“There are three kinds of genies: Genies to whom you can safely say “I wish for you to do what I should wish for”; genies for which no wish is safe; and genies that aren’t very powerful or intelligent.“ | learn more
Written in 1943 for distribution to US troops by the War and Navy Departments in Washington, DC. “YOU HAVE been ordered to Iraq (i – RAHK) as part of the world-wide offensive to beat Hitler.” | learn more
Something happened in the early 1970s that led to dozens of unexplained trends. Many blame the US dropping the gold standard. This author blames a different policy that Nixon signed into law. This is a fascinating read. “New drugs lead to scientific […]
Analysis from a friend: “Terrible incentives ✔, Lack of any regulatory oversight ✔, Insiders with opportunity cash out immediately ✔, Massive payday for investment bankers ✔, “Medical reimbursements” sort of historically shady biz ✔, “Complex data analysis” and “disruption” name […]
“The friendship paradox is the phenomenon first observed by the sociologist Scott L. Feld in 1991 that most people have fewer friends than their friends have, on average.” | learn more
“…If you include in their household net worth the net present value of their retirement benefits.” Is this a fair thing to do? Kinda… | learn more
“The first of many dodecahedrons was unearthed almost three centuries ago, and we still don’t know what they were for.” | learn more
“How do you build a town?” We know well how it used to be done, but these last one or two centuries we have forgotten how to do it (with only a handful of notable exceptions during the last century).” […]
“At last count, there were 211,275 UHNW individuals in the world.” | learn more
Hah! “As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials.” | learn more