Wednesday 25 December 2019

Musings on Christmas day



First, I hope your day is fine. I recognise for many... its a 'struggle' at best.

With clear skies, yours truly ventured out...

One of the very few arrivals today

A third sunset closer to summer 2020

Skies for the gold bugs

Yours truly is thinking not just about 2020, but the decade ahead...

Civil unrest, as the underlying structural issues (demographics etc) increasingly strain the global economy.

War, its difficult not to see some serious confrontation at some point, whether in the middle east, or a more probable Asia. China and India both look prime, not least for demographic reasons (gross surplus of men).

Financial: the 2020s look set to be the decade where a 'global monetary reset' occurs. Further, the central banks have only one option... to print to infinity. QE 'for the people', along with a basic income for many.

Political: A second Trump victory (the democrats remain in denial about this likely outcome), will have monstrous societal implications, as American society becomes even more polarised.

Societal: humanity continues to turn on itself, with greater restraint on freedom of expression, travel, and perhaps even how long you are permitted to live.

Technology: Further exponential improvement in storage capacity and processing power can be expected. The shift toward all electric and autonomous vehicles is inevitable.

Off-world: SpaceX, NASA, Blue Origin, et al, can be expected to make massive progress. In theory, humanity could make it to Mars before the end of the decade.

Climate: it remains ironic that the real threat is global cooling, as the solar cycle setup leans to serious problems, especially from 2025 onward.

There will be surprises to be sure, and some, will be most welcome.
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A few videos...

A (NSFW) spoiler FILLED review of 'The Rise of Skywalker'. 



I consider the movie an abomination. In fact, I've written off the 'Disney trilogy' entirely, and will just continue to believe in...

Episode 7: Heir to the Empire
Episode 8: Dark Force Rising
Episode 9: The Last Command

... now those were real stories by Zahn. Disney could have (at least loosely) used some of Lucas ideas, but they had no plan... and it shows.

Its a shame, as the new cast members of Ridley, Boyega, Isacc, and Driver, are all superb actors. They were just given a garbage script/story to work from.
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Ohh, and here is something...



Baumann has some seriously good editing skills. At least 'The Mandalorian' doesn't suck, and 'Kenobi' should be fine in 2020/21.
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Whilst many markets will remain closed on Thursday (including the UK), yours truly will be up and running. Wherever you are... good wishes, yours... P.