Balductum Musings

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  • The Economics of Procreative Relations: A Transactional Analysis

    1. Abstract

    This essay presents a strictly economic analysis of marriage as a transactional framework for sexual access, with particular focus on scenarios where religious constraints prohibit premarital relations and contraception is not utilized. By calculating the approximate financial commitment associated with inevitable pregnancy and child-rearing against the estimated frequency of sexual encounters before conception, we derive a “cost per climax” metric. This figure is then compared with alternative arrangements, specifically premium sexual tourism, to evaluate relative economic efficiency. The analysis deliberately isolates sexual gratification as the primary benefit metric while acknowledging the numerous non-monetary dimensions of marriage that this framework excludes. This approach reveals stark economic inefficiencies when marriage is viewed through this narrowly defined transactional lens, suggesting that traditional marriage must provide substantial non-monetary benefits to explain its continued prevalence despite unfavorable economics when reduced to this particular metric.

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  • Trump 2.0 Status

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  • Godland (2022) — Hlynur Pálmason

    Preambulo — Una película en el silencio

    Hace un año, durante unas vacaciones, decidí ir a un lugar verdaderamente remoto. No era una cabaña pintoresca ni un retiro espiritual diseñado para turistas urbanos, sino un sitio donde, sencillamente, no había nada. Nada de televisión. Nada de internet. Nada de señal telefónica. El tipo de silencio que hoy se ha vuelto casi inconcebible: el silencio real.

    Antes de salir, tomé mi reproductor portátil de discos (una pequeña reliquia tecnológica que todavía conservo) y reuní varias películas para ver por las noches. Pensé en ese momento que sería una buena oportunidad para ponerme al día con algunas que llevaba tiempo queriendo revisar con calma.

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  • What is Islamophobia?

    Islamophobia is commonly defined as a fear, hatred, prejudice, or hostility toward Islam and Muslims that manifests in discrimination, stereotyping, exclusion, or violence, often rooted in perceptions of Muslims as a monolithic, violent, or inferior “other.”[1][2][3][4]

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  • The Fortress of the Self

    Solipsism, subjectivity, and the limits of solitary metaphysics

    Prologue

    The Suspicion That Everything Might Be Mine

    There is a moment, usually quiet and almost imperceptible, in which the world feels strangely interior.

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