The more this is replicated in different parts, the larger the sample size, and the more robust it is. And there have been very large population studies where we've looked at the association between how you've been born and the development of obesity, autism, and certain things like that. And there are indeed correlations, for sure. But it doesn't necessarily mean causation,  it's still interesting though. Bringing it back to this particular point in terms of the microbiota being inherited from the mother.  The other point to this is that if you're being born through the normal route, then the first microorganisms that you come into contact with, the normal being through the vagina are the microorganisms of your mother and the vaginal tract in a natural way.  The alternative approach is if you're born through a C-section, then the first microorganisms you come into contact with.  are the microorganisms from the skin and microorganisms from the surgical room. Some of these are multi-drug resistant and they're not ones you would typically expect to find within the intestinal tract.  How Unique is Your Microbiome? That said, it's not the case that they stay there forever, guaranteed. And the most important years of life are the early years of life, particularly when you've weaned off breast milk or however you've been fed at the time to more solid foods.  And there's a dramatic increase in the diversity of the microbiota over the first couple of years. And I could point you in the direction of a nice book called Dark Matter by someone called Dr James Kinross, whom I hope to have on the podcast, where he talks about just how important those formative years are that said, every adult ends up with a very unique microbiota composition. It's as unique as a fingerprint. How do we know that? We can assess the microbiome in identical twins who have the same genotype,  who've been in the same house, sometimes most of their life, or certainly up until the point of testing, and they have distinct microbiota. So it's the sum of everything you've eaten and everything you've done up until the point of testing.  And there can be dramatic changes, but as you get older, it starts to get a bit more stable.  So although Microbiota assembly from birth is not yet fully understood. We do think that the adult communities are predominantly shaped by the early years of lives and factors such as diet, antibiotic therapy, and host genetics, rather than just being purely inherited from the mother.  So there are three microbiome myths and misconceptions debunked. I hope you've enjoyed it. Thank you so much for supporting the podcast, and for taking an interest in your gut health and your microbiome. I'm open to feedback and we do the five-star reviews. Please keep them coming because it lifts and elevates the podcast across all the channels.

You're surrounded by air everywhere! But, how much does the air weigh? How much does the entire atmosphere weight? Why don't we get crushed into pancakes because of the weight of the air above us? Find out more about air pressure, how it works, and revealing how much air actually weighs in this episode. Here's … Continue reading "Episode 183: How Heavy is the Air?"

Alpha Tales Ep.190 - How Heavy is too Heavy?   Jonny Abbs, Kofi Jordan and Nicholas D Harvey   We are back to bring you more insightful and thought provoking topics that continues to concern and resonate with our communities.   In this Episode, we discuss:  

I love how easy it is to predict things about you based on what you like or dislike.Did you know, for example, that if you buy fresh fennel, you are likely to be a low insurance risk? If you like traditional architecture and old buildings, you are more likely to have a conservative, right-of-centre worldview. Whereas if you like modern architecture, you will lean to the left.For what it's worth, there are plenty of 20th-century buildings that I find beautiful. I like Art Deco; I like Bauhaus stuff; I think a lot of modern US residential architecture is great. But I think a lot of more recent Deconstructivist and Parametric stuff has disappeared up its state-funded backside and has no chance of standing the test of time. Post-war social housing the world over is verging on the sinful, it is so ugly, not a patch on the almshouses built a century before for the same purpose, when mankind was far less “advanced”. Meanwhile, the glass-fronted apartment and office blocks that blight cities worldwide may be nice to look out from, but to look at they are horrible.When I look at, for example, what has been built in Lewisham, Elephant and Castle or along the banks of the Thames, you have to wonder what on earth people were thinking. What a wasted opportunity to build something with beauty that endures.I was looking out on the Thames from Canary Wharf the other day. Here is what we built.Here is what was possible.In any case, it is inevitable that most modern architecture will not be beautiful. Inevitable! It is built into the system. Let me explain why.Yes, there is regulation. When final say falls to the regulator, not the creator, and he/she never thinks in terms of beauty, only rules and career risk, and construction is always planned with his or her approval in mind, you immediately clip your wings and more. Imagine Michelangelo, Rembrandt, or Beethoven requiring regulatory approval for their work. Under this banner falls health and safety, bureaucracy, the technocratic mentality, planning, standardisation of materials and their mass production, and more.But there is something even more fundamental, which makes lack of beauty inevitable. That is the system of measurement itself. In the past, before mass-produced tape measures were a thing, we made do with the most immediate tools we had to measure things: the human body. Traditional weights and measures were all based around the human body. A foot is, well, a foot. A hand is a hand. A span is a hand stretched out. An inch is a thumb. There are four thumbs to a hand, six to a span, 12 to a foot, 18 to a cubit, which is the distance from elbow to fingertip. A yard is a pace, which happens to be three feet as well. A fathom is the arms stretched out - two yards, or six feet. It goes on: a pound is roughly what you can hold comfortably in your hand. A furlong is the distance a man of average fitness can sprint for. A stone is what you can carry without strain. A US pint is a pound of water, enough to quench a thirst, and so on. Man is indeed the measure of all things, to paraphrase Protagoras. Spread the truth about weights and measures.Da Vinci noticed it. “Nature has thus arranged the measurements of a man: four fingers make one palm. And four palms make one foot; six palms make one cubit; four cubits make once a man's height," he says in his notes for Vitruvian Man.It turns out the feet are very similar the world over and have been throughout history. The foot, for example, was the principal unit in the design of Stonehenge. Here are some different feet from around the world and from throughout history:The cubit was the principal unit of the Pyramids. The pound is the oldest measure of all and goes all the way back to the Babylonian mina.Here's the thing: proportion is inherent to traditional weights and measures because they derive from the human body, which is proportionate. We are biologically programmed to find the proportions of the human body attractive. The religious will argue that God made man in his own image. Traditional weights and measures derive, therefore, from God, or his image at least, and so are divine.The metric system, on the other hand, is not based on the human body, but on the earth itself. A metre is supposed to be one 10 millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator (though one of French scientists measuring the distance forged the data, so the measure is flawed). The idea of a system based on the earth itself rather than the human body was to achieve a “universal measure based on the perfection of nature” and “a system for all people for all time” to use the words of those who commissioned the measure in the years after the French Revolution. Metric may have a brilliantly simple and comprehensible design, based around the number 10, but unlike traditional weights and measures, proportion is not intrinsic to it. For the purposes of science and for safety, as I argue in my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, a universal system of weights and measures is a very important thing. Thanks to the simplicity of decimals (again which derive from the human body and the ten fingers we use to count), metric can scale up or down for use in nanotech or in macrotech .As proportion is inherent to traditional weights and measures, buildings based on them will inevitably have inherent proportion and thus all the beauty which comes with proportion. But most of the world now uses metric in its building, which has no inherent proportion, so it becomes inevitable that modern buildings will not have the proportion inherent to older buildings, unless, the architects deliberately plan otherwise, which most of the time they don't. Thus is modern architecture inevitably not beautiful.It's why even functional old buildings, such as barns or warehouses, have a beauty to them. The proportion is inherent in the foundational weights and measures. It is missing in modern buildings.In the past, weights and measures changed, even if only slightly, from region to region. The result was regional diversity in buildings. Using local materials will have added to this regional individuality. But the world over now using the same system of weights and measures, following similar regulations, using similar mass produced materials, means modern architecture will lack beauty the world over. Bland conformity reigns. Even something as foundational as an old brick is proportionate. A brick is a hand in width. For obvious reasons: so a brickie could handle it.In short, unless an architect or builder takes deliberate steps to remedy this problem of proportion, modern buildings will only ever be beautiful by accident. Here's a little irony: if you like traditional weights and measures, you're more likely to be right of centre, favour free markets, individual responsibility - all that kind of stuff. Favour metric, and you're one of those evil left-wing technocrats who champions government intervention, experts and the BBC.Now go tell your friends about this amazing post.Until next time,DominicPS Here is my lecture with funny bits about weights and measures from the Edinburgh Festival in 2022. I think it's probably the best of all my lectures so far.PPS And here is an 5-minute extract from Italian TV series Sense of Beauty, which I presented a few years back, about beauty and architecture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

I love how easy it is to predict things about you based on what you like or dislike.Did you know, for example, that if you buy fresh fennel, you are likely to be a low insurance risk? If you like traditional architecture and old buildings, you are more likely to have a conservative, right-of-centre worldview. Whereas if you like modern architecture, you will lean to the left.For what it's worth, there are plenty of 20th-century buildings that I find beautiful. I like Art Deco; I like Bauhaus stuff; I think a lot of modern US residential architecture is great. But I think a lot of more recent Deconstructivist and Parametric stuff has disappeared up its state-funded backside and has no chance of standing the test of time. Post-war social housing the world over is verging on the sinful, it is so ugly, not a patch on the almshouses built a century before for the same purpose, when mankind was far less “advanced”. Meanwhile, the glass-fronted apartment and office blocks that blight cities worldwide may be nice to look out from, but to look at they are horrible.When I look at, for example, what has been built in Lewisham, Elephant and Castle or along the banks of the Thames, you have to wonder what on earth people were thinking. What a wasted opportunity to build something with beauty that endures.I was looking out on the Thames from Canary Wharf the other day. Here is what we built.Here is what was possible.In any case, it is inevitable that most modern architecture will not be beautiful. Inevitable! It is built into the system. Let me explain why.Yes, there is regulation. When final say falls to the regulator, not the creator, and he/she never thinks in terms of beauty, only rules and career risk, and construction is always planned with his or her approval in mind, you immediately clip your wings and more. Imagine Michelangelo, Rembrandt, or Beethoven requiring regulatory approval for their work. Under this banner falls health and safety, bureaucracy, the technocratic mentality, planning, standardisation of materials and their mass production, and more.But there is something even more fundamental, which makes lack of beauty inevitable. That is the system of measurement itself. In the past, before mass-produced tape measures were a thing, we made do with the most immediate tools we had to measure things: the human body. Traditional weights and measures were all based around the human body. A foot is, well, a foot. A hand is a hand. A span is a hand stretched out. An inch is a thumb. There are four thumbs to a hand, six to a span, 12 to a foot, 18 to a cubit, which is the distance from elbow to fingertip. A yard is a pace, which happens to be three feet as well. A fathom is the arms stretched out - two yards, or six feet. It goes on: a pound is roughly what you can hold comfortably in your hand. A furlong is the distance a man of average fitness can sprint for. A stone is what you can carry without strain. A US pint is a pound of water, enough to quench a thirst, and so on. Man is indeed the measure of all things, to paraphrase Protagoras. Spread the truth about weights and measures.Da Vinci noticed it. “Nature has thus arranged the measurements of a man: four fingers make one palm. And four palms make one foot; six palms make one cubit; four cubits make once a man's height," he says in his notes for Vitruvian Man.It turns out the feet are very similar the world over and have been throughout history. The foot, for example, was the principal unit in the design of Stonehenge. Here are some different feet from around the world and from throughout history:The cubit was the principal unit of the Pyramids. The pound is the oldest measure of all and goes all the way back to the Babylonian mina.Here's the thing: proportion is inherent to traditional weights and measures because they derive from the human body, which is proportionate. We are biologically programmed to find the proportions of the human body attractive. The religious will argue that God made man in his own image. Traditional weights and measures derive, therefore, from God, or his image at least, and so are divine.The metric system, on the other hand, is not based on the human body, but on the earth itself. A metre is supposed to be one 10 millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator (though one of French scientists measuring the distance forged the data, so the measure is flawed). The idea of a system based on the earth itself rather than the human body was to achieve a “universal measure based on the perfection of nature” and “a system for all people for all time” to use the words of those who commissioned the measure in the years after the French Revolution. Metric may have a brilliantly simple and comprehensible design, based around the number 10, but unlike traditional weights and measures, proportion is not intrinsic to it. For the purposes of science and for safety, as I argue in my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, a universal system of weights and measures is a very important thing. Thanks to the simplicity of decimals (again which derive from the human body and the ten fingers we use to count), metric can scale up or down for use in nanotech or in macrotech .As proportion is inherent to traditional weights and measures, buildings based on them will inevitably have inherent proportion and thus all the beauty which comes with proportion. But most of the world now uses metric in its building, which has no inherent proportion, so it becomes inevitable that modern buildings will not have the proportion inherent to older buildings, unless, the architects deliberately plan otherwise, which most of the time they don't. Thus is modern architecture inevitably not beautiful.It's why even functional old buildings, such as barns or warehouses, have a beauty to them. The proportion is inherent in the foundational weights and measures. It is missing in modern buildings.In the past, weights and measures changed, even if only slightly, from region to region. The result was regional diversity in buildings. Using local materials will have added to this regional individuality. But the world over now using the same system of weights and measures, following similar regulations, using similar mass produced materials, means modern architecture will lack beauty the world over. Bland conformity reigns. Even something as foundational as an old brick is proportionate. A brick is a hand in width. For obvious reasons: so a brickie could handle it.In short, unless an architect or builder takes deliberate steps to remedy this problem of proportion, modern buildings will only ever be beautiful by accident. Here's a little irony: if you like traditional weights and measures, you're more likely to be right of centre, favour free markets, individual responsibility - all that kind of stuff. Favour metric, and you're one of those evil left-wing technocrats who champions government intervention, experts and the BBC.Now go tell your friends about this amazing post.Until next time,DominicPS Here is my lecture with funny bits about weights and measures from the Edinburgh Festival in 2022. I think it's probably the best of all my lectures so far.PPS And here is an 5-minute extract from Italian TV series Sense of Beauty, which I presented a few years back, about beauty and architecture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

"How Heavy the Grave Light" Matthew 22:1-14

Another day, another late upload with bad audio. https://linktr.ee/Planetpointlesspodcast https://www.etsy.com/shop/SunflowerChildrenCo 0:00 - High Schoolers are mean, Farmer's Markets 6:00 - Car Corner, Car Group Tea Spill 20:57 - John Broke a Tooth, Shawn hates Dentists 28:26 - Positive Mental Health Talk 30:15 - How Heavy is Too Heavy to Crowdsurf? 34:08 - Feet on the Dash, Rich People Rant 41:52 - Stop Posting Your Kid's First Day 50:30 - When Should Your Kid Get a Phone? 60:32 - Passport Photos, Japan Trip 01:03:32 - Music and Movies 01:09:12 - Outro, Bean-Boozled, Shout-Outs

In this episode of RNT Fitness Radio, I'm joined by Coach Shona and Ivan to discuss the five starting steps to a successful body transformation. If you understand, follow and adhere to these five steps, you will be well on your way to a truly life-changing transformation. If you listen all the way to the end, there's a bonus specific to this episode you can claim, so stay tuned! Book A Call To Start Your Journey!   Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to “RNT Fitness Radio” and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts:     Apple Podcasts   Stitcher iHeart Radio Spotify   For any podcast suggestions, or if you'd like to get in touch, please do so on podcast@rntfitness.com here. We'd love to hear from you!    I'm very excited and proud to announce we've developed a brand new partnership with one of the world's leading premium supplement brands, Optimum Nutrition, where they'll be helping support our RNT members, and listeners of this podcast, on their journey of health, fitness and total transformation. With the world's #1 best-selling protein powder in their range, and a growing plant-based range, you can now use the code RNT20 to get 20% off in their US and UK stores. My personal favourite are their plant-based protein bars. I've literally done a 180 on protein bars since discovering these, and these were a game changer during my recent long stints in Bali and the US!   Resources:   Are You Ready To Transform Scorecard Who Are You? Maxer, Buster or Seeker? Our Book: Transform Your Body, Transform Your Life Email podcast@rntfitness.com with subject line BOOK and your address in body for a copy! How Heavy will you be when Lean   Follow RNT Fitness:    Website Facebook Instagram YouTube Email   Follow Akash:   Facebook Instagram LinkedIn    

Back in 2007 comedian Susan Murray phoned me up with a question.She was just arranging a new mortgage and she wanted to know where I thought interest rates were going. Should she get a fixed or a variable rate mortgage?I couldn't make that decision for her, of course. But I could see there were underlying problems with the economy – quite serious ones – so the safest option, if there was affordable, seemed to be a fixed-rate mortgage. In the event something goes seriously wrong in the broader economy, at least she was protected against spiralling interest rates.Susan went and fixed her mortgage at 6%. Turns out it was pretty much the top of the market for mortgage rates. They duly plunged as central banks slashed rates and then printed money following the financial crisis. She's never forgiven me. “Cost me a ruddy fortune that bloke” she always complains whenever my name comes up.Cheaper mortgages mean more expensive housesI may have seen 2008 coming – I was such a gold bug at the time – but I did not  foresee quantitative easing nor the extent to which interest rates would fall. Money got so cheap.By September 2021, barely a year ago, you could get a five-year fixed rate deal for 1.3%. It seems inconceivable today that money could be so cheap. To be fair, it seemed almost inconceivable at the time. No wonder everyone levered themselves up the eyeballs.I have long argued that, more than anything, it is cheap money that has driven up house prices. Everywhere you look the standard solution to unaffordable housing is that we need to build more, especially in and around London. But London has been a building site for a decade or more. Goodness knows how many new build flats there now are, but all that new build hasn't brought prices down. As I'm forever quoting: between 1997 and 2007 the housing stock grew by 10%, but the population only grew by 5%. If house prices were a function of supply and demand, they should have fallen slightly over this period. They didn't. They rose by more than 300%.Then you see that mortgage lending over the same period went up by 370% and you quickly realise it was newly created money that pushed up prices in a decade of loose lending, which gave birth to the national obsession that is house prices. Houses were no longer places to live, but financial assets. If you introduce new debt into a market, the higher prices will go. Look at student loans.Mortgage lending doubled again in the ten years from 2009 to 2019 and house prices rose by over 50%.Cut off the tap that is cheap money, and house prices will quickly come to levels concomitant with earnings. The two have long since been distant friends.In 1995 the house price to income ratio was below three – even in London it was only just above. Now it's seven. The average house is seven times average income. In London it's 11. And we wonder why families have got so small.Are interest rates only going one way from here?With inflation spiralling, bond rates rising and the US dollar spiking, money is suddenly not so cheap any more. And it's getting more and more expensive. The UK is not alone in this, by any means, but the problem is more acute here because our economy is so geared to house prices.The Bank of England has made an absolute mess of protecting the currency, declaring it will not hesitate, while hesitating. Rather like the way it broadcast its gold sales to the market between 1999 and 2002, thereby sending the gold price to all time lows around $250/oz, so it is now broadcasting its gilt sales and quantitative tightening – and it has sent that particular market plunging too. The announcement sparked the sharp sell-off in gilts that began the day before Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget. It's as though the two departments – the Treasury and the Bank of England – don't coordinate.The trigger may have been the Bank of England's announcement, or Kwarteng's budget. Whatever. The cause is over ten years of QE, zero interest policies and all the rest of it.It's interesting through. At the first signs of panic, they started printing again. That tells us where they will go. Yesterday morning I would have said that interest rates can only going to go one way, and that means the cheap money taps that drive house prices to such unaffordable levels are now being turned off. Lenders clearly felt the same way. I gather over 900 mortgage products were removed from the market in under 24 hours. Smashing the record around 400 set during the Covid panic.But then the Bank of England started printing again.The UK housing market, particularly in and around London, has been an irrational, insatiable monster for decades. Anyone who calls the top has ended up with egg on their face. But we are levered up to the eyeballs. It's not just a matter of no more cheap money coming in. There is also the other side of the coin, something I remember from 1989-1993. People can't make their interest payments, so they start to sell. If house prices come down 10% or 15%, it's often the case that the house becomes less valuable than the debt – negative equity strikes. I really like Kwarteng's Budget. I think he has made the right choices. Cutting taxes is good. But a falling housing market, no matter how much growth there is elsewhere, will see the Tories kicked out at the next election. How do they prop up the housing market without cheap money? I'm sure they'll find a way. They always do. Or will they?If you are worried about what is going on and want to buy physical gold or silver, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal. More here. My guide to buying bitcoin is here:Thank you to all those who came to my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, last night. What a great evening. Next West End show is November 23 at Crazy Coqs - that's not a lecture, but me and the band with lots of unacceptable songs. Tickets here.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Back in 2007 comedian Susan Murray phoned me up with a question.She was just arranging a new mortgage and she wanted to know where I thought interest rates were going. Should she get a fixed or a variable rate mortgage?I couldn't make that decision for her, of course. But I could see there were underlying problems with the economy – quite serious ones – so the safest option, if there was affordable, seemed to be a fixed-rate mortgage. In the event something goes seriously wrong in the broader economy, at least she was protected against spiralling interest rates.Susan went and fixed her mortgage at 6%. Turns out it was pretty much the top of the market for mortgage rates. They duly plunged as central banks slashed rates and then printed money following the financial crisis. She's never forgiven me. “Cost me a ruddy fortune that bloke” she always complains whenever my name comes up.Cheaper mortgages mean more expensive housesI may have seen 2008 coming – I was such a gold bug at the time – but I did not  foresee quantitative easing nor the extent to which interest rates would fall. Money got so cheap.By September 2021, barely a year ago, you could get a five-year fixed rate deal for 1.3%. It seems inconceivable today that money could be so cheap. To be fair, it seemed almost inconceivable at the time. No wonder everyone levered themselves up the eyeballs.I have long argued that, more than anything, it is cheap money that has driven up house prices. Everywhere you look the standard solution to unaffordable housing is that we need to build more, especially in and around London. But London has been a building site for a decade or more. Goodness knows how many new build flats there now are, but all that new build hasn't brought prices down. As I'm forever quoting: between 1997 and 2007 the housing stock grew by 10%, but the population only grew by 5%. If house prices were a function of supply and demand, they should have fallen slightly over this period. They didn't. They rose by more than 300%.Then you see that mortgage lending over the same period went up by 370% and you quickly realise it was newly created money that pushed up prices in a decade of loose lending, which gave birth to the national obsession that is house prices. Houses were no longer places to live, but financial assets. If you introduce new debt into a market, the higher prices will go. Look at student loans.Mortgage lending doubled again in the ten years from 2009 to 2019 and house prices rose by over 50%.Cut off the tap that is cheap money, and house prices will quickly come to levels concomitant with earnings. The two have long since been distant friends.In 1995 the house price to income ratio was below three – even in London it was only just above. Now it's seven. The average house is seven times average income. In London it's 11. And we wonder why families have got so small.Are interest rates only going one way from here?With inflation spiralling, bond rates rising and the US dollar spiking, money is suddenly not so cheap any more. And it's getting more and more expensive. The UK is not alone in this, by any means, but the problem is more acute here because our economy is so geared to house prices.The Bank of England has made an absolute mess of protecting the currency, declaring it will not hesitate, while hesitating. Rather like the way it broadcast its gold sales to the market between 1999 and 2002, thereby sending the gold price to all time lows around $250/oz, so it is now broadcasting its gilt sales and quantitative tightening – and it has sent that particular market plunging too. The announcement sparked the sharp sell-off in gilts that began the day before Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-Budget. It's as though the two departments – the Treasury and the Bank of England – don't coordinate.The trigger may have been the Bank of England's announcement, or Kwarteng's budget. Whatever. The cause is over ten years of QE, zero interest policies and all the rest of it.It's interesting through. At the first signs of panic, they started printing again. That tells us where they will go. Yesterday morning I would have said that interest rates can only going to go one way, and that means the cheap money taps that drive house prices to such unaffordable levels are now being turned off. Lenders clearly felt the same way. I gather over 900 mortgage products were removed from the market in under 24 hours. Smashing the record around 400 set during the Covid panic.But then the Bank of England started printing again.The UK housing market, particularly in and around London, has been an irrational, insatiable monster for decades. Anyone who calls the top has ended up with egg on their face. But we are levered up to the eyeballs. It's not just a matter of no more cheap money coming in. There is also the other side of the coin, something I remember from 1989-1993. People can't make their interest payments, so they start to sell. If house prices come down 10% or 15%, it's often the case that the house becomes less valuable than the debt – negative equity strikes. I really like Kwarteng's Budget. I think he has made the right choices. Cutting taxes is good. But a falling housing market, no matter how much growth there is elsewhere, will see the Tories kicked out at the next election. How do they prop up the housing market without cheap money? I'm sure they'll find a way. They always do. Or will they?If you are worried about what is going on and want to buy physical gold or silver, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal. More here. My guide to buying bitcoin is here:Thank you to all those who came to my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, last night. What a great evening. Next West End show is November 23 at Crazy Coqs - that's not a lecture, but me and the band with lots of unacceptable songs. Tickets here.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

Bitcoin was built in reaction to all the money printing that went on in the wake of the financial crisis. The Times' headline “Chancellor on Brink of Second Bailout for Banks” was even embedded into the very first block in the blockchain – the genesis block. Here was a money system that nobody, whether government or hacker, could print or debase. The rules were set in code. The inflation rate was clearly laid out. And the system, rather than rely on trust – whether in banks, central banks, payment providers or governments – was based on mathematical proof and computer power.So here is an apolitical, censorship-resistant, trust-less, hard money.And we saw a very good use case for it this week.PayPal plays the cancel gameJournalist Toby Young, who is associate editor of The Spectator, has, for as long as I've known him, been setting up organisations to try and improve people's lives. Disappointed with the lowering of standards in schools, he was one of the founders of the first Free School in West London. In 2020 he set up the Free Speech Union to help defend people threatened with cancellation. And his news and commentary website the Daily Sceptic was born in reaction to all the misinformation and censorship, especially by big tech, that emerged during Covid. Young's views are actually pretty moderate. He's a centre right, old school Conservative. But his ideological enemies do not like him at all and they work tirelessly to bring him down. He has lost something like five jobs because of what he calls the “offence archaeologists” digging up things he said decades ago, quoting them out of context and then being offended.Last week, PayPal, out of the blue, closed down his personal account for “breaching its Acceptable Use Policy”. Then, barely a few minutes later, it shut down the account for his news and commentary website the Daily Sceptic. Then a few minutes after that it closed down the accounts for the Free Speech Union.This is no small disruption, and it undoes the many hours, days, months and years of hard work his team have put in building up their subscriber bases. About a quarter of the Daily Sceptic's donor revenue arrives via PayPal and a third of the Free Speech Union's 9,500 members pay their dues via PayPal, Young says.Young says, “I did some Googling and discovered that numerous organisations and individuals with dissident political views have had their accounts closed by PayPal recently, particularly on the three issues you're not allowed to be sceptical about: the lockdown policy and other Covid restrictions, the mRNA vaccines, and the ‘climate emergency.The Daily Sceptic frequently publishes articles on those subjects and the Free Speech Union may have fallen foul of another taboo – defending people who've got into trouble with HR departments for expressing their gender critical views.” How is PayPal able to do this without warning? Because it can.Young is by no means the first. It did the same thing to Wikileaks in 2010, probably under pressure from the US government about whom Wikileaks was disclosing unwanted information. (Unfortunately, this backfired as donors began using bitcoin and the bitcoin Wikileaks received rocketed in value to make Wikileaks a potentially very rich organisation (assuming it managed to hold on to some of them).It did the same to Alex Jones. Earlier in the year it cancelled academic and biologist Colin Wright for articulating his criticisms of the view that sex is a social construct. Just yesterday Us For Them, the parent group which campaigned to keep schools open during Covid lost their account, and so did another group Gays Against Groomers.PayPal founder Peter Thiel is an outspoken libertarian and probably on the same philosophical side of the argument as Young, but he is also a businessman. Paypal will do whatever is asked of it in order to survive. You can be sure that, in order to survive as a business and effectively become a challenger bank, especially early in its evolution, it will have had to demonstrate that it could not be used as a vehicle for any kind of illicit activity, especially money-laundering, and this is why it can be so stringent. It will toe the line wherever necessary.But Thiel is no longer Paypal's CEO and, like so much of big tech, what started out one way is now not on board with the free speech ideals of its founders, as evidenced by all the censorship that goes on. Indeed more and more evidence is growing that big tech, especially Twitter, is censoring content according to the instructions of the US government.A number of prominent individuals have spoken up in favour of Young - from Lord Frost to Joanna Clery to Luke Johnson - and a number of others have closed their PayPal accounts, so it may be that the Young accounts get re-instated under pressure.But the moral of the tale remains. You are using trusted third parties that can no longer be trusted. If you use non-government money - ie bitcoin - the taps cannot be turned off quite so easily.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Separating money and stateMore than anything else, in every book or every column I've ever written , I have argued for one thing: the separation of money and state.When one body in a society has the ability to create money at little or no cost to itself, it is inevitable that body will have disproportionate power and influence within that society. If you are looking to understand how it is the state in western societies has grown to be so enormous - something like 50% of GDP compared to the 10% area it occupied at the turn of the 20th century - then look no further than our system of fiat money.If you want to understand the inequality gap, why young people can't afford a house, all that - look no further than our system of moneyIf you are looking to understand why western families so small, look no further than our system of money, in which government now owns more than 50% of your labour.  The primary reason given when asked why people have small families is that they can't afford bigger ones. Both parents are having to work. The government - at over 50% - is their biggest cost. Only the very bottom on large welfare and the very rich can afford big families The 90% in the middle can't. So we import our youth from abroad instead and then wonder why British culture is being eroded away. It's the same across the west.Of course some states are more benign than others and our 21st century social democracies, for all their woeful waste, are preferable to many of the governing systems found in other, more tyrannical corners of the earth, but the damage has still been enormous and now we seem to be careering towards a far more nefarious destination.Money should just be money - a means of exchange, a store of value and a unit of account. Instead it has become a tool of government. A weapon of government.Whether it is suppressing interest rates to boost the housing market, printing money to bail out banks or the entire economy during Covid or freezing the accounts of political enemies (the truckers in Canada, or the entire country that is Russia), finance is being weaponised. Governments weaponise money because it is an easy tool for them to get the results they want quickly. It's a lot easier to sanction Russia and freeze it out of the banking system than it is to go to war. It's easier to cut off the truckers' funding than it is to confront them. It's a lot easier - and quicker - to print the money you need to bail out the banking system than it is to collect it in taxes – which is what rulers from another age would have had to do. It's a lot easier to suppress interest rates and collect the inflation tax than it is to impose direct taxes or rein in spending.But the net result of all of this is that money gets debased, the state grows and is empowered, the inequality gap gets bigger, freedom is eroded, families get smaller, nobody can afford a house and yet more government becomes the answer to everything. We get top down diktats instead of bottom up growth. One decision up top counts for way more than the aggregation of millions of individual decisions from the bottom. And so on.The weaponisation have money has already begun. The irony of such actions is that, as with Wikileaks, they will accelerate the adoption of censor-free, non-state alternatives, of which bitcoin is the most prominent example. The US, by confiscating Russian dollars and freezing it of the banking system, will accelerate the creation of a non-US international system of money to be used by nations, especially Russia and China, that do not want to be beholden to the dollar. In the long term it may backfire, but in the short term it works: it shuts off the funding taps and creates considerable hardship and inconvenience.What to do? I use Paypal all the time, as buyer and seller. It's convenient. But I really should switch to another payment processor. The others may not be as censorious as PayPal, but they will be if pressured, you can be sure of that. Do not leave large amounts of money with these companies.As we head into a cashless society we are even more vulnerable. This is why the prospect of central bank digital currencies, which, by the way, are almost inevitable - technology is destiny - fills me with such dread. Programmable money will give the state even more control and influence. Your every transaction can be monitored, putting us in the world of Orwellian surveillance states. Certain transactions could simply be outlawed. You might not, for example, be able to buy from or sell to bodies that are not government approved. Taxes and fines can be deducted without your approval. Central bank digital currencies give huge scope to behavioural economists and the ministries of nudges. You can be goaded into all sorts of decisions you might not otherwise have made. Social credits systems can be imposed. Are you a good citizen? Then you get the favourable rate of interest, good loan deals and other incentives. Do you articulate wrong-thought on the internet? Did you not have the vaccine, like we asked you to? Are you suggesting the climate emergency is not real? Then you will be given less favourable rates. If you are a really naughty boy, your account might be frozen altogether.I gather that the European Central Bank and perhaps even the Bank of England already have the tech ready to go for CBDCs. They are just waiting for the crisis to implement them.In such a world, and that does seem to be where we are heading, there is a very strong use case for bitcoin. I urge you to own some.If you are in London or nearby on September 28 or 29, please come to my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures. It's in the West End at the Museum of Comedy and it's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.If you want to buy physical gold silver, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal.If you want to buy bitcoin, my guide is here:The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.A shorter version of this article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Bitcoin was built in reaction to all the money printing that went on in the wake of the financial crisis. The Times' headline “Chancellor on Brink of Second Bailout for Banks” was even embedded into the very first block in the blockchain – the genesis block. Here was a money system that nobody, whether government or hacker, could print or debase. The rules were set in code. The inflation rate was clearly laid out. And the system, rather than rely on trust – whether in banks, central banks, payment providers or governments – was based on mathematical proof and computer power.So here is an apolitical, censorship-resistant, trust-less, hard money.And we saw a very good use case for it this week.PayPal plays the cancel gameJournalist Toby Young, who is associate editor of The Spectator, has, for as long as I've known him, been setting up organisations to try and improve people's lives. Disappointed with the lowering of standards in schools, he was one of the founders of the first Free School in West London. In 2020 he set up the Free Speech Union to help defend people threatened with cancellation. And his news and commentary website the Daily Sceptic was born in reaction to all the misinformation and censorship, especially by big tech, that emerged during Covid. Young's views are actually pretty moderate. He's a centre right, old school Conservative. But his ideological enemies do not like him at all and they work tirelessly to bring him down. He has lost something like five jobs because of what he calls the “offence archaeologists” digging up things he said decades ago, quoting them out of context and then being offended.Last week, PayPal, out of the blue, closed down his personal account for “breaching its Acceptable Use Policy”. Then, barely a few minutes later, it shut down the account for his news and commentary website the Daily Sceptic. Then a few minutes after that it closed down the accounts for the Free Speech Union.This is no small disruption, and it undoes the many hours, days, months and years of hard work his team have put in building up their subscriber bases. About a quarter of the Daily Sceptic's donor revenue arrives via PayPal and a third of the Free Speech Union's 9,500 members pay their dues via PayPal, Young says.Young says, “I did some Googling and discovered that numerous organisations and individuals with dissident political views have had their accounts closed by PayPal recently, particularly on the three issues you're not allowed to be sceptical about: the lockdown policy and other Covid restrictions, the mRNA vaccines, and the ‘climate emergency.The Daily Sceptic frequently publishes articles on those subjects and the Free Speech Union may have fallen foul of another taboo – defending people who've got into trouble with HR departments for expressing their gender critical views.” How is PayPal able to do this without warning? Because it can.Young is by no means the first. It did the same thing to Wikileaks in 2010, probably under pressure from the US government about whom Wikileaks was disclosing unwanted information. (Unfortunately, this backfired as donors began using bitcoin and the bitcoin Wikileaks received rocketed in value to make Wikileaks a potentially very rich organisation (assuming it managed to hold on to some of them).It did the same to Alex Jones. Earlier in the year it cancelled academic and biologist Colin Wright for articulating his criticisms of the view that sex is a social construct. Just yesterday Us For Them, the parent group which campaigned to keep schools open during Covid lost their account, and so did another group Gays Against Groomers.PayPal founder Peter Thiel is an outspoken libertarian and probably on the same philosophical side of the argument as Young, but he is also a businessman. Paypal will do whatever is asked of it in order to survive. You can be sure that, in order to survive as a business and effectively become a challenger bank, especially early in its evolution, it will have had to demonstrate that it could not be used as a vehicle for any kind of illicit activity, especially money-laundering, and this is why it can be so stringent. It will toe the line wherever necessary.But Thiel is no longer Paypal's CEO and, like so much of big tech, what started out one way is now not on board with the free speech ideals of its founders, as evidenced by all the censorship that goes on. Indeed more and more evidence is growing that big tech, especially Twitter, is censoring content according to the instructions of the US government.A number of prominent individuals have spoken up in favour of Young - from Lord Frost to Joanna Clery to Luke Johnson - and a number of others have closed their PayPal accounts, so it may be that the Young accounts get re-instated under pressure.But the moral of the tale remains. You are using trusted third parties that can no longer be trusted. If you use non-government money - ie bitcoin - the taps cannot be turned off quite so easily.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Separating money and stateMore than anything else, in every book or every column I've ever written , I have argued for one thing: the separation of money and state.When one body in a society has the ability to create money at little or no cost to itself, it is inevitable that body will have disproportionate power and influence within that society. If you are looking to understand how it is the state in western societies has grown to be so enormous - something like 50% of GDP compared to the 10% area it occupied at the turn of the 20th century - then look no further than our system of fiat money.If you want to understand the inequality gap, why young people can't afford a house, all that - look no further than our system of moneyIf you are looking to understand why western families so small, look no further than our system of money, in which government now owns more than 50% of your labour.  The primary reason given when asked why people have small families is that they can't afford bigger ones. Both parents are having to work. The government - at over 50% - is their biggest cost. Only the very bottom on large welfare and the very rich can afford big families The 90% in the middle can't. So we import our youth from abroad instead and then wonder why British culture is being eroded away. It's the same across the west.Of course some states are more benign than others and our 21st century social democracies, for all their woeful waste, are preferable to many of the governing systems found in other, more tyrannical corners of the earth, but the damage has still been enormous and now we seem to be careering towards a far more nefarious destination.Money should just be money - a means of exchange, a store of value and a unit of account. Instead it has become a tool of government. A weapon of government.Whether it is suppressing interest rates to boost the housing market, printing money to bail out banks or the entire economy during Covid or freezing the accounts of political enemies (the truckers in Canada, or the entire country that is Russia), finance is being weaponised. Governments weaponise money because it is an easy tool for them to get the results they want quickly. It's a lot easier to sanction Russia and freeze it out of the banking system than it is to go to war. It's easier to cut off the truckers' funding than it is to confront them. It's a lot easier - and quicker - to print the money you need to bail out the banking system than it is to collect it in taxes – which is what rulers from another age would have had to do. It's a lot easier to suppress interest rates and collect the inflation tax than it is to impose direct taxes or rein in spending.But the net result of all of this is that money gets debased, the state grows and is empowered, the inequality gap gets bigger, freedom is eroded, families get smaller, nobody can afford a house and yet more government becomes the answer to everything. We get top down diktats instead of bottom up growth. One decision up top counts for way more than the aggregation of millions of individual decisions from the bottom. And so on.The weaponisation have money has already begun. The irony of such actions is that, as with Wikileaks, they will accelerate the adoption of censor-free, non-state alternatives, of which bitcoin is the most prominent example. The US, by confiscating Russian dollars and freezing it of the banking system, will accelerate the creation of a non-US international system of money to be used by nations, especially Russia and China, that do not want to be beholden to the dollar. In the long term it may backfire, but in the short term it works: it shuts off the funding taps and creates considerable hardship and inconvenience.What to do? I use Paypal all the time, as buyer and seller. It's convenient. But I really should switch to another payment processor. The others may not be as censorious as PayPal, but they will be if pressured, you can be sure of that. Do not leave large amounts of money with these companies.As we head into a cashless society we are even more vulnerable. This is why the prospect of central bank digital currencies, which, by the way, are almost inevitable - technology is destiny - fills me with such dread. Programmable money will give the state even more control and influence. Your every transaction can be monitored, putting us in the world of Orwellian surveillance states. Certain transactions could simply be outlawed. You might not, for example, be able to buy from or sell to bodies that are not government approved. Taxes and fines can be deducted without your approval. Central bank digital currencies give huge scope to behavioural economists and the ministries of nudges. You can be goaded into all sorts of decisions you might not otherwise have made. Social credits systems can be imposed. Are you a good citizen? Then you get the favourable rate of interest, good loan deals and other incentives. Do you articulate wrong-thought on the internet? Did you not have the vaccine, like we asked you to? Are you suggesting the climate emergency is not real? Then you will be given less favourable rates. If you are a really naughty boy, your account might be frozen altogether.I gather that the European Central Bank and perhaps even the Bank of England already have the tech ready to go for CBDCs. They are just waiting for the crisis to implement them.In such a world, and that does seem to be where we are heading, there is a very strong use case for bitcoin. I urge you to own some.If you are in London or nearby on September 28 or 29, please come to my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures. It's in the West End at the Museum of Comedy and it's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.If you want to buy physical gold silver, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal.If you want to buy bitcoin, my guide is here:The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.A shorter version of this article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

About 25 years ago, I was giving a speech at my father's 65th birthday party. There were seventy or eighty people at the dinner and, as Dad was a playwright, most of them were theatricals.I'm a comedian, it was a fun occasion, so I wanted the speech to be funny. There were a few entertainment VIPs in the room, so there were professional as well as personal reasons to make sure my speech was as good as possible. But it was also a very personal occasion - a landmark in my dad's life - so there was no way I was going to crowbar in bits from my act. I wanted the speech to be special: I love my Dad very much and I wanted to say so publicly. But I also didn't want the speech to descend into an embarrassing, gushing, sentimental affair. It was by no means the hardest speech I've ever had to give, but there was still a balance that I had to get right, and I felt a bit of pressure because there were so many professional performers in the room who were way more experienced than me.As I was speaking, and I guess I was feeling a little nervous, I noticed someone looking at me. Of course, the whole room was looking at me, but this was the only person I noticed. He had friendly blue eyes, narrowed in a frown of intense concentration, and he seemed deeply interested in what I had to say, and very sympathetic to the difficulties I was having making such a speech. I don't know if I was projecting my own imagination, but there was a wise, kindly look to him. I'd never noticed anybody listen like that before.It was a few moments before I realised it was the actor, Timothy West. Thinking about it later, it made sense to me why Timothy West had been such a popular actor with his peers. He listened so well. In a room of eighty people all doing the same thing– his was the listening I noticed.(Any aspiring actors reading this: work on your listening. It's a crucial, yet underrated skill and one that is rarely taught. Teaching is concentrated around the bits when you are doing the talking. Watch what wonderful listeners many great actors are.)Fast forward a couple of years and I was doing a set on the Radio 4 show, Loose Ends. This was around 1999 and, in those days, the show was recorded live, but the only audience you would have were the four or five other guests on the show who would be sitting in the studio with you, along with the host, Ned Sherrin. You got some real VIPs on that show - I used to do it quite a bit. Off the top of my head, I remember appearing with Jackie Collins, Danni Minogue, Divine Comedy, Mariella Frostrup, Sir Humphrey Burton, The Proclaimers, and many more besides. But most of them would be thinking about their own bits, so doing comedy in that little studio to four or five people who weren't that interested could be a bit like doing comedy into the void. Comedy is hard without an audience - even if by the time it made it out of the radio, it seemed to work. I think it was the first time I had done the show, so I was nervous. There I was, doing my Ludwig The Bavarian act, all dressed up in my lederhosen costume, with all sorts of nerves rushing through my head as I did my act to no audience, when there it was again. The look. The kindly, listening, I-know-what-you're-going-through-and-I'm-on-your-side look. This time it was Michael Parkinson, one of the guests on the show. While all the other guests, and, to an extent, Ned, were wrapped up in their own stuff, Parkinson took time out to listen to me. Straight away I understood why he had been such a successful chat show host.Thank you for reading The Flying Frisby. This post is public so feel free to share it.The Today ProgrammeWe move on over ten years to 2012 and my first book, Life After the State, which, as the title suggests, makes the case for a lot less government in our lives. On the day it was published I was invited onto Radio 4's Today programme to talk about the role of the state. My publisher, Dan Kieran of Unbound, told me 'getting on the Today programme is the Holy Grail for an author. You're very lucky. You're on at the best time, peak listening time, just before 9. Everybody will be listening. The prime minister will be listening.”To say I was nervous is an understatement. 'This is the Today programme,' I told myself. 'For really clever people. It's not for comedians who've decided they want to write about economics. It's the BBC, the Ministry of Media. The last thing they'll suffer is some non-economist comedian calling for a smaller state. You are so going to be found out.'In the Green Room beforehand, I could barely speak. 'Would you like a cup of coffee?' 'Oh, no thanks. Actually, yes please. Er no, no. Actually, yes. Erm, not sure.' ‘I'm sorry?'I was to be interviewed by James Naughtie and there was a nice chap by the name of Neal Lawson from left-wing think tank, Compass, who would take the opposing side of the debate. There were various other people in the studio, all deep in notes and preparation for their next slot. None of them looked up as we came in. If I had my life again I'd answer one key question about collectivism differently - and I still get cross with myself about it - but overall I guess I did ok. However, mid-interview, while I was talking, I could feel somebody looking at me. I looked to my left, away from the people I was talking to, Naughtie and Lawson, and there, staring at me intently, was John Humphrys. He'd looked up from me his notes and, with his eyes narrowed slightly, now seemed to be deeply interested in what I was saying, even though he was nothing to do with this segment. His listening carried that same mixture of interest, intense focus, kindness and understanding that Timothy West's did all those years ago.Just as with West, I felt I gained some understanding as to why John Humphrys has been so successful in his extremely competitive profession.Afterwards I went and gave him a copy of the book.“Have a read and see what you think,” I said. “But I doubt you'll be on board with all this anti-state stuff.”“You'd be surprised,” he replied.Keynote FarageJust a few months later I was speaking about gold at an investor's show. Tom Winnifrith, the organizer, had managed to get Nigel Farage as his keynote speaker. This was years before the Brexit vote, but, thanks to the internet, his speeches at the EU Parliament were already starting to go viral.Afterwards, he and I sat down and started talking. All sorts of people were bombarding him for photos and signatures, and he was very gracious to everybody who pestered him, but at the same time he managed to convey the impression that he was really interested in talking to me. And, as I talked, there was that same look again – eyes narrowed slightly, kind, wise, interested, focused on you and you alone.If you say the names John Humphrys or Nigel Farage, kindness is not the first word that springs to mind with either. But that was what I saw. Nor is Farage known as great listener, but my experience was that he is. I'm sure it's his listening to people as he travelled up and down the country that made him so popular at grass roots level and helped him build such a following.Farage in person, as his GB News show, especially Talking Pints, is proving, is a far cry from the monster many of his opponents, especially the Centrist Trots who write for the Guardian, have made him out to be. My dinner with Jordan PetersonA few days ago I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner with Jordan Peterson. It's funny. Peterson is one of the biggest stars on the internet. He is adored by so many yet there are still quite a few people who have no idea who he is. My manager thought I was going to dinner with Jordan Henderson.Andrews Doyle and Shaw, the organisers of Comedy Unleashed, comedian Simon Evans and author Jeremy Hildreth were there as well as Peterson's minder (who took the photo below).It was amazing how quickly we got through the niceties and moved on to the interesting stuff. Within a few minutes of sitting down, we were talking about lucid dreams - these are dreams that you know are dreams while you dream them.I had a lucid dream last year, in which I met my father (who died in 2020) at a house party and, in the kitchen, started updating him on the progress I had made with Kisses on a Postcard, the new songs I'd written, the edits and so on. After a while I said, “This is a dream, isn't it?” Dad smiled and nodded.So I mentioned at the table that I had had this lucid dream last year in which I had had this conversation with my dead father. Peterson's head flashed round and he looked at me as I spoke. And there was that look again. That same Timothy West, Michael Parkinson, John Humphrys, Nigel Farage, slightly squinting, focused look of kindness, sympathy, empathy and genuine interest.Never mind how articulate he is, I'll bet one reason Peterson is so popular is because he listens. In fact, one reason he is so articulate is because he listens. He replies to what people actually say, rather than what he thinks they've said, and that centres him in the moment and thus in the truth.So there we are: people who have the look. What's the moral of all this? Listen, I guess. Don't talk. Listen.ADDENDUMI saw just how popular and loved Jordan Peterson was only an hour or two later. Over dinner somebody suggested that he do a set at Comedy Unleashed later that evening, and he agreed to read a comic poem he'd written. I was MCing, and I introduced him as the open spot, saying something like “we like to bring on new talent at Comedy Unleashed, so we give people short spots and if they're any good, they can progress to a full spot, please welcome Jordan Peterson”. The audience at first couldn't believe what they had heard. Then, as he came to the stage, they rose to their feet and gave him a standing ovation.I might have ended up compering what may be Jordan Peterson's only ever comedy spot. Thank you for reading The Flying Frisby. This post is public so feel free to share it.If you are in London on September 28 or 29, my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures is coming to the Museum of Comedy. It's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. The lecture will give your evening a strong intellectual foundation. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

About 25 years ago, I was giving a speech at my father's 65th birthday party. There were seventy or eighty people at the dinner and, as Dad was a playwright, most of them were theatricals.I'm a comedian, it was a fun occasion, so I wanted the speech to be funny. There were a few entertainment VIPs in the room, so there were professional as well as personal reasons to make sure my speech was as good as possible. But it was also a very personal occasion - a landmark in my dad's life - so there was no way I was going to crowbar in bits from my act. I wanted the speech to be special: I love my Dad very much and I wanted to say so publicly. But I also didn't want the speech to descend into an embarrassing, gushing, sentimental affair. It was by no means the hardest speech I've ever had to give, but there was still a balance that I had to get right, and I felt a bit of pressure because there were so many professional performers in the room who were way more experienced than me.As I was speaking, and I guess I was feeling a little nervous, I noticed someone looking at me. Of course, the whole room was looking at me, but this was the only person I noticed. He had friendly blue eyes, narrowed in a frown of intense concentration, and he seemed deeply interested in what I had to say, and very sympathetic to the difficulties I was having making such a speech. I don't know if I was projecting my own imagination, but there was a wise, kindly look to him. I'd never noticed anybody listen like that before.It was a few moments before I realised it was the actor, Timothy West. Thinking about it later, it made sense to me why Timothy West had been such a popular actor with his peers. He listened so well. In a room of eighty people all doing the same thing– his was the listening I noticed.(Any aspiring actors reading this: work on your listening. It's a crucial, yet underrated skill and one that is rarely taught. Teaching is concentrated around the bits when you are doing the talking. Watch what wonderful listeners many great actors are.)Fast forward a couple of years and I was doing a set on the Radio 4 show, Loose Ends. This was around 1999 and, in those days, the show was recorded live, but the only audience you would have were the four or five other guests on the show who would be sitting in the studio with you, along with the host, Ned Sherrin. You got some real VIPs on that show - I used to do it quite a bit. Off the top of my head, I remember appearing with Jackie Collins, Danni Minogue, Divine Comedy, Mariella Frostrup, Sir Humphrey Burton, The Proclaimers, and many more besides. But most of them would be thinking about their own bits, so doing comedy in that little studio to four or five people who weren't that interested could be a bit like doing comedy into the void. Comedy is hard without an audience - even if by the time it made it out of the radio, it seemed to work. I think it was the first time I had done the show, so I was nervous. There I was, doing my Ludwig The Bavarian act, all dressed up in my lederhosen costume, with all sorts of nerves rushing through my head as I did my act to no audience, when there it was again. The look. The kindly, listening, I-know-what-you're-going-through-and-I'm-on-your-side look. This time it was Michael Parkinson, one of the guests on the show. While all the other guests, and, to an extent, Ned, were wrapped up in their own stuff, Parkinson took time out to listen to me. Straight away I understood why he had been such a successful chat show host.Thank you for reading The Flying Frisby. This post is public so feel free to share it.The Today ProgrammeWe move on over ten years to 2012 and my first book, Life After the State, which, as the title suggests, makes the case for a lot less government in our lives. On the day it was published I was invited onto Radio 4's Today programme to talk about the role of the state. My publisher, Dan Kieran of Unbound, told me 'getting on the Today programme is the Holy Grail for an author. You're very lucky. You're on at the best time, peak listening time, just before 9. Everybody will be listening. The prime minister will be listening.”To say I was nervous is an understatement. 'This is the Today programme,' I told myself. 'For really clever people. It's not for comedians who've decided they want to write about economics. It's the BBC, the Ministry of Media. The last thing they'll suffer is some non-economist comedian calling for a smaller state. You are so going to be found out.'In the Green Room beforehand, I could barely speak. 'Would you like a cup of coffee?' 'Oh, no thanks. Actually, yes please. Er no, no. Actually, yes. Erm, not sure.' ‘I'm sorry?'I was to be interviewed by James Naughtie and there was a nice chap by the name of Neal Lawson from left-wing think tank, Compass, who would take the opposing side of the debate. There were various other people in the studio, all deep in notes and preparation for their next slot. None of them looked up as we came in. If I had my life again I'd answer one key question about collectivism differently - and I still get cross with myself about it - but overall I guess I did ok. However, mid-interview, while I was talking, I could feel somebody looking at me. I looked to my left, away from the people I was talking to, Naughtie and Lawson, and there, staring at me intently, was John Humphrys. He'd looked up from me his notes and, with his eyes narrowed slightly, now seemed to be deeply interested in what I was saying, even though he was nothing to do with this segment. His listening carried that same mixture of interest, intense focus, kindness and understanding that Timothy West's did all those years ago.Just as with West, I felt I gained some understanding as to why John Humphrys has been so successful in his extremely competitive profession.Afterwards I went and gave him a copy of the book.“Have a read and see what you think,” I said. “But I doubt you'll be on board with all this anti-state stuff.”“You'd be surprised,” he replied.Keynote FarageJust a few months later I was speaking about gold at an investor's show. Tom Winnifrith, the organizer, had managed to get Nigel Farage as his keynote speaker. This was years before the Brexit vote, but, thanks to the internet, his speeches at the EU Parliament were already starting to go viral.Afterwards, he and I sat down and started talking. All sorts of people were bombarding him for photos and signatures, and he was very gracious to everybody who pestered him, but at the same time he managed to convey the impression that he was really interested in talking to me. And, as I talked, there was that same look again – eyes narrowed slightly, kind, wise, interested, focused on you and you alone.If you say the names John Humphrys or Nigel Farage, kindness is not the first word that springs to mind with either. But that was what I saw. Nor is Farage known as great listener, but my experience was that he is. I'm sure it's his listening to people as he travelled up and down the country that made him so popular at grass roots level and helped him build such a following.Farage in person, as his GB News show, especially Talking Pints, is proving, is a far cry from the monster many of his opponents, especially the Centrist Trots who write for the Guardian, have made him out to be. My dinner with Jordan PetersonA few days ago I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner with Jordan Peterson. It's funny. Peterson is one of the biggest stars on the internet. He is adored by so many yet there are still quite a few people who have no idea who he is. My manager thought I was going to dinner with Jordan Henderson.Andrews Doyle and Shaw, the organisers of Comedy Unleashed, comedian Simon Evans and author Jeremy Hildreth were there as well as Peterson's minder (who took the photo below).It was amazing how quickly we got through the niceties and moved on to the interesting stuff. Within a few minutes of sitting down, we were talking about lucid dreams - these are dreams that you know are dreams while you dream them.I had a lucid dream last year, in which I met my father (who died in 2020) at a house party and, in the kitchen, started updating him on the progress I had made with Kisses on a Postcard, the new songs I'd written, the edits and so on. After a while I said, “This is a dream, isn't it?” Dad smiled and nodded.So I mentioned at the table that I had had this lucid dream last year in which I had had this conversation with my dead father. Peterson's head flashed round and he looked at me as I spoke. And there was that look again. That same Timothy West, Michael Parkinson, John Humphrys, Nigel Farage, slightly squinting, focused look of kindness, sympathy, empathy and genuine interest.Never mind how articulate he is, I'll bet one reason Peterson is so popular is because he listens. In fact, one reason he is so articulate is because he listens. He replies to what people actually say, rather than what he thinks they've said, and that centres him in the moment and thus in the truth.So there we are: people who have the look. What's the moral of all this? Listen, I guess. Don't talk. Listen.ADDENDUMI saw just how popular and loved Jordan Peterson was only an hour or two later. Over dinner somebody suggested that he do a set at Comedy Unleashed later that evening, and he agreed to read a comic poem he'd written. I was MCing, and I introduced him as the open spot, saying something like “we like to bring on new talent at Comedy Unleashed, so we give people short spots and if they're any good, they can progress to a full spot, please welcome Jordan Peterson”. The audience at first couldn't believe what they had heard. Then, as he came to the stage, they rose to their feet and gave him a standing ovation.I might have ended up compering what may be Jordan Peterson's only ever comedy spot. Thank you for reading The Flying Frisby. This post is public so feel free to share it.If you are in London on September 28 or 29, my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures is coming to the Museum of Comedy. It's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. The lecture will give your evening a strong intellectual foundation. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

US inflation numbers came in on Tuesday at 8.3%. The markets were expecting something lower – after all, the oil price had fallen back, not to mention most commodities.8.3% was above expectations and the markets did not like it one bit. Down they went like liquid through an open sluice. Hopes and dreams of a sustained recovery since the June carnage went with them.Actually, not totally.While the S&P 500, which I use as a barometer for global markets, has been making a sequence of lower highs since the beginning of the year – ie, the broader trend is down – it has also been making a series of higher lows since June, meaning the intermediate trend is up.Yesterday's lows are still higher than last week's lows, which were higher than the July lows, which were higher than the June lows. So there is something of an intermediate term up-trend in place.If you draw a trendline off both the lows and the highs, they are both still intact and you end up with something of a wedge pattern, as the chart below shows.If you dabble in such dark arts as day trading, or short-term flips, I would wager that the odds – in the short term – favour going long with a stop just below that rising trend line, with a target  somewhere near the falling blue line around 4,200. That said, as we have just seen, rallies could fail at any time, so if the market moves in your favour, you would want to keep moving your stops up to protect any gains.Unlike some patterns – double tops, head and shoulders highs and lows, for example, which I find quite useful – I have over the years found wedges to be utterly useless as predictive tools. So I am not going to forecast off the back of it.A long-term downtrend will, in a month or two, assuming both those trend lines hold, which is some assumption itself, shortly butt up against a jittery, shorter-term uptrend and one of them will prevail. Seasonally, we are in a bad time of year for markets. The last four Septembers have all seen sell-offs of between 5% and 20%, so stockmarket-wise, I do not  see this as a time to be taking huge risks or making large bets. It's a time for prudence and capital conservation.Silver – huge potential that's never realisedI was, however, encouraged by the action in precious metals, in particular the dogs of recent months silver and platinum. Yes, they sold off, but on a relative basis they help up well.This comes on the back of an extraordinary day on Monday when silver rose some 5%. My ambivalence towards silver is long since documented. There is no other metal with as much potential. It is both a monetary metal and an industrial metal, used in virtually every computer related application you can think of – every phone, every computer contains silver –  not to mention all the bio and other tech.It “should” be a play on both currency debasement and technological progress. Yet in practice it proves to be neither and, at $19, is trading at the same price it was in 1980. There is about 15 times as much silver in the earth's crust as there is gold, hence there is an argument that silver should be 1/15th the gold price, which is what it was historically – over $100, in other words. But I have been listening to such arguments for 20 years and the metal never delivers.Silver aficionados scream manipulation, but they have been screaming that since the 1970s. Why would you want to own something whose price is deliberately suppressed by powers far greater than you? Surely you would want to own something whose price is artificially boosted. There's more profit in it.I own silver, quite a bit in fact, and I own some silver miners. Because one day, you never know, it might actually go to the moon. That's its planet after all. I want to make sure I've got a seat on the rocket if it does. I don't think I could live with myself if it went there and I didn't have exposure, having written about it so much over the years. But I've long since stopped holding my breath. Thank you for reading The Flying Frisby. This post is public so feel free to share it.Silver could be about to go on a multi-week bull run That said, I do think silver could enjoy a multi-week rally from here and I'll explain why. The COMEX is the world's largest futures and options trading exchange for metals. There are three groups of traders: the commercials, the large speculators and the small speculators. The commercials tend to be seen as the smart money, and, as they are often acting on behalf of miners, they tend to be sellers and so they tend to be short.Every Friday evening, the positions of the various traders the previous Tuesday, three days before – the open interest, as it is known – is announced. On Friday we discovered something extraordinary. That the commercials are net long – ie buyers – for only the third time in 40 years. That suggests a genuine shortage of metal. Meanwhile the speculators, who for the most part do not have metal to deliver, are net short. This opens up the possibility for a short squeeze. Anecdotally, I'm also hearing of silver shortages. It's hard to acquire bullion anywhere close to spot prices.Now this is silver, so don't get your hopes up and don't take on too much risk. If it can go wrong it will. But there is every reason to think a multi-week rally is on the cards. If the broader markets correct, then silver will come tumbling down with them. But if they can remain flat or rising slightly, then silver could enjoy a good run.Buying silver is justifiable on a value basis – silver is cheap below $20. It has displayed lots of relative strength over the past two days. My moving average crossover system is also on a buy signal. Go silver!But, remember folks, it's silver …If you want to buy physical silver, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal. My guide to buying silver is here: If you are in London or nearby on September 28 or 29, please come to my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures. It's in the West End at the Museum of Comedy and it's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

US inflation numbers came in on Tuesday at 8.3%. The markets were expecting something lower – after all, the oil price had fallen back, not to mention most commodities.8.3% was above expectations and the markets did not like it one bit. Down they went like liquid through an open sluice. Hopes and dreams of a sustained recovery since the June carnage went with them.Actually, not totally.While the S&P 500, which I use as a barometer for global markets, has been making a sequence of lower highs since the beginning of the year – ie, the broader trend is down – it has also been making a series of higher lows since June, meaning the intermediate trend is up.Yesterday's lows are still higher than last week's lows, which were higher than the July lows, which were higher than the June lows. So there is something of an intermediate term up-trend in place.If you draw a trendline off both the lows and the highs, they are both still intact and you end up with something of a wedge pattern, as the chart below shows.If you dabble in such dark arts as day trading, or short-term flips, I would wager that the odds – in the short term – favour going long with a stop just below that rising trend line, with a target  somewhere near the falling blue line around 4,200. That said, as we have just seen, rallies could fail at any time, so if the market moves in your favour, you would want to keep moving your stops up to protect any gains.Unlike some patterns – double tops, head and shoulders highs and lows, for example, which I find quite useful – I have over the years found wedges to be utterly useless as predictive tools. So I am not going to forecast off the back of it.A long-term downtrend will, in a month or two, assuming both those trend lines hold, which is some assumption itself, shortly butt up against a jittery, shorter-term uptrend and one of them will prevail. Seasonally, we are in a bad time of year for markets. The last four Septembers have all seen sell-offs of between 5% and 20%, so stockmarket-wise, I do not  see this as a time to be taking huge risks or making large bets. It's a time for prudence and capital conservation.Silver – huge potential that's never realisedI was, however, encouraged by the action in precious metals, in particular the dogs of recent months silver and platinum. Yes, they sold off, but on a relative basis they help up well.This comes on the back of an extraordinary day on Monday when silver rose some 5%. My ambivalence towards silver is long since documented. There is no other metal with as much potential. It is both a monetary metal and an industrial metal, used in virtually every computer related application you can think of – every phone, every computer contains silver –  not to mention all the bio and other tech.It “should” be a play on both currency debasement and technological progress. Yet in practice it proves to be neither and, at $19, is trading at the same price it was in 1980. There is about 15 times as much silver in the earth's crust as there is gold, hence there is an argument that silver should be 1/15th the gold price, which is what it was historically – over $100, in other words. But I have been listening to such arguments for 20 years and the metal never delivers.Silver aficionados scream manipulation, but they have been screaming that since the 1970s. Why would you want to own something whose price is deliberately suppressed by powers far greater than you? Surely you would want to own something whose price is artificially boosted. There's more profit in it.I own silver, quite a bit in fact, and I own some silver miners. Because one day, you never know, it might actually go to the moon. That's its planet after all. I want to make sure I've got a seat on the rocket if it does. I don't think I could live with myself if it went there and I didn't have exposure, having written about it so much over the years. But I've long since stopped holding my breath. Thank you for reading The Flying Frisby. This post is public so feel free to share it.Silver could be about to go on a multi-week bull run That said, I do think silver could enjoy a multi-week rally from here and I'll explain why. The COMEX is the world's largest futures and options trading exchange for metals. There are three groups of traders: the commercials, the large speculators and the small speculators. The commercials tend to be seen as the smart money, and, as they are often acting on behalf of miners, they tend to be sellers and so they tend to be short.Every Friday evening, the positions of the various traders the previous Tuesday, three days before – the open interest, as it is known – is announced. On Friday we discovered something extraordinary. That the commercials are net long – ie buyers – for only the third time in 40 years. That suggests a genuine shortage of metal. Meanwhile the speculators, who for the most part do not have metal to deliver, are net short. This opens up the possibility for a short squeeze. Anecdotally, I'm also hearing of silver shortages. It's hard to acquire bullion anywhere close to spot prices.Now this is silver, so don't get your hopes up and don't take on too much risk. If it can go wrong it will. But there is every reason to think a multi-week rally is on the cards. If the broader markets correct, then silver will come tumbling down with them. But if they can remain flat or rising slightly, then silver could enjoy a good run.Buying silver is justifiable on a value basis – silver is cheap below $20. It has displayed lots of relative strength over the past two days. My moving average crossover system is also on a buy signal. Go silver!But, remember folks, it's silver …If you want to buy physical silver, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal.If you are in London or nearby on September 28 or 29, please come to my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures. It's in the West End at the Museum of Comedy and it's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

I'm as guilty of this as anyone, but many of us make life more difficult than it needs to be. Achieving basic happiness, or at least avoiding what depresses us, might actually be quite simple.Is happiness, simply, when reality exceeds expectation?When I was a young man I was chronically ambitious. I would lie in bed as a student, dreaming about my future, making Faustian pacts, yet nothing would satisfy me. You could have offered me fame, glory, wealth, the keys to the city and more, and it would not have been enough. I wanted everything. When we discussed our futures, my friend, Gideon, though it pains me to admit, gifted and hugely competent, but not remotely ambitious, used to say: “I just want to be happy.” I thought that was loser talk. Looking back, he was probably right.How often do you watch a film or a show because somebody was raving about it for it to turn out nothing like as good as you were hoping? You end up disappointed. But if you saw the same film with no or low expectations, and it's pretty good, you might walk away feeling quite elated. Life is the similar. If reality comes in below expectation then we end up disappointed. If it comes in above expectation then we end up happy. Hence this useful formula:Reality > expectation = happinessExpectation > reality = unhappinessBy this formula, then, to achieve happiness you should simply lower your expectations.There is a lot to be said for that. But then there is also a lot to be said for ambition and optimism, which the mindset of low expectation negates. Ultimately, this way of thinking boils down to perception. Your life is no different - it's the same film - it's just a matter of how you look at it. Thus should we practice gratitude.Nevertheless, I'm not sure perennially low expectation is a way to live.We are all animalsDespite what we may think of ourselves, no matter how cultured, we are, when all is said and done, animals. If you keep a dog, you will know that, to be happy, a dog needs plenty of outdoor exercise and fresh air, regular and proper food, sleep, love and company. Absent any of these and the animal quickly becomes depressed. Human beings are the same. We have certain basic needs without which we end up depressed. The cause of depression is often (not always) the continued absence of one of these basics.With that in mind, here are seven animal essentials we all need to be happy. If you are depressed, it's not unlikely one of these is missing in your life. Get it back and you might find other things fall into place. (The problem with depression is that you lose the motivation to do so).I'm not saying that you can't be depressed or unhappy, if you have all of these things. You can. But a lot of the time, the cause is that one of these is absent. Get it back in your life, and you will find your depression sorts itself out.1 SunThe sun is the giver of all life on Earth, the source of all energy, of light, heat and gravity. Most of us do not get enough of it. We spend too much time indoors under artificial lights. The darker your skin, the more sun you need - and sun can hard to come by in colder northern European climes - but you need sun, whether you're light or dark. Our ancestors spent most of the day outdoors. When the opportunity presents itself, get plenty of sun, all over your body. We need sun. Only use enough sun block to prevent burning. As soon as you can, wean yourself off. A close family member got herself into the most terrible depressed state last winter. I'm convinced it's because she did not see sunlight for months, instead lying in bed all day watching crap on her phone.It's no accident the sun is often depicted with a smile on his face. Get more sun.2 WaterIt's as obvious a basic requirement as the sun, yet most of us don't drink enough. Got a bit of a headache? Constipated? Feeling stiff? Allergic? Lethargic? Hungry when you know you're not? Drink a large glass of water.Just under a pint should do it. That would be pound of water, roughly half a litre. You'll be amazed how many niggles it clears up.A large glass of water should be the first thing you drink every morning, when you wake up. And don't drink it cold. Drink it at room temperature or just below. 3 Food Two meals a day is plenty. Avoid snacks. Don't eat crappy, processed food. Avoid seed oils and ingredients the names of which you don't understand. Use simple foods - meat, fish, veg, fruit - close to their naturally occurring state (ie unprocessed). Spend time preparing food. Ideally, eat with other people - eating should be a shared communal activity. Regular eating times - routines - are good. And say grace before you eat - it focuses the table, it unifies the group, it expresses gratitude, helps mark where you are and grounds you. Doesn't matter if you don't believe in god, saying grace is still a good ritual.Also, rather than eat crap on the run, skip meals. Fasting is good.If you are overweight and want to lose weight, fast. The 5:2 diet works and, most importantly, it is sustainable.But the basic rule is eat regular, healthy meals and don't eat crap.4 ExerciseGet plenty of it. I'm convinced exerting yourself and getting your heart pumping cures depression. Walk, swim, run, cycle, go the gym, play football, play tennis, lift weights, do HIT, ski, do yoga - it's all good. Do as much as possible outside, so you get sun and fresh air. And drink plenty of water afterwards.5 AirAs basic as water, food and sun, get plenty of fresh air. Sea and countryside air is better than city. Park air is better than busy street air.Plenty of exercise will get you breathing properly. Breathe deep. Breathing exercises are good, though must of us can't be bothered. 6 SleepGet plenty of sleep too. Don't deprive yourself. We need sleep. The body and mind replenish during sleep. I have many of my best ideas when I'm asleep. I often solve problems in my sleep. It's because the mind carries on working at stuff you have been thinking about in the day.Alcohol and drugs affect sleep badly. I drink too much. Most of us do. Try to avoid drinking at home. Fasting is good as, if nothing else, it stops you drinking. Thus fasting improves the quality of your sleep. There's nothing wrong with going to bed early. Sometimes I struggle to get to sleep - and that is when the demons come to visit. The best cure for that is plenty of exercise earlier in the day, so you go to sleep tired. Don't drink caffeine or orange juice after 6pm. Don't eat too heavily late at night. Don't shower or bathe just before bed - it will wake you up.Reading helps get you to sleep quickly too. Don't look at your phone, computer, TV or iPad for at least an hour before bed. The blue light wakes you up.7 CompanionshipAnimals, for the most part, are social. Humans certainly are.I am an only child and quite a solitary person. But I still need the company of others, be they friend or family. We all do.Nature designed humans to live in families, large ones. Unfortunately, the modern world - in particular the big state - is destroying that: the state destroys family by eroding its responsibility. For me that is a major factor in the decline of the west. But that is another issue for another day.Not always possible, but try to live in as big a family unit as possible. The Asians have it right. Your family knows you better than anyone. They know what is good for you and what is not. They monitor you. Humans are happier in family units. Their roles are more clearly defined. Find a partner to share your life with, someone with plenty of shared loves and interests. Don't burden them with unreasonable expectations. The waitress test is good: if you have a really bad experience in a restaurant, watch how they treat the waiter or waitress. Because that is how they will treat you when things get bad. Do you want that?We need friends almost as much as family - they are the next best thing, and they make for a good substitute in the absence of family. Surround yourself with good people, and people you think are good for you. Hang out with bums and low lives, and you will become a bum and a low life. What you can control and what you can'tMost of the above you have some control over, but so much of what happens in your life is beyond your control. You can't control who your parents are, at what point in history you were born or where, what is going on geo-politically around you. One example of this, as Malcolm Gladwell observes in Outliers - the Story of Success: neither Bill Gates nor Steve Jobs would have been the men they were if they were born a couple of years earlier or later. There was a cluster of computer geniuses who were all within a one year timeframe that meant they were coming of age at just the point computers were taking off.Your health is not always within your control. (But you can affect it by eating, sleeping, drinking and exercising well - and getting plenty of sun). If you are at school or university or work in a large establishment, you cannot control what is happening above you there. Similarly, if you are freelancer, you cannot control what is happening in the broader work place or the economy. You can only position yourself for it. Any stock trader will tell you, you cannot control markets, only react to them.The loss of a loved one, natural disasters, unforeseen catastrophic events, the talents bestowed on you - there is so much you have no control over. With that in mind my daughter and I put this ‘graph of life' together yesterday. The black line is your life. Beneath the black line is stuff you can control, above it stuff you can't.I'm minded of the great line from JRR Tolkien's Fellowship Of The Ring.“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”You can work hard, position yourself, play your hand well, make good decisions, but so much of what happens in life you have no control over. I gather a standard sports psychology, something Sven-Göran Eriksson used to bang on about, is to only worry about what you can effect. The animal habits outlined above you can, for the most part (companionship is harder), effect. This is obviously a huge subject, and one I will return to, but I think I've banged on enough for one day. When I was in my 20s trying to figure out what I wanted to do with, my father always used to say “There are only two that matter: who you love and what you love” - by which he meant your work. Work, tradition, prayer and spirituality, and their relationship with happiness, are things I would like to explore in another post. But we have enough for now.If you are in London on September 28 or 29, my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures is coming to the Museum of Comedy. It's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. The lecture will give your evening a strong intellectual foundation. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

“Pound crashes to weakest level since 1985 in blow to Truss” ran the headline on the Telegraph website yesterday.“The Bank of England had one job today”, as economist Shaun Richards put it, “which was to talk up the pound and instead their waffling sees it at US $1.14.” Theresa May Flash Crash aside, that's a 37-year low.And that's measuring it against the dollar. If you measure the pound's purchasing power against essential basics such as energy or houses, its performance has been way more woeful.It's not just the pound, even if it is one of the worst offenders. It's all fiat money. I've been banging on about it for 20 years but I may as well bang on some more: fiat money and its devaluation is the greatest and most pernicious intergenerational theft in history. Devaluing your currency boosts assets but devalues labour When you devalue money, among numerous other things, you devalue salaries, which is to devalue labour. All the young have is their labour. You boost the value of assets meanwhile, which is what the old have acquired over the course of their lives. The net result is to transfer wealth from young to old. Compounded over decades, 5% one year, 8% another, this process has been devastating. Don't get me started on the knock-on effects: smaller families started later in life and all the rest of it. So many people of my generation and above think they are business geniuses because they paid the market rate for a house 30 or 40 years ago. You are not. Systematic and incremental devaluation by successive administrations was “what did it”.The Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank, the European and Japanese Central Banks – central banking has a lot to answer for. It feels like we might finally be in some kind of endgame for fiat money now. Mind you, I thought we were in the endgame in 2008, so I'm probably wrong this time around as well. I've no doubt some new magic words even more unintelligible than “quantitative easing” are being conjured up as I write.Right rant over. I had to get that off my chest. Let us move on. Does a new PM mean you should go long the pound?We have a new government. Money is the issuance of government. The weak pound is all over the headlines. So I thought it would be an interesting exercise today to look, first, at the performance of the pound by successive governments over the past generation. And then to consider whether one should be buyer or seller here.“Buy on silence, sell on headlines,” is a good little investment motto that I've just invented. When something makes the headlines, there is often not a lot of narrative left in the tank,  the story is mature and the next stage is exhaustion. It's standard contrarian market psychology. Does the fact that the weak pound has made the headlines mean it's time to take the other side of the trade and go long? Could be.We'll start with a chart of the pound against the dollar – aka cable – since 1970. And by the way, the dollar has a much larger market cap than the pound, so what is going on on the other side of the pond tends to have a greater effect on cable than what is happening here. That is the case at present. The pound is weak, but so is the euro, the yen and any other number of currencies you care to mention – except the Russian rouble. Current pound weakness is as much a function of US dollar strength as anything. The chart of the pound against the euro over the last three years is much flatter.In any case, cable is the benchmark, so here is the pound against the dollar since 1970, when it was $2.40 (!).The broader trend is down, but there are periods of relative strength – 1976-1981, 1985-1991, 2000-2007. We've basically been in a downtrend since 2007, shortly after Tony Blair stood down and Gordon Brown became PM. It is what is known in the game as a secular bear market. Now we consider the same chart, but this time I have overlaid the government. Even though several prime ministers have led successive governments – Wilson, Thatcher, Major and Blair for example – for the sake of clarity and simplicity I have marked the chart by PM. Needless to say the dates of the red and blue lines are approximate. The first observation I make is that, despite their reputation for fiscal competence, the Tories have not been good stewards of the currency. In the case of Edward Heath and David Cameron, the pound was marginally stronger when they stood down than it was when they took office. Despite his presiding over Black Wednesday and the ERM fiasco, for John Major the pound was only a few per cent lower than it was when he started.But in the case of – and this surprised me – Margaret Thatcher, plus Theresa May and Boris Johson it was lower. Labour's record is mixed. Harold Wilson saw it lower, Jim Callaghan higher (that surprised me too). Tony Blair has the best record of all – it went from roughly $1.60 to $2.10 – and Gordon Brown the worst.That said Blair was one of the few PMs – perhaps the only one – to stand down from a position of strength. Normally PMs are stood down because there is something voters or MPs or both are not happy with, which will be reflected in a weak currency.Lower taxes and higher spending should encourage growthBack to today. This latest move in the dollar has been extraordinary. I've long been suggesting the US dollar index could go as high as 120 (another 10% from here – though exhaustion indicators are starting to appear), but at a certain point purchasing power parity will kick in and currencies will reflect relative valuations. On a purchasing power parity basis the pound is very cheap at $1.14. The other observation I make about the above chart is that new administrations have often marked turning points in the currency. This, one could argue, was the case for Wilson, Callaghan, Major, Brown, Cameron, May and Johnson.Despite the Tories' record for incompetence, Liz Truss has put together a cabinet that is, broadly speaking, actually conservative. Unlike previous administrations, it is not full of wets and social democrats, who happen to be in the Conservative Party. Lower taxes and less spending (I'll believe that when I see it) should lead to economic growth, which should help the currency. The big kahuna though is where the Bank of England base rate goes – and indeed the Fed Funds Rate.I'd say there is a not unreasonable chance that, with a new government, we could mark a turning point for the pound. We're at a point of extremity where such a turn could happen. But let's see what government does first, before we get too excited. As I say, another not totally unreasonable possibility is that we are in the endgame for fiat. In that case the pound slides below parity. If you want to buy gold to hedge yourself against all of this, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal. If you are in London on September 28 or 29, my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures is coming to the Museum of Comedy. It's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

“Pound crashes to weakest level since 1985 in blow to Truss” ran the headline on the Telegraph website yesterday.“The Bank of England had one job today”, as economist Shaun Richards put it, “which was to talk up the pound and instead their waffling sees it at US $1.14.” Theresa May Flash Crash aside, that's a 37-year low.And that's measuring it against the dollar. If you measure the pound's purchasing power against essential basics such as energy or houses, its performance has been way more woeful.It's not just the pound, even if it is one of the worst offenders. It's all fiat money. I've been banging on about it for 20 years but I may as well bang on some more: fiat money and its devaluation is the greatest and most pernicious intergenerational theft in history. Devaluing your currency boosts assets but devalues labour When you devalue money, among numerous other things, you devalue salaries, which is to devalue labour. All the young have is their labour. You boost the value of assets meanwhile, which is what the old have acquired over the course of their lives. The net result is to transfer wealth from young to old. Compounded over decades, 5% one year, 8% another, this process has been devastating. Don't get me started on the knock-on effects: smaller families started later in life and all the rest of it. So many people of my generation and above think they are business geniuses because they paid the market rate for a house 30 or 40 years ago. You are not. Systematic and incremental devaluation by successive administrations was “what did it”.The Bank of England, the Federal Reserve Bank, the European and Japanese Central Banks – central banking has a lot to answer for. It feels like we might finally be in some kind of endgame for fiat money now. Mind you, I thought we were in the endgame in 2008, so I'm probably wrong this time around as well. I've no doubt some new magic words even more unintelligible than “quantitative easing” are being conjured up as I write.Right rant over. I had to get that off my chest. Let us move on. Does a new PM mean you should go long the pound?We have a new government. Money is the issuance of government. The weak pound is all over the headlines. So I thought it would be an interesting exercise today to look, first, at the performance of the pound by successive governments over the past generation. And then to consider whether one should be buyer or seller here.“Buy on silence, sell on headlines,” is a good little investment motto that I've just invented. When something makes the headlines, there is often not a lot of narrative left in the tank,  the story is mature and the next stage is exhaustion. It's standard contrarian market psychology. Does the fact that the weak pound has made the headlines mean it's time to take the other side of the trade and go long? Could be.We'll start with a chart of the pound against the dollar – aka cable – since 1970. And by the way, the dollar has a much larger market cap than the pound, so what is going on on the other side of the pond tends to have a greater effect on cable than what is happening here. That is the case at present. The pound is weak, but so is the euro, the yen and any other number of currencies you care to mention – except the Russian rouble. Current pound weakness is as much a function of US dollar strength as anything. The chart of the pound against the euro over the last three years is much flatter.In any case, cable is the benchmark, so here is the pound against the dollar since 1970, when it was $2.40 (!).The broader trend is down, but there are periods of relative strength – 1976-1981, 1985-1991, 2000-2007. We've basically been in a downtrend since 2007, shortly after Tony Blair stood down and Gordon Brown became PM. It is what is known in the game as a secular bear market. Now we consider the same chart, but this time I have overlaid the government. Even though several prime ministers have led successive governments – Wilson, Thatcher, Major and Blair for example – for the sake of clarity and simplicity I have marked the chart by PM. Needless to say the dates of the red and blue lines are approximate. The first observation I make is that, despite their reputation for fiscal competence, the Tories have not been good stewards of the currency. In the case of Edward Heath and David Cameron, the pound was marginally stronger when they stood down than it was when they took office. Despite his presiding over Black Wednesday and the ERM fiasco, for John Major the pound was only a few per cent lower than it was when he started.But in the case of – and this surprised me – Margaret Thatcher, plus Theresa May and Boris Johson it was lower. Labour's record is mixed. Harold Wilson saw it lower, Jim Callaghan higher (that surprised me too). Tony Blair has the best record of all – it went from roughly $1.60 to $2.10 – and Gordon Brown the worst.That said Blair was one of the few PMs – perhaps the only one – to stand down from a position of strength. Normally PMs are stood down because there is something voters or MPs or both are not happy with, which will be reflected in a weak currency.Lower taxes and higher spending should encourage growthBack to today. This latest move in the dollar has been extraordinary. I've long been suggesting the US dollar index could go as high as 120 (another 10% from here – though exhaustion indicators are starting to appear), but at a certain point purchasing power parity will kick in and currencies will reflect relative valuations. On a purchasing power parity basis the pound is very cheap at $1.14. The other observation I make about the above chart is that new administrations have often marked turning points in the currency. This, one could argue, was the case for Wilson, Callaghan, Major, Brown, Cameron, May and Johnson.Despite the Tories' record for incompetence, Liz Truss has put together a cabinet that is, broadly speaking, actually conservative. Unlike previous administrations, it is not full of wets and social democrats, who happen to be in the Conservative Party. Lower taxes and less spending (I'll believe that when I see it) should lead to economic growth, which should help the currency. The big kahuna though is where the Bank of England base rate goes – and indeed the Fed Funds Rate.I'd say there is a not unreasonable chance that, with a new government, we could mark a turning point for the pound. We're at a point of extremity where such a turn could happen. But let's see what government does first, before we get too excited. As I say, another not totally unreasonable possibility is that we are in the endgame for fiat. In that case the pound slides below parity. If you want to buy gold to hedge yourself against all of this, my recommended bullion dealer is the Pure Gold Company with whom I have an affiliation deal. If you are in London on September 28 or 29, my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures is coming to the Museum of Comedy. It's a 7-8pm show so you can come along and go out for dinner after. You can buy tickets here. This is a very interesting subject - effectively how you perceive the world. Hope to see you there.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

Morning All,A slightly admin-y email today.First up: How Heavy? - the surprisingly popular "lecture with funny bits" I did at the Edinburgh Fringe this year- is coming to London's West End for a short run later this month at the Museum of Comedy on September 28th and 29th.It's a show about the history of weights and measures, and is, I promise you, a VERY interesting subject. Weights and measures effectively determine how you perceive the world. It's a nice, early 7pm start. You'll be done by 8pm - free to go and have dinner or whatever you fancy - and will give your evening a strong intellectual foundation.Please come along. You can get tickets here.Second up: there have been some significant announcements by two of the companies in my portfolio - major holdings - in the last 24 hours. I will be updating paid subscribers on these asap, hopefully later today.Third up: this article was supposed to all subscribers last week, but due to a cock-up at HQ it only went out to paid subscribers. The YouTube version has been very popular - it's obviously caught a nerve - so in case you want to read it, here is a link:Until next time.Dominic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Morning All,A slightly admin-y email today.First up: How Heavy? - the surprisingly popular "lecture with funny bits" I did at the Edinburgh Fringe this year- is coming to London's West End for a short run later this month at the Museum of Comedy on September 28th and 29th.It's a show about the history of weights and measures, and is, I promise you, a VERY interesting subject. Weights and measures effectively determine how you perceive the world. It's a nice, early 7pm start. You'll be done by 8pm - free to go and have dinner or whatever you fancy - and will give your evening a strong intellectual foundation.Please come along. You can get tickets here.Second up: there have been some significant announcements by two of the companies in my portfolio - major holdings - in the last 24 hours. I will be updating paid subscribers on these asap, hopefully later today.Third up: this article was supposed to all subscribers last week, but due to a cock-up at HQ it only went out to paid subscribers. The YouTube version has been very popular - it's obviously caught a nerve - so in case you want to read it, here is a link:Until next time.Dominic This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

My apologies if you have received this twice. Cock up at HQ.Over a Zoom call earlier in the week,  I heard some people discussing the “Russian Davos” which they had attended back in June. I didn't even know such a thing existed, such is my Western, Ptolemaic view of the world. (Ptolemaic, by the way, to save you having to look it up, means you think you are at the centre of the universe, and everything revolves around you).So the Russian Davos, or as it's properly known, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, held in June, is an annual event that began in 1995 to signal the (then) new Russia. It would attract global political leaders, business titans, finance bigwigs and all the usual shizzle. The event went ahead this year, though, for obvious reasons, the VIP headcount was significantly down. Gone were the likes of (once) German chancellor Angela Merkel, ECB chief Christine Lagarde, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein, Citi's Vikram Pandit and ExxonMobil's Rex Tillerson. Top billing went to presidents of Egypt (via video link), Kazakhstan, Armenia and other allied states.There were representatives from the likes of China, India, Iran, Serbia, Turkey, Venezuela, Egypt, Belarus, Central African Republic, Nicaragua and the United Arab Emirates. Quite a collection. Non-Western nations that have not imposed sanctions had greater prominence. The Western economy has been shaped by cheap commodity prices The official title of the forum was "New Opportunities in a New World", and the recurring theme was how to improve trade between non-Western powers in a US dollar controlled world of sanctions. "A new form of international cooperation: how will payments be made?" was the title of one such talk. Time and time again the conversation came back to a new, non-Western international currency.Which brings me to the second strand of thought that makes up today's piece: the latest contribution from Credit Suisse analyst, Zoltan Pozsar. Pozsar has long since argued that Bretton Woods III, a new world monetary order, is happening before our eyes and that new money systems east of Europe will be based around commodity-based currencies.In his latest, War and Industrial Policy, Pozsar, who I am fast becoming a fan of, argues that there were three forces that shaped the western economy before Covid - cheap immigrant labour, cheap Chinese goods and cheap gas. Such a trinity is no longer possible in a world in which international trust is fast evaporating. “The “cartoon” version goes like this: China got very rich making cheap stuff, and then wanted to build 5G networks globally and make cutting-edge chips with cutting-edge lithography machines, but the US said “no way”. As a result, Chimerica is going through a messy divorce. The two sides don't talk anymore.” Meanwhile, “Russia got very rich selling cheap gas to Europe, and Germany got very rich selling expensive stuff produced with cheap gas.” Those two sides aren't talking any more either. “Chimerica does not work anymore and Eurussia does not work either,” he says and now, in the divorce, it seems Russia and China are “getting it on”. Meanwhile, out west, QE and zero interest rate policies are no longer possible in a world without cheap Chinese and Russian exports. There is now a rush to regain control of key technologies, especially microchips, and key commodities, especially oil and gas (and soon in my opinion metals and grains). Pozsar adds straits to the key list - the Taiwan Strait, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Bosporus Strait.“I think that four themes (re-arm, re-shore, re-stock, and re-wire the electric grid) will be the defining aims of industrial policy over the next five years … the global order is at stake.”Inflation or not, high rates or not, there is a commodity-intensive demand shock coming that “could easily drive another commodity super-cycle.”So to the third strand. “The issue of creating an international reserve currency based on a basket of currencies of our countries is being worked out,” Vladimir Putin said last month.In this regards we have former Kremlin adviser, now Minister in Charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), and an influential economist, Sergey Glazyev. He is, according to some reports, supervising the adoption of a new money system for the EAEU and China. “The world's new monetary system, underpinned by a digital currency, will be backed by a basket of new foreign currencies and natural resources”. “A currency like this can be issued by a pool of currency reserves of BRICS countries, which all interested countries will be able to join. The weight of each currency in the basket could be proportional to the GDP of each country (based on purchasing power parity, for example), its share in international trade, as well as the population and territory size of participating countries. In addition, the basket could contain an index of prices of main exchange-traded commodities: gold and other precious metals, key industrial metals, hydrocarbons, grains, sugar, as well as water and other natural resources.”You can bet your bottom dollar that many of China and Eurasia's brightest minds are plotting such a system, but it's a lot easier said than done. Apart from anything else there is the issue of storing all these commodities. Not all of them keep. Others take up a lot of space. Which is why, in the past, gold alone has been used to back money. It keeps very well and you don't need a lot of space to store it. The bullish backdrop for commodity prices Russia and China both have lots of gold - we have long argued that China's gold reserves are ten times what they say they are. It would be a lot easier to use a gold-backed international currency. Or, well, gold. But governments everywhere, whether controlled by tyrants or technocrats, are always going to want to maintain the option to print, debase and manipulate, so gold alone is unlikely. But you never know. It works as an international money.Against this highly-bullish-for-commodities backdrop, we have a situation here in the west that looks like the dead cat bounce in stocks is now over, and the bear is again gnashing his teeth. That teeth gnashing has extended to commodities, be they metal, fuel or grain, and now, once again, there is a rush for the exit. The main priority is to preserve capital, not positions. The price action - certainly in metals, less so in oil and gas - has the hallmarks of a bear market, not a supercycle.I keep saying these markets are difficult. But they are. While there is a liquidity squeeze all bets are off. But at a certain point, to my eyes at least, it looks like commodity prices are going to rocket. If only I knew when.To hedge yourself and buy gold or silver, check out the Pure Gold Company.I will be performing my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures at the Museum of Comedy in London on September 28 and 29. You can buy tickets here. Please come along. You will not be disappointed. It is a surprisingly interesting and entertaining subject.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

My apologies if you have received this twice. Cock up at HQ.Over a Zoom call earlier in the week,  I heard some people discussing the “Russian Davos” which they had attended back in June. I didn't even know such a thing existed, such is my Western, Ptolemaic view of the world. (Ptolemaic, by the way, to save you having to look it up, means you think you are at the centre of the universe, and everything revolves around you).So the Russian Davos, or as it's properly known, the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, held in June, is an annual event that began in 1995 to signal the (then) new Russia. It would attract global political leaders, business titans, finance bigwigs and all the usual shizzle. The event went ahead this year, though, for obvious reasons, the VIP headcount was significantly down. Gone were the likes of (once) German chancellor Angela Merkel, ECB chief Christine Lagarde, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein, Citi's Vikram Pandit and ExxonMobil's Rex Tillerson. Top billing went to presidents of Egypt (via video link), Kazakhstan, Armenia and other allied states.There were representatives from the likes of China, India, Iran, Serbia, Turkey, Venezuela, Egypt, Belarus, Central African Republic, Nicaragua and the United Arab Emirates. Quite a collection. Non-Western nations that have not imposed sanctions had greater prominence. The Western economy has been shaped by cheap commodity prices The official title of the forum was "New Opportunities in a New World", and the recurring theme was how to improve trade between non-Western powers in a US dollar controlled world of sanctions. "A new form of international cooperation: how will payments be made?" was the title of one such talk. Time and time again the conversation came back to a new, non-Western international currency.Which brings me to the second strand of thought that makes up today's piece: the latest contribution from Credit Suisse analyst, Zoltan Pozsar. Pozsar has long since argued that Bretton Woods III, a new world monetary order, is happening before our eyes and that new money systems east of Europe will be based around commodity-based currencies.In his latest, War and Industrial Policy, Pozsar, who I am fast becoming a fan of, argues that there were three forces that shaped the western economy before Covid - cheap immigrant labour, cheap Chinese goods and cheap gas. Such a trinity is no longer possible in a world in which international trust is fast evaporating. “The “cartoon” version goes like this: China got very rich making cheap stuff, and then wanted to build 5G networks globally and make cutting-edge chips with cutting-edge lithography machines, but the US said “no way”. As a result, Chimerica is going through a messy divorce. The two sides don't talk anymore.” Meanwhile, “Russia got very rich selling cheap gas to Europe, and Germany got very rich selling expensive stuff produced with cheap gas.” Those two sides aren't talking any more either. “Chimerica does not work anymore and Eurussia does not work either,” he says and now, in the divorce, it seems Russia and China are “getting it on”. Meanwhile, out west, QE and zero interest rate policies are no longer possible in a world without cheap Chinese and Russian exports. There is now a rush to regain control of key technologies, especially microchips, and key commodities, especially oil and gas (and soon in my opinion metals and grains). Pozsar adds straits to the key list - the Taiwan Strait, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Bosporus Strait.“I think that four themes (re-arm, re-shore, re-stock, and re-wire the electric grid) will be the defining aims of industrial policy over the next five years … the global order is at stake.”Inflation or not, high rates or not, there is a commodity-intensive demand shock coming that “could easily drive another commodity super-cycle.”So to the third strand. “The issue of creating an international reserve currency based on a basket of currencies of our countries is being worked out,” Vladimir Putin said last month.In this regards we have former Kremlin adviser, now Minister in Charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), and an influential economist, Sergey Glazyev. He is, according to some reports, supervising the adoption of a new money system for the EAEU and China. “The world's new monetary system, underpinned by a digital currency, will be backed by a basket of new foreign currencies and natural resources”. “A currency like this can be issued by a pool of currency reserves of BRICS countries, which all interested countries will be able to join. The weight of each currency in the basket could be proportional to the GDP of each country (based on purchasing power parity, for example), its share in international trade, as well as the population and territory size of participating countries. In addition, the basket could contain an index of prices of main exchange-traded commodities: gold and other precious metals, key industrial metals, hydrocarbons, grains, sugar, as well as water and other natural resources.”You can bet your bottom dollar that many of China and Eurasia's brightest minds are plotting such a system, but it's a lot easier said than done. Apart from anything else there is the issue of storing all these commodities. Not all of them keep. Others take up a lot of space. Which is why, in the past, gold alone has been used to back money. It keeps very well and you don't need a lot of space to store it. The bullish backdrop for commodity prices Russia and China both have lots of gold - we have long argued that China's gold reserves are ten times what they say they are. It would be a lot easier to use a gold-backed international currency. Or, well, gold. But governments everywhere, whether controlled by tyrants or technocrats, are always going to want to maintain the option to print, debase and manipulate, so gold alone is unlikely. But you never know. It works as an international money.Against this highly-bullish-for-commodities backdrop, we have a situation here in the west that looks like the dead cat bounce in stocks is now over, and the bear is again gnashing his teeth. That teeth gnashing has extended to commodities, be they metal, fuel or grain, and now, once again, there is a rush for the exit. The main priority is to preserve capital, not positions. The price action - certainly in metals, less so in oil and gas - has the hallmarks of a bear market, not a supercycle.I keep saying these markets are difficult. But they are. While there is a liquidity squeeze all bets are off. But at a certain point, to my eyes at least, it looks like commodity prices are going to rocket. If only I knew when.To hedge yourself and buy gold or silver, check out the Pure Gold Company.I will be performing my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures at the Museum of Comedy in London on September 28 and 29. You can buy tickets here. Please come along. You will not be disappointed. It is a surprisingly interesting and entertaining subject.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

While on holiday in Sark this week, I stumbled across a book in the local post office: “Silver Mining On Sark” by David Synnott, which describes an ill-fated mining operation on the island between 1836 and 1847. Books are distilled knowledge, and I love the stuff you can find in them. Often stuff you don't find online.“Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose”, runs the old French saying. It applies to mining, it seems, as much as anything.  We don't use canaries any more; mines are powered by diesel and electricity, not horse-, donkey- or and manpower; helmets have torches instead of candles and there is underground lighting; and a higher premium is placed on human life than in the early 1800s, when workers were much more disposable. But the game is exactly the same: you're trying to extract metal from rock and sell it at a higher price than you mine it for.  The tricks of the trade, aka scams, are the same too. So let me tell you the story of Sark's silver mine.  How a silver mine brought the boom times to a tiny island Sark, by the way, is a tiny island about two miles square, located between Guernsey and Jersey in the English Channel – much closer to France (25 miles) than England, which is over 200 miles away.  Remains show the island was inhabited in Neolithic times, but for many periods in the island's history there was nobody here at all. Today it has around 500 residents. There are famously no cars on the islands – only tractors, horses, bikes and mobility scooters – and no street lights, giving you probably the best view of the night sky in Europe. It's famous for its harsh, windswept landscape with sheer cliffs and jagged rocks. It still has a feudal lord – who, by the way I beat at table tennis – and its own parliament. In the early 1800s the language spoken here – the patois – was similar to Old Frankish. Very different from the Cornish spoken by the miners who would soon settle there.  If you take a boat trip round the island, there are visible copper salts leaching in the cliffs – which no doubt explains its appeal during the Bronze Age – and it was these visible salts that attracted prospectors to the island in the early part of the 19th century. The Cornish at the time had one of the most evolved mining cultures in the world (also dating back to the Bronze Age), and they were operating mines as far afield as Argentina, North America (especially California, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia – in Chesapeake they even have a Cornish accent) and South Africa, where they operated the world's largest copper mine at Okiep, 300 miles north of Cape Town. They were in Australia and New Zealand as well.Even the great Mark Twain – he of “a mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing next to it” fame – was of Cornish descent. In 1835, funded by an English mining adventurer called John Hunt – adventurer is a far better term than entrepreneur, is it not? – a team of Cornish miners arrived on the island to mine the copper. They soon found lead and silver nearby, and began mining that too. And so was Sark's Hope Mine built.  They should have called it the No Hope Mine – what was prospering in 1839 went badly wrong. How?  Profits erased by extravagant dinners and lax accounting In the age old tradition of mining, management misled the shareholders. When the ore body was clearly not enough to support the mine, the mine captain deceived where possible to keep the game going.  Management had a vested interest in doing so, even if it was no longer profitable. Their salaries depended on it. There were also some two hundred Cornish workers were employed by the mine, together with their wives (who may also have been employees – “bal maidens”, they were known as) and their families. Sark's population soared to 790, the highest ever recorded. Management no doubt felt loyalty to its people, as well as their own salaries.As they chased ore, expanding the mine with the promise of finding more silver, the mine extended some 800 yards and with tunnels 300 feet out to sea where they were mining 20 fathoms – 120 feet – below sea level. You can imagine the noise in those tunnels when there's a storm blowing overhead, waves crashing and all the rest of it. They actually had quite an ingenious device in play should the mine ever flood that would save the mine and some of its occupants.  General equipment could be brought in from Guernsey, but the speciality stuff had to be acquired from Cornish suppliers, with the effect that Guernsey and London shareholders capital went to the “picks and shovels” suppliers in Cornwall.  Management would go on jollies to Guernsey for their count house dinners, a tradition they had brought over from Cornwall – dinners which acquired legendary status for their extravagance – where news of the mine would be delivered to shareholders.  (The count house is the mine office, where the managers worked and where the miners were paid. You'll still find pubs or estuarants in Cornwall called the Count House.) Mining has a long and rich history of this. I remember the boom of the 00s and you would see management of non-producing exploration companies living it up at the Savoy, driving Ferraris to expensive lunches and dinners. Who's paying for it all? The cost of dinners would be buried in the company accounts. On another venture one outadventurer - an investor or shareholder - is said to have asked why he couldn't see the spirits from a recent count house dinner in the accounts. The bursar, or what we might today call the CFO, declared that the spirits are there, you just can't see them.  There was a long Cornish habit of swindling “outadventurers” – investors – from London. It seems they took the habit with them to Sark. Of course, sometimes mines work - and everybody makes a lot of money. That's the same lure that draws people in and will always draw people in. It's only when the mine doesn't work that things go belly up.That's not to say working mines was easy. Many lost their lives to it – 20% of Cornish miners were killed or incapacitated before they reached 40, so Cornwall became known as the county of widows. If you saw someone's window open in Cornwall in winter, it's likely that the occupier was a former miner gasping for air as his lungs were so damaged from breathing in the dust of thousands of gunpowder explosions. As things went wrong in the early 1840s, the Seigneur of Sark – the feudal lord – borrowed money to try and keep the business going. But in 1847 the business finally collapsed. The Seigneur lost a lot more than his shirt. He died a year later, crushed with debt. His creditor, one Marie Collins, foreclosed on the debts and his son lost the fiefdom to her.  The son, Peter Carey, would become “a low life scamp”, to quote the (probably biased) archive of the Seigneurie. Sark got a new Seigneur - a Dame actually - and that same family retains the fiefdom to this day. The mine has never been reworked or re-explored. Now it's all grown over.   Irony of ironies, in Guernsey there is still a record of all the money paid out to shareholders, but those that recorded the company's income have been “lost”. Still, the episode had some long-term effects on the island For a period there was an influx of capital. Prosperity then depression. It brought Methodism to the island from Corn wall, a school for girls and a doctor. It kick-started the tourist industry. The area around the mine – previously just heath – began to be farmed. The English language came to the island. The houses that were built for the mine workers housed the Sarkese for many decades to come. Apparently because they weren't built by the Cornish, but by the locals – so they were built with more longevity in mind “In this spot,” said local historian Edgar Barnes in 1890, “centred anticipations never to be fulfilled, and hopes doomed to dire disappointment. At the bottom of the mine lie buried the fortunes of an ancient family, the hard earned savings of people who had little to spare, and the wasted energies of hundreds of stalwart men who had hoped to share in the wealth which their efforts were to have won. And now all has vanished, as if it had never been, save that there still remain – ghostly monuments of failure – the shafts and the chimneys and the ruins of the various offices.” This is a story that has played out many times through the history of mining, and still plays out today. Investors – caveat emptor.If you are interested in buying bullion - safer than miners - check out the Pure Gold Co.If you are in or close to London towards the end of the month, I will be performing my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures at the Museum of Comedy in London on September 28 and 29. You can buy tickets here.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

While on holiday in Sark this week, I stumbled across a book in the local post office: “Silver Mining On Sark” by David Synnott, which describes an ill-fated mining operation on the island between 1836 and 1847. Books are distilled knowledge, and I love the stuff you can find in them. Often stuff you don't find online.“Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose”, runs the old French saying. It applies to mining, it seems, as much as anything.  We don't use canaries any more; mines are powered by diesel and electricity, not horse-, donkey- or and manpower; helmets have torches instead of candles and there is underground lighting; and a higher premium is placed on human life than in the early 1800s, when workers were much more disposable. But the game is exactly the same: you're trying to extract metal from rock and sell it at a higher price than you mine it for.  The tricks of the trade, aka scams, are the same too. So let me tell you the story of Sark's silver mine.  How a silver mine brought the boom times to a tiny island Sark, by the way, is a tiny island about two miles square, located between Guernsey and Jersey in the English Channel – much closer to France (25 miles) than England, which is over 200 miles away.  Remains show the island was inhabited in Neolithic times, but for many periods in the island's history there was nobody here at all. Today it has around 500 residents. There are famously no cars on the islands – only tractors, horses, bikes and mobility scooters – and no street lights, giving you probably the best view of the night sky in Europe. It's famous for its harsh, windswept landscape with sheer cliffs and jagged rocks. It still has a feudal lord – who, by the way I beat at table tennis – and its own parliament. In the early 1800s the language spoken here – the patois – was similar to Old Frankish. Very different from the Cornish spoken by the miners who would soon settle there.  If you take a boat trip round the island, there are visible copper salts leaching in the cliffs – which no doubt explains its appeal during the Bronze Age – and it was these visible salts that attracted prospectors to the island in the early part of the 19th century. The Cornish at the time had one of the most evolved mining cultures in the world (also dating back to the Bronze Age), and they were operating mines as far afield as Argentina, North America (especially California, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia – in Chesapeake they even have a Cornish accent) and South Africa, where they operated the world's largest copper mine at Okiep, 300 miles north of Cape Town. They were in Australia and New Zealand as well.Even the great Mark Twain – he of “a mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing next to it” fame – was of Cornish descent. In 1835, funded by an English mining adventurer called John Hunt – adventurer is a far better term than entrepreneur, is it not? – a team of Cornish miners arrived on the island to mine the copper. They soon found lead and silver nearby, and began mining that too. And so was Sark's Hope Mine built.  They should have called it the No Hope Mine – what was prospering in 1839 went badly wrong. How?  Profits erased by extravagant dinners and lax accounting In the age old tradition of mining, management misled the shareholders. When the ore body was clearly not enough to support the mine, the mine captain deceived where possible to keep the game going.  Management had a vested interest in doing so, even if it was no longer profitable. Their salaries depended on it. There were also some two hundred Cornish workers were employed by the mine, together with their wives (who may also have been employees – “bal maidens”, they were known as) and their families. Sark's population soared to 790, the highest ever recorded. Management no doubt felt loyalty to its people, as well as their own salaries.As they chased ore, expanding the mine with the promise of finding more silver, the mine extended some 800 yards and with tunnels 300 feet out to sea where they were mining 20 fathoms – 120 feet – below sea level. You can imagine the noise in those tunnels when there's a storm blowing overhead, waves crashing and all the rest of it. They actually had quite an ingenious device in play should the mine ever flood that would save the mine and some of its occupants.  General equipment could be brought in from Guernsey, but the speciality stuff had to be acquired from Cornish suppliers, with the effect that Guernsey and London shareholders capital went to the “picks and shovels” suppliers in Cornwall.  Management would go on jollies to Guernsey for their count house dinners, a tradition they had brought over from Cornwall – dinners which acquired legendary status for their extravagance – where news of the mine would be delivered to shareholders.  (The count house is the mine office, where the managers worked and where the miners were paid. You'll still find pubs or estuarants in Cornwall called the Count House.) Mining has a long and rich history of this. I remember the boom of the 00s and you would see management of non-producing exploration companies living it up at the Savoy, driving Ferraris to expensive lunches and dinners. Who's paying for it all? The cost of dinners would be buried in the company accounts. On another venture one outadventurer - an investor or shareholder - is said to have asked why he couldn't see the spirits from a recent count house dinner in the accounts. The bursar, or what we might today call the CFO, declared that the spirits are there, you just can't see them.  There was a long Cornish habit of swindling “outadventurers” – investors – from London. It seems they took the habit with them to Sark. Of course, sometimes mines work - and everybody makes a lot of money. That's the same lure that draws people in and will always draw people in. It's only when the mine doesn't work that things go belly up.That's not to say working mines was easy. Many lost their lives to it – 20% of Cornish miners were killed or incapacitated before they reached 40, so Cornwall became known as the county of widows. If you saw someone's window open in Cornwall in winter, it's likely that the occupier was a former miner gasping for air as his lungs were so damaged from breathing in the dust of thousands of gunpowder explosions. As things went wrong in the early 1840s, the Seigneur of Sark – the feudal lord – borrowed money to try and keep the business going. But in 1847 the business finally collapsed. The Seigneur lost a lot more than his shirt. He died a year later, crushed with debt. His creditor, one Marie Collins, foreclosed on the debts and his son lost the fiefdom to her.  The son, Peter Carey, would become “a low life scamp”, to quote the (probably biased) archive of the Seigneurie. Sark got a new Seigneur - a Dame actually - and that same family retains the fiefdom to this day. The mine has never been reworked or re-explored. Now it's all grown over.   Irony of ironies, in Guernsey there is still a record of all the money paid out to shareholders, but those that recorded the company's income have been “lost”. Still, the episode had some long-term effects on the island For a period there was an influx of capital. Prosperity then depression. It brought Methodism to the island from Corn wall, a school for girls and a doctor. It kick-started the tourist industry. The area around the mine – previously just heath – began to be farmed. The English language came to the island. The houses that were built for the mine workers housed the Sarkese for many decades to come. Apparently because they weren't built by the Cornish, but by the locals – so they were built with more longevity in mind “In this spot,” said local historian Edgar Barnes in 1890, “centred anticipations never to be fulfilled, and hopes doomed to dire disappointment. At the bottom of the mine lie buried the fortunes of an ancient family, the hard earned savings of people who had little to spare, and the wasted energies of hundreds of stalwart men who had hoped to share in the wealth which their efforts were to have won. And now all has vanished, as if it had never been, save that there still remain – ghostly monuments of failure – the shafts and the chimneys and the ruins of the various offices.” This is a story that has played out many times through the history of mining, and still plays out today. Investors – caveat emptor.If you are interested in buying bullion - safer than miners - check out the Pure Gold Co.If you are in or close to London towards the end of the month, I will be performing my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures at the Museum of Comedy in London on September 28 and 29. You can buy tickets here.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

After a month or so of welcome respite, the dreaded US dollar has got stronger again. It really is the scourge of everything.Stockmarkets have been walloped, the yen, pound and euro have been walloped, and commodities have been walloped. Again.The US dollar index shows the dollar against the currencies of its major trading partners – the yen, the euro and so on – so it is perhaps the most useful vehicle to study the dollar. Given the magnitude of foreign exchange markets and the fact the US dollar is the global reserve currency, I see its price as the most important price in the world. Here we see the US dollar index over the past three years. You can see that textbook double bottom it made in 2021, with the pattern completing in June. We were writing about it – see here and here.Since then, through all of the financial and inflationary turmoil of the past year, it has marched inexorably higher. Now it's retesting its highs around 109.My stated fear for some time is that it goes to 120. Why 120? There is some history there.Here is the dollar since 1980. You can see that 120 is the level it got to shortly after the turn of the century – and where it peaked around 2001-2002, helping to usher in that epic bull market in commodities.It actually got to 165 in 1985 – after Fed chair Paul Volcker tightened a lot quicker and harder than anybody else (not unlike what is happening now). The G5 nations – France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US – then agreed to weaken it so as to reduce the mounting US trade deficit. What followed were epic bull markets in both the Japanese yen and the German mark, and the stage was set for Japan's “lost decade”.This agreement was known as the Plaza Accord. I don't think we are quite at Plaza Accord levels of concern yet, by the way. Heaven knows what happens to the UK and Europe if the dollar goes to 165 again. But if it gets through 109, I would say 120 is back on the cards, possibly even this year, more likely early next.The US dollar is the best of a bad bunchThe euro just slid below parity with the dollar yesterday. The last time that happened was around the turn of the century (when it got to $0.82). It's at 20 year lows. The pound's at $1.17 – that's flash crash, Theresa May Conservative Party Conference depths of rubbish.The reasons the US dollar is rising are fairly obvious. Capital is panicking and the dollar is the first place it goes to in a panic. It “should” be gold that capital flees to, really, but it isn't. It's the dollar. Then there's the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank, America's central bank, is tightening faster and more aggressively than the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England or the European Central Bank. Europe and the UK, meanwhile, have a plethora of gas-related problems and looming winter crises that they could do without.Forex-wise, the US dollar is the best house in a bad neighbourhood. You could say the same about its economy more generally.Yesterday was a grim day in the stockmarket, but there were some observations I was happy to make. First, that base metals – copper, zinc, tin, iron ore, and so on – which took one hell of a beating in June, actually held up quite well. That would suggest that they may have already made their lows.The action in precious metals – platinum and silver especially – over the past week has been less encouraging. Ditto bitcoin.Oil, meanwhile, looks like it is making an interim bottom and turning up. The last thing central planners want now is higher oil prices, but the market gods will care very little about that.Might be time to load up again on oil stocks if you are not already loaded. But more broadly speaking, these are risky markets, to put it mildly. Stay defensive, conserve capital, hunker down and await more benevolent financial times.If you are in or close to London towards the end of the month, I will be performing my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures at the Museum of Comedy in London on September 28 and 29. You can buy tickets here.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

After a month or so of welcome respite, the dreaded US dollar has got stronger again. It really is the scourge of everything.Stockmarkets have been walloped, the yen, pound and euro have been walloped, and commodities have been walloped. Again.The US dollar index shows the dollar against the currencies of its major trading partners – the yen, the euro and so on – so it is perhaps the most useful vehicle to study the dollar. Given the magnitude of foreign exchange markets and the fact the US dollar is the global reserve currency, I see its price as the most important price in the world. Here we see the US dollar index over the past three years. You can see that textbook double bottom it made in 2021, with the pattern completing in June. We were writing about it – see here and here.Since then, through all of the financial and inflationary turmoil of the past year, it has marched inexorably higher. Now it's retesting its highs around 109.My stated fear for some time is that it goes to 120. Why 120? There is some history there.Here is the dollar since 1980. You can see that 120 is the level it got to shortly after the turn of the century – and where it peaked around 2001-2002, helping to usher in that epic bull market in commodities.It actually got to 165 in 1985 – after Fed chair Paul Volcker tightened a lot quicker and harder than anybody else (not unlike what is happening now). The G5 nations – France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US – then agreed to weaken it so as to reduce the mounting US trade deficit. What followed were epic bull markets in both the Japanese yen and the German mark, and the stage was set for Japan's “lost decade”.This agreement was known as the Plaza Accord. I don't think we are quite at Plaza Accord levels of concern yet, by the way. Heaven knows what happens to the UK and Europe if the dollar goes to 165 again. But if it gets through 109, I would say 120 is back on the cards, possibly even this year, more likely early next.The US dollar is the best of a bad bunchThe euro just slid below parity with the dollar yesterday. The last time that happened was around the turn of the century (when it got to $0.82). It's at 20 year lows. The pound's at $1.17 – that's flash crash, Theresa May Conservative Party Conference depths of rubbish.The reasons the US dollar is rising are fairly obvious. Capital is panicking and the dollar is the first place it goes to in a panic. It “should” be gold that capital flees to, really, but it isn't. It's the dollar. Then there's the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank, America's central bank, is tightening faster and more aggressively than the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England or the European Central Bank. Europe and the UK, meanwhile, have a plethora of gas-related problems and looming winter crises that they could do without.Forex-wise, the US dollar is the best house in a bad neighbourhood. You could say the same about its economy more generally.Yesterday was a grim day in the stockmarket, but there were some observations I was happy to make. First, that base metals – copper, zinc, tin, iron ore, and so on – which took one hell of a beating in June, actually held up quite well. That would suggest that they may have already made their lows.The action in precious metals – platinum and silver especially – over the past week has been less encouraging. Ditto bitcoin.Oil, meanwhile, looks like it is making an interim bottom and turning up. The last thing central planners want now is higher oil prices, but the market gods will care very little about that.Might be time to load up again on oil stocks if you are not already loaded. But more broadly speaking, these are risky markets, to put it mildly. Stay defensive, conserve capital, hunker down and await more benevolent financial times.If you are in or close to London towards the end of the month, I will be performing my lecture with funny bits, How Heavy?, about the history of weights and measures at the Museum of Comedy in London on September 28 and 29. You can buy tickets here.The Flying Frisby is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival starts this week. It's the world's biggest arts festival, an event that sells more tickets than any other event in the world, with the exception of the Olympic Games.I shall be making my way up to Scotland's capital to make my own little contribution, a new show that I haven't finished writing yet (!), “a lecture with funny bits”, about the eternal subject that is weights and measures. Why do I say eternal?Because people have been arguing about them, and trying to impose them since forever.How French revolutionaries tried to decimalise timeThe very first legal documents we have from Ancient Mesopotamia depict rulers with the rod and ring – a yardstick and a measuring string – usually being handed to them by God, as they try and standardise measures in law. Ancient Egyptian documents, illustrations and hieroglyphs abound with similar references. Scales are prominent too.The opening words of the Bible establish our basic measures of time – the day and the week. This is something the French Revolutionaries tried to do away with in 1792 when they decimalised time. One week would be ten days. One day would be ten hours. One hour would contain 100 decimal minutes, and each decimal minute, 100 decimal seconds. Thus one day would be 100,000 decimal seconds per day. When the proles discovered that meant one day off in ten, rather than in seven, the system began to meet with considerable resistance and duly kicked out. The revolutionaries may have got their metric weights and distances over the line, but time was a step too far. What is a “step” by the way, but a measure? A vague but useful measure that fitbits and iPhones and health apps have become obsessed with. I did 14,126 steps yesterday. (It was a long day). What about you?“There is to be one measure of wine throughout our kingdom, and one measure of ale, and one measure of corn,” proclaims Magna Carta. “One breadth of cloths … and let weights be dealt with as with measures.”Even today, when Boris Johnson made announcements about being able to use imperial measures again, the culture wars kicked off. In his 2019 election manifesto Johnson pledged “an era of generosity and tolerance towards traditional measurements”. To the Guardian, however, this was xenophobia and pseudoscience.Which is best – “free market” imperial or “central planning” metric?I often go to the Edinburgh Fringe to do “lectures with funny bits”. In 2016 I did one about tax, which would eventually become my book Daylight Robbery. In 2019, I did one about the philosophies of Adam Smith and how they related to the economics of the Fringe, which would eventually become a film, Father of the Fringe. This time around I thought it would be interesting to do one about weights and measures.  I've since discovered the subject is enormous and endless, which is why I haven't finished writing it yet. (It's going to be held in Adam Smith's old front room at Panmure House, so a wonderful historic setting.)The inevitable question that gets asked is: which system is better – imperial or metric? I would answer, with the bland neutrality of the on-the-fence politician, that they both have their place.I grew up with the metric system. That was what I was taught at school. But as I've grown older, I've found myself thinking more and more in  imperial. Feet make more sense to me than 30, 60, or 90 centimetres, or 1.2, 1.5 or 1.8 metres. Inches – a thumb pressed down – make more sense than centimetres. A hair's breadth means more than a micrometre. I find it easier to orient myself around pints than I do litres, around pounds – the amount you can easily hold in your hand – than I do kilos, and around yards – a pace – than I do metres.But the problem with imperial is that it was never a designed system in the way that metric is. Most measures emerged over time through use. Impractical measures got abandoned, and practical ones stuck. The buku was the distance from which the cry of a buffalo could be heard in Russia. No doubt an extremely useful measure in a country with such vast expanses of land, but of little use today. The pound we use today, however, roughly corresponds with the Babylonian “mesa”. Shoe sizes are defined by barleycorns. A fathom is one's arms outstretched – 6 foot. A really useful distance, especially for depth. 6 foot is the depth to which in water we can just about stand up in - or bounce - without having to swim.But there are a gazillion measures that found common use in history that have fallen by the wayside. It's very much a market driven system.Yet as soon as you start to analyse it with the logic of the planner, imperial measures look nuts. Just take a look at some of the flow charts to explain imperial measures on Wikipedia and elsewhere if you want to understand how nuts it looks. Why can't we just have both?Americans have a “dry gallon” and a “liquid gallon”. What's more, their gallon is not the same as our imperial gallon (one of the reasons petrol there seems SO much cheaper is that their gallon is smaller). But their gallon is the English gallon because they use the English system, which came over with the settlers.We British, however, use the imperial system with the Weights and Measures Act of 1824, long after US independence, and exported through the Empire, in part to make sure this new-fangled French metric system didn't take hold.This new-fangled French metric system came about with the French Revolution. “One king,  one law, one weight, one measure,” the Revolutionaries cried. They had, according to the BBC, some 250,000 different weights and measures – differing from town to town and district to district (talk about regional diversity) – and there was considerable fraud.Let us give them “a system for all people for all time” thought the savants, the 18th-century liberal metropolitan elite. Instead of defining measures around the human body and the immediate world around us, they thought, we will design a system around the earth itself. A metre will be one ten millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator. So two scientists were sent out to measure the distance from Dunkirk to Barcelona and they would extrapolate it from there. However, one of the scientists, who got arrested for sorcery, then for spying and then saw his money disappear with the hyperinflation of the assignat, under considerable pressure, fudged the data and so the measure is actually wrong. By how much? A hair's breadth.The metre has since been redefined, first around the speed of light and then around atomic movements, to give it a level of precision the ordinary yard – a pace – will never have. But those redefinitions have always used as their base that first metre which was erroneous and, slightly, fraudulent.We do need one international system of measures that everyone understands, especially for science. But, in the same way it is good to speak more than one language, so should we be familiar with more than one system of measurement. And if you want regional diversity, especially in architecture, then you should embrace diversity of measurement.Today the only countries in the world not officially on the metric system are Myanmar, Liberia and the US. But on the ground traditional measures are used everywhere - from the prevalent half kilo, effectively a pound, to brick sizes (a hand) to cargo ships . People talk and think in traditional measures, because they are practical and rooted in the world around us. Metric is abstract. Long live both.Dominic Frisby's How Heavy?, a lecture with funny bits about weights and measures, will be running at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 7-15. You can get tickets here.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival starts this week. It's the world's biggest arts festival, an event that sells more tickets than any other event in the world, with the exception of the Olympic Games.I shall be making my way up to Scotland's capital to make my own little contribution, a new show that I haven't finished writing yet (!), “a lecture with funny bits”, about the eternal subject that is weights and measures. Why do I say eternal?Because people have been arguing about them, and trying to impose them since forever.How French revolutionaries tried to decimalise timeThe very first legal documents we have from Ancient Mesopotamia depict rulers with the rod and ring – a yardstick and a measuring string – usually being handed to them by God, as they try and standardise measures in law. Ancient Egyptian documents, illustrations and hieroglyphs abound with similar references. Scales are prominent too.The opening words of the Bible establish our basic measures of time – the day and the week. This is something the French Revolutionaries tried to do away with in 1792 when they decimalised time. One week would be ten days. One day would be ten hours. One hour would contain 100 decimal minutes, and each decimal minute, 100 decimal seconds. Thus one day would be 100,000 decimal seconds per day. When the proles discovered that meant one day off in ten, rather than in seven, the system began to meet with considerable resistance and duly kicked out. The revolutionaries may have got their metric weights and distances over the line, but time was a step too far. What is a “step” by the way, but a measure? A vague but useful measure that fitbits and iPhones and health apps have become obsessed with. I did 14,126 steps yesterday. (It was a long day). What about you?“There is to be one measure of wine throughout our kingdom, and one measure of ale, and one measure of corn,” proclaims Magna Carta. “One breadth of cloths … and let weights be dealt with as with measures.”Even today, when Boris Johnson made announcements about being able to use imperial measures again, the culture wars kicked off. In his 2019 election manifesto Johnson pledged “an era of generosity and tolerance towards traditional measurements”. To the Guardian, however, this was xenophobia and pseudoscience.Which is best – “free market” imperial or “central planning” metric?I often go to the Edinburgh Fringe to do “lectures with funny bits”. In 2016 I did one about tax, which would eventually become my book Daylight Robbery. In 2019, I did one about the philosophies of Adam Smith and how they related to the economics of the Fringe, which would eventually become a film, Father of the Fringe. This time around I thought it would be interesting to do one about weights and measures.  I've since discovered the subject is enormous and endless, which is why I haven't finished writing it yet. (It's going to be held in Adam Smith's old front room at Panmure House, so a wonderful historic setting.)The inevitable question that gets asked is: which system is better – imperial or metric? I would answer, with the bland neutrality of the on-the-fence politician, that they both have their place.I grew up with the metric system. That was what I was taught at school. But as I've grown older, I've found myself thinking more and more in  imperial. Feet make more sense to me than 30, 60, or 90 centimetres, or 1.2, 1.5 or 1.8 metres. Inches – a thumb pressed down – make more sense than centimetres. A hair's breadth means more than a micrometre. I find it easier to orient myself around pints than I do litres, around pounds – the amount you can easily hold in your hand – than I do kilos, and around yards – a pace – than I do metres.But the problem with imperial is that it was never a designed system in the way that metric is. Most measures emerged over time through use. Impractical measures got abandoned, and practical ones stuck. The buku was the distance from which the cry of a buffalo could be heard in Russia. No doubt an extremely useful measure in a country with such vast expanses of land, but of little use today. The pound we use today, however, roughly corresponds with the Babylonian “mesa”. Shoe sizes are defined by barleycorns. A fathom is one's arms outstretched – 6 foot. A really useful distance, especially for depth. 6 foot is the depth to which in water we can just about stand up in - or bounce - without having to swim.But there are a gazillion measures that found common use in history that have fallen by the wayside. It's very much a market driven system.Yet as soon as you start to analyse it with the logic of the planner, imperial measures look nuts. Just take a look at some of the flow charts to explain imperial measures on Wikipedia and elsewhere if you want to understand how nuts it looks. Why can't we just have both?Americans have a “dry gallon” and a “liquid gallon”. What's more, their gallon is not the same as our imperial gallon (one of the reasons petrol there seems SO much cheaper is that their gallon is smaller). But their gallon is the English gallon because they use the English system, which came over with the settlers.We British, however, use the imperial system with the Weights and Measures Act of 1824, long after US independence, and exported through the Empire, in part to make sure this new-fangled French metric system didn't take hold.This new-fangled French metric system came about with the French Revolution. “One king,  one law, one weight, one measure,” the Revolutionaries cried. They had, according to the BBC, some 250,000 different weights and measures – differing from town to town and district to district (talk about regional diversity) – and there was considerable fraud.Let us give them “a system for all people for all time” thought the savants, the 18th-century liberal metropolitan elite. Instead of defining measures around the human body and the immediate world around us, they thought, we will design a system around the earth itself. A metre will be one ten millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator. So two scientists were sent out to measure the distance from Dunkirk to Barcelona and they would extrapolate it from there. However, one of the scientists, who got arrested for sorcery, then for spying and then saw his money disappear with the hyperinflation of the assignat, under considerable pressure, fudged the data and so the measure is actually wrong. By how much? A hair's breadth.The metre has since been redefined, first around the speed of light and then around atomic movements, to give it a level of precision the ordinary yard – a pace – will never have. But those redefinitions have always used as their base that first metre which was erroneous and, slightly, fraudulent.We do need one international system of measures that everyone understands, especially for science. But, in the same way it is good to speak more than one language, so should we be familiar with more than one system of measurement. And if you want regional diversity, especially in architecture, then you should embrace diversity of measurement.Today the only countries in the world not officially on the metric system are Myanmar, Liberia and the US. But on the ground traditional measures are used everywhere - from the prevalent half kilo, effectively a pound, to brick sizes (a hand) to cargo ships . People talk and think in traditional measures, because they are practical and rooted in the world around us. Metric is abstract. Long live both.Dominic Frisby's How Heavy?, a lecture with funny bits about weights and measures, will be running at the Edinburgh Fringe from August 7-15. You can get tickets here.This article first appeared at Moneyweek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

Are the people at the top – the directors – buying or selling shares in their own company?If they are buying, that's usually a good sign. But if they're selling, not so good.They might be selling because they need the money for something: to buy a property for example, to pay school fees, to settle some debts.Then again, they might be selling because they don't like the look of what's going on.Directors' dealings can offer telling signals as to whether insiders think the company is about to thrive or dive. That's why so many follow them.With that in mind, I had a meeting with Joshua Saul yesterday, CEO of bullion dealer and storage company, the Pure Gold Company. He told me something that I found fascinating - similar to the value of director dealings as a potential indicator. I'd like to share that knowledge with you today.Who's been buying bullion and why?Why are doctors queuing up to buy gold?The Pure Gold Company must now be one of Europe's top bullion dealers, with a large and varied customer base, from institutions to individuals. As such, it knows who is buying, who is selling and to what extent.But, to help them make the right investments, it also makes an effort to get to know its clients: are you old or young? What do you do for a living? Why are you interested in buying gold? And so on. As a result, it gains an insight into people's professions and motivations and that data, “both quantitative and qualitative”, to use Saul's words, “reveals trends about the market”.There has, over the past couple of months, been a marked increase in buying from two professions: doctors and investment bankers. Weird, huh? The latter I sort of get, but the former.Most doctors I know work pretty hard. Their diaries are full and their time is precious. Unlike many other professions, I would venture that their ability to monitor markets, research investment ideas and so on is limited. (Any doctors out there, please correct me if I'm wrong).You have to be bright to make it through medical school, to qualify and practice, so doctors, for the most part, are not stupid. But at the same time, I would venture, as a rule, that their fingers are not particularly on the investment pulse, unless their investments are somehow related to the medical field – which gold isn't.So what gives with doctors buying bullion?Doctors for the most part have money. It's a well-paid profession. In some cases very well paid. And they are making money all the time. “My belief,” says Saul “is, first, they've been too busy up until now to take much of an active role in their investments, but having seen their pensions fall, have started to to be more proactive – driven primarily by safety and security”.Makes sense. They've been making good money, but on the other hand, they have been watching the value of their Isas and pensions fall quite dramatically. As a result, they are turning to the alternatives, which are gold and silver.Investment bankers are getting keen on gold again“Why then has there not been an uptick in, say, lawyers or pilots or computer programmers?” I ask. There has been, it turns out, but the most notable increase has been doctors – by 44% in the last four weeks – and, as we are about to consider, investment bankers. Investment bankers' buying of coins and bars has increased by a – quite astounding, in my view – 59% over the past four weeks.  I have to say, the implications of a 59% jump in investment bankers buying gold for their personal portfolios has some alarm bells ringing. What's going on at the banks? Are there problems looming? What do they know that we don't? Something similar was going in the lead up to the Lehman crisis.Possibly so. When asked about their motivation and timing, says Saul, many cited counterparty risk, exacerbated by the severe inflationary environment. Political uncertainty has been a factor too. Many fear inflation. The high cost of sitting in cash while waiting for opportunities in other asset classes, has become too high. The other factor cited was the consequences of escalating interest rates at a time of high and increasing debt, both individually and nationally. Overall, says CEO Saul, there has been a 39% increase in people purchasing gold bars and coins in July compared to the monthly average over the last 12 months, and a 42% increase in people purchasing silver bars and coins.Perhaps more tellingly, there has been a 67% increase in people selling equities within their pension to purchase physical gold bars within the same vehicle. This type of knowledge may mean absolutely nothing. I don't think it's reason alone to go out, sell everything, buy gold and run for the hills. But it's one of those telling insights, I'd say, to have at the back of your mind as you make your broader macro investment decisions – how you determine your asset allocation. People are buying bullion. Especially investment bankers. It also explains the uptick in people asking me how to buy bullion. If you're concerned about geopolitics or inflation or solvency, and you feel an investment that is “outside the system” and “no one else's liability” is worth having, this is the type of thing that might cap your thinking and seal the deal. So there we go, I'll leave it with you to make of it what you will – a bit like those director dealings.If you're interested in buying bullion yourself, consider the Pure Gold Co, with whom I have an affiliation deal. My report on how to buy bullion is here.If you're interested in miners, paid subscribers received this update last week. There might be some opportunities, given the current sell off.And, finally, If you are in Edinburgh next week, I will be performing my show, How Heavy?, a lecture with funny bits about of weights and measures, at the Fringe. You can get tickets here. Hopefully, see you there.This article first appeared at Moneyweek.Until next time … This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Are the people at the top – the directors – buying or selling shares in their own company?If they are buying, that's usually a good sign. But if they're selling, not so good.They might be selling because they need the money for something: to buy a property for example, to pay school fees, to settle some debts.Then again, they might be selling because they don't like the look of what's going on.Directors' dealings can offer telling signals as to whether insiders think the company is about to thrive or dive. That's why so many follow them.With that in mind, I had a meeting with Joshua Saul yesterday, CEO of bullion dealer and storage company, the Pure Gold Company. He told me something that I found fascinating - similar to the value of director dealings as a potential indicator. I'd like to share that knowledge with you today.Who's been buying bullion and why?Why are doctors queuing up to buy gold?The Pure Gold Company must now be one of Europe's top bullion dealers, with a large and varied customer base, from institutions to individuals. As such, it knows who is buying, who is selling and to what extent.But, to help them make the right investments, it also makes an effort to get to know its clients: are you old or young? What do you do for a living? Why are you interested in buying gold? And so on. As a result, it gains an insight into people's professions and motivations and that data, “both quantitative and qualitative”, to use Saul's words, “reveals trends about the market”.There has, over the past couple of months, been a marked increase in buying from two professions: doctors and investment bankers. Weird, huh? The latter I sort of get, but the former.Most doctors I know work pretty hard. Their diaries are full and their time is precious. Unlike many other professions, I would venture that their ability to monitor markets, research investment ideas and so on is limited. (Any doctors out there, please correct me if I'm wrong).You have to be bright to make it through medical school, to qualify and practice, so doctors, for the most part, are not stupid. But at the same time, I would venture, as a rule, that their fingers are not particularly on the investment pulse, unless their investments are somehow related to the medical field – which gold isn't.So what gives with doctors buying bullion?Doctors for the most part have money. It's a well-paid profession. In some cases very well paid. And they are making money all the time. “My belief,” says Saul “is, first, they've been too busy up until now to take much of an active role in their investments, but having seen their pensions fall, have started to to be more proactive – driven primarily by safety and security”.Makes sense. They've been making good money, but on the other hand, they have been watching the value of their Isas and pensions fall quite dramatically. As a result, they are turning to the alternatives, which are gold and silver.Investment bankers are getting keen on gold again“Why then has there not been an uptick in, say, lawyers or pilots or computer programmers?” I ask. There has been, it turns out, but the most notable increase has been doctors – by 44% in the last four weeks – and, as we are about to consider, investment bankers. Investment bankers' buying of coins and bars has increased by a – quite astounding, in my view – 59% over the past four weeks.  I have to say, the implications of a 59% jump in investment bankers buying gold for their personal portfolios has some alarm bells ringing. What's going on at the banks? Are there problems looming? What do they know that we don't? Something similar was going in the lead up to the Lehman crisis.Possibly so. When asked about their motivation and timing, says Saul, many cited counterparty risk, exacerbated by the severe inflationary environment. Political uncertainty has been a factor too. Many fear inflation. The high cost of sitting in cash while waiting for opportunities in other asset classes, has become too high. The other factor cited was the consequences of escalating interest rates at a time of high and increasing debt, both individually and nationally. Overall, says CEO Saul, there has been a 39% increase in people purchasing gold bars and coins in July compared to the monthly average over the last 12 months, and a 42% increase in people purchasing silver bars and coins.Perhaps more tellingly, there has been a 67% increase in people selling equities within their pension to purchase physical gold bars within the same vehicle. This type of knowledge may mean absolutely nothing. I don't think it's reason alone to go out, sell everything, buy gold and run for the hills. But it's one of those telling insights, I'd say, to have at the back of your mind as you make your broader macro investment decisions – how you determine your asset allocation. People are buying bullion. Especially investment bankers. It also explains the uptick in people asking me how to buy bullion. If you're concerned about geopolitics or inflation or solvency, and you feel an investment that is “outside the system” and “no one else's liability” is worth having, this is the type of thing that might cap your thinking and seal the deal. So there we go, I'll leave it with you to make of it what you will – a bit like those director dealings.If you're interested in buying bullion yourself, consider the Pure Gold Co, with whom I have an affiliation deal. My report on how to buy bullion is here.If you're interested in miners, paid subscribers received this update last week. There might be some opportunities, given the current sell off.And, finally, If you are in Edinburgh next week, I will be performing my show, How Heavy?, a lecture with funny bits about of weights and measures, at the Fringe. You can get tickets here. Hopefully, see you there.This article first appeared at Moneyweek.Until next time … This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

I was at a dinner the other night with a buddy who is a much cleverer investor than I am. The conversation went something like this.Clever Mate: “Inflation is 10%. Rates are going to have to go to 10% to get it under control. I'm 60% in cash.”Me: “The system can't take rates at 10%.”Clever Mate shrugs. There is an awkward silence.Clever Mate: “It will have to.”Another more awkward silence follows as I digest the implications. Do central bankers have what it takes to tackle inflation?Have today's central bankers – the liof Jerome Powell, Christine Lagarde and Andrew Bailey – got the bottle to “do a Volcker” and put rates up to these kinds of levels? (In 1981, then-Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker raised the Fed Funds rate to 20%.).It's not just the chair or the governor, of course – though they will be the ones making the announcement – but the boards behind them. To make such a decision, with such ramifications, would not just require extraordinary bottle, but extraordinary conviction as well. It's hard to have one without the other. I'm not sure Bailey or Lagarde have the right belief systems. In the case of Lagarde, I'm as sure as dammit the career and reputational risk would be intolerable to her.So my view, on this side of the Atlantic at least, is that a softly, softly approach will prevail and that rates will go up slightly, while those in charge prevaricate and hope that this unfortunate inflationary episode does prove to be temporary and passes.We will have a clearer idea of Powell's intentions later this week when he makes his announcement.But here's the point. Volcker is widely credited with curtailing the inflation of the 1970s. However, when he was appointed in 1979, inflation was long entrenched. From the Vietnam War to the abandonment of the gold standard in 1971 to the oil crisis of 1973 and through all the economic turmoil of the 1970s, inflation was not something new or just a few months old, as this episode is today. Volcker's hiking of rates came off the back of a decade of this and, what's more, President Carter appointed him specifically to do what he did. Even against all of that, his actions still provoked enormous ire.Today's central bankers do not have the same backdrop. The inflation narrative is too new, and there is still the hope that this is all temporary. So my forecast is for them to do the least possible for now, with Powell probably remaining the boldest of the three. Rates may have to go to 10%, as my buddy argues, but the stage is not yet set – and this current pullback in commodities may give them some respite.Inflation redefined I had a thought in the shower this morning, as you do, and it was this.The classic definition of inflation, as regular readers will long since know, is “the expansion of the supply of money and credit with the consequence of higher prices.” You inflate – blow up – the money supply and, as a result of there being more money about the place, prices go up.However, because of semantic shifts (which is a high-falutin way of saying “a shift in the meaning of language over time”) this is no longer the definition of inflation. Inflation now just means “higher prices”. Somewhere along the line, whether due to a conspiracy by central planners and bankers is not known, the bit about expanding the supply of money and credit got dropped. The semantic shift has gone a stage further still. Inflation no longer means just rising prices, but rising prices of goods and services included in the core price index (CPI) measure of inflation. So house prices rising, for example, doesn't mean inflation. It's nuts because, as we know, the main reason house prices go up is because of an increase in the supply of money and credit – more and cheaper mortgages.However, such semantic shifts are beyond the power of this lowly writer to control. So there is little more I can do than rage, rage against the dying of the light, then go about my day.Anyway, I've got through the preamble, so here's the thought. Inflation, by its modern definition, actually leads to a shrinking of the money supply, or at least it should do, if central banks follow their remits to curb it. If inflation is 10% then rates go up to curb it (though perhaps not as high as 10%). As rates rise, many deleverage and pay down debt. (Leverage is another means by which money and credit are created). If rates rise a lot, this can become a scramble.In other words, with inflation (by today's definition) the supply of money and credit contracts. That means asset prices – house, bond and equity prices – fall, as they are what we use leverage to buy. Even car prices. (Finance costs more).These are mostly not included in CPI, but in such a deflationary event as interest rates rising to levels concomitant with current CPI inflation, you can expect CPI to fall too. To summarise, inflation originally meant the expansion of the money and credit supply with the consequence of higher prices. Today inflation, and the central bank reaction to it, portends the contraction of the supply of money and credit with the consequence of lower prices. That is some semantic shift.I don't know how central bankers get us out of this. But no doubt all sorts of plans with even longer and more unpronounceable names than quantitative easing (QE) are being formulated as we speak.Remember how they suddenly came up with QE in 2008? We all looked on baffled and blindsided. Except similar rabbits to be pulled out of hats.Dominic will be performing his show, How Heavy?, a lecture with funny bits about the history of weights and measures, at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. You can get tickets here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

I was at a dinner the other night with a buddy who is a much cleverer investor than I am. The conversation went something like this.Clever Mate: “Inflation is 10%. Rates are going to have to go to 10% to get it under control. I'm 60% in cash.”Me: “The system can't take rates at 10%.”Clever Mate shrugs. There is an awkward silence.Clever Mate: “It will have to.”Another more awkward silence follows as I digest the implications. Do central bankers have what it takes to tackle inflation?Have today's central bankers – the liof Jerome Powell, Christine Lagarde and Andrew Bailey – got the bottle to “do a Volcker” and put rates up to these kinds of levels? (In 1981, then-Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker raised the Fed Funds rate to 20%.).It's not just the chair or the governor, of course – though they will be the ones making the announcement – but the boards behind them. To make such a decision, with such ramifications, would not just require extraordinary bottle, but extraordinary conviction as well. It's hard to have one without the other. I'm not sure Bailey or Lagarde have the right belief systems. In the case of Lagarde, I'm as sure as dammit the career and reputational risk would be intolerable to her.So my view, on this side of the Atlantic at least, is that a softly, softly approach will prevail and that rates will go up slightly, while those in charge prevaricate and hope that this unfortunate inflationary episode does prove to be temporary and passes.We will have a clearer idea of Powell's intentions later this week when he makes his announcement.But here's the point. Volcker is widely credited with curtailing the inflation of the 1970s. However, when he was appointed in 1979, inflation was long entrenched. From the Vietnam War to the abandonment of the gold standard in 1971 to the oil crisis of 1973 and through all the economic turmoil of the 1970s, inflation was not something new or just a few months old, as this episode is today. Volcker's hiking of rates came off the back of a decade of this and, what's more, President Carter appointed him specifically to do what he did. Even against all of that, his actions still provoked enormous ire.Today's central bankers do not have the same backdrop. The inflation narrative is too new, and there is still the hope that this is all temporary. So my forecast is for them to do the least possible for now, with Powell probably remaining the boldest of the three. Rates may have to go to 10%, as my buddy argues, but the stage is not yet set – and this current pullback in commodities may give them some respite.Inflation redefined I had a thought in the shower this morning, as you do, and it was this.The classic definition of inflation, as regular readers will long since know, is “the expansion of the supply of money and credit with the consequence of higher prices.” You inflate – blow up – the money supply and, as a result of there being more money about the place, prices go up.However, because of semantic shifts (which is a high-falutin way of saying “a shift in the meaning of language over time”) this is no longer the definition of inflation. Inflation now just means “higher prices”. Somewhere along the line, whether due to a conspiracy by central planners and bankers is not known, the bit about expanding the supply of money and credit got dropped. The semantic shift has gone a stage further still. Inflation no longer means just rising prices, but rising prices of goods and services included in the core price index (CPI) measure of inflation. So house prices rising, for example, doesn't mean inflation. It's nuts because, as we know, the main reason house prices go up is because of an increase in the supply of money and credit – more and cheaper mortgages.However, such semantic shifts are beyond the power of this lowly writer to control. So there is little more I can do than rage, rage against the dying of the light, then go about my day.Anyway, I've got through the preamble, so here's the thought. Inflation, by its modern definition, actually leads to a shrinking of the money supply, or at least it should do, if central banks follow their remits to curb it. If inflation is 10% then rates go up to curb it (though perhaps not as high as 10%). As rates rise, many deleverage and pay down debt. (Leverage is another means by which money and credit are created). If rates rise a lot, this can become a scramble.In other words, with inflation (by today's definition) the supply of money and credit contracts. That means asset prices – house, bond and equity prices – fall, as they are what we use leverage to buy. Even car prices. (Finance costs more).These are mostly not included in CPI, but in such a deflationary event as interest rates rising to levels concomitant with current CPI inflation, you can expect CPI to fall too. To summarise, inflation originally meant the expansion of the money and credit supply with the consequence of higher prices. Today inflation, and the central bank reaction to it, portends the contraction of the supply of money and credit with the consequence of lower prices. That is some semantic shift.I don't know how central bankers get us out of this. But no doubt all sorts of plans with even longer and more unpronounceable names than quantitative easing (QE) are being formulated as we speak.Remember how they suddenly came up with QE in 2008? We all looked on baffled and blindsided. Except similar rabbits to be pulled out of hats.Dominic will be performing his show, How Heavy?, a lecture with funny bits about the history of weights and measures, at the Edinburgh Fringe this August. You can get tickets here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit frisby.substack.com/subscribe

There's a lot to discuss when there's two STEM girls in the mix! Join Gracie, Isabelle, and Agnes as they talk about the scientific elements of anime that have fascinated and impressed them.   Anime Discussed: Science Fell in Love so I Tried to Prove it, Cells at Work, Steins Gate, How Heavy are the Dumbbells you Lift, Dr. Stone, One Piece

Join us as we discuss the most recent dragon ball super manga and the anime is How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift?

Mark Fisher of Mark Fisher Fitness tells you how heavy of a weight you should be using Episode 1657: How Heavy a Weight Should You Use by Mark Fisher of MarkFisherFitness on Strength Training Advice Mark Fisher Fitness helps people who hate gyms find a fitness home they actually love. They offer classes, semi-private training, and six week transformation programs. Whether you've tried everything and never found a love match, or never even been to a gym at all, look no further. The original post can be found here: https://markfisherfitness.com/how-heavy-a-weight-should-you-use/  Indeed, the number one source of hires in the U.S., delivers 1.5x more hires than even internal referrals, according to TalentNest. Get started now with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/HEALTH. Offer valid through March 31st Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com  Interested in advertising on the show? Visit https://www.advertisecast.com/OptimalHealthDailyDietNutritionFitness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Fisher of Mark Fisher Fitness tells you how heavy of a weight you should be using Episode 1657: How Heavy a Weight Should You Use by Mark Fisher of MarkFisherFitness on Strength Training Advice Mark Fisher Fitness helps people who hate gyms find a fitness home they actually love. They offer classes, semi-private training, and six week transformation programs. Whether you've tried everything and never found a love match, or never even been to a gym at all, look no further. The original post can be found here: https://markfisherfitness.com/how-heavy-a-weight-should-you-use/  Indeed, the number one source of hires in the U.S., delivers 1.5x more hires than even internal referrals, according to TalentNest. Get started now with a $75 sponsored job credit to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/HEALTH. Offer valid through March 31st Visit Me Online at OLDPodcast.com  Interested in advertising on the show? Visit https://www.advertisecast.com/OptimalHealthDailyDietNutritionFitness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome weebs!   This week we talk about educational anime, primarily Cells at Work and How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift, and our experiences with educational anime! Amon the main topic, we also talk about a slew of other subjects including:   Trea's Ecchi Anime Marathon Steven's Otaku Health Habits Pokemon BDSP Grievances   Come on in, and lets talk anime!   

This week, to celebrate the start of Major League Baseball and end of March Madness, Logan and Ozzy are talking sports anime and manga. Logan and Ozzy discuss why manga artists and story tellers like to write sports manga despite the seeming difference in fanbases between manga readers and sports watchers.    Logan Then asks Ozzy to help him qualify whether certain anime are technically sports anime. Wikipedia says Speed Racer and the recent anime "How Heavy are the Dumbells you lift?" are sports anime, Logan isn't sure if he agrees.   Finally Ozzy and Logan cover what they feel their requirements for a good sports story are. To wrap Logan and Ozzy discuss their thoughts on the recommended manga from last week "Mieruko-chan".   This week's recommended manga is "Teppuu", A female MMA manga about Ishido Natsuo, a talented girl who is struggling to find motivation and purpose despite the athletic skills she possess'. Also Natsuo enjoys beating people up and crushing other athlete's dreams... so if you're expecting a cute manga about making friends and spending time with other people this probably won't be what you're looking for. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss or questions for Logan and Ozzy shoot us an email at raleighanime@gmail.com

"Be prepared so you can help, because everyone needs everybody in this situation." -Joshua Farrell   We've learned the basics of being prepared enough. Now the question is, "Are you prepared enough to help others?" Besides our basic needs, some additional necessities and actions are needed to survive a disaster. Find out what items to pack- from food to shelter and padlocks to sunblocks(?). In this episode, we also learn the secret to avoiding confusion and pressure in the event of a disaster. Tune in as the bag raid continues with Josh Farrell! Build resiliency, be prepared, be ready to help others.     Connect with After The Fire:  Website Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn YouTube Highlights: 02:38: Check #1- Communication and Respiration 08:57: Check #2- Rations and Essentials  18:55: Check #3- Building Necessities 25:22: Check #4- Shelter and Pets and Sunblock? 31:40: Check #5-Clothing, Disinfection, and Navigation 37:20: How Heavy?  41:33: Check #6- Power Supply 44:18: Prepared to Help 

The guys are back with Spiderman the game, How Heavy are Your Dumbbells and Zombieland 2

With quarantine keeping us all couch-locked, many of us our wondering about how to maintain our physical and mental health.  But what if you don't know where to start? Did you know that the gym can actually be a place of stress relief? What if you just want to do things in your own home? Well, if answered yes to any of these questions, How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift is the show for you. Information on basic fitness tips for beginners? Check. An adorable cast that'll leave you in laughing in tears with their antics? Check. The most encouraging, welcoming, feel good, and overall best trainer you could ever ask for? Double Check. Listen as the Ramblin Boiz bring you their take on this lighthearted story bursting with personality (and the music's pretty good too). Soon, you too will be yelling "SIDE CHESTO" at the top of your lungs. Part I will be all about the characters and the show. Be on the lookout for Part II where we delve into our own personal gym tales and talk about the more steamy aspects of how the show presents fitness. Remember to follow us on twitter @BoizAnime for updates and opportunities to talk with us. Still working on getting you the content you enjoy listening to and the content we enjoy making. Peace. Love. Prosperity. And remember...NICE BULK." --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/anime-ramblin-boiz/support

Hello everybody, and happy Tuesday to you! I am at day 32 or 33 of my partial Nazarite vow - no beer and no wine is going okay, and I have the haircut part is down pat - I have an unruly mop on my head that will begin to look cavemanesque in about 3 days. Unfortunately, I'm not doing so well on the rest of the fruit of the vine part, as I eat a bowl of Raisin Bran with banana slices nearly every day, and raisins are verboten for a Nazarite. I suppose I'll just remain an Alabama/California hybrid with shaggy hair. Anyway...today's Bible readings include Leviticus 25, Ecclesiastes 8, Psalms 32 and 2nd Timothy 4. A shout out to my wonderful sun John Caedmon who told me earlier today that he agreed with my decision to stop ending the podcast readings with Ecclesiastes, because, and I quote, "Ecclesiastes is kind of depressing." Yes, my son - yes it is. The good news is that it gets better at the end, and that is sort of the point of the book, and sometimes it is the point of our lives as well. For those who are in Christ - no matter how bad things are now - it gets better at the end. I know that is not an original or insightful sentiment, but what it lacks in freshness it makes up for in hope and bedrock truth. Our focus passage today is in Psalms 32, though I admit that there were several things in 2nd Timothy 4 that drew my attention - maybe we will catch them on the second read through. Our Big Bible question of the day is all about forgiveness. How is forgiveness joyful? Let's read Psalms 32, and then return and discuss the joy of forgiveness: How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! 2 How joyful is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat.Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin.Selah Psalms 32:1-5 There is a very simple but profound couplet of truths in the first part of Psalms 31. First: There is GREAT joy from the Lord for that person who realizes their sin, knows the danger and damage of that sin, knows the holiness of the Lord, and yet finds that God has - in mercy - forgiven their sin. Twice the Psalmist here acknowledges the utter joy of forgiveness. That is truth #1, and it is an important truth for us in pandemic times. The call of the Father is echoing all across the world right now - repent and follow Jesus! For those that hear the call and do repent and follow Jesus, HOW JOYFUL for them that their sins will be forgiven and not held against them! How joyful that they are NOT disqualified from eternal Heaven - made only for the perfect - because their sin no longer counts against them! There is amazing joy in forgiveness. But don' t miss the second great truth here: There is GROANING and HEAVINESS and WEAKNESS and ILL HEALTH for those who HIDE their sins. Brothers and sisters - if you are hiding your sin right now - whatever it might be - pornography, alcoholism, abuse, outbursts of anger, gossip, slander, criticism, complaining and grumbling, cheating, lying, stealing - whatever....HOW HEAVY that is on your soul! It makes your bones brittle, and your heart weary, and your whole body and soul are impacted. What is the answer - CONFESS TO GOD - and FIND JOY FROM HIS FORGIVENESS! There is a major choice facing all those who are concealing sin: Keep hiding it and nurturing it until it eats away every drop of strength and joy you have, or kill it by confessing it to God and walk in the joy that comes from forgiveness. Easy choice, right?! I say this as a man who struggled with pornography for over a decade in my youth. Sin may be delightful for a moment, but concealed sin weakens you and eats at you and kills you slowly. Confessed sin brings forgiveness and joy and depth of relationship with God the Father! Mary Magdalene is one of the most interesting people in the Bible. She was a devoted follower of Jesus, and her love for Him is so pronounced and so obvious in the Bible that it has produced lots of speculation - even speculation that she loved Him in a romantic way. I believe the truth is much more profound and deep than a simple crush, however. Though the Bible does not explicitly say it, there has been a tradition in the church for almost 2000 years that Mary Magdalene was a saved and redeemed prostitute. That tradition is so old that there might well be some truth to it, but we just can't know. We do know, however, that Mary was delivered of SEVEN demons by Jesus - which must have meant that she spent a significant portion of her life tortured by those same demons, and her reputation undoubtedly suffered from that trauma as well. We also know that Mary was the first person that Jesus revealed Himself to after the resurrection - the first person that He talked to, post-resurrection. This is an incredible honor, and it could be said without too much exaggeration that Mary Magdalene was the first member of the church of Jesus - the first witness to His resurrection, and the first evangelist - bringing the good news to the disciples. What does she have to do with forgiveness, I hear you asking? Excellent question - let's turn to New York pastor Tim Keller to give us the remarkable answer: When you read the commentaries, an awful lot of the commentaries say, “The reason Mary was there and she wouldn’t go home and she stayed there was because she was hysterical. She was so emotional she couldn’t see the angels through her tears. She was so hysterical she couldn’t see Jesus was who he was. She was hysterical.” That’s not true. The more I’ve been looking at this, it’s not true at all. Absolutely not. By the way, in today’s New York Times there’s an interesting article in the entertainment section, of all places, by the New York Times religion writer, in which I guess somebody asked him, “How do the angels depicted on TV sitcoms and TV shows compare with biblical angels?” Gustav Niebuhr says, “Not a lot.” He says, “When most people see angels they fall down. They’re overwhelmed.” By the way, in Luke 24 and in Mark 16 when the other women see these angels dressed bright (and Mary saw they were bright), it says they were dressed in white. How do we know this? The only source of any of this information is from Mary. Mary remembers it. But when the other women saw these very same angels, we’re told they fell to the ground. They were in alarm. The angels always had to say, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.” Mary looks at them. They ask a question and Mary says, “I’m looking for Jesus.” This is not hysteria. Hysterical people freak when they see things like this. This is not hysteria. Then she talks to Jesus. Why doesn’t she recognize Jesus? Because she’s hysterical? No. We will see as we go on through the resurrection accounts that nobody recognizes Jesus at first. His resurrection self means that he has been changed, though he’s still himself, and people have to look, like if you look at somebody you haven’t seen in 25 years. “Oh, it is you.” She didn’t recognize him, but here’s what’s interesting. She’s not hysterical. She deduces, “If this is the gardener, if this is the supervisor of the grounds, then nobody could have done a body snatching without his help or at least his okay. He will know it.” That’s deduction. She’s not enraged, and she’s not hysterical. She says, “Sir.” Very steely. She doesn’t say, “Where is he?” She says, “Sir, if I personally have to go find the swollen, stinking, decayed body of my Lord, if I have to go find him and pick him up myself, I’m going to do that. Where is he? Do you know where he is?” This is not a hysterical woman. This is a woman who is iron. This is a woman who is relentless. This is a woman who is a laser beam. She’s a drill. She’s going to get through anything. “Angels, schmangels. Where’s my Lord? Gardeners, I don’t care.” How did this happen? I’ll tell you. Jesus says it’s simple arithmetic. Jesus Christ says in Luke 7, “The one who is forgiven much, loves much.” I want to press you on this. It’s simple arithmetic. She loved him more than anybody else. That’s why she’s still there. Everybody else is gone. It’s the reason she came. It’s the reason she hasn’t left. It’s simple arithmetic. She knew she was a sinner. She knew she was broken. She knew how big her debt was. She knew it, and Jesus had said, “You can be a child of God.” This is the reason Marys are chosen. This is the reason Marys are used. It’s people who know they’re sinners, it’s people who know the depth of their sin, who love like this. Let me apply this to you. For some of you, there’s no joy or tears. There’s no incredible confidence like Mary has, and there’s no weeping either. Your religion is sort of a matter of duty. You’ve always been religious. You were raised in a church. You come to church now. This is not hysteria. Don’t you dare look at this like that. This is love. This is relentlessness. This is doggedness. This is commitment born of grace. I’ll tell you the reason you don’t have the joy of Mary, and I’ll tell you the reason you’re not used by God like Mary. I’ll tell you why you’re not changing people’s lives like Mary. I’ll tell you why you don’t have this greatness of heart like Mary. This might sound very strange to modern New Yorkers. You don’t know you’re a sinner. You are superficial in your understanding of your brokenness. Very often the Marys of the world who were addicted to sex and inner demons, they know. Do you know what a slave you are? Do you know what a slave you are to achievement, to position, to status, maybe in some cases to moral superiority? Do you realize you have hijacked your life just as much as Mary did? You’re avoiding Jesus as Savior and Lord, even if you’re using him as an example. Until you see yourself as sinful as Mary saw herself, you’re not going to be used. Isn’t it amazing? It’s the Marys of the world God uses, and nobody else. “Well,” you say, “but I’m not a prostitute. I’ve never been. I’ve not been a mental patient.” I’m trying to say it’s the Marys of the world or the people who know they’re no different than the Marys of the world, and only those people, who will ever be used. By the way, there’s one other little tangential footnote. This second point is the divine priority of grace, and there’s one other thing we’d better get through our heads by looking at Mary here. Jesus chose her first. What does this mean? It means Christians ought to every day try to get their snobbery out, throw it on the ground, and stamp on it, try to kill it. The Bible says because of this dynamic, the people who know the least about God, in ages past and today and in ages to come, will always be the people who are running things. This is a terrible thing for New Yorkers to hear. If you look down your nose at brothers and sisters who are beneath you in achievement, beneath you in education, beneath you in social status, beneath you in economic status, you’re just not reading the Bible. Get your snobbery out. Throw it on the ground every day and trample it and think of Mary. Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Hello everybody, and happy Tuesday to you! I am at day 32 or 33 of my partial Nazarite vow - no beer and no wine is going okay, and I have the haircut part is down pat - I have an unruly mop on my head that will begin to look cavemanesque in about 3 days. Unfortunately, I'm not doing so well on the rest of the fruit of the vine part, as I eat a bowl of Raisin Bran with banana slices nearly every day, and raisins are verboten for a Nazarite. I suppose I'll just remain an Alabama/California hybrid with shaggy hair. Anyway...today's Bible readings include Leviticus 25, Ecclesiastes 8, Psalms 32 and 2nd Timothy 4. A shout out to my wonderful sun John Caedmon who told me earlier today that he agreed with my decision to stop ending the podcast readings with Ecclesiastes, because, and I quote, "Ecclesiastes is kind of depressing." Yes, my son - yes it is. The good news is that it gets better at the end, and that is sort of the point of the book, and sometimes it is the point of our lives as well. For those who are in Christ - no matter how bad things are now - it gets better at the end. I know that is not an original or insightful sentiment, but what it lacks in freshness it makes up for in hope and bedrock truth. Our focus passage today is in Psalms 32, though I admit that there were several things in 2nd Timothy 4 that drew my attention - maybe we will catch them on the second read through. Our Big Bible question of the day is all about forgiveness. How is forgiveness joyful? Let's read Psalms 32, and then return and discuss the joy of forgiveness: How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! 2 How joyful is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat.Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin.Selah Psalms 32:1-5 There is a very simple but profound couplet of truths in the first part of Psalms 31. First: There is GREAT joy from the Lord for that person who realizes their sin, knows the danger and damage of that sin, knows the holiness of the Lord, and yet finds that God has - in mercy - forgiven their sin. Twice the Psalmist here acknowledges the utter joy of forgiveness. That is truth #1, and it is an important truth for us in pandemic times. The call of the Father is echoing all across the world right now - repent and follow Jesus! For those that hear the call and do repent and follow Jesus, HOW JOYFUL for them that their sins will be forgiven and not held against them! How joyful that they are NOT disqualified from eternal Heaven - made only for the perfect - because their sin no longer counts against them! There is amazing joy in forgiveness. But don' t miss the second great truth here: There is GROANING and HEAVINESS and WEAKNESS and ILL HEALTH for those who HIDE their sins. Brothers and sisters - if you are hiding your sin right now - whatever it might be - pornography, alcoholism, abuse, outbursts of anger, gossip, slander, criticism, complaining and grumbling, cheating, lying, stealing - whatever....HOW HEAVY that is on your soul! It makes your bones brittle, and your heart weary, and your whole body and soul are impacted. What is the answer - CONFESS TO GOD - and FIND JOY FROM HIS FORGIVENESS! There is a major choice facing all those who are concealing sin: Keep hiding it and nurturing it until it eats away every drop of strength and joy you have, or kill it by confessing it to God and walk in the joy that comes from forgiveness. Easy choice, right?! I say this as a man who struggled with pornography for over a decade in my youth. Sin may be delightful for a moment, but concealed sin weakens you and eats at you and kills you slowly. Confessed sin brings forgiveness and joy and depth of relationship with God the Father! Mary Magdalene is one of the most interesting people in the Bible. She was a devoted follower of Jesus, and her love for Him is so pronounced and so obvious in the Bible that it has produced lots of speculation - even speculation that she loved Him in a romantic way. I believe the truth is much more profound and deep than a simple crush, however. Though the Bible does not explicitly say it, there has been a tradition in the church for almost 2000 years that Mary Magdalene was a saved and redeemed prostitute. That tradition is so old that there might well be some truth to it, but we just can't know. We do know, however, that Mary was delivered of SEVEN demons by Jesus - which must have meant that she spent a significant portion of her life tortured by those same demons, and her reputation undoubtedly suffered from that trauma as well. We also know that Mary was the first person that Jesus revealed Himself to after the resurrection - the first person that He talked to, post-resurrection. This is an incredible honor, and it could be said without too much exaggeration that Mary Magdalene was the first member of the church of Jesus - the first witness to His resurrection, and the first evangelist - bringing the good news to the disciples. What does she have to do with forgiveness, I hear you asking? Excellent question - let's turn to New York pastor Tim Keller to give us the remarkable answer: When you read the commentaries, an awful lot of the commentaries say, “The reason Mary was there and she wouldn’t go home and she stayed there was because she was hysterical. She was so emotional she couldn’t see the angels through her tears. She was so hysterical she couldn’t see Jesus was who he was. She was hysterical.” That’s not true. The more I’ve been looking at this, it’s not true at all. Absolutely not. By the way, in today’s New York Times there’s an interesting article in the entertainment section, of all places, by the New York Times religion writer, in which I guess somebody asked him, “How do the angels depicted on TV sitcoms and TV shows compare with biblical angels?” Gustav Niebuhr says, “Not a lot.” He says, “When most people see angels they fall down. They’re overwhelmed.” By the way, in Luke 24 and in Mark 16 when the other women see these angels dressed bright (and Mary saw they were bright), it says they were dressed in white. How do we know this? The only source of any of this information is from Mary. Mary remembers it. But when the other women saw these very same angels, we’re told they fell to the ground. They were in alarm. The angels always had to say, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.” Mary looks at them. They ask a question and Mary says, “I’m looking for Jesus.” This is not hysteria. Hysterical people freak when they see things like this. This is not hysteria. Then she talks to Jesus. Why doesn’t she recognize Jesus? Because she’s hysterical? No. We will see as we go on through the resurrection accounts that nobody recognizes Jesus at first. His resurrection self means that he has been changed, though he’s still himself, and people have to look, like if you look at somebody you haven’t seen in 25 years. “Oh, it is you.” She didn’t recognize him, but here’s what’s interesting. She’s not hysterical. She deduces, “If this is the gardener, if this is the supervisor of the grounds, then nobody could have done a body snatching without his help or at least his okay. He will know it.” That’s deduction. She’s not enraged, and she’s not hysterical. She says, “Sir.” Very steely. She doesn’t say, “Where is he?” She says, “Sir, if I personally have to go find the swollen, stinking, decayed body of my Lord, if I have to go find him and pick him up myself, I’m going to do that. Where is he? Do you know where he is?” This is not a hysterical woman. This is a woman who is iron. This is a woman who is relentless. This is a woman who is a laser beam. She’s a drill. She’s going to get through anything. “Angels, schmangels. Where’s my Lord? Gardeners, I don’t care.” How did this happen? I’ll tell you. Jesus says it’s simple arithmetic. Jesus Christ says in Luke 7, “The one who is forgiven much, loves much.” I want to press you on this. It’s simple arithmetic. She loved him more than anybody else. That’s why she’s still there. Everybody else is gone. It’s the reason she came. It’s the reason she hasn’t left. It’s simple arithmetic. She knew she was a sinner. She knew she was broken. She knew how big her debt was. She knew it, and Jesus had said, “You can be a child of God.” This is the reason Marys are chosen. This is the reason Marys are used. It’s people who know they’re sinners, it’s people who know the depth of their sin, who love like this. Let me apply this to you. For some of you, there’s no joy or tears. There’s no incredible confidence like Mary has, and there’s no weeping either. Your religion is sort of a matter of duty. You’ve always been religious. You were raised in a church. You come to church now. This is not hysteria. Don’t you dare look at this like that. This is love. This is relentlessness. This is doggedness. This is commitment born of grace. I’ll tell you the reason you don’t have the joy of Mary, and I’ll tell you the reason you’re not used by God like Mary. I’ll tell you why you’re not changing people’s lives like Mary. I’ll tell you why you don’t have this greatness of heart like Mary. This might sound very strange to modern New Yorkers. You don’t know you’re a sinner. You are superficial in your understanding of your brokenness. Very often the Marys of the world who were addicted to sex and inner demons, they know. Do you know what a slave you are? Do you know what a slave you are to achievement, to position, to status, maybe in some cases to moral superiority? Do you realize you have hijacked your life just as much as Mary did? You’re avoiding Jesus as Savior and Lord, even if you’re using him as an example. Until you see yourself as sinful as Mary saw herself, you’re not going to be used. Isn’t it amazing? It’s the Marys of the world God uses, and nobody else. “Well,” you say, “but I’m not a prostitute. I’ve never been. I’ve not been a mental patient.” I’m trying to say it’s the Marys of the world or the people who know they’re no different than the Marys of the world, and only those people, who will ever be used. By the way, there’s one other little tangential footnote. This second point is the divine priority of grace, and there’s one other thing we’d better get through our heads by looking at Mary here. Jesus chose her first. What does this mean? It means Christians ought to every day try to get their snobbery out, throw it on the ground, and stamp on it, try to kill it. The Bible says because of this dynamic, the people who know the least about God, in ages past and today and in ages to come, will always be the people who are running things. This is a terrible thing for New Yorkers to hear. If you look down your nose at brothers and sisters who are beneath you in achievement, beneath you in education, beneath you in social status, beneath you in economic status, you’re just not reading the Bible. Get your snobbery out. Throw it on the ground every day and trample it and think of Mary. Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Former (ish) rower turned Track Racer and Sram ambassador Yewie Adesida rolled into the glorious world of cycling via a very unusual gateway drug...Hint. It's in the title ;) We debate indoors vs outdoor cycling, weight lifting, the Women of Colour Cycling Meetup group and more in our first episode of 2020. Please enjoy!~ Guest ~Yewie AdesidaInstagram https://www.instagram.com/yewie_aRecorded at Wardour Studios http://wardourstudios.co.uk/Edited by Ev Sekkides https://www.sekkidesphoto.com/~ Topics ~Quick Brown Foxes Podcast by Ayesha McGowan http://www.aquickbrownfox.com/blog/2018/10/17/quick-brown-foxes-chapter-3-yewande-goes-furtherSES Racing http://sesracing.com/Velociposse https://www.velociposse.cc/Lee Valley Velodrome https://www.visitleevalley.org.uk/en/content/cms/london2012/velo-park/Assos award racers at Herne Hill with FREE bib shorts!The Nocturne https://www.nocturnecycling.com/Hog Hill TacingKeirin Racing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KeirinYewie is a "Srambassador" aka Sram Ambassador !!London Youth RowingWatch the weight lifting anime !!! "How Heavy at the dumbbells you lift?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Heavy_Are_the_Dumbbells_You_Lift%3FThe Women of Colour cycling meetup group - meets every third Monday of the month at Look mum no hands! from 7pm - 9pmhttps://www.facebook.com/events/1484774878340589/Podcast recommendations!Revisionist HistoryReceipts PodcastMy dad wrote a porno Serial ~ Intro Track ~Evangelion - A Cruel Angel's Thesis: Bike Horn Cover www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUamHEvVQy0Sounds~ Work handles ~Look mum no hands! www.lookmumnohands.com/London Bike Kitchen www.lbk.org.uk/~ Our personal handles ~Alex Davis twitter.com/SingyamatokunJenni Gwiazdowski twitter.com/money_melon~ Follow us ~Twitter twitter.com/WheelSuckersPodInstagram www.instagram.com/wheelsuckerspod/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Anime Addicts launch their Twitch Channel. Follow us at twitch.tv/aaapodcast The Anime Addicts share their Christmas Wish Lists with a personalized $200 shopping spree and a bit of Anime Secret Santa! Then, we get pumped up with a review of How Heavy are the Dumbbell's You Lift!? Get EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to over 500 additional AAA Podcast episodes only at: http://www.aaapodcast.com/join You can also join our Discord Channel at: https://discordapp.com/invite/jFyUqgk Time Markers: -Big News of the Week: 12:40 -The Good, The Bad, and the Moe: 16:15 -News Break 1: 25:45 -Mandi's Manga Minute: 32:15 -Mason's Waifu Wars: 37:00 -Main Topic - Christmas Shopping Spree: 45:15 -News Break 2: 1:21:30 -Itunes Review: 1:29:30 -Review: How Heavy Are the Dumbbell's You Lift: 1:31:00 -Mailbag: 2:01:30

Topics Covered: 00:03:55 - Star Twinkle Precure 00:06:31 - Cannon Busters 00:11:19 - Fairy Tail: Final Series 00:13:12 - Fire Force 00:20:57 - Dr. Stone 00:23:44 - Hensuki 00:26:54 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season 00:28:44 - Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon 2 00:32:44 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells you Lift? 00:36:15 - Astra Lost in Space 00:39:15 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba 00:43:12 - Fruits Basket 00:48:05 - Beastars opening 00:49:40 - Kemono Michi 00:52:25 - African Salaryman 00:55:11 - Cautious Hero 00:59:37 - Gundam Build Divers ReRise 01:04:58 - Psycho-Pass 3 01:10:38 - Case File n221: Kabukicho 01:15:44 - Bananya and the Curious Bunch 01:17:35 - Babylon 01:22:36 - Oresuki 01:28:12 - Food Wars! The Fourth Plate 01:30:06 - Blade of the Immortal 01:34:09 - No Guns Life 01:37:45 - We Never Learn!: Bokuben 2 01:43:02 - Stars Align 01:49:53 - My Hero Academia 4 01:52:37 - A reccomendation for Paul Email us at: email@saveourprogress.com Follow us on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SaveOurProgress Or follow the hosts on twitter at: Craig - https://twitter.com/SearosCanoel Paul - https://twitter.com/pomorales Pete - https://twitter.com/EspadaPete Zac - https://twitter.com/AronZacField Produced by Zachary Field Podcast Artwork by Natalie Fang Dai Opening Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJEPTk7FLmk Pamgaea by Kevin MacLeod [Check out more of Kevin MacLeod over at http://incompetech.com/] Ending Theme: How Heavy are the Dumbbells you Lift? "Onegai Muscle" by Ai Fairuz and Kaito Ishikawa

Leo, Bcom, and Kat are back to finish up the Summer 2019 anime season! We break down the finales of all the shows we’ve covered this season and give our thoughts on a few other shows we watched outside of the podcast. Stay tuned for the end where we give out final scores and recommendations for the best anime of the season. Also, please excuse Kat’s new kitten who makes his presence KNOWN throughout the podcast.Recorded October 28, 2019.             Timestamps:1:04 - Nonsense (Bcom plays The Outer Worlds, Leo plays Control, Kat is immune to antibiotics but still manages to hit up Halloween parties and become a human fishing rod)12:17 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 12)20:53 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 12)44:49 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Eps. 25-26)1:22:19 - Astra Lost in Space (Ep. 12)1:38:52 - Commercial Break 1:40:27 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 12)1:52:39 - Vinland Saga (Ep. 12)2:07:24 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 24)2:18:08 - Other shows we watched outside of the podcast (The Demon Girl Next Door, Fire Force, Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?, If It’s for My Daughter I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord, Fruits Basket (2019))2:25:18 - Final scoresSocial media and podcast links: https://linktr.ee/nerdomandothernonsense

Skyy and Jess review, you guessed it! Anime! In the episode today we impress and review: Assassins Pride, ORESUKI Are you the only one who loves me?, How Heavy are the dumbbells you lift?, High school prodigies have it easy even in another world, Food Wars! The fourth plate, Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Ascendance of a Bookworm.

Kat, Leo, and Bcom discuss the 11th week of the Summer 2019 anime season! Bcom compares the 1986 anime They Were Eleven with its modern counterpart, Astra Lost in Space. The Dumbbell girls celebrate New Years by walking up and ungodly number of steps. The Maidens decide it’s time to protest the oppressive regime at their school, so they can let their freak flags fly! Tanjirou gets the help of some little butterfly girls who help him stretch, train, and breathe in an effort to level up to be an even more effective Demon Slayer. Charce truly becomes Kanata’s right-hand man, in the penultimate episode of Astra Lost in Space, in a manner that causes Leo and Bcom to lose their minds. It turns out Watermelon girl’s watermelon helmet was way more essential than Kat ever expected, and to Bcom’s delight Dr. STONE re-designs it to be an everlasting part of her character design. We wrap up the final episode of Given and discuss how we felt about the way it concluded (or didn’t conclude) its various storylines. Apparently, Smokey the Bear never told the Vikings that “only you can prevent forest fires,” because they find themselves in the middle of a raging inferno. Carole & Tuesday set up for their final episode, with plans for one big concert to try to send a message to the people of Mars who are going down a dangerous path.Recorded October 11, 2019. Timestamps:2:09 - Nonsense (Bcom review They Were Eleven, Kat watches Evangelion Rebuild 2.0 and is going to a Viking festival, Leo doesn’t socialize outside of Destiny 2)11:17 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 11)24:37 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 11)42:37 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 24)48:57 - Astra Lost in Space (Ep. 11)56:34 - Commercial Break 59:18 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 11)1:08:39 - Given (Ep. 11)1:21:52 - Vinland Saga (Ep. 11)1:33:56 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 23)Social media and podcast links: https://linktr.ee/nerdomandothernonsense

Bcom, Kat, and Leo discuss the 10th week of the Summer 2019 anime season! Bcom kicks things off by reviewing Studio 3Hz’s latest project, Blackfox: a totally decent movie. We propose ethical solutions to Japan’s birthrate issues during Kat’s recap of Dumbbell episode 10, and otherwise generally complain about some dumb developments. The Maidens start pushing the sexual tension to the max as emotions reach their peak in all of their relationships, and they find the confidence to make their moves and experience some crushing rejections. We then get into an extra flamboyant review of Demon Slayer’s latest episode, where the fate of Nezuko is decided. We finally found out who the traitor is in Kanata no Astra, and we start losing our minds at some of the more blatant plot conveniences in the backstory of the show. With the latest episode of Dr. STONE, Kat asks the age-old question…can you f*** a watermelon? We get annoyed at hair-cutting tropes in Given, and uncover a grand conspiracy common to LGBT anime adaptations. Thorkell wreaks havoc on the Danes’ best-laid plans in Vinland Saga, and Canute cannot communicate his feelings. The Mars Grammy awards roll around, and Carole and Tuesday collaborate with Crystal to deliver a moving performance, which is quickly overshadowed by Angela laying her soul bare.Recorded October 8, 2019. Timestamps:2:25 - Nonsense (Bcom reviews Blackfox, Kat adopts a badass new kitten, getting back into the Destiny 2 raid shape)16:02 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 10)32:23 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 10)47:11 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 23)59:43 - Astra Lost in Space (Ep. 10)1:14:13 - Commercial Break1:15:47 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 10)1:25:04 - Given (Ep. 10)1:39:54 - Vinland Saga (Ep. 10)1:51:19 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 22)Social media and podcast links: https://linktr.ee/nerdomandothernonsense

To conclude(?) our reviews of 2019 Summer anime, we're back with Team "Our-Shows-are-Over-More-or-Less" giving final thoughts on: How Heavy are the Dumbells You Lift? Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? O Maidens in Your Savage Season Tori, Sarah, and Edwin discuss what they loved and hated about their chosen shows and give you their final recommendations on if anything they watched was really worth it. Thank you for listening! If you'd like to support our show, please consider sharing it with your friends! Show notes are available on our website: www.thirdimpactanime.com More helpful links: https://linktr.ee/thirdimpactanime Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/TI_Anime Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Google Play | YouTube | Stitcher | Podbean Support on Ko-Fi | Patreon

Leo, Bcom, and Kat discuss the 9th week of the Summer 2019 anime season! During our Dumbbell discussion, Kat tells us what her bodybuilder friend thought about the episode, and we also talk about how impossible it is to open jars. The Maidens are getting all lovey-dovey and it seems like everything is going well with their Little Princes, but rest assured, these girls aren’t alright. This week’s episode of Demon Slayer was a gigantic info dump introducing the Hashira, and putting poor little Nezuko on trial for being a demon. We also vote on which members of the Hashira we think will bite the dust first. The goals of the Astra crew’s parents are revealed and we also find out that Polina’s not in Kansas anymore. After the break, we return with an electrifying episode of Dr. STONE, where Senku persuades a spy from Tsukasa’s camp to join the Kingdom of Science with using magnet-creation techniques from NASA. Given is actually able to pull off an emotionally moving performance, which saves the show from tanking entirely. In the latest episode of Vinland Saga, the London Bridge is not falling down, because a Viking named Thorkell is fighting on behalf of the English in the latest episode of Vinland Saga. Finally, with Carole and Tuesday, it’s Christmas time at the Mars Grammy awards, and things are quickly going downhill for Angela, as she tries to come to turns with losing everything important in her life.Recorded October 2, 2019. Timestamps:0:20 - Nonsense (Destiny 2: Shadowkeep launch, Kat takes muscle relaxers with The Boys)9:28 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 9)19:53 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 9)32:59 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 22)48:09 - Astra Lost in Space (Ep. 9)1:00:41 - Commercial Break1:03:02 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 9)1:14:50 - Given (Ep. 9)1:28:31 - Vinland Saga (Ep. 9)1:43:42 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 21)Social media and podcast links: https://linktr.ee/nerdomandothernonsense

Kat, Leo and Bcom discuss the 8th week of the Summer 2019 anime season! This week the Dumbbell girls climb a haunted mountain and, like meat, it went bad. The Maidens explore how many confessions they can pack into just one episode. Nezuko’s cute shrinking powers beg the question of whether she can grow to the size of a Gundam and stomp all the demons underneath her giant feet. This week’s episode of Astra turns into that one comic panel of Spider-Man pointing at other Spider-Man, as the show begins to embrace the ridiculousness of life. Dr. STONE somehow gets us into an argument about limited antibiotic resistance and superbugs, before arguing even more about whether Suika can keep the watermelon on her head for the entire length of the show with no explanation. Given finally delves into Mafuyu’s tragic backstory, as it sets up for a performance, which will likely determine whether the show sinks or swims. In Vinland Saga, Askeladd teaches us all about how to win friends and influence people, using the knowledge that everyone around him is a slave to something, which makes it possible to use them to fulfil his own ambitions. Finally, the Grammy Awards still exist on Mars and are still boring and irrelevant, but luckily rapper Denzel Curry is here to give the show some much-needed edginess.Recorded September 26, 2019. Timestamps:3:20 - Nonsense (Kat finally sells her old car and babysits some hedgehogs, Ikumi Nakamura leaves Tango Gameworks, Bcom rocks out to Sayonara Wild Hearts and survives the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta)15:17 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 8)27:42 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 8)40:50 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 21)50:40 - Astra Lost in Space (Ep. 8)1:02:01 - Commercial Break1:03:35 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 8)??? - Given (Ep. 8)1:33:32 - Vinland Saga (Ep. 8)1:47:01 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 20)Social media and podcast links: https://linktr.ee/nerdomandothernonsense

Bcom, Kat, and Leo are here to break down the 7th week of the Summer 2019 anime season! We kick off the podcast with some thoughts from Bcom and Kat about Trigger’s latest film, PROMARE. In this week’s anime, Dumbbell has become an idol show, and Kat is not amused. The Maidens have a very jiggly pillow fight to express their growing frustration with each other. After Tanjiro’s huge battle with Rui, Demon Slayer starts delving into the tragic backstory of the pretend spider family that Rui has built around himself. Then we get into the first of our midseason replacements, with a big recap of Astra Lost in Space and discussion of episode 7, where we try to puzzle out who the traitor could be. Dr. STONE begins recruiting the help of some villagers to build his Kingdom of Science into a force to be reckoned with. Leo takes a nap through Kat’s excellent review of episode 7 of Given, which is getting better with each passing episode. Bcom recaps episodes 4-6 of Vinland Saga before jumping into episode 7, where Askeladd’s Vikings use some badass tactics to plunder a Frankish stronghold, and Thorfinn earns another duel to avenge his father’s death by Naruto-running all over the battlefield. Finally, in Carole & Tuesday, Angela’s stalker is finally dealt with by none other than Mr. Tao who is able to out-think the annoying hacker pest.Recorded September 22, 2019. Timestamps:1:40 - Nonsense (Leo plays the female-heavy Borderlands 3, Tequila Kat had a crazy weekend, Bcom reviews Promare)15:41 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 7)29:39 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 7)42:11 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 20)55:58 - Astra Lost in Space (Recap and Ep. 7)1:16:05 - Commercial Break1:18:26 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 7)1:27:16 - Given (Ep. 7)1:41:06 - Vinland Saga (Recap and Ep. 7)1:59:58 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 19)Social media and podcast links: https://linktr.ee/nerdomandothernonsense

Leo, Bcom and Kat are back to review the 6th week of the Summer 2019 anime season and to make their midseason cuts! We kick off our nonsense with Kat’s cautionary tale of partying so hard in Montreal that she gave herself a fever of 103 with a side of strep throat. Leo continues to experience multiplayer issues with Remnant from the Ashes. Bcom beat Control and had a great time with it, with some minor drawbacks. When we finally around to talking about anime, Dumbbell’s arm-wrestling episode went full Over the Top, and Bcom breaks out a horribly stereotypical Russian accent. The lit club girls clash against their school’s prude restrictions as they try to dream up a romantic theme for their school’s festival. Then, it’s time for episode 19 of Demon Slayer, which was an incredible showcase of studio Ufotable’s animation talent, and Yuki Kajiura’s musical composition. BEM continues to be a weird, directionless monster-of-the-week show, that we thankfully may never have to talk about again! In Dr. STONE, Senku is miraculously saved by the power of…a Doctor Stone! Ritsuka’s emotional understanding of Satou is finally starting to progress as Given begins to find its rhythm halfway through the show. A talking cat familiar in the Demon Girl Next Door finally declares that “the time hath come” for Bcom to take a long, hard look about whether he wants to continue covering this cutesy anime. And finally, in Carole & Tuesday, Tuesday experiences some innocent heartbreak, while her mother takes advantage of suspicious terrorist activities to advance her fearmongering political campaign. We finish things off with a Midseason Cuts segment where we first discuss the other anime we’ve been keeping up with this season, and then Leo’s sneaky lock tactics backfire…slightly.Recorded September 12, 2019. Timestamps:1:44 - Nonsense (Kat parties in Montreal, Leo’s ready for Borderlands 3, and Bcom takes Control)20:52 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 6)31:41 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 6)42:26 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 19)58:25 - BEM (Ep. 5-6)1:05:39 - Commercial Break1:07:17 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 6)1:22:16 - Given (Ep. 6)1:33:16 - The Demon Girl Next Door (Ep. 6)1:40:59 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 18)1:53:05 - Midseason CutsSocial media and podcast links: https://linktr.ee/nerdomandothernonsense

Kat, Leo and Bcom are back to review the 5th week of the Summer 2019 anime season! We kick things off with Kat ranting about her hilariously awful experience with Groupon customer service. Leo updates us on his continuing trouble with Remnant of the Ashes, and Bcom reviews then 1979 anime adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Once we get into weekly anime, it’s time to get in running shape for the Dumbbell girls, which means working hamstrings and abdominal muscles, to embrace their inner Flo-Jo. Two of the Maidens have their eyes set on much older men in their savage seasons, which leads to some very awkward interactions, but the episode ends on a high note with one of the cutest anime confession scenes we’ve watched in a long time. We spend more time hyping up Demon Slayer ep. 19 than actually properly covering episode 18. We wrap up another disappointing episode of BEM with complaints about its directionless story and weak animation from Kat and Bcom. After the break, we get into a divisive episode of Dr. STONE, which had us arguing about whether or not the second half flashback was a waste of our time, and who we would choose to kill off between ourselves, our lovers, or our friends. Our Given segment becomes a storytelling session about our experiences with love at first sight. This week’s Demon Girl Next Door review is a shitshow of the highest order, which Bcom very professionally manages to soldier through. And finally, in Carole and Tuesday, Ertegun has to do some thinking about what he truly wants to be as an artist after tragically handing his financial portfolio over to a horny Pinocchio robot.Recorded August 28, 2019. Timestamps:0:20 - Nonsense (Kat’s Groupon nightmare, Leo finally beats the first boss of Remnant from the Ashes…for someone else, Bcom reviews the 1979 anime Anne of Green Gables)13:42 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 5)25:33 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 5)47:22 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 18)55:33 - BEM (Ep. 4)1:04:44 - Commercial Break1:07:51 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 5)1:20:32 - Given (Ep. 5)1:32:14 - The Demon Girl Next Door (Ep. 5)1:42:58 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 17)Check out our podcast network, Anime Radicals. Find out more at www.animeradicals.com.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdomandOtheriTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nerdom-and-other-nonsense/id1203061952Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Iuqfigskscnxqhhatxmfyrec7gi?t=Nerdom_and_Other_NonsenseStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdomandothernonsense/nerdom-and-other-nonsense-anime-podcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6LOseApaNZgoaZaqqpeNvIDiscord invite: https://discord.gg/REwr8uT

Bcom, Kat and Leo are back to discuss the 4th week of the Summer 2019 anime season! We kick it off with a bunch of gaming nonsense, and Bcom and Kat both ask listeners for gaming recommendations in a packed late August game release calendar. Once we move onto anime, in Dumbbell, we are puzzled by how different Silverman’s Gym’s operation is from the gyms we know and frequent in the United States. Leo’s not sure if he knows enough words to fill 50 pages like Rika’s love interest in O Maidens. Demon Slayer takes its best shot at making Zenitsu great again, but we’re left relatively unmoved. Dr. STONE already has Yuzuriha trying to sacrifice her life for her male co-stars, which leaves Bcom unamused, and ends with a pretty obviously toothless cliffhanger. Given takes a detour to talk about guitar pedals, which Bcom is very familiar with due to his guitar-enthusiast dad’s expensive quest to create the perfect sound. Bcom isn’t so impressed with episode 4 of the Demon Girl Next Door, and Leo and Kat retreat into the inner recesses of their mind (i.e. take a nap) while he breaks it down. We close things out with Carole & Tuesday, which introduces us to a star named Flora whose past is intertwined with Gus, and shows us a darker side of the music industry.Recorded August 26, 2019. Timestamps:1:36 - Nonsense (Eureka Seven, Bcom’s gaming dilemma, Leo’s Remnant from the Ashes impressions, Kat watches Tada Never Falls in Love and prepares for an international trip)14:51 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 4)34:24 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 4)47:22 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 17)58:59 - BEM (skipped this week because of broadcast delay)59:48 - Commercial Break1:02:21 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 4)1:12:16 - Given (Ep. 4)1:26:51 - The Demon Girl Next Door (Ep. 4)1:36:39 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 16)Check out our podcast network, Anime Radicals. Find out more at www.animeradicals.com.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdomandOtheriTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nerdom-and-other-nonsense/id1203061952Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Iuqfigskscnxqhhatxmfyrec7gi?t=Nerdom_and_Other_NonsenseStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdomandothernonsense/nerdom-and-other-nonsense-anime-podcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6LOseApaNZgoaZaqqpeNvIDiscord invite: https://discord.gg/REwr8uT

This week we discussed How Heavy are the Dumbbells you lift. A show about a girl joining a gym, and making new friends. Then we talked more about Vinland Saga, spoilers, still good. Also rambled for a bit about games and stuff as always

Leo, Bcom, and Kat are back to chat about the 3rd week of the Summer 2019 anime season! A cosplaying teacher joins the dumbbell squad in the latest episode, and we talk a lot about your biceps brachii muscle. In the latest Episode of O Maidens, Kazusa realizes that Izumi watches porn, but is at least reassured that it’s porn related to his transportation otaku hobbies. Kat launches her “Demon Slayer is actually a BL” political campaign, and to be fair she has some strong evidence. The latest episode of BEM represents another in a long line of heated gamer moments. Kat has some advice for Tsukasa from Dr. STONE, which is that when you have to come up with a different word for murder in order to justify it, you might have some issues. Kat has watched so much yaoi that she accurately predicted pretty much everything about Given’s plot. Leo also shakes us to our core with his interpretation of Mafuyu’s singing voice. By the way, the music anime Kat was alluding to in this section was Anonymous Noise. Bcom desperately tries to explain to Kat and Leo why he finds The Demon Girl Next Door so funny. Carole & Tuesday introduces anime David Bowie to the show in an episode that intelligently juxtaposes the show’s political commentary against its belief in the power of music to bring people together.Recorded August 19, 2019. Timestamps:4:05 - Nonsense (HBO’s The Night Of, Leo’s two Destiny 2 raids, Kat’s spicy Szechuan adventure)14:25 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Ep. 3)24:49 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Ep. 3)38:14 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Ep. 16)48:16 - BEM (Ep. 3)58:51 - Commercial Break1:01:38 - Dr. STONE (Ep. 3)1:12:26 - Given (Ep. 3)1:27:20 - The Demon Girl Next Door (Ep. 3)1:39:36 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 15)Check out our podcast network, Anime Radicals. Find out more at www.animeradicals.com.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdomandOtheriTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nerdom-and-other-nonsense/id1203061952Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Iuqfigskscnxqhhatxmfyrec7gi?t=Nerdom_and_Other_NonsenseStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdomandothernonsense/nerdom-and-other-nonsense-anime-podcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6LOseApaNZgoaZaqqpeNvIDiscord invite: https://discord.gg/REwr8uT

Kat, Bcom, and Leo are here with their first impressions of the Summer 2019 anime season! Stick around to the end where we vote on the eight shows we’ll be following for at least the first half of the season, and listen to the mayhem that ensues when all three of us go rogue with our locks.Recorded August 10-13, 2019. Timestamps:Continuing shows:1:19 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Eps. 14-15)11:39 - Fruits Basket (2019) (Eps. 13-14)21:02 - Carole & Tuesday (Eps. 13-14)New shows:35:13 - To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts (Eps. 1-2)44:08 - Magical Sempai a.k.a. Tejina-senpai (Eps. 1-2)45:46 - Are You Lost? (Eps. 1-2)47:44 - Astra Lost in Space (Eps. 1-2)57:56 - Demon Lord Retry! (Eps. 1-2)1:00:47 - How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift? (Eps. 1-2)1:07:00 - Isekai Cheat Magician (Eps. 1-2)1:09:58 - If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord (Eps. 1-2)1:12:43 - Dr. STONE (Eps. 1-2)1:18:39 - Wasteful Days of High School Girls (Eps. 1-2)1:22:18 - Granbelm (Eps. 1-2)1:30:05 - Fire Force (Eps. 1-2)1:38:29 - Commercial Break (2nd half recorded August 13th)1:39:00 - random Captain Marvel discussion1:41:26 - O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Eps. 1-2)1:48:28 - Do You love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? (Eps. 1-2)1:51:16 - Lord El Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace Note (Eps. 1-2)1:56:02 - The Ones Within (Eps. 1-2)1:58:22 - Re:Stage Dream Days (Eps. 1-2)1:59:53 - Ensemble Stars (Eps. 1-2)2:02:28 - Vinland Saga (Eps. 1-3)2:07:53 - Hensuki: Are You Willing to Fall in Love with a Pervert as Long as She’s a Cutie? (Eps. 1-2)2:10:25 - Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest (Eps. 1-2)2:14:35 - Cop Craft (Eps. 1-2)2:18:22 - Kochoki (Eps. 1-2)2:20:57 - Given (Eps. 1-2)2:25:11 - The Demon Girl Next Door (Eps. 1-2)2:31:25 - Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II (Eps. 1-2)2:33:55 – BEM (Eps. 1-2)2:39:49 - Netflix Shows (Skilled Teaser Takagi-san 2nd season, Kengan Ashura, 7 Seeds)2:43:40 - The VOTE2:57:06 - Brief discussion about the current anime streaming landscapeCheck out our podcast network, Anime Radicals. Find out more at www.animeradicals.com.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdomandOtheriTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nerdom-and-other-nonsense/id1203061952Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Iuqfigskscnxqhhatxmfyrec7gi?t=Nerdom_and_Other_NonsenseStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdomandothernonsense/nerdom-and-other-nonsense-anime-podcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6LOseApaNZgoaZaqqpeNvIDiscord invite: https://discord.gg/REwr8uT

The Shogunate discusses the surprise of the season, How Heavy are the Dumbells you lift?, the world of Sports anime, and training arcs. Another week another podcast because we really do this anime $#!t! If you have any recommendations or questions you want to be asked on the show Connect with us at: rogueshogunate.com instagram.com/rogueshogunate facebook.com/rogueshogunate   myanimelist.net/profile/Latt myanimelist.net/profile/DinoPillow myanimelist.net/profile/MattyWappy   twitter.com/LattXP twitter.com/dinopillow twitter.com/Pakitastic twitter.com/Dark_Mattywappy

Kat, Leo and Bcom finish up the Spring 2019 anime season with our thoughts on each finale individually, as well as the season as a whole. After the initial recording, news of the Kyoto Animation fire hit, which Bcom takes some time to address at the beginning of the episode. As a heads up, during our review of the final episode of Dororo, there is some discussion of death by fire and/or smoke inhalation, which you may want to skip. The Dororo segment runs from 1:04:37 to 1:25:20 if you would rather avoid it. Otherwise, it’s just another typical goofy podcast from us, which we hope will raise your spirits!Recorded July 15, 2019. Timestamps:0:01 - Bcom’s thoughts on the Kyoto Animation fire7:11 - Podcast intro2:11 - Nonsense (Bcom watches Red Cliff, Golden Kamuy season 3 announced, brief preview of the Summer anime season, How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift is training an army of otaku to storm Area 51, and Bcom devises an Anime Girl Bathwater business plan for Kat)20:21 - Fruits Basket (2019) (Ep. 12)38:02 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind (Ep. 36)47:06 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Eps. 12-13)1:04:37 - Dororo (Ep. 24)1:25:20 - Commercial Break1:27:15 - Attack on Titan season 3 Part 2 (Ep. 10 (59))1:36:09 - One Punch Man season 2 (Ep. 12)1:46:28 - Carole & Tuesday (Ep. 12)1:59:40 - Reviews for shows we watched outside of podcast (Bokuben, Hitoribocchi, Ao-Chan Can’t Study, The Helpful Fox Senko-san, and Cinderella Nine)2:04:02 - Final Reviews and ScoresCheck out our podcast network, Anime Radicals. Find out more at www.animeradicals.com.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NerdomandOtheriTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nerdom-and-other-nonsense/id1203061952Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/Iuqfigskscnxqhhatxmfyrec7gi?t=Nerdom_and_Other_NonsenseStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdomandothernonsense/nerdom-and-other-nonsense-anime-podcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6LOseApaNZgoaZaqqpeNvIDiscord invite: https://discord.gg/REwr8uT

Sport ist Mord – besonders man wie Dimbula, Nejy, Yaku und Levi am wärmsten Tag des Jahres Teil 3 unserer Sommervorschau aufzeichnet. Gerne hätten sie es sich, sich in »How Heavy are the Dumbbells You Lift?« unter die Hantelbank zu legen, den Diebstahl des stärksten Wasserstrahlschneiders von Bildungsstadt in »A Certain Scientific Accelerator« aufzuklären, in »Vinland Saga« im Blutrausch von Schiff zu Schiff zu springen und sich in »If It's for My Daughter, I'd Even Defeat a Demon Lord« dem verstoßenen Dämonen-Mädchen Latina anzunehmen, hilft aber alles nicht.

Skyy, Jess and Dvon impress and review Granbelm, Are you lost?, Magical Sempai, G Gundam, Dr. Stone, Fire Force, How Heavy, Are The Dumbbells You Lift.

Word On The Skreet Podcast ( @WOTSPodcast ) are back with episode 46. Blake ( @__Grav ) recaps this past week with a very special guest interview with the most hardworking and consistent online blogger in Pitori, Katlego Sehume ( @Mc_Fresh of The Heavy Report ). The two start off with AFCON, English Premier League log rankings predictions, SANDF being deployed in gang ridden areas in Cape Town, Miss South Africa 2019 and their plus size controversy, How Heavy started his blog, The Heavy Report, his end goal for his blog, and how he is able to be so consistent, sneaker culture and the lack exclusivity with sneaker corporations and artists and his thoughts on new laws that limit freedom of speech and much much more. Sit back and enjoy, be safe tho... Songs Of The Week: Blake: Maxo Kream - Roaches https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NFshaFXrfTQ Katlego: Major League & Focalistic Baebar (Ft. Gobi Beast, Skamza, Makwa & Ltechk) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qLeJiEJJqcg

It’s another bumper episode because the summer anime season is here! From Isekai streamers to coming of age dramas, there’s a wide range on show for everyone’s tastes, and that means a LOT to talk about. If you want to skip to a certain section, look at the time stamps below! Episode segments: 00:04:23 – Anime News 00:13:30 – Summer Season – Part 1 00:14:08 – Are we Lost 00:17:14 – Magical Sempai 00:20:21 – Arifureta 00:26:36 – Astra Lost in Space 00:32:04 – Cop Craft 00:37:52 – The Demon Girl Next Door 00:40:55 – Dr. Stone 00:47:06 – Demon Lord Retry 00:50:34 – Do you love your Mom and her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks? 00:54:19 – Fire Force 00:58:15 – Given 01:01:21 – Gorgeous Butterfly: Young Nobunaga 01:04:29 – Summer Season – Part 2 01:04:57 – Granbelm 01:08:32 – How Heavy are the Dumbbells you lift? 01:12:40 – If it's for my Daughter, I'd even defeat a Demon Lord 01:16:27 – Isekai Cheat Magician 01:19:32 – Nakanohito Genome (The Ones Within) 01:25:02 – O! Maidens in your Savage Season 01:29:42– To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 01:32:30 – Vinland Saga 01:34:54 – Wasteful Days of High School Girls 01:39:30 – Summer Season – Sequels and Returning Shows 01:39:34 – A Certain Scientific Accelerator 01:41:41 – DanMachi Season - Season 2 01:42:50 – Teasing Master Takagi-san - Season 2 01:43:59 – Carole and Tuesday 01:44:40 – Fruits Basket 01:45:44 – Demon Slayer 01:46:47 – Mix Meisei Story 01:47:30 – Yu-No 01:49:01 – Summer Season – Films 01:49:10 – Dan Machi Film 01:49:39 – Human Lost 01:50:39 – KonoSuba Film 01:51:10 – Lupin the 3rd 01:52:18 – Ni no Kuni 01:53:22 – Weathering With you

The AniTAY Podcast season preview returns! Join us as we take a few (sometimes educated) guesses at the good, bad and ugly of the upcoming summer 2019 anime season! This episode doesn’t follow our new format, so we decided to label it episode 2.5 stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for a return to our regular programming. This episode’s members: Protonstorm, Kinksy, Reikaze, Edmundton, Raitzeno Itinerary Intro: 0:00 - 0:56 A Certain Scientific Accelerator: 0:56 - 5:00 Arifureta: 5:00 - 9:15 Astra Lost in Space: 9:15 - 12: 18 BEM: 12:18 - 15:44 Cop Craft: 15:44 - 18:40 Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?: 18:40 - 21:00 Dr: Stone: 21:00 - 24:11 Ensemble Stars: 24:11 - 24:56 Fire Force: 24:56 - 27:21 Given: 27:21 -28:57 Granbelm: 28:57 - 31:50 Hensuki: Are you willing to fall in love with a pervert, as long as she’s a cutie?: 31:50 - 34:51 How Heavy are the dumbbells you lift?: 34:51-37:54 Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? II: 37-54 - 40:05 Isekai Cheat Magician: 40:05 - 42:30 Takagi San 2: 42:30 - 43:49 Kochoki: Wakaki Nobunga: 43:49 - 45:23 Lord El-Melloi II-sei no Jikenbo: “Rail Zeppelin” Grace note:45:23 - 47:41 Machikado Mazoku: 47:41 - 49:09 Maou-sama Retry!: 49:09 - 50:30 O Maidens in Your Savage Season: 50:30 - 52:23 Symphogear XV: 52:23 - 54:26 The Ones Within: 54:26-56:11 To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts: 56:11—58:00 Try Knights: 58:00 - 1:00:15 If It’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord: 1:00:15 - 1:02:33 Vinland Saga: 1:02:33-1:04:51 Waresho! Warera! Shodobutsu Aigo Iinkai: SkippedWasteful Days of High School Girls: 1:04:51 - 1:06:41 Shorts/Left Over: 1:06:41-1:09:10 Movies: 1:09:10 - 1:14:48 Conclusion: 1:14:48 - End A special thanks to Rockmandash12/Reikaze for his help editing this episode of the podcast!

In this episode, qualified Naturopath Ashleigh Mythen talks with Nicole Brown who started her career in the wellness industry 18 years ago as a personal trainer. During this time she was also a competitive body sculptor and After a few years of heavy training and dieting -  her health had taken a huge nosedive. She had adrenal exhaustion, her thyroid had become under active and her digestive system had all but shut down. So she set out to find a Natural solution for her health issues which led her to learn and study about holistic health and Natural Medicine. Nicole now has a special interest in hormonal and gut health as well as training fitness clients back to health after over training has caused metabolic damage. Some of the things you'll discover in this week's episode are: + Nicole's own journey to becoming a personal trainer and competitive body sculptor + How Heavy training and dieting lead her to burn out and adrenal fatigue + Advice she would have given herself all those years ago that would of made a difference and even avoided her getting to that point of being seriously ill + What burnout and adrenal fatigue is and what it does to the body + Long term effects that this can have on your body + The first signs and symptoms that may be alerting you that you are heading towards adrenal fatigue + How Nicole healed herself with Natural Medicine and why she chose to go down the Natural route + How she gets her clients who have metabolic damage from over training on the road to recovery + Challenges and road blocks that she sees her clients face on their journey back to health and how to overcome them + AND SO MUCH MORE!!   RESOURCES + Bristol Stool Chart   This episode has been sponsored by Naturopress - a cold press juicer that makes health and weightloss easy. To get $50 off your Naturopress purchase and free postage to anywhere in Australia go to https://naturopress.com.au/ type in the code: Get50off at the checkout.    CONNECT WITH NICOLE BROWN + Website: Nicole is a manager at pachamamawholefoods.com.au/ + Instagram: www.instagram.com/naturalbalance_wellness/   REVIEW Your written reviews and feedback inspire me to improve each episode. Plus they help spread the it can't be that friggin hard message far and wide. If you love the podcast and the information shared then please leave a review and rating over at iTunes or stitcher. I would also really love to hear about your own health journey, what your struggling with and what you'd love to hear covered in upcoming episodes please leave me a comment below or reach out to me at Ashleigh@itcantbethatfrigginhard.com    

How Heavy is your Backpack - Matthew 11:20-30

In an episode dedicated to the Winnipeg-based independent film collective Astron-6, Desmond and Darryll take a look at their grindhouse homage, Father's Day. Then Desmond goes solo on their short film omnibus, Astron-6 Collection. Devil Dinosaur Jr. provides a Stay Scary segment dedicated to Pat Mills and Clint Langley's comic book barbarian, Slaine the Wanderer. Also, Tom Deja is back with a Macabre Musical Theatre. All this, and songs galore! "Sins of the Father" by Black Sabbath, "Father" by The Misfits, "Tribute" by Tenacious D, "How Heavy this Axe" by The Sword, and "Insane" by Scars on Broadway all get spins this week! Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @dreadmedia, @DevilDinosaurJr, @Astron6 on Twitter.

In an episode dedicated to the Winnipeg-based independent film collective Astron-6, Desmond and Darryll take a look at their grindhouse homage, Father's Day. Then Desmond goes solo on their short film omnibus, Astron-6 Collection. Devil Dinosaur Jr. provides a Stay Scary segment dedicated to Pat Mills and Clint Langley's comic book barbarian, Slaine the Wanderer. Also, Tom Deja is back with a Macabre Musical Theatre. All this, and songs galore! "Sins of the Father" by Black Sabbath, "Father" by The Misfits, "Tribute" by Tenacious D, "How Heavy this Axe" by The Sword, and "Insane" by Scars on Broadway all get spins this week! Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @dreadmedia, @DevilDinosaurJr, @Astron6 on Twitter.

In an episode dedicated to the Winnipeg-based independent film collective Astron-6, Desmond and Darryll take a look at their grindhouse homage, Father's Day. Then Desmond goes solo on their short film omnibus, Astron-6 Collection. Devil Dinosaur Jr. provides a Stay Scary segment dedicated to Pat Mills and Clint Langley's comic book barbarian, Slaine the Wanderer. Also, Tom Deja is back with a Macabre Musical Theatre. All this, and songs galore! "Sins of the Father" by Black Sabbath, "Father" by The Misfits, "Tribute" by Tenacious D, "How Heavy this Axe" by The Sword, and "Insane" by Scars on Broadway all get spins this week! Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @dreadmedia, @DevilDinosaurJr, @Astron6 on Twitter.

In an episode dedicated to the Winnipeg-based independent film collective Astron-6, Desmond and Darryll take a look at their grindhouse homage, Father's Day. Then Desmond goes solo on their short film omnibus, Astron-6 Collection. Devil Dinosaur Jr. provides a Stay Scary segment dedicated to Pat Mills and Clint Langley's comic book barbarian, Slaine the Wanderer. Also, Tom Deja is back with a Macabre Musical Theatre. All this, and songs galore! "Sins of the Father" by Black Sabbath, "Father" by The Misfits, "Tribute" by Tenacious D, "How Heavy this Axe" by The Sword, and "Insane" by Scars on Broadway all get spins this week! Send feedback to: feedback@dreadmedia.net, or 206.203.1213. Follow @dreadmedia, @DevilDinosaurJr, @Astron6 on Twitter.