On the Democratization of Information Photo: Pixabay In 1815 a mountain called Tambora erupted on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. Between 70,000-100,000 people were killed in the resulting blast that was estimated to be 150 times larger than the explosion at Mt. St. Helens. The eruption was so massive that it changed the global…
Hidden Costs
On Idealization and the Downsides of Getting What You Want Photo: Pixabay Imagine, just for a moment, that I make you the offer of a lifetime: I am going to give you $100 million, but…you have to accept this money publicly during a widely televised event (i.e. Super Bowl, NBA Finals, etc.) Would you take my offer?…
4 Lessons From the Richest Woman In Wall Street History
Financial Wisdom From Hetty Green Photo: Pixabay I know you’ve heard the names John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J.P. Morgan, but what about Hetty Green? Hetty stood as the lone woman among the titans of the Gilded Age, and upon her death in 1916 she was worth $100 million. This sum was roughly equivalent to…
The Right Place, The Right Time
On Broad Trends and Prioritizing Process Over Outcomes Photo: Pixabay It was July 1, 1858 when the idea of evolution by natural selection was first presented to the scientific world. The work was a joint effort between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, both of whom had independently formulated their theories on evolution over prior…
The Most Important Asset
Rethinking How To View Your Time Photo: Pixabay Peter Attia, a physician and longevity expert, has a talk on increasing your lifespan where he proposes an incredible thought experiment to his audience (see 16:49): I would be willing to bet that not one of you, if you were offered every dollar of Warren Buffett’s fortune, would…
The Peak and The End
How Event Order and Intensity Shapes Our Memories Photo: Pixabay He was preparing a fire inscription for an Israeli youth movement when he experienced the event that would change his life forever—the magnesium caught fire. Within seconds, a strong white light filled the room as flames, burning at a few thousand degrees Celsius, engulfed his…
The Privilege of Knowledge
Why We Shouldn’t Take Market History for Granted Photo: Pixabay When George Washington died in 1799, he didn’t know about dinosaurs. In fact, no one did. The first dinosaur bone was technically discovered in New Jersey in 1787, but its significance wasn’t recognized at the time and the bone was eventually lost. A few decades…
You See What You Want To See
On Confirmation Bias and How to Avoid It Is this a rabbit or a duck? (Photo: Wikimedia Commons) Dan Kahan, a professor at Yale Law School, was interested in understanding how an individual’s beliefs affected their recollection of an event. In order to test this he had two groups of students watch a video of…
The Evil Hours
On Financial Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Photo: Pixabay Vernon Lamberg had been dead for 8 to 10 hours by the time they found his body in a hotel room in Wautoma, Wisconsin, two hours northwest of Milwaukee. Five days earlier he had started his Monday like any other. However, on that Monday, Lamberg would suffer a…
It Can Happen to Anyone
On the Life-Altering Effects of Money Photo: Pixabay It’s Christmas Day 2002 and across the state of West Virginia people are spending money like it is going out of style. But, instead of gifts or eggnog, what are they buying? Lottery tickets. At 3:26 pm the ticket buying frenzy peaks with 15 people buying a $1…
