Links

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

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

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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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Quoting Jim Rohn

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One reason why The Greens underperformed in 2025

Twenty-five per cent of respondents had never heard of Adam Bandt.

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The Soviet Union coveted legitimacy

The Soviet Union lacked internal legitimacy due to unfulfilled promises of communism’s material abundance, leading them to seek external validation as a superpower to bolster domestic support.

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US manufacturing did not move overseas, it moved to the South

Manufacturing jobs have shifted from the Rust Belt to Southern states like Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, resulting in a reversal of manufacturing exports since 1970.

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Why is the world losing colour?

Colour is disappearing from our world, with over 80% of new cars being grayscale and consumer goods becoming increasingly neutral since 1800.

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Black Mirror's pessimism won't lead us to a better future

Black Mirror’s focus on dystopian narratives overlooks the dual nature of technology, ignoring its potential benefits and fuelling irrational fears.

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Are we misunderstanding ADHD?

A study led by Swanson found that while Ritalin initially reduced A.D.H.D. symptoms in children more effectively than behavioural training, this advantage faded by 36 months, with all groups displaying similar symptom levels.

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How deactivating Facebook and Instagram affects users' emotions

Two large randomised experiments examined the impact of social media deactivation on users’ emotional state before the 2020 U.S. election.

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