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This is WLASze: Weekend Links on Arts, Sciences and zero economics . First to start with - a major scientific breakthrough in physics coming from Yale. As the official website claims, "It’s official. Yale physicists have chilled the world’s coolest molecules. The tiny titans in question are bits of strontium monofluoride, dropped to 2.5 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero through a laser cooling and isolating process called magneto-optical trapping (MOT). They are the coldest molecules ever achieved through direct cooling, and they represent a physics milestone likely to prompt new research in areas ranging from quantum chemistry to tests of the most basic theories in particle physics." Link: http://news.yale.edu/2014/08/20/yale-s-cool-molecules-are-hot-item MOT jargon - for those inclined - here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7514/full/nature13634.html Meanwhile, in Australia, same cooling method is reportedly being used to improve performance of super-h...

Animal Planet did it, and now it’s time for Matt, Bobo, Cliff Barackman and Ranae Holland - Finding Bigfoot to step up! Finding Bigfoot now has 24 hours to respond! Read more »

You won't believe what happens to this man's fish as he's posting for pictures! Sneaky little fella... Read more »

Staying on the topic of debt (see earlier post: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2014/08/2382014-that-pesky-problem-of-real-debt.html ) here is IMF research on real cost of corporate capital (linked to the cost of debt) in the Euro area 'periphery' (this is from an IMF July 2014 publication that accompanied its Article 4 paper on Euro Area). I highlighted with the red the range of recent capital costs range in each country to trace out historical comparatives. Starting with the Euro area  as a whole: Two points: Current real cost of capital across the euro area is relatively benign, compared to both 1990s - early 2000s period and shows low volatility in recent (crisis) years post 2009 peak 2009 peak is pronounced but moderate compared to the one found in some 'peripheral' countries. In basic terms, this means that euro area's capital costs are benign - above the 2004-2007 trough, but historically well below those observed in the 1990s. Spain:  Two points: Current ca...

Again, revisiting IMF's Article 4 consultation paper for Euro Area, published in July 2014, here is a summary of the Euro area 'peripheral' countries debt overhang. First real economic debt (debt of non-financial companies, households and public sector):  Points of note: Ireland's debt overhang is severe. More severe than of any other 'peripheral' country. Bet you forgot that little bit with all the 'best-in-class' growth performance droning in the media. Ah, and worse, remember, not the level alone, but the rate of debt increases over time, also matters. And by this metric, we too are the worst in the group, both for debt increases on 2003 levels and debt increases on 2008 levels. Ireland's households' debt has declined over 2008-2013, more so than in Portugal and Spain. But it remains second highest after the Netherlands' and this decline masks true extent of debt problem because 2013 figure no longer counts household debts issued by banks ...

Looking back at July 2014 IMF Article 4 paper on Euro area (most of which I covered back when it was published), here is an interesting chart mapping changes in the euro area countries' unit labour costs. The chart is complex, so let me point out few things in it: Firstly: improvements in the unit labour costs (ULCs) is reflected in the vertical distance between the black dot (accumulated change in ULCs over 2000-2007 period: higher level of the dot reflects lower competitiveness or higher ULCs compared to EA17 levels) and the black bar (accumulated change in ULCs over 2008-Q3 2013 period). This shows that Ireland has delivered (a) the highest ULCs deterioration of the sample of countries reported over 2000-2007 period, and (b) since 2008, Ireland has delivered the largest improvement in competitiveness (ULCs drop) of the sample.  Second largest improvement in ULCs was recorded in Greece and it is comparable to, but modestly shallower than in Ireland; third and virtually indistingu...

Was there a massacre at Bluff Creek? M.K. Davis originally brought up this theory called the "Bluff Creek massacre" theory back in 2008 at a Bigfoot conference. The controversial theory was immediately rejected by the Bigfoot community and Davis was shunned from ever speaking about it again -- at least for a while. According to Davis, based on his expert film analysis and color enhancements of clips from Roger Patterson, he theorizes that the Patterson party had been to the Bluff Creek site at least once, before returning to capture their famous Bigfoot footage. His theory also suggests that the party probably murdered a family of Bigfoots and buried their bodies. Davis points to an enhanced anomaly resembling a bloody dog print, a pool of blood and even a skinned Bigfoot as proof of his theory. Read more »

Two charts for trend spotting: First one shows US production of oil from 1983 through today: This shows the reversal of the 45% decline in oil output suffered from 1984-1986 through 2008 in just a few years (2009-present). The second one maps development of oil pipelines network in the US to match this expansion of production and re-orient infrastructure toward exports: That's shale & sands impact in just two charts...

We're beginning to see a lot of footage these days from people driving (or skating ) down the road. This type of sighting is actually pretty typical, and now that everyone basically carries a cellphone camera around with them, it's only a matter of time until we get a clear shot of Bigfoot. Here's an interesting footage from Northern Ontario. According to the uploader, the creature got up and "ran" into the forest: Read more »

BlackRock Investment Institute released the latest Economic Cycle Survey results for North America and Western Europe (covered here: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2014/08/2382014-blackrock-institute-survey-n.html ). Here are the survey results for EMEA: "…this month’s EMEA Economic Cycle Survey presented a mixed outlook for the region. The consensus of respondents describe Croatia and the Ukraine in a recessionary state, with an even split of economists gauging Russia, Hungary and Turkey to be in a recessionary or contraction phase." 6 months out: "Over the next two quarters, the consensus shifts toward expansion for Russia and Hungary and an even split between expansion or recession for Turkey." 12 month out: "At the 12 month horizon, the consensus expecting all EMEA countries to strengthen or remain the same with the exception of Russia, Hungary, Turkey and the Ukraine." Global: "Globally, respondents remain positive on the global growth cycle w...

BlackRock Investment Institute released the latest Economic Cycle Survey results for North America and Western Europe. Here are the main points (emphasis mine): "This month’s North America and Western Europe Economic Cycle Survey presented a positive outlook on global growth , with a net of 59% of 74 economists expecting the world economy will get stronger over the next year, compared to net 81% figure in last month’s report." Global outlook: "The consensus of economists project mid-cycle expansion over the next 6 months for the global economy. At the 12 month horizon, the positive theme continued with the consensus expecting all economies spanned by the survey to strengthen or stay the same." Regional outlook for Euro area: "Eurozone is described to be in an expansionary phase of the cycle and expected to remain so over the next 2 quarters . Within the bloc, most respondents described Greece, Italy and France to be in a recessionary state, with the even split...

Read more:  Now that's a party animal! 'Disco squid' Here are some fascinating photographs from MuldersWorld.com , the front page of the strange and unexplained: Read more »

A new video and still images of the Loch Ness Monster have shown up. YouTube user John Gillies posted the video with the following description: "Nessie is alive Nessie /Loch Ness Phenomenon is real,11 Aug 2014 Latest Nessie picture,Never seen this when taken the pictures,i was just looking over the pictures today. but you can see some thing is there." Read more »

The Fortean Slip News 29 This week in the news Chris and the boys discuss orbs seen flying over Long Island, a morgue worker in Ohio admitting to sex with over 100 corpses, Steve Austin tells about a dream wherein he had sex with a bigfoot and a new cafe in China is run entirely by robots. This webcast is uncensored. Read more »

Bigfoot cartoonist and illustrator George Coghill posted this awesome cartoon rendition of the one and only "Bigfoot Lebowski" pictured below. You may recognize Coghill's name and work from a previous post about his kickstarter campaign to print and produce his collectible "Bigfoot Patrol" items. Read more »

When you have a GoPro strapped onto your helmet and rolling down the hill as fast and you can go, you'd never expect something to jump out at you. Just to be clear, the creature in the following isn't a Bigfoot... or is it?: Read more »

This story takes place near Dunn Lake in British Columbia. A group of teenagers hear some strange noises. During the follow up investigation one of the teens finds himself face to face with a bigfoot. In his panic he claims to have shot the creature in the head. Check out the story in this video: Read more »

A young video blogger posted a video giving his thoughts on bigfoot, and also plays some video clips of what appears to be his family and their dogs listening to bigfoot screams in the distance. Check it out: Read more »

This webcast is about the Bigfoot Nation Weekend that is happening in September 12-14 at the legendary kill site where Justin Smeja supposedly/allegedly shot and killed 2 Bigfoot back in October of 2010.  How is this different from all other Bigfoot expeditions like the BFRO puts on? Who will be there? What's different about it? What should participants bring? Well watch and find out! For more information about this Bigfoot expedition, please visit http://www.bigfootweekend.com or http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.com Read more »

The effects of minimum wage laws on employment levels and employment prospects for various categories of workers are subject of voluminous literature in economics. Still, little consensus exists on whether higher minimum wages impede new jobs creation or destroy existent jobs or suppress earnings growth for lower wage employees. A recent paper by Meer, Jonathan and West, Jeremy, titled " Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment Dynamics " (June 26, 2012, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2094726 ) offers estimates "how the minimum wage affects both employment levels and dynamics... To do so, we employ the Business Dynamics Statistics, a long (1977-2009) panel of administrative data on the aggregate population of non-agriculture private-sector employers in the United States, broken out based on establishment location. These data offer the ability to examine gross job creation and destruction separately, an important advantage." The authors first discuss " why even a car...

As we've been reporting, Bill Brock's TV show is slated to air sometime this year. A lot of the show will be about Brock and his team traversing some of the world's spookiest caves. According to Brock, the APACHE DEATH CAVE is frickin' haunted!: Read more »

Bigfoot makes a public appearance in support of ALS sufferers by doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Read more »

Read more:  Alien Thigh Bone Picture Surfaces On Mars Here are some fascinating photographs from MuldersWorld.com , the front page of the strange and unexplained: Read more »

This is another one of those strange cryptids we run across that sound almost too impossible to be true. In the case of the South African Das-Adder, you have a the head of a hylax, a small, hoofed, rabbit-like creature related to the elephant, and the body of a deadly puff adder. If that wasn't odd enough, throw in the reports that it can hypnotize you with a single stare! Read more »

In October of 2009, a woman from Arkansas released this photo, that was reportedly taken by her trail camera. Is it a juvenile bigfoot, or something more common? Read more »

Dennis Shamblin's accounts of encounters with bigfoot creatures while growing up and living in Oklahoma are amazing. According to him they are all true, but of course there is no way to verify any of that. I can tell you personally that all the locations he speaks about are real, and have a long history o bigfoot activity. Not only that, but some of the things he says ring familiar with other stories I've heard from the areas mentioned. Read more »

From YouTube user and Bigfoot Researcher Jeff Patterson: "After first catching the "Tree Shaker" Sasquatch in January 2011, I tracked him for most of that year. Finally I was able to catch up to him once more in December of the same year. After tracking all day in the rain,I was able to get 2 still photos of him. Here they are." Read more »

Ireland, like majority of other small open economies, runs a tax regime that is punitive to highly skilled workers and benign to capital owners. This, as I explain in part here ( http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2014/08/2182014-thomas-piketty-powerful.html ), spells bad news for wealth distribution. It is simply a tax transfer from one form of capital (human capital) to other forms of capital (financial, IP and physical capital). Still, majority of small economies around the world continue to argue in favour of skinning alive their human capital and subsidising (in either relative or absolute terms) other forms of capital, based on a simple argument: in modern world, financial, IP and technological forms of capital are highly mobile (tax them and they will run for the border, goes the argument), even physical capital is mobile over the long run (tax it and investment will flow somewhere else), while labour is tied to its chair by the chains of visas, work permits etc (tax workers and t...

To many analysts and observers, in recent years, G20 has emerged as a broader and more inclusive alternative to the restricted club of advanced super-economies of G7 or G8 (see my earlier note on G8 here: http://trueeconomics.blogspot.ie/2014/03/2332014-about-that-kicking-russia-out.html ). A new ECB paper by  Lo Duca, Marco and Stracca, Livio, titled "The Effect of G20 Summits on Global Financial Markets" (February 18, 2014, ECB Working Paper No. 1668: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2397893 ) acknowledges that "In the wake of the global financial crisis, the G20 has become the most important forum of global governance and cooperation, largely replacing the once powerful G7." All good so far but the question is: does G20 matter to the financial markets? Do summits and new announcements coming from G20 move the markets? "In this paper we run an event study to test whether G20 meetings at ministerial and Leaders level have had an impact on global financial markets. We ...

The Rocky Mountain Sasquatch Organization spends more time in the field than any other group I know! Here's a video of bigfoot tree structures they found while on expedition into one of their research areas. I'm going to have to watch the video again, because I could have swore I saw something moving around behind a tree. I'm not going to say what I think it was, I just want to make sure it's really there. Read more »

Neat, although out of date by now, chart showing long-run evolution of consumer utilisation of technology: Click on image to enlarge...

This footage has been debunked by our friend Phil Poling a while back ago. If you're looking for a different perspective on the TimberGiantBigfoot video showing what is believed to be a sasquatch, this latest reviewer thinks the "head" bobbing up and down it probably someone's shirt. Watch the breakdown below: Read more »

Euro area production in construction sector series are out for Q2 2014 (excluding a number of countries) and here is the latest data (you can see press release here:  http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/4-20082014-AP/EN/4-20082014-AP-EN.PDF ) First, EU28, EA18 compared to UK (non-euro) and Switzerland (non-EU): Takeaways from the above: The latest euro area index performance (+3.47% y/y) is weak (this is seasonally-adjusted data) and q/q the index has fallen 0.56%. EU28 data is even worse: y/y up 2.90% and q/q it is down 0.57%. Next: Euro area Big 4: Again, key takeaways Germany: y/y activity is down 0.33% and q/q it is down massive 5.75% Spanish construction activity posted large 26.01% y/y rise and a q/q increase of 7.04%. French construction activity shrunk 0.78% y/y and was down 0.69% q/q Italy is yet to report Q2 2014 data, but in Q1 2014, country construction activity was down 5.51% y/y and down 2.56% q/q. Euro 'periphery' remains the weak point of the secto...

Earlier this week, I promised to update historical track record of Irish Universities performance in Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities. The latest (2014) results are here: http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html Summary of all Irish Universities rankings by 'neighbourhood': Top-ranked TCD: Second best-ranked UCD: Third best-ranked UCC: Historical evolution of Irish rankings: Draw your own conclusions...