Seventy five years ago, Saudi Arabia had little, if any, global significance. Oil had been discovered in Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain, and “the Kingdom”, as it would come to be known, had been largely overlooked having only recently been founded in 1932 after Abdul Aziz bin Saud battled rival tribes for twenty fives years and…
Most days, I spend my time working and generating money to grow my investments. Today was one of those days that we cashed in some chips for enjoyment and spent. I didn’t plan on it but shortly after lunch, Aaron told me the custom shirts he designed at Brooks Brothers on January 13th were ready for…
There is a scene in the final moments of Meet Joe Black in which Anthony Hopkin’s character, William Parrish, knowing that he will face death in a few short hours, gives a speech to those attending his 65th birthday party. “I thought I was going to sneak away tonight. What a glorious night. Every face I…
In 2005, Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Stanford University after surviving his first fight with pancreatic cancer. There were four lessons that really spoke to me in his message. These are: Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to make the big choices in life because…
Aaron and I went to high school with Kyle Kurz, who penned two new verbs today. They are awesome because they work so well. Plus, it isn’t often a verb (or two!) can be added to the English language to fill a previously unmet need. But these are situations we all know and now can…
The odds are good you won’t read this entire post. The reason? It has to do with confirmation bias. If you think what I am going to say conflicts with your belief system – whether you are a scientist or a Christian – you won’t finish it to avoid cognitive dissonance even though you aren’t…
I love population statistics and studying them. I would have been content (provided I was financially independent) being a sociologist. Back in September, I shared with you a few surprising facts about the population of the United States. Today, though, I was thinking about population and its implications for our understanding of history and economics.…
Tell me what you think of the following statement: “American manufacturing has been destroyed over the past 20 years? Going back further, it’s nothing like it was in 1960. Everything is made in China now.” [mainbodyad]If you agreed with the statement, congratulations! You failed. Miserably. Start thinking for yourself and stop watching the news commentators…
I love lemon cake, as you learned in the post about Duncan Hines trying to break my heart when we stopped eating it because of the trans fats. I’m working from the home office tonight, responding to all of your comments and submissions, and Aaron comes in to tell me he is making lemon cream…
For those of you who prefer visual data, watch this BBC video, which is up to 3,757,003 views after going viral on the net a few days ago and has been lighting up the economic blogs. In 4:48 seconds, you will see 200 years of human economic and health records, organized by country. I…