There is something satisfying about making something you need, and making it well.

We lost Charlie Munger late last year. By chance i had pre-ordered this book eight months prior to its release date and it shipped about a week after his death. The book offers a good insight into how Munger views the world and thinks about investing. For him, investing is all about doing your homework and finding the opportunities that rise above the common bets. You otherwise are participating in the same odds as everyone else and your, and their, participation drive down the rewards. Another point that resonates from this book is the idea of investing in what you know coupled with valuing actual value that is produced.

Catastrophizing is a survival approach, but it is not the only approach. Survival is not mandatory, but a necessary part of our evolution. You should not question the want to survive, but rather the method of survival. Catastrophizing can be a useful near term reaction to a problem, but we use more positive forms of survival such as preparedness and confidence that our past abilities will be able to meet the demands of future challenges. This is a much more positive approach and will result in a better mental outlook as you will have some sense of control in a chaotic world.

Let me begin by discussing the obvious strengths of academic economics. The first obvious strength ane this is true of a lot of places that get repute- is that it was in the right place at the right time. Two hundred years ago, aided by the growth of technology and the growth of other developments in civilization, the real output per capita of the civilized world started going up at about 2 percent per annum, compounded. Before that, for the previous thousands of years, it had gone up at a rate that hovered just a hair’s breadth above zero. And, of course, economics grew up amid this huge success. Partly it helped the success, and partly it explained it. So, naturally, academic economics grew. And lately, with the collapse of all the communist economies, as the free-market economies or partially free-market economies flourished, that added to the reputation of economics. Economics has been a very favorable place to be if you’re in academia.

You will never remember your best day scrolling on your phone.

I have a very finite list of records I have wanted to collect. Effectively records I know like the back of my hand. Albums I had listened to repeatedly in my youth either on cassette (riding on the bus to and from school) or in my room on CD. These are the records I can sit down and appreciate. This is not an endless list though, thankfully, given how expensive records are these days.

I have come to the same conclusion on Apple’s ads as this reviewer did. I find this so well articulated. I’m sure Apple will improve their AI offering over time, but this was an absolute advertising failure in my opinion.

Creatures under the sea where you scroll for depth.

https://neal.fun/deep-sea/

From Cal Newport’s podcast, he discusses books he has read. In this 20 minute clip about On Settler Colonialism by Adam Kirsch, Cal discusses a useful framework of academic theory - Predictive Theory vs Radical Theory.

The ability for our brains to react to the world around us is not unique amongst animals. What has been our evolutionary accelerant that has set us far apart from the other animals is our ability to predict what might happen based on our life experiences and avoiding bad decisions. This forward looking analysis is that front part of our brain and it’s good at it.