Why are Americans known as easy to scam? Why do they get overcharged at restaurants, taxis and tourist traps around the world? Even by businesses at home. Or with FIFA and WC ticket prices. Because being a sucker is less shameful than being a loser lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/…

There's much better parks in urban America. Rock Creek Park in DC is much bigger and interesting and so is Golden Gate park in SF. But Central Park has a ceiling effect that those places do not because those places are not surrounded by tall buildings. The ceiling effect enhances the awe of being inside of the park. The skyscrapers act like tall walls that frame the sky, making it seem even bigger and more open, like you're in a massive, open-air "room" with a very high ceiling.

The weakness of mofern representative democracy is that no one can set a permanent national direction. One party gets in office, applies an agenda, then the other party gets in power and dismantles it. The country never really moves toward an end state. It just oscillates. Direct democracy lets citizens of a nation vote on a foundational question, which then forces the political class to govern within that answer.

There's another aspect here. The US is a country of the (relatively) unlimited second chances. Compared to what? Well, to the Old World. In the Old World, you may have a chance, but you won't have a second one -> Every single loss is catastrophic and, therefore, shameful

I am starting to consider seriously the hypothesis that the only way to beat the index is becoming the vassal of a technoking…

“Exposure to respiratory viruses before a baby’s first birthday — when immune systems are immature and before most childhood vaccinations — consistently predicted reduced earnings, education and health decades later.”

There was an interview with Sam Bankman Fried a few years ago where he bragged he only wore 3 t-shirts. That he didn't care about clothes. But he owned beautiful mansions all over the world and lavish apartments in New York and Paris. So he walks around badly dressed on purpose making the public commons ugly for all of us, while owning beautiful homes he can enjoy in private. It's this attitude that creates the modern ugly world. Make the public areas ugly. While enjoying beauty in private. That's a new thing. Thankfully, we have beautiful cities from a long time ago that never adhered to that philosophy. We have wonderful paintings of people dressed spectacularly. Who cared about the aesthetic commons.