Tessera

Today: - Defence acquisition and procurement - Is US-Iran a new Forever War? - On the artist Andres Serrano - The Earth Liberation Front turns on itself - Live music from Nine Inch Nails, Aphex Twin, and Miles Davis www.alexburns.net/p/defence-pr...

A new @frontlinepbs interactive episode on how scams occur - and who gets targeted. VPN may be needed for non-US viewers. www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontli...

Inside the Scam - FRONTLINE / AP collaboration

Follow scams as they unfold — and examine tactics used to manipulate victims.

pbs.org

Today: - Free talks and lectures on geopolitics, sociology, history, monetary policy, and financial mathematics - The Sidney Lumet adaptation of the Reginald Rose play 12 Angry Men (1957) - I played the Foreman in a high school production www.alexburns.net/p/12-angry-g...

12 Angry Geopoliticians

Some free talks and lectures on geopolitics, history, sociology, financial mathematics, and the Sidney Lumet film adaptation of the Reginald Rose play 12 Angry Men (1957).

alexburns.net

There are a lot of talks on AI impacts and futures. This one is particularly good. youtu.be/QevC7OrdJP8

Adam Tooze on the AI Arms Race | Ones and Tooze Ep. 250

YouTube video by Foreign Policy

youtu.be

This morning, writing on the economic sociologist UC Berkeley Professor Neil Fligstein's work on how institutions actually work. sociology.berkeley.edu/faculty/neil... scholar.google.com/citations?us...

Neil Fligstein | UC Berkeley Sociology Department

sociology.berkeley.edu

Some updates to my Academic format CV. unsw.academia.edu/AlexBurns/Cu...

The Nobel laureate Robert Shiller's Coursera course on Narrative Economics is accessible and excellent. www.coursera.org/learn/narrat... press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... www.nobelprize.org/prizes/econo... som.yale.edu/faculty-rese...

Robert J. Shiller

som.yale.edu

What McKinsey & Co consultants are reading: www.youtube.com/watch?v=46gm...

What To Read Next | McKinsey’s 2026 Curated Book List

YouTube video by McKinsey & Company

youtube.com

An FT documentary on Palantir. www.ft.com/video/dcd7cd...

Palantir: profits, procurement and power | FT Film

Palantir is one of the world's most controversial technology companies. Its extraordinary growth was steered by a revolving door of executives moving between Palantir and the corridors of power in Was...

ft.com

Anti-Tech - a new book by University of Nottingham's Dr Sean Fleming - is being released by @cornellupress.bsky.social on 15th December 2026. It looks good. www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501... www.nottingham.ac.uk/politics/peo...

Anti-Tech by Sean Fleming | Hardcover | Cornell University Press

Anti-Tech explores the ideas and influence of a figure who terrorized America for nearly two decades: Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber.From a cabin in Montana, Kaczynski waged a seventeen-year bombing cam...

cornellpress.cornell.edu

Today: - Garfield's private equity deal in 1982 - E Jean Carroll versus DJT - the delay stratagem - Free law classes, Rick Rubin talks, classical music from Haruki Murakami's novels, & RATM at Woodstock '99 - Why data centres are a new (infrastructure) asset class www.alexburns.net/p/stratagems...

Stratagems & Asset Class Reallocation

What might replace the historical "cash nexus" of Thomas Carlyle.

alexburns.net

From the Egyptian god Set teaching it to the Pharaoh to Zen Buddhism, archery is well worth learning. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle... Eugene Herrigel's classic Zen in the Art of Archery (1948). cdn.bookey.app/files/pdf/bo...

My rookie era: The Hunger Games made me think I’d be incredible at archery. So I picked up a bow to find out

Inhaling, I lined up an arrow with trembling hands, pulled back the string and launched it

theguardian.com

Bad Game Hall of Fame@bghof.com · last mo.

Noting for on-going research into Aum Shinrikyo. You can read my 2020 conferred PhD dissertation with a case study on it here: bridges.monash.edu/articles/the... Producers of Netflix's How To Become A Cult Leader used it as background research for Episode 5 (producer email, not onscreen credit).

'The Story of Kamikuishiki Village' released on this day in 1995. Published by HappySoft -- the dōjin label also responsible for 'Hong Kong 97.' A parody simulation game centered around the real-life Aum Shinrikyo death cult, often mistaken for a piece of genuine recruitment.

Today: - J.G. Ballard's continued relevance - The contemporary space race - Coachella sets by Nine Inch Noize (2026) and Faith No More (2010) - On EMDR therapy - Combatting romance scams and money mules - How private equity actually works www.alexburns.net/p/we-are-liv...

We Are Living In J.G. Ballard's World

From the contemporary space race to industrial music juggernauts and psychotherapy, we are living in J.G. Ballard's world.

alexburns.net

Today: - OnlyFans creators who feel unseen. - GBV in Asia's cyberscam centres. - Dustin Hoffman on the excellent film Tuner. - Carnegie Endowment on why Iran may still get nuclear weapons. - Man Group's Ed Cole on how to have an equities diversified portfolio. www.alexburns.net/p/on-the-cre...

On The Creative Process

How creators deal with the world, from OnlyFans to veteran actor Dustin Hoffman.

alexburns.net

Scary. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC1W...

HOPE | Official Teaser | In Cinemas October

YouTube video by MUBI

youtube.com

Baby Brokers - the new @frontlinepbs.bsky.social documentary on demonstrable misconduct in the US for-profit adoption industry. If overseas, you may need a VPN to view. www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontli...

Baby Brokers | FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site | Documentary Series

Have lax laws left the for-profit adoption industry ripe for misconduct?

pbs.org

"If you want to make real money, give me a call." Tuner - with a nod to Oscar Peterson - is a well paced meditation on giftedness, falling into a criminogenic career, the transcendence of eros, and why the US health system blocks upward social mobility. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBGE...

TUNER Official Trailer (2026) Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Crime, Drama, Thriller Movie [HD]

YouTube video by Trailer Feed

youtube.com

Today: - Australia's publishing industry: its human capital / quality assurance challenges - United States nuclear command and control systems and AI - The Straussian to MAGA movement pipeline - insights for a Liberation pedagogy in moral / political philosophy www.alexburns.net/p/getting-ou...

Getting Out of Plato's Cave: Three Cases

Australian publishing, United States nuclear command and control, and getting out of Plato's Cave.

alexburns.net

It Can't Rain All The Time. Lessons from the Alex Proyas film The Crow (1994) and the Lost episode 'The Constant' (1998). www.alexburns.net/p/it-cant-ra...

This weekend's reading is The Volatility Surface: A Practitioner's Guide by Jim Gatheral (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006). These are lecture notes (Courant Institute of New York University). www.amazon.com.au/Volatility-S... YouTube lectures: Jim Gatheral. www.youtube.com/results?sear...

Today's Generative AI prompt: Why do complex, multiparty negotiations fail? Discuss in terms of William Ury, Roger Fisher, Max Bazerman, and Howard Raiffa's work in understanding negotiations. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...

US-Iran talks in Switzerland abruptly called off, as Israel and Hezbollah trade attacks in Lebanon

JD Vance’s staff were at the airbase ready to fly to summit in Bürgenstock for Iran talks before trip was suddenly cancelled

theguardian.com

Today's Generative AI prompt: What is booksmaxxing? What are the cognitive, emotional, and lifespan development (longitudinal) benefits of regular reading? How can you form a reading group with your friends? Why should you join a local, free community library? www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

Booksmaxxing: how reading became sexy

‘Reading is having a moment,’ according to Tinder. But do its users actually appreciate books, or just talk about them to get dates?

theguardian.com

Today's Generative AI prompt: What does neurotheology (Andrew Newberg, Michael Persinger) explain as the human brain's cognitive mechanisms for the Christian experience of the Holy Spirit as an indwelling essence? How does this relate potentially to the brain's frontal and parietal lobes?

Today: - Geopolitical and volatility shocks - Elon Musk's ideological politics - Alexander Dugin's new book on Baron Julius Evola - The CAIA Charter for alternative investments - The Social Reckoning sequel trailer (2026) www.alexburns.net/p/our-crisis...

Our Crisis-Prone Future

Geopolitical and volatility shocks will shape our collective, near-term future.

alexburns.net