The Sydney outbreak is also leading to growing numbers of COVID victims being admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) and, sadly, to a number of deaths. So far, while a small number of the patients in ICU have had one vaccination shot, none have been fully vaccinated. But based on international experience, it’s only a matter of time before that will change. We should also expect to see some deaths of fully vaccinated people. I am sure that the minute that happens there will be enormous media attention, but will it actually say anything about the effectiveness of the vaccine?
It’s been a while, but guest author Mark Lauer is returning to the Mule. While in COVID-induced lockdown, the mind naturally turns to armchair epidemiology, but here Mark goes beyond mere amateur probability to add a sprinkling of ethics. So, you’re in lockdown during a COVID-19 outbreak in your city. And you’re wondering, now that […]
In March 2013, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCen”) published a statement saying that companies which facilitate buying and selling of “virtual” currencies like Bitcoin constitute “money service businesses” and are subject to reporting obligations designed to prevent money laundering and other financial crimes. A couple of months later, the seizure by US authorities of Liberty Reserve has shaken money service […]
Today a tweet from “Australia’s most idiosyncratic economist” Christopher Joye caught my eye. I followed the link and found a scaremongering article trying to whip up concerns about Australia’s levels of government debt. A key part of Joye’s argument is to accuse the government of creative accounting by including Future Fund assets in the calculation […]
Here is a quick quiz. If you visit the Wikipedia page List of countries by GDP, you will find three lists ranking the countries of the world in terms of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP), each list corresponding to a different source of the data. If you pick the list according to the CIA (let’s […]
Following on from the last post on the Hottest 100, I received a few tweets from @mjdart demanding a deeper dive into the data. One of his questions was Of artists charting in at least 5 yrs, are Oz artists higher represented? I decided to broaden the questions to look at artists with at least […]
I’m a Sydney-sider, father of three, gadget-aficionado, music-lover and I work in the financial markets. This blog reflects these and other interests, but of late has been developing a particular focus on data visualization…or graphs, for those who don’t like fancy language. The Mule is on twitter: @stubbornmule and, better still, is in the Mule […]
As promised, I spent the day today “live-tweeting” the first day of the CofFEE conference. However, I was more than outdone by Bill Mitchell. As well as hosting the conference and giving the final presentation of the day, he has already posted a wrap-up of the day. The first few sessions focused on specific employment […]
No, I’m not writing this post over a macchiato. The title of the post has nothing to do with caffeinated beverages. Rather, it refers to the annual conference of “CofFEE”, the Centre of Full Employment and Equity, a research centre at the University of Newcastle. The director of the center is Bill Mitchell, who may […]
Sydney’s property market is a subject that has found its way onto the Stubborn Mule more than once. In this post, regular guest contributor Zebra (James Glover) manages to combine property and television with some now-traditional beer coaster calculations. Channel 9’s high rating renovation show The Block just finished its successful second series on Wednesday […]
