Learning, governance, technology – a grab bag

This week I have been reading and absorbing — it is a dynamic time in our country and economy, there is a lot to learn.

Learning

The Language Learning Edition from Why Is This Interesting actually is all about learning anything in life.  I love reading anyone who is introspective about learning.  Some of the advice in here that really resonates:

• Acquisition requires repetition.  True in every endeavor I have ever undertaken. Whether learning languages, mastering a new area of technolgy, learning to play golf, writing music — you just have to start doing it repeatedly.
• You won’t be any good if you are not having fun.  Learning is hard, and if it is not fun, you will avoid it and never make progress.
• Seek out embarrassment.  You have to put your learning to work, you have to start demonstrating it in public, that is when you really find out if you have learned it.

A great explainer of solar energy from Construction Physics.   Very good explanation of some of the basic behavior and economics of solar energy. 

Balance of Payments and Trade Deficit Primer by Paul Krugman.  Good stuff; every citizen should read this. I particularly found the material about the balance of trade vs the balance of capital inflows interesting.

Performance in reasoning and problem-solving tests is declining.  I completely understand some of the frustration with the Department of Education.  Some of their directives have gone too far.  But to tear it all down at a time when we are facing an incredible educational challenge?   We certainly need to rethink it, we are not doing a good job educating ourselves, but we need a Department of Education 2.0, not a vacancy in leadership.

Governance

Adam Tooze on the attempt to find rationality in the Trump economic plan.   We all want this to make sense, but maybe it just doesn’t. 

USDA on DOGE firings.  The net impact has been to increase costs and decrease government efficiency.

WA State capital gains spending analysis.  This is the first breakdown (thanks, Vlad) I’ve seen of how the capital gains windfall is being spent in Washington State — and it has some real disappointments.  I applaud the spending on child care and early learning — kids start falling behind very early in life, and it is critical to address that.   The lion’s share of the budget, tho, is going to building construction, which saddens me.  We need more teachers (i.e. smaller class sizes) and better teachers; we can get by with less fancy buildings.  And there is nothing in this analysis about the achievement impact of the money that is being spent.  

Musk donates to politicians trying to impeach judges he doesn't like.  This is the last straw for me with Elon; he has no respect for how our country works or the people in it.

2024 will go down in history as one of the clearest examples of voting against your interests. We may need to let states live within their own budgets.

Innovation

Open Free Map — maps that are completely free to use, in part because they have a super minimal low-cost tech stack behind them.

Matt Levine explains the market for interests in lawsuits.  It is fascinating how technology has helped to enable ever more ethereal markets. 

Semianalysis on Nvidia announcements.  NVidia just keeps pushing the curve ahead.  Large-scale computation is evolving at a ferocious rate.