USA Still Has It, Beast Games S2, Job-Getting Strategy, and More
On USA
Let me preface this by saying I am not a political person. I don't like talking politics; I don't like reading politics; I'm not invested enough to even feel I should be able to have an opinion on politics. But recently my X feed has been filled with some interesting stuff that Trump has been doing: U.S. forces conducted a military operation in Venezuela to capture Maduro with no American casualties, the administration is pushing to acquire Greenland from Denmark, he issued an executive order capping executive pay at defense contractors at $5 million a year until they build more U.S. factories and modernize military tech, and apparently he wants to end income tax?
I think all of this is cool just because I didn't think our government was capable of making any significant changes or doing anything important β everything was just so stagnated. The fact that we just rolled into Venezuela and took their leader is pretty awesome. We can still make change happen as a country, and this has me hopeful about our future.
The idea that he could end income tax is simply crazy β there is no way. But I would have also said the same thing about invading Venezuela, and I'm saying that about buying Greenland too, yet it is happening in real time right in front of me. Beyond what I think is and isn't possible, it is incredibly noble to even attack such large problems at all. Like the whole DOGE thing, even though it didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, I'm glad they tried. I'm glad someone said this is a problem, and I'm going to do everything I can to fix it.
What if you committed your entire life to fixing one big problem like eradicating income tax? Like 50 years of effort? Even if it doesn't work, you might inspire many others, perhaps a 23-year-old from Arkansas, to consider what big problems they could try and tackle in their lifetime.
3 Cool Things
Interesting Attempt at Getting a Job (Anduril) π
Anduril
Appreciator by 22-year-old Max Munro
Max has grown this Anduril news account to 10k followers on Twitter in an attempt to get hired there. I thought this was super interesting, and I hope it works! (Recently Palmer Lucky followed his personal account. Cool!) This is a great example of Derek Sivers' advice: How To Get Hired.
Beast Games Season 2 Thoughts π€
Beast Games S2
I didn't not plan on watching this despite enjoying the first season, but I was excited by the premise of 100 strongest vs 100 smartest people. Most of the intelligence-based challenges so far are just memory tests, which arenβt especially interesting to watch and donβt capture intelligence at all. By episode three, most of the remaining contestants come from the strong side β people who also tend to bring competitiveness, confidence, and charisma β it feels like an accidental analogy for many competitive scenarios in real life where intelligence doesn't matter as much as the previously mentioned traits.
Simply Shocking Article π
The Rise of Masturbation, the Decline of
Sex: Why prostitutes are heroes and OnlyFans girls aren't
I never thought I'd find myself somewhat agreeing with this absurd title by the end of this thing! Well, calling prostitutes heroes might be a stretch π β I really have no idea where I stand with this article, but the article is novel and interesting in that it seems crazy to argue this point yet it is argued well. The paragraph that made it click for me was actually about tech:
"The change in attitudes towards different forms of sex mirrors what weβve seen in scientific and technological progress. It has become more expensive to build things in the real world like housing and transportation infrastructure, while innovation in software continues at a rapid pace. In part this is because the world of software has been largely unregulated, while rent seekers and safetyists have piled one restriction or regulation on top of another elsewhere."
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