In case you were wondering why Bitcoin experienced a crazy spike recently: China's economy is a hyperinflated bubble, poised to burst and the Chinese central bank is depreciating the Renminbi — so China's wealthy are getting their cash out of the country as fast as they can, using any means necessary: suing themselves, spending huge whacks of cash while on vacation, and converting it to Bitcoin (this is especially urgent now that the Canadian real-estate money laundry is shutting down) — this is just the latest salvo in the Chinese capital flight story.
98% of Bitcoin trading volume over the past six months was in Chinese Renminbi
Read ProPublica's excellent work on the IRS's targeting of poor taxpayers
The GOP has long made it their mission to absolutely disable the IRS, thus protecting the wealthiest of the wealthy from any sort of scrutiny. And it's been working: as ProPublica reported in 2019, millionaires in 2018 were about 80% less likely to be audited than they were in 2011; coincidentally (or not), the IRS's… READ THE REST
Play: Dungeons and Deadlines, "an epic game of work-life balance"
Smarter people than me have pointed out that "work-life balance" says the quiet part out loud, implicitly confirming that you stop living when you're at work. Miles Matrix's Dungeons and Deadlines makes all this much realer with acerbic wit and rockin' chiptunes. My spouse left me after five turns. (via Four Short Links) READ THE REST
When contracting with Chinese manufacturers, it's very hard to avoid forced labor
The China Law Blog (previously) is one of my favorite sources of insight into the secret workings of the businesses that produce the majority of the world's daily-use goods. READ THE REST
Ditch the daily car commute with the Black Rover electric skateboard, now 19% off
Cars have been a symbol of freedom for a century. Once you earn a license as a teenager, you've got the means to get out of the house on your own. Later, the freedom of the open road is intoxicating, offering the temptation of limitless adventure if you just hop behind the wheel, turn the… READ THE REST
CrossOver lets Mac users run Windows programs seamlessly — and it's $20 now
For decades, they've been mortal enemies. Oil and water. Fire and ice. Hatfields and McCoys. Windows and Mac. Never the twain shall meet. Nowhere is the dichotomous relationship between the two programming giants more evident than when you run an emulator to try and make a Windows app work on a Mac. There's a good… READ THE REST
You Need To Be Running Your Website With GoDaddy Websites + Marketing
If you're running a website, you want people to visit that website. Presumably. Wild guess. If you're going through the work and cost of operating a website just to dump your thoughts on the web, that's cool. Diary is probably safer, but whatever. Back to the point at hand: If you're operating a website, you… READ THE REST