Claude once upon a time used to be a popular first name, particularly in the French speaking parts of the world. Multiple sources analysing name popularity trends (e.g. Geneanet and similar demographic tools) show that Claude peaked mainly between the 1930s and 1970s, especially in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, and has declined sharply since then. […]
Author: Grumpy Old Man
Kids’ Marketing Needs a Reality Check
Beauty is big business, but increasingly the global brands also create product lines especially marketd to children. Kids nowadays are omnipresent on social networks and big brands such as Gap and Dior capitalise on this trend. The GapKids “Just Dance / Be Yourself” (2024) and Dior Kids “Diorling” (Spring 2025) campaigns both targeted young audiences […]
Catchy Clips orThe New Face of War Propaganda
Since the start of the latest war in the Middle East at the end of March, Lego-style propaganda movies have become very popular (as you would have guessed, they are not associated with the danish brand of plastic construction toys). These are opinionated short clips distributed on social media reacting often to the latest developments […]
Insider Trading Allegations: Trump Administration’s Shadowy Deals
Rumours of insider dealing within and close to the Trump administration persist. Satirical piece on corrupt politics and potential consequences Looking at the timing of President Trump’s utterances as far as theirs war is concerned, I can‘t help thinking that somehow they might actually benefit members of his inner circle or other close associates in […]
Why Immigration and Emigration Are on the Rise
Countries worry about immigration, but many don’t realise – or maybe don’t want to know – how many of their own citizens leave each year. In the developed world these days it is trendy to worry about immigration. Not the undesirable kind, meaning criminals and all sort of shady types, but immigrants in general. People […]
Wine, Crypto, and Modern Art: Confessions of the Confused
There are, broadly speaking, two types of people in the world: those who confidently admit they don’t understand something, and those who nod along vigorously while internally screaming, “What on earth is going on?” This post is dedicated to the latter group—heroes of polite society—who have mastered the ancient art of pretending. Let’s begin with […]
The Hidden Cost: Can Human Life Be Valued?
Can one really calculate the value of a human life? Does it make sense to do so? And if so, how to go about it? In fact there are different accepted ways of estimating the value of of a human life, each serving a very distinct purpose: Economics and public policy often use the Value […]
The Future of Work: Keynes’ 15-Hour Prediction and AI
John Maynard Keynes made a prediction in 1930 that by 2030 we would be working 15 hours per week. And if AI lives up to its admittedly high expectations this may come true. Maybe not for all but at least for some of us. According to an article on Bloomberg, a financial news and data […]
Prediction markets – a modern tool for forecasting
Insider trading, the buying and selling of financial instruments based on privileged information which is not available to a wider public is rightly forbidden. However, there is an other tool, often used by companies and investors to hedge their real-life exposure: Prediction markets. Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket allow you to place bets […]
Sexy Olympics
Free condoms have been part of the Olympics since 1988, mainly for public health and safety reasons. Besides the public health messaging opportunity (i.e, to promote safe sex globally), during the games bring together thousands of highly energised athletes in their 20’s and 30’s from all over the world. Having trained intensely for years and […]
The grumpy older man 