Links

A surge in US productivity growth

Productivity growth has accelerated since late 2022, exceeding the pre-Covid trend.

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Scopes trial

John T. Scopes was charged in 1925 with breaking the Butler Act, which banned teaching human evolution in Tennessee’s public schools.

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Hatai in Bangkok

A new “Lantern Quarter” will feature two stacked, softly lit hotels—Six Senses and Narai—offering over 300 rooms, a wellness centre, ballroom and conference facilities

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Akkermansia hype

Akkermansia is a gut microbe discovered in 2004 that colonises the mucosal lining of the intestines, potentially strengthening the gut lining and supporting other beneficial bacteria by producing short-chain fatty acids.

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Hippie Trail

The hippie trail was an overland journey from Europe to Thailand, undertaken by hippies and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, passing through countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.

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“Used” cooking oil in Malaysia

Fresh cooking oil in Malaysia is subsidised and cheaper (RM2.50/kg) than used cooking oil on the international market (up to RM4.50/kg), allowing restaurants to profit by selling their used oil.

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Balaji on AI so far

AI shifts the bottleneck to prompting and verifying, handling tasks from “middle-to-middle” rather than “end-to-end”; expertise in crafting prompts and validation becomes more valuable, and smarter individuals can leverage AI more effectively.

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Russian keyboards often thwart ransomware

Almost all ransomware strains include a failsafe mechanism that prevents installation on Windows computers with certain virtual keyboards installed, such as Russian or Ukrainian.

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Pay per crawl lets content owners charge AI crawlers for access

Publishers currently face a binary choice: allow AI crawlers free access to their content or block them entirely.

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Good people and cool people

A study of 5,943 participants across 13 countries investigated the values and personality traits associated with cool and good people.

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Noah Smith: The solution to obesity was technological, not social

Obesity was ultimately resolved through technological solutions, not social interventions.

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McCarthy's "like some"

Cormac McCarthy frequently employs the rhetorical phrase ‘like some’ in his writing, notably in Blood Meridian.

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The old is dying and the new cannot be born

A crisis occurs when the old is dying and the new cannot yet be born.

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An American husband joins the Russian army

Two months after moving to Russia, an American family of five announces that the husband, Derek, has joined the Russian army under a one-year contract.

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Bernie Sanders discusses risk of AI getting out of control

According to Bernie, artificial intelligence may cause massive job losses in the economy, humans will not be able to control AI technology, and AI could dominate society and potentially control humans. He cites knowledgeable experts in the industry are concerned about these doomsday scenarios.

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Facial similarity and venture capital allocation

Facial similarity between investors and entrepreneurs increases funding likelihood by 3.2 percentage points, even after controlling for race, gender, and age.

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The AI risk movement is wrong about its core claims

Large language models (LLMs) are not entirely alien; they are trained on human-generated data and model human language, reflecting human values before achieving superhuman competence.

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Ukraine makes 96% of its military drones

In 2024, Ukrainian drones constituted over 96% of all military UAVs, according to Defence Minister Rustem Umerov on 28 December.

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The Sydney Ducks: Australian criminals in San Francisco

The Sydney Ducks were a gang of criminal immigrants from Australia in mid-19th century San Francisco, blamed for rampant crime and the devastating 1849 fire.

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Harry Dexter White

Harry Dexter White (1892–1948) was a senior official in the U.S. Treasury Department who played a significant role in shaping American financial policy towards the Allies during World War II.

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Cheap metro construction in Madrid

Between 1995 and 2007, Madrid tripled its metro system by adding 126 miles (203 kilometres), making it one of the world’s fastest-growing metros.

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Why founders may fail after success

Founders may receive none of the proceeds from a company exit due to liquidation preferences granted to investors.

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Why are even the most peaceful religions prone to militarism?

Religious favoritism, where the state supports a dominant religion, intensifies religious contention and often leads to majoritarian violence against minority faiths.

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Quoting Natasha Lyonne on AI in movies

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Nazi interest in Asia

The Nazis inherited a German interest in Asian esoteric traditions like Theosophy, aiming to combine science, spiritual wisdom, myth, and magic, and drew inspiration from Hinduism and Buddhism.

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