Month: December 2025

I thought I would recapitulate some of my notes on gatekeeping, and why it exists. Gatekeeping involves the unintentional breach of implied or otherwise unstated/unwritten social rules or etiquette. There are few measures that can be taken ; even lurking is not always good enough, as the rules can be subtle or capriciously enforced. The… Continue reading Gatekeeping and Cringe

Item #1: “A positive-sum outlook on the World.” I usually agree with him but disagree here: All the best people have an incredibly positive-sum outlook on the world. They help other people to achieve more, do better, find love, and so on. And their lives are enriched by it. — Crémieux (@cremieuxrecueil) December 6, 2025… Continue reading The Daily View 12/8/2025: Positivity, AI vs. Math, Bitcoin vs. QQQ, Undigested Calories

I saw this going viral from Reason, “Why Are 38 Percent of Stanford Students Saying They’re Disabled?” This follows an even more viral article from The Atlantic, “Accommodation Nation,” by Rose Horowitch, who broke the story. I have never seen anything this viral in a long time, even eclipsing major AI product rollouts, for a… Continue reading Why the College Accommodations Debate Has No Easy Answers

As someone interested in true crime, this story is fascinating: Jan 6th pipe bomber arrested. This concludes a five year investigation. Some are arguing that the Biden administration suppressed the investigation. I disagree. There was so little evidence to go on. To gather sufficient evidence to ensure a ~100% conviction rate, as typical for the… Continue reading Jan 6th pipe bomber suspect arrested: analysis

In October 2023 there was a popular media narrative that GLP-1 drugs, namely Ozempic and Zepbound/Mounjaro, would severely hurt the sales of McDonald’s and Walmart, with alarmist headlines such as “Ozempic, Wegovy dampening food sales, Walmart exec says“. I took the opposite side, arguing such fears were overblown, here and here. Two years later, the… Continue reading Update on weight-loss drug predictions: right again

Item #1: Bitcoin dies as ‘Crypto President’ narrative turns into disillusionment. From the WSJ: It Was Supposed to Be Crypto’s Year. Then Came the Crash. And as Paul Krugman also noted, the Trump trade is unraveling. Today Bitcoin is still crashing this morning, down 7% while the market is flat or only down a little.… Continue reading The Daily View 12/1/2025: Bitcoin collapse, AI bubble, Weight Loss Challenge