Caffeinated a few hours ago to read; got an idea; writing this (on the toilet) now to burn off caffeine before imminent sleep.

In the year of 2019, S&P 500 gained 31% in value. Over the previous ten year period, S&P 500 gained 10% annually on average. Investing in index-linked mutual funds or ETFs such as the Vanguard vehicles would offer similar returns. These returns are a lot better than most hedge funds’ performances in the past decade, without the need for a 30% commission price tag.

So, if on Jan 1, 2019 (the first day of a particularly lucky year), one were to invest 100,000$ in SPY, then by Dec 31, 2019, one would be able to sell the SPY positions for 130,000$. If one were to have put it in some sort of long option instead, one could receive many X more return than that, perhaps minting a new millionaire in the process.

Kidnapping (humans in exchange for wealth) is...

Background

(Scroll past entirety of green line for meat of article)
Background/context info typically test the patience of readers a lot. I am one of the impatient. It is okay to skip this part.

The Michelin Guides have been in existence for over a century, but its command of popular opinion only came about post-2000s.

Since its first publication in 1900, the Guides have always been popular. But that’s the point— it was only popular relative to its audience reach. In the early 1900s, it was restricted to the few people who owned cars. Over a couple decades, the niche expanded from pretentious motorists to pretentious people who actually buy guidebooks. Then, fast forward 80 years, with the advent of internet and globalization, everyone gets to be pretentious.

Well, “pretentious” implies a lack of substance, which is inaccurate in many cases. Let’s replace that with “transcendent.”

...

This is yet another article which, after reading, you will find that nothing has been gained.

In terms of current political positions, the categorization of “liberal” and “conservative” are deeply troublesome and practically inefficient.

Yes, there is a polarization of the political spectrum with these two terms as the “poles”. While the political pattern of demographics gravitating toward two opposing ideologies are common, and is what caused these two broad categorizations in the first place, the existence of these two categories is contributing to further polarization. This is the troubling aspect.

As for inefficiency, swiping someone or some group under either “liberal” or “conservative” category simply has too much room for misunderstandings. After all, a “conservative” in Maryland and a “conservative” in South Carolina have very different views; but on the national level...