Category Archives: Uncategorized

I linked to Nick Whitaker and J. Zachary Mazlish’s powerful critique of existing prediction markets (“Why prediction markets aren’t popular“; see above) in one of my previous posts (see here), where I also promised that I would respond to their … Continue reading →

Despite the unceasing and unfathomable efforts of Elon Musk to destroy the Twitter platform (see here, for example), I am still often able to find little eclectic gems like this thread:

Shout out to my colleague, friend, neighbor, and mentor Tony Suarez for inviting me to join his popular “I need to know” podcast last week. Among other things, we discuss the valuation of business firms, the dramatic decline in Puerto … Continue reading →

My wife Sydjia and I heard this beautiful ballad for the first time last weekend at Azay, a cozy restaurant in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of polyglot Los Angeles. I dedicate this song to her.

On 21 June 1788 (236 years ago today!), the United States Constitution officially became law when little New Hampshire, the first of Britain’s North American colonies to establish an independent government and state constitution (see here), became the ninth state … Continue reading →

On this day (20 June) in 1789, deputies of the “Third Estate” of the Estates-General (see here and here) met at the Royal Tennis Court in the Palace of Versailles, where they made “a solemn oath never to separate … … Continue reading →

Celebrate freedom! Today (19 June) is officially “Juneteenth National Independence Day” in the U.S.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth. Bonus track below: Update: alas, when my daughter and I visited the mall today (Americana at Brand), all the stores but one (Nike) were open … Continue reading →

For some unknown algorithmic reason, a strange essay published in The Atlantic in 2022 kept popping up in my Twitter feed this weekend. This obscure essay, which is titled “Why do rich people love quiet?“, immediately brought back memories of … Continue reading →

After attending the Manifest festival at Berkeley on June 7-9, where I met and befriended the founders of the Manifold prediction-market platform, I posted my first betting-market on their user-friendly website a few days ago; see here or tweet below: … Continue reading →