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In the pantheon of human ingenuity, the development of iron and steel ranks up there with the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel. In fact, the advancement of human civilization would have been nearly impossible without iron—and the steel that it becomes. Metallurgy (and agriculture) are ultimately what brought our
The year was 1991. The shoulder pad fashion craze of the 1980s was finally coming to an end, and Kurt Cobain’s “grunge” look was in. The Silence of the Lambs hit the theaters and swept the Academy Awards that season (with a nice chianti and some fava beans)— Best Actor, Best Actress, Best
Apart from weathermen, no one besides government bureaucrats can be so wrong, so often, yet still keep their jobs. No one was ever fired for telling Americans that COVID lockdowns would last just “two weeks, to stop the spread” and “flatten the curve”. If we’re being generous and call that a ‘miscalculation’, they
In the aftermath of World War II, with Europe devastated and Japan in ruins after two atomic bombs, the world faced the monumental task of rebuilding the global economy. It had already been decided at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference that America and the US dollar would dominate the new international financial system.
There’s a really dirty four-letter word that starts with a “C”. No, not that one. This is a word you simply cannot say around Greta Thunberg, otherwise her ears will melt off of her face. I’m talking about coal. And it’s about to have its moment. One reason is that global population grows
The corpse of King Louis XV was still warm when his son and successor, 19-year old Louis XVI, started cleaning the royal house. French finances were an absolute mess. The country was almost hopelessly bankrupt after decades and decades of costly warfare… and even more costly royal luxury. The young king’s predecessors, Lous
It’s very hard to overstate just how obliterated the global economy was following World War II. Europe was in ruins, with many major cities having been bombed back into the Stone Age. Japan had literally been nuked. And just about every economy around the world that still had any manufacturing capacity was pumping
Today’s letter is about how to go back in time. A lot of us remember 2009 as a pretty tough economy. The whole world was in bad shape. Major banks had failed, panic had set in, governments were spending money hand over fist, and debts were rising fast. It was pretty brutal. But
Over fifteen centuries ago, according to an ancient Sanskrit legend, a mythical Hindu priest named Sissa was ordered to invent a new board game to entertain the king of Taligana. Sissa labored over the task for quite some time, but he eventually brought the King a military strategy game with a 64-square board
Like most kids, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little. Then a fireman. Then a pirate. Then a movie star. My parents were pretty traditional so they hoped I would grow up to become a doctor. This is pretty typical; after all, parents just want their kids to be financially
If you’ve ever been on a road trip through Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Indiana, you’ve probably driven past a billboard advertising Amish furniture, quilts, or cheese. You may have even driven past a horse and buggy, driven by someone who looks straight out of the 1800s. The Amish are a Christian sect known for
The “green energy” revolution is one of the biggest fantasies of today. For example, they tell us that fossil fuels are going away, that the gasoline powered internal combustion engine is a thing of the past, and that everyone wants to drive an electric vehicle (EV). Clearly, that’s why over 90% of consumers
At a campaign rally earlier this month, President Trump promised that if he is elected, “We will keep the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. It is currently under major siege. Many countries are leaving the dollar.” What he’s referring to is the extreme privilege that the US has, i.e. that central
Let’s play a game. I’ll give you some recent headlines, and you guess the well-known magazine. Here’s What the ‘Manosphere’ Gets Wrong about Cuckoldry How a Zombie Law Could Ban Abortion Nationwide If Trump Is Reelected Meet the New Autocrats Who Dismantle Democracies from Within Finding Math’s Beauty and Power with Drag Queen
In the 6th century BC, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon flourished as a center of power, culture, and commerce. We know this because the Babylonians were exceptional record keepers. And they chiseled everything down onto cuneiform tablets, many of which have survived through today. Sadly the tablets aren’t tabloids. They don’t
