ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence
@ralence.bsky.social
78 followers 76 following 170 posts
Politics and political economy of Africa, based at Wits University in Johannesburg.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 2d
Made a nice 16:9 desktop wallpaper from it.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · 15d
Smokey Robinson and the Coincidences
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Sep 5
Hope the finalists' papers are in order.
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Sep 2
The only thing economic actors hate more than policy uncertainty is having the most terrible policies imaginable with certainty.
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 30
Maybe they nailed it.
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 30
If there's one thing markets hate more than policy uncertainty, it's terrible policies with certainty. #EconSky
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 30
When Shapo was up 4-1 in the first, she and Fleming were like, "Wow, if Shapo can keep playing this well, he could lose in four."
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 29
Chuck Berry at the Lone Star Cafe in NYC, 1986.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 26
He's always been such a whale lover.
apnews.com/article/rfk-...
"Kathleen Kennedy said when she was 6 years old, her dad got word that a dead whale had washed ashore. He got a chainsaw, cut off the whale’s head and strapped it to the roof of their minivan for a five-hour drive home. 'Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet,' Kathleen Kennedy recalls. 'We all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out, and people on the highway were giving us the finger, but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us.'"
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 22
Reminds me of a classic opening Q&A comment at a (practice) job talk: "I have never been totally sure that someone is completely wrong -- until now." (It was meant to "toughen up" the presenter for the job market but the delivery was seriously deadpan.)
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 16
Atmane has a lefty Lloyd Harris serve. Nasty.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 13
So when AI crosses Billy and Bob, the result is a spitting image of the young Johnny Cash?
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 12
Another fan of the 90-day pause (this time for the data)?
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 11
The impression is quite different if you focus on the color-coding and ignore the actual numbers.
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 11
Waiting warily for the revised numbers.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 11
Until the WH renovations are done?
Bullion markets breath sigh of relief after Trump says gold will not face tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he would not impose tariffs on gold, a move welcomed by global bullion markets and which ended days of speculation that the yellow metal could be caught up in the ongoing global trade spat.
www.reuters.com
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 11
Notorious TDB.
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 9
Have you seen this one, which displays six unverifiable data points on a billboard?
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 2
It doesn't appear the intra-African trade values in the Afreximbank report are adjusted for US dollar inflation. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the total value of the reported intra-African trade in 2024 was slightly smaller than in 2022 (though an improvement on 2023).
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Aug 2
There's a PDF: bsky.app/profile/thec...
thecontinent.org
The Continent @thecontinent.org · Aug 1
All Protocol Observed

Welcome to Issue 207 of The Continent.

One of Africa’s richest men tried to shape politics on the continent through his Brenthurst Foundation — using extreme luxury to charm and influence. Last month, it suddenly shut down. What happened?

Get your copy here: bit.ly/TC_207
This is the cover of Issue 207 of The Continent (2 August 2025) It shows a bearded white man, wearing glasses, jeans, and a checkered shirt with a yellow apron, standing on a wobbly wooden ladder. He’s sculpting a massive boulder using a hammer and chisel. Taped to the wall in front of him is a map of Africa — his apparent guide. On the ground next to the boulder is an open black toolbox labeled “Brenthurst”, a reference to the Brenthurst Foundation, which is associated with white South African billionaire politician Jonathan Oppenheimer. The man appears to be trying to sculpt the giant rock into the shape of Africa but hasn’t made any visible progress — the rock remains untouched. The floor is scattered with chisels and stone chips, showing failed or misguided effort. The headline reads: “The tone-deaf billionaire”. It’s illustrated by Gado.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Jul 25
That's amazing. With one of those we could have water when it's not raining.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Jul 25
Is there a Loch Ness Alcatraz?
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Jul 21
Not working, need to target a bigger market: "Make the New York Highlanders Great Again (MNYHGA)."
ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Jul 17
Impressive technology to detect a 5cm tsunami among all those ordinary ripples in the Pacific.
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ralence.bsky.social
Rod Alence @ralence.bsky.social · Jul 17
CNN International ticker now reporting that a tremor off the Alaskan coast has "triggered a local tsunami about 5cm high." Slow news day?
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