iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alistair Munro

Pietro Biroli @pietrobiroli.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Interested in the difference between the #econ Nordic model and the US/UK? Check out this beautiful video animation by @econimate.bsky.social on the journal of econ literature paper by Mogstad Salvages and Torsvik youtu.be/nTMXPa-GJjM?...

youtu.be

Income Equality in the Nordic Countries: Myths, Facts, and Lessons

YouTube video by econimate

132

Reposted by Alistair Munro

Ada Loves Lace @adaloveslace.eurosky.social · 10/10/2026

ICC/ICJ need to move away from using American tech platforms. Europe can help with this.

041

Reposted by Alistair Munro

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 07/10/2026

Japan’s antitrust watchdog raided the offices of the country’s four largest beer-makers on Wednesday over allegations that they colluded to raise prices charged to wholesalers, potentially affecting consumers across a market worth more than ¥1 trillion annually.

ebx.sh

Japan watchdog raids four major brewers over suspected beer price cartel

The alleged price collusion potentially affected consumers across a market worth more than ¥1 trillion annually.

084

Reposted by Alistair Munro

The Kimono Gallery @roger1952.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Published in 1812 as part of Katsushika Hokusai’s revolutionary instructional manual Ryakuga Haya-oshi (略画早指南, Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing), this page illustrates the master’s pioneering methodology for art education.

Displayed across a open two-page spread, a remarkable pedagogical demonstration contrasts geometric scaffolding with organic artistic realization. On the left page, Katsushika Hokusai dissects a complex scene into fundamental geometry: overlapping circles (maru), triangles (sankaku), and straight lines construct the underlying anatomy of a traveler mounted on a packhorse beneath clustered circular pine needles. On the right page, these rigid compass-and-ruler guidelines dissolve seamlessly into a fluid sumi ink rendering, bringing forth a weary traveler wearing a broad straw hat (suge-gasa) slumped gently atop a grazing horse under a textured pine canopy. Surrounding the figures, delicate calligraphic annotations guide the student's hand. The woodblock print evokes an enlightening sensory atmosphere: the rhythmic scratch of a brass compass pivoting on fibrous washi paper, the smooth glide of a bamboo brush loaded with dark indigo-black ink, the quiet concentration of an Edo-period apprentice in a sunlit workshop, and the intellectual joy of discovering order hidden within natural form. Published in 1812 as part of Katsushika Hokusai’s revolutionary instructional manual Ryakuga Haya-oshi (略画早指南, Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing), this page illustrates the master’s pioneering methodology for art education. Designed to democratize drawing for amateur enthusiasts, textile designers, and aspiring artisans across Edo Japan, Hokusai demonstrated that any subject—from human figures and horses to ancient pines—could be reliably constructed using simple drafting tools like the compass (bunmawashi) and ruler (shaku). Rather than relying solely on intuitive copying, Hokusai’s analytical approach broken down visual reality into modular geometric building blocks.

314548

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

`Thirteen original states' Is that like a Baker's Dozen is not actually 12?

100

Reposted by Alistair Munro

The Japan Times @japantimes.co.jp · 29/09/2026

The Japan Fair Trade Commission recognized Monday that 42 companies had engaged in bid-rigging for large-scale repair contracts for condominiums, imposing fines totaling about ¥1.6 billion on 37 of the firms.

ebx.sh

42 Japanese firms engaged in bid-rigging over condo repair work

The Japan Fair Trade Commission imposed fines totaling about ¥1.6 billion on 37 of the firms.

084

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Worth maybe adding that in Tokyo at least, the quota is officially for students requiring basic Japanese teaching.

110

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Is this a casting video for コンビニ人間?

020

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The great Stanislaw Lem wrote about the hazards of stochastic dragons. Undoubtedly, probably Liberal Democrats are a party similarly based on quantum mechanics. A vote is neither for them or against them, until the ballot box is opened.

000

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It's clearly the fire station at Vitra

120

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Better acted than most TBS dramas.

010

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

They should just print hard copies of the Science Citation Index. And put them in rooms with other printed hard copies so people know where to look. And bind the printed hard copies, so they don't fall apart with use.

081

Reposted by Alistair Munro

Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Morning

Viz Comic cartoon: Wacky Racists, featuring David Irving and his dog Mosley, Hitler in his Meinkampfervan, Eugene Terre Blanche in the Afrikaner Chug-a-Bug, Unity Mitford in her BLACKSHIRT PUSSYCAT, with BERNARD MANNING'S FATCUNTMOBILE bringing up the rear. Irving is scuppered by his own robot goose which he expects to goose step over his opponents’ vehicles, but which instead stamps all over his

414437

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Over twenty years ago, I helped organize an EU-Canada education exchange. It can be done.

010

Reposted by Alistair Munro

Transactions on Machine Learning Research @tmlrorg.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

TMLR has faced a deluge of submissions, necessitating stricter desk rejection policies due to limited reviewer capacity Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission? medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...

medium.com

Asking Authors About Their Own Papers

By Nihar B. Shah

116965

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm going to have to update my lecture notes:

Spawning biomass for North Atlantic - historical data

010

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"Sri Lankans unable to secure the required 30-million-yen capital are being forced out of business, while financially well-off individuals are slipping through the system as if nothing were amiss." A crackdown designed to appease the right wing, closes cheap lunchtime options for workers.

193

Reposted by Alistair Munro

Trevor A. Branch @trevorabranch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This is seismic news for fisheries scientists. Northern cod is *the* iconic symbol of total fisheries collapse due to overfishing (and other factors) *and* the iconic symbol of a complete failure to recover for decades afterwards. This is like announcing the complete recovery of bison on land.

8476662171

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

asymmetric decoy effect escapes the lab.

000

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This just tidies up a loophole in the law which previously only covered roads wide enough for road markings. The policy significance is minor as these roads are already difficult to navigate and contribute 1% to road deaths. See figure 16, www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jari...

chart showing 1% of Japanese pedestrian road deaths are on roads less than 5.5m wide. The relevant bar is on the extreme left. Junctions (bars to the right) and wider, faster roads are where most deaths occur.

131

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I think that's right, but there's also a different philosophy about what is foundational. Is it most important to get cracking on academics or should the focus be on socializing children, getting them used to working well in a group and developing motor skills? Japan opts for the second.

110

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Agreed: my daughter did youchien and primary school (and secondary school too) and I thought both of them were wonderful in so many different ways. Initially I was uneasy that the 3Rs didn't start until aged 6, but I was completely wrong about that.

110

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

One of the best things about #Japan is how hard the primary school system works to ensure that just about every pupil gets the basics, so that nearly everyone joins the adult world functionally literate and numerate (and able to swim, and play music and make curry rice and do sport and make stuff).

111

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Worrying stuff, but perhaps more distressing is the gap in the numbers of students lacking basic proficiency. Here too Wales is falling further behind and that means more young people struggling to learn new skills, to cope with finances, to avoid addiction and make good life choices

120

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

That may be true for the signalling role of qualifications, but PISA is about basic skills - human capital. Wales is creating a large fraction of young adults without core academic skills and that impacts not just the ability to learn skills and get a good job, but also health, unemployment...

$chart showing fraction of pupils from three countries with scores below the level of basic proficiency. Sourced from https://www.oecd.org/en/about/news/press-releases/2026/09/pisa-2025-students-reading-and-mathematics-performance-declined-sharply-across-the-oecd.html$

283

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Many people are focused on the means and high achievers, but the striking differences between countries are in the fraction who lack basic proficiency (level 2): For Wales in Maths: 30% to 32% pupils are below Level 2. Reading: 29% to 31% lack the basics. Science: 23% to 25% fall beneath Level 2.

000

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Well gdp is the sum of labour and capital income and if you lower human capital you lower productivity and therefore wages. So you'd very much expect a direct impact on Welsh GDP. But you'd also predict impacts on life-expectancy, poor health, addictive behaviours and many forms of crime.

111

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Human capital is the largest single determinant of lifetime wages. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=... But it doesn't just affect income: it is a force for better health, longer life expectancy, lower unemployment, lower chances of incarceration and addiction.

aeaweb.org

Four Facts about Human Capital

(Summer 2022) - This paper synthesizes what economists have learned about human capital since Becker (1962) into four stylized facts. First, human capital explains at least one-third of the variation ...

000

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Precedented corruption, not unprecedented, or am I spelling that incorrectly?

102

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

About the recent swarming of a German wiki by rogue #OpenAI agents seek ways to swap knowledge and coordinate on strategy. Will #Skynet be the fault of experimental economists? www.jstor.org/stable/2118074

Schelling points important for OpenAI swarm

010

Reposted by Alistair Munro

ロンスリ梨華 @rinka74r.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

ゴッホに見えてしゃーない天気図🌀

2522180

Reposted by Alistair Munro

VoxEU @ CEPR @voxeu.org · 04/09/2026

Data on Chinese secondary school students show that those using generative AI spent less time on their homework, homework scores rose, but their exam scores fell. The effect grows as more material is learned and students become more proficient with AI tools. cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky

Figure: Median homework and exam scores by homework completion time; bands show interquartile ranges. The red line denotes AI users and the blue dashed line non-users. Shows how at equal homework time, AI users and non-users achieve similar exam scores.

Generative AT tools can help students complete assignments faster and achieve better scores. But completing these tasks is not the goal; learning from them is. This column uses data on over 25,000 7th to 12th grade students in China to examine how self-directed use of generative AI affects their learning. Time spent on homework for students who used AI went down and homework scores went up, but their exam scores fell. While the initial effect is small, it grows as students become more proficient with AI tools and as more course material is learned after adoption, suggesting that existing short-duration studies may underestimate the long-run learning costs of using generative AI.

583

Reposted by Alistair Munro

Clueless Toshika @cluelesstoshika.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Mourning a fallen comrade.

Some sad-looking banana figures surrounding a spotted banana lying on its side.

0242

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Not knowing about the impending loan, I went to see it in Bayeux last year. I wasn't expecting the penises and they did make me curious about the lives of cloistered 11th century nuns.

031

Reposted by Alistair Munro

Nate Chinen @natechinen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Cassandra Wilson was one of our most gifted vocalists, just an unreal talent. Here is my obituary for NPR Music. (I believe I’ll also be on the broadcast later this evening.)

npr.org

Cassandra Wilson, Grammy-winning jazz vocalist, dies at 70

Wilson, who's deep, dark contralto was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz, died on Wednesday in her hometown of Jackson, Miss.

918280

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

it's correcting a legal anomaly, but the policy significance is minor: see figure 16, www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jari...

chart showing 1% of Japanese pedestrian road deaths are on roads less than 5.5m wide. from J-stage

010

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

So which papers should I trust sufficiently to put on reading lists? For example, didn't several of the experiments in the 2003 QJE 'Coherent arbitrariness' paper use a sample of MIT MBA students as well?

130

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I don't think it's unique to Inzai. Just as with logistics hubs, these boxes seem to be going up all over northern Kanto. jp.goodman.com/en/data-cent... In the case of #Tsukuba, I suspect it's because of the power infrastructure set up to support the adjacent atom-smashing #KEK.

jp.goodman.com

Goodman

TYO05 will be one of Asia's leading data centre and technology hubs upon completion

010

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Glad to see that the internet still has standards.

110

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Okay, so use World Bank data or similar and use constant US dollars. data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY... Even ignoring technological advances, the average person in the world is much richer today than an average person was 1970, with most of that growth in developing countries such as China.

data.worldbank.org

World Bank Open Data

Free and open access to global development data

000

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Japanese minimum wage is approx. US$7.00 per hour. So @14 hours per week that's a US$5,000 annual income, which is no where near half median income or any other recognized poverty line and anyway $5,000 is not a liveable income in Japan. Your data needs fixing.

020

Alistair Munro @alistair-munro.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Would it hurt the EPI so much to put US somewhere in the first post? After all, Bluesky is global and pretty much every country has public education and teachers.

000