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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

#ClocktoberMusic #MusicChallenge Saw Yazoo do this at the Ritz in NYC in 1982. Alison Moyet's voice blew up the room. Best vocal performance I've ever heard. The recorded version is great but live was another level. I was a teenager but thinking, is this what peak Aretha sounded like?

youtu.be

Yazoo - Midnight (Remastered Audio) HQ

YouTube video by Happy Charlie

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The title's "Delinking," of course.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I bought Samir Amin's "Delinked" a couple decades ago in a used-book store in Johannesburg. Just noticed that it seems to be an autographed copy. #booksky

The title page of Samir Amin's book, "Delinked: Toward a Polycentric World" -- apparently signed by the author.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is just after Zambia switched from a sterling to a dollar peg and coincides with a sterling devaluation. Maybe how that transition was captured in the IFS system blocked the rebasing from being projected farther back? A mistake in any case.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The Moby Dick quote bot is trolling again.

Moby Dick post appearing just below the original post: "his special lunacy stormed his general sanity, and carried it, and turned all its concentrated cannon upon its own mad mark"

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The house has been known to file for bankruptcy.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Spinal Tap/Stonehenge vibes from the photo. "But sir, that is your triumphal arch."

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I got YHF a year or two after it was released. From the cover to the lyrics I assumed it was written about America post-9/11. Only later did I realize it was finished before. Psychic stuff!

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

And there's also the eponym thing.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

He got over it eventually, at least. I was watching the game with a couple Red Sox fans. Within seconds of the error, they gave up on the series.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

In the swing-state targeting, it looks like that would be Maine.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 26 A song with a name in the title The video of this (more) Africanized cover version starts with Manu Dibango impersonating the African continent and includes backing vocals from Peter Gabriel.

youtu.be

Manu Dibango - Biko (Clip officiel)

YouTube video by Wagram+

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

He's posted some nice birthday covers lately! Elvis Costello "Almost Blue" today.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

And with Carney in charge, the "dollar for dollar" retaliation package has almost certainly been laser-targeted on swing states.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Carney knows the US election schedule. All tariffs are in pencil (or crayon) at least until there's a Congress that asserts its authority to require supporting legislation.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 25 A song with a name in the title. "They say that afterlife’s an afterglow. I’m gonna wait ‘til John Lee Hooker says so."

youtu.be

Garland Jeffreys - Till John Lee Hooker Calls Me

YouTube video by Kolja Schwarten

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Streaming Michigan-Lithuania hoops. Wonder if the Euro stepping Michigan guys realize they are playing against the son of the originator, Sarunas Marciulionis?

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

#JackNicholsong #MusicChallenge Day 23 Song with a name in the title LKJ's searing tribute to Walter Rodney ("blown to smithereens in the miggle of a dream")

youtu.be

Linton Kwesi Johnson - Reggae fi Radni (Live 2001)

YouTube video by Dread Moon

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

The double-album vinyl version of this (which I still have) is up there, too.

Cover of Lou Reed, "Rock and Roll Diary, 1967-80".

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I'm guessing they got the figure from "other internet news", because about 49% said they "never" access it, meaning that just over 50% access it at least sometimes. But the "every day" responses for all sources I gave sbove are more informative about the mix of sources Ghanaians access regularly.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

In their last survey they asked people separately about 5 types of news sources. Here are the pct who said "every day" for each: radio 46%, TV 50%, newspaper 4%, social media 35%, other internet news 25%.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Civil society groups are now requesting release of comprehensive polling station-level data used to calculate vote totals, along with scans of all station-level hand-filled forms with signatures. This is the way to validate (or not) the results. It's now standard practice in countries like Kenya.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The polling station results are signed off by all parties and posted outside the station. These are captured on cellphones by citizens and civil society orgs. The paper trail makes it difficult to tamper with aggregate totals. So a reconciliation should verify totals if clean.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Warsh's next proposal: smoke signals on the solstices.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Warsh hoping to fly under the presidential radar by meeting less often and saying less.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Assumptions could vary, but the better return should win in all plausible cases. Counterexample would be a player who has a high-percentage and highly effective first serve but an implausibly poor second serve -- i.e., would be better off hitting two firsts.

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Twist: Tennis scoring means that point-winning effect translates to about double the game-winning effect. Better serve as above would make you about 2% less likely to be broken. Better return would make you about 4% more likely to break. (Confirmed by simulation.) So the better return wins. 4/4

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Better return: 40% of serves faced are 2nd serves. 5% improvement in winning these points gives 0.4×0.05=2% average advantage per point in receiving games. That's twice as much as from the better serve. 3/4

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Round but plausible assumptions: 60% 1st serve pct, 70% won on 1st serve, 50% on second. Better serve: 1st serve increases chance of winning point by 20%. 5% more 1st serves gives 0.2×0.05=1% average advantage per point in serving games. 2/4

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

A tennis hypothetical: Your serving and returning stats are around pro tour averages, as are your opponent's. Before a match, you are offered a 5% (pp) increase either in your first-serve pct or in the pct of points you win off your opponent's second serve. Which should you choose? 🎾 🧵1/4

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Rubio may be a closet Poulantzian: "Markets are crashing because markets are based on the stock value of companies who today are embedded in modes of production that are bad for the United States." -- Remarks at NATO headquarters, 4 April 2025

independent.co.uk

Miliband set to meet Rubio amid Trump fury at his Foreign Secretary appointment

Miliband also called for calm in the conflict between Iran and the US, as Trump threatened to ‘bomb and destroy’ bridges and power stations

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Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Being kept on life support for narrow, marginal partisan gain seems exactly how he would have wanted to go.

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