dukeleto
4mo ago
Can anyone recommend any good books about the 1980’s and early 90s with a focus on what caused the Soviet Union to collapse ? I have just finished reading the Walter isacson Kissinger biography, and while Nixon/kissenger effectively curtailed Soviet influence in the 70s, I’m still amazed at how completely the Soviet Union collapsed by 1991. The usual story is that the ussr was unable to compete with the west and this somehow led to its collapse. I’m sure economic decline contributed to their decline, but would love to learn more about the other external and internal pressures which brought it about.
dukeleto
8mo ago
I had a similar experience when I was in grad school, I’m a white guy with middle/lower middle class parents. invariably the people whom were getting (I assume, i didn’t see their records) affirmative action benefits were overwhelmingly attractive women from more privileged backgrounds. It was one of the lived experiences which completely turned me off on the left and on academia more generally
dukeleto
5mo ago
The part where we station 2 aircraft carriers to prevent Iran or another Arab power from responding to Israel or the part where we are now going to give Israel another 15 billion
dukeleto
9mo ago
Thanks I enjoyed reading this but I think that you miss the real significance of the ruling: I agree that that elite institutions are not being egalitarian enough (I think this is what you are arguing by comparing harvards graduation rate to the seals?) and that this is resulting in too many incompetents running the countries institutions. They are also hard to change because they are mostly privately run an have huge endowments along with influential alumni networks. The ruling alone doesn’t rectify this (as trace points out university admins will try to circumvent it), but gives a future republican president enormous leverage to massively change elite universities simply by enforcing the law.
I don’t really understand the judgmental tone. Few on this forum would have a problem with using adderall to enhance performance or Lipitor to reduce blood pressure. How is this different?
dukeleto
5d ago
I have a non technical employee who I have taught some basic linux skills so that he can help me with some of my work. He likes it and is interested in learning more but I don’t really have the time to work with him.
I want to get my company to pay for some sort of certification course for him so that he can develop a little more. Does anyone know if there are any Linux certification programs where the credential is both useful (and where the course is also beneficial)?
dukeleto
24d ago
I’m not really sure if this counts as small but it’s definitely been on my mind and id like some advice on whether or not I am thinking about this clearly. I have lived in the Las Vegas metro area for the past two years and plan to remain here for the foreseeable (at least 5 more years) future, im thinking of buying a small house in a nice part of town and can just barely afford to do it.
I find myself hesitating on actually pulling the trigger because it would result in my current housing expense increasing from the 1.9K a month I currently pay to rent to 2.8-3.3K a month depending on what I actually end up buying.
I just can’t shake the sense that I would be buying at the top. This wouldn’t necessarily be an issue (I think its unlikely I would be laid off except in a case of extreme economic hardship) except that I am concerned that if the economy does dump I will be stuck in a high interest (looking at around 6.5%) loan which I wont be able to refinance if my home value drops enough.
The thing that’s annoying though is that this really is just a feeling and I cant find any actual evidence to suggest this area is actually about to undergo any kind of correction. Prices have increased a lot in recent years (up 40-50% since 2021) but this has happened in a lot of places, the regional unemployment is low and houses that get listed are selling.
Does anyone know what kind of metrics people who follow single-family real-estate sales actually follow? I appreciate that very competent people working at large financial institutions spend a lot of time and $ trying to price real estate accurately and I don’t expect to develop an institutional level understanding of these things. Im just trying to enter this with my eyes open and want to feel slightly less clueless, before making what will be my biggest financial decision to date.
Here are some metrics I have looked at:
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Regional unemployment https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.nv_lasvegas_msa.htm (which is basically flat).
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Permits for new construction https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LASV832BP1FHSA
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Case Schiller index calculated for Las Vegas metro area https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LVXRNSA
dukeleto
6mo ago
As for # 6 there was a lot of speculation that Epstein had been employed by the mossad or some other intelligence agency (or agencies), specifically to get blackmail material. In which case he was killed to bury that connection.
dukeleto
9mo ago
Can anyone recommend a write up or presentation on the various kinds of cellular phone location information that gets collected and who collects it? For example a cellular company clearly collects some information about your location (since they know which towers you can connect to) but I have no idea how accurate this (does your phone share it’s gos location with your carrier or are they just inferring location based on the cells you are attached to) is and it isn’t clear to me what if they are allowed to sell this to marketers. Also wondering where private companies (such as those referred to but not actually named here https://www.wired.com/story/fbi-purchase-location-data-wray-senate/ ) even collect this kind of data. Is this a case of some game that someone installs on their phone hoovering this information up or are there some other bigger harder to opt out of sources (such as your cellular phone company).
dukeleto
4mo ago
You can grow hay/alphalpha on extremely marginal land, which is largely unusable for other crops. I’m not arguing that these crops never displace food commodities, but in general I would expect that farmers favor food crops which are typically more valuable.
dukeleto
4mo ago
Fundamentally I think issues l should be viewed in the following light:
- Israel and Israel’s supporters (primarily American Jews and evangelicals), want the us to give Israel 15 billion dollars.
- This will enable Israel to expand their activities in the Gaza Strip and possibly invade Lebanon again and could easily end up involving the us in the region again.
I and many other Americans who don’t have any affiliation with Israel are asking if this is in our national interest. Many more democrats than republicans do not think it is and Democratic support is required to make this pass. Rather than debating this issue on its merits the adl and other Israel supporters are doing their best to make it a conversation about anti semitism. In my opinion suggesting that universities are antisemitic places is even more preposterous than suggesting that they are racist places and anyone who cares a wit about freedom of speech should should be concerned that the wealthy donors have this much influence over public institutions (by which I mean u penn.). I can’t believe that I am actually in support of something Harvard is doing (this is probably the first time ever), but it sort of refreshing that their endowment is so big that they can ignore these kinds of donor demands.
dukeleto
6mo ago
I don’t know, I think that the time has come for them to decide: is Israel a democracy or not? If they want to continue down the pathway to become an apartheid theocratic state, then that’s their business but they should be called out for it or and shouldn’t continue to receive foreign policy deference and foreign aid in abundance. If they are going to remain a democracy that is excellent, and I believe will ultimately be revealed as the correct choice.
dukeleto
6mo ago
I wonder if fentanyl is ultimately bad for the cartels? Its primary advantage over traditional opioids is the extremely small dosages that users require. They’re so small I assume you could simply impregnate a letter with the stuff, mail it and almost certainly get away with it. This has to undermine the cartels business model which is predicted on smuggling relatively large quantities of drugs across international borders.
dukeleto
7mo ago
Spotted the electrical engineer. I do the same thing every time I see blm (I think bureau of land management first).
I agree, I think the us should be deploying reactors asap, although I think the above poster vastly overstates the problems with shale oil. Shales are outrageously abundant in the US and break even costs remain far below current oil prices. https://www.statista.com/statistics/748207/breakeven-prices-for-us-oil-producers-by-oilfield/
(This is during a time period characterized by lots of inflation in the materials needed to frac)
One could argue that this has extended to other domains, with exhibit 1 being Kamala Harris. Like she must be pretending to be dumb right? I need to find a video of her in court at some point, there is no way the California attorney general was this incompetent.
dukeleto
10mo ago
I happen to think your correct but I wonder why they don’t just admit it?
I have been having back and leg pain for the last few months. It comes and goes (although seems to be triggered by running, which is a shame because I love to run) and can be extremely painful at times (on the order of not being able to walk). It’s always on the same side and the pain is severe enough that I think I must have a pinched nerve or something (I’m sure I haven’t sprained or torn a muscle).
I want to see someone about this and I’m not sure what sort of doctor I should start with. Is there any reason to goto a chiropractor, or should I just start with an orthopedic surgeon? I’m hoping this is an issue that is solveable with physical therapy.
dukeleto
2mo ago
I suspect a lot of it has to do with the numbers of uninsured and unlicensed motorists. I can’t actually find good #s on this so could be wrong, but im sure that the # of unlicensed and uninsured motorists has exploded since we no longer enforce laws against this in most large cities.
dukeleto
4mo ago
Does cal tech still do this? I had heard that they had jumped on the social justice wagon and weren’t even excepting standardized testing scores for a while.
dukeleto
4mo ago
Why is the verbal section so much more heavily g-loaded? Does it contain logic puzzles or something? I have never taken an sat (and took the act decades ago)
dukeleto
4mo ago
I think you’re completely missing my point which is that it’s questionable that giving Israel a lot of money to destabilize the Middle East is a good idea (not the least of which is because you are mostly propping up Netanyahu). The us needs to be preparing to compete with China, not wasting our energies on regional fights in the Middle East and
As for Israel’s alleged strategic importance, every example you have was of Jews working in america. Israel itself is not particularly productive or important.
I’d also encourage you to look at the domestic Israeli political situation, before advocating American political involvement.
dukeleto
6mo ago
I’m not motivated enough to write a detailed response so I’m linking to a news story if you’re interested: https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-writer-who-broke-epstein-case-a-rumored-mossad-link-is-worth-digging-into/amp/
I’ll also point out that I find it really suspicious that Israel suddenly has so much less influence than they did just 5 years ago. This could Just be a case of Bibi being incompetent.
It makes me wonder what the governor’s motivations are. I don’t know anything about New Mexico politics (besides the fact the the state is inexplicably left wing). This seems like a totally bizarre thing to do in an off election year for a politician who can’t possibly aspire to an office outside of New Mexico. I wonder if she is trying to get ahead of a scandal or something.
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