Just as empires have a certain cadence to their rise and fall, so do late night spots in New York City. If you’ve lived long enough in NYC, you come to understand the basic truth that no establishment stays cool forever. Everything is subject to the “cycle.”
Last night, I watched Road to Perdition, a film I last saw in the movie theaters 25 years ago. I didn’t remember it being a particular remarkable film. But seeing it again, I was transfixed. I sat there and watched the movie from beginning to end without checking my phone.
India is the most populous country on the planet and will likely have the biggest economy in the world by the end of this century. It has given birth to major religions and major social movements. It is one of humanity’s great civilizational nodes. Indians have achieved a lot in practically every domain, except the Olympics.
If you were to name the most beautiful woman of the 20th century – Anita Ekberg would be in the running. Anita won Miss Sweden in 1951 before coming to Hollywood in the 1950s. She would star in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), stamping herself into the popular zeitgeist with her infamous Trevi water fountain scene.
In 1970, there were no female partners at Goldman Sachs, no female supreme court justices and only two female US senators. Today, four of the nine supreme court justices are women, more than a quarter of the Senate and almost half the recent partnership class at Goldman. Things have arguably never been better for young women.
I caught up with a friend at a park the other day and we sat nearby a bunch of moms having a toddler meet up. The moms were mostly white, in their mid to late 30s and wearing expensive Alo yoga gear that had magically de-aged their bodies. While their toddlers stared off into space, they sat there and complained about their significant others.
What are you worth? Most religions will answer you with metaphysical concepts. In this respect, the new woke religion also has an answer. The answer is that it depends – it depends on where you fit in their victimization hierachy.
When I see the crazed rhetoric of political leaders today, this quote by John Maynard Keynes comes to mind: “Madmen in authority are just distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.” Political actors, in other words, are not independent thinkers with independent thoughts – they are slaves to frameworks that someone else – an academic – dreamt up years prior.
The #1 Billboard song today is Rich Men North of Richmond. The song is an elegiac ode to the working class sung by Oliver Anthony, a laid off paper mill employee (see here). Oliver recorded the song on an iPhone with no vocal training and no grand ambitions of becoming famous – he just wanted to speak his truth. When later offered an $8 million dollar recording contracts, Oliver turned it down and…
While the world was busy locking itself down during the spring of 2020, the US government publicly released UFO footage. The footage showed what appear to be flying objects zipping around in front of an airplane and defying the laws of physics. 60 Minutes did a story on it. Joe Rogan interviewed the pilot (see here). It stayed in the news cycle for a while and then eventually went away. The way…
To really understand how the economy is going to change, you have to understand – Jerry and Jose. Jerry is the stereotypical “skilled” laborer. He grew up in an upper middle-class neighborhood and graduated from college. He has bounced around tech firms working in product and then in human resources. He has no discernible skills but makes between $120 to $150k a year.
In 2015, El Salvador was the most dangerous country in the world with 103 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2023, that number is down to 2.5.
Ten years ago, I went to go work for a secretive Swiss commodity trading firm. This particular firm played a vital role in the global economy and had minted several billionaires among its small work force. Within a relatively short stint living in Switzerland, I was sent packing back to America to look for a new job. So what happened?
Henry Paget was born in 1768 in pre-industrial London. The UK at the time had just begun its overseas empire. Henry would enter the military and become one of the most decorated officers of the Napoleonic era, leading a famous winning charge at the Battle of Waterloo. Through his military heroics, Henry was elevated to the noble rank of Marquess and would establish the Marquess of Anglesey for his…
You’re supposed to like the WNBA. You’re supposed to be outraged that the number one WNBA draft pick makes 1/150th her NBA counterpart. You are supposed to believe that the only reason no one watches the WNBA is because no one is telling them to. The WNBA is a thing and if you don’t recognize it as such, well you are sexist (see here).
This past weekend, my cousin asked his close friends to play golf with him before his wedding. Now, I hate golf with the same intensity that a jihadist hates the idea of “the West”. But I love my cousin and it was an obligation. So, we played the front nine.
Instagram makes everyone miserable. Human beings were not meant to compare themselves to each other four times a day. But it is addictive misery and let’s face it, you are probably stuck on it. So let the following be a helpful guide to how to master it.
What would happen if you created a teen drama set in high school with actors in their mid to late 20s playing teenagers but instead of giving all the kids eating disorders and drug addictions, you based each character on a famous tech billionaire. It was a weird thought I had the other night while trying to get into Season 2 of Euphoria. Here is how I imagine the character arcs going…
The inflationary asset bubble didn’t just support high stock prices and Crystal girl becoming a millionaire, it supported our whole transition from being practical to being full of abstracted, though passionately-held principles. That may sound good but it could spell our collective doom. To understand what I mean – let me first explain what practical thinking looks like.
Several years ago, I shared a long Uber ride in South Beach with an attractive girl in her early 20s who was into crystals – not crystal meth – but healing crystals. She believed crystals had unique vibrational qualities that cured your illnesses. She ended the ride by offering to sell me some. I didn’t make much of the conversation - the attractive, minimally educated female who is grifting…