Author: smartistone

I saw a this post going viral on Reddit, “Why do I gain 5 lbs just looking at bread but my friend eats like a raccoon in a Taco Bell dumpster and stays fit?” The fact many many people have observed this and can thus relate, explains how the post went so viral. We all… Continue reading Individual differences of metabolism are real and matter

I saw this tweet going viral: I would overwhelmingly prefer being caned to being imprisoned for a year, and I expect most people would share my preference, but the one is considered cruel and unusual and the other is considered normal. Opt-in corporal punishment is a sensible approach. https://t.co/A8W0oQHVOi — TracingWoodgrains (@tracewoodgrains) April 11, 2025… Continue reading Caning, punishment, and prison: more thoughts

I saw this going viral, How University Students Use Claude. As to be expected, the main issue is cheating: As I discuss here, AI-generated essays should be easy to detect if the teacher is paying attention, such as the teacher taking a more active role. Other ways to mitigate it include requiring students to submit… Continue reading AI-generated writing: cheating and its detection

Item #1. Trump announces 90-day pause on tariffs; stocks surge. It looks like I was right to buy the dip, having done so Monday morning on FNGA. Here is what I said: “I have begun buying leveraged tech stocks on the dip this morning to take advantage of this great overreaction. My favorite: FNGA.” I… Continue reading The Daily View 4/9/2025: Trump Pauses Tariffs for 90 Days, Stocks Surge

I saw this post from Brian Chau: I Was Wrong About Trump’s Tariff Strategy The evening of April 1st, an editor and I were working on the finishing touches on an article about Trump’s tariff strategy. “Keep updated with what happens with the tariffs,” one late-night message read. The next morning, Trump blew… pic.twitter.com/UL93eXTopM —… Continue reading Trump Tariffs, take 3: Why the economic fallout will not be that bad

The stock market selloff continues to intensify, with stocks down 6% on Friday on top of Thursday’s losses. This was an unforced error on Trump’s part. He cannot blame the left for this. One way to frame this is that Trump is running a sort of experiment on the US economy. He picked the most… Continue reading Trump Tariffs, Take 2: Why it Will Not Return Jobs and Factories to America

The news cycle has been so erratic since Trump’s inauguration. I have tended to avoid topical matters, as I don’t want to spend hours writing posts about tariffs or about the Middle East or China, only for my efforts to be wasted when a new development breaks. But with the stock market crashing due to… Continue reading Why I am not worried about the tariffs

It looks like I was right again in predicting Elon would recover his losses from his Twitter/X purchase. On November 5th, after Trump had won, I wrote: Musk’s AI venture, xAI, was recently valued at $40 billion–that alone pays for Twitter. Tesla’s stock surge, up 11%, on Trump’s win also made Elon that much richer.… Continue reading Twitter/X’s ingenious pivot and rebranding as an AI company

Your IQ isn’t 160. No one’s is: Stratospheric IQs are like leprechauns, unicorns, or mermaids, writing: So if someone regularly talks about IQs significantly above 140 like these were actual measurable and reliable numbers that have a real-world effect, know that they are talking about a fantasy. And if they make claims that various historical… Continue reading People with >160 IQs must exist

A lot people are amazed or impressed by Richard Hanania’s apparent overnight success, and with minimal promotion by the media. Richard Hanania in specific has a rare and idiosyncratic set of views, as do many public intellectuals. People who trust Richard Hanania more than Generic Dem are quite common and are overwhelmingly more likely to… Continue reading Explaining Richard Hanania’s sudden success