Transverse Slice
@transverseslice.bsky.social
Wanted for crimes against arithmetic. DMs open.
created November 11, 2024
193 followers 36 following 1,341 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Tom Cox (@dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social) reposted
A little while ago, my parents' cat Bridget went missing. As the weeks dragged on, they became extremely worried. My dad devised a way to distract himself: he began to paint Bridget's adventures, imagining her travelling through time and popping up in some of art and music's most iconic scenes.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
From the FT comments section:
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Might need to put my VIX enjoooyer (read: LARPer) hat back on.
kit sparks 🇨🇦 (@kitsparks.bsky.social) reposted
did you know nearly half of all parents are women
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Actual backsliding this time. *sigh*
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
In NYT bestseller form (it’s actually a fun book to read).
George Pearkes (@peark.es) reposted reply parent
Distribution of income is indeed a separate conversation from level of total income but there are reasons today’s lowest income workers are fabulously wealthy compared to those a century ago and pretending it’s not because of higher capital intensity and total factor productivity is lying to people.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Can't help but comment that this is a very fitting post for anyone with that particular handle (sincere compliment).
Havelock Vetinari (@havelockvetinari.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Finiteness is not the point nor the purpose of money. Money supply should follow the amount of goods and services that can be produced in the economy. Money>GDP=inflation. Money
Michelle (@footnoted.bsky.social) reposted
As a mom and a dog lover, what happened here is deeply disturbing. Taking an 18 year-old HS student walking his dog and then setting the dog free on busy Sepulveda Blvd. Is doubly disgusting. www.gofundme.com/f/help-suppo...
Andrew Papenheim (@papenhe.im) reposted
all he's asked is for a fair herring
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Move fast and break things. Right?! Right?! That company is just a pox on civilization.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
I had been under the impression that this was just a social media joke. But it's real?! apnews.com/photo-galler...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Anyway, $NPK backlog is now about $1.4B.
muskisatotalPOS (@muskisatotalpos.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
No cases if you don't test 😏
Keubiko 🇨🇦🇺🇸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇺🇦💪 (@keubiko.bsky.social) reposted
Not a loose if you don't look.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
PhD?! And I thought I had seen PhDs as bad as they could get already.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Seppuku it is.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Too far. Too far. I can forgive hating on Vanguard (seriously?), might even approve of anti-Oreo propaganda. But dont you dare give my precious Reese's a funny look.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
I would allow it if it was just anti-Oreo propaganda. But I will fight to the death anyone who even hints at going after Reese's peanut buttercups.
Karthik Sankaran (@rajakorman.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
bsky.app/profile/raja...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
I think most people have a hard time grasping any dollar number that is say 100x their net worth. Anything above that is just "big number", but hard to distinguish between 1000x bigger vs 10,000x bigger. All just "it's big". No sense of relative scale.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Problem is, occasionally you'll run into a maniac who spent a good yr in grad school sleeping w/ said tome under their pillow and has a very good idea of what is and (more importantly) isn't in there... and who may have at some point badgered the original contributors to said tome. Yes, I'm angry.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
and then, ofc, we have the venerable "trick": if you have a plausible sounding assertion that you want to use, but don't understand, make a reference to/cite a difficult 800 page tome in French on the topic. Make sure though that you don't provide specific chapter/verse. Just general reference..
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
The assertion is so manifestly self-evident that no author feels the need to provide an argument or reference/citation w/ the details. But when you specifically bug someone about it, "I am too busy with other things to sort out the details". In other words, bullshit argument by intimidation. fml
heartofthesea.bsky.social (@heartofthesea.bsky.social) reposted
why is Wilscot not a very good business but Ashtead and URI are good businesses? why is the type of equipment that URI/Ashtead offer for rent more allowing of high ROICs?
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
It may look like backsliding, but it’s minuscule progress (intervals are longer, rest periods shorter).
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
* - pressures too great to *not* cut a few corners. (Hopefully my meaning is clear. Dont speak english too good or something).
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
...come from a handful of (generally older European) people. Publication pressures in technical fields are much too great for humans to (understandably) "cut a few corners" especially in America.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Personally, I think peer review has been effectively dead for a much longer time than people appreciate. I know of waaay too many false statements in heavily cited, published in the top journals, by community "heavyweights" papers to feel comfortable with results that I cant reproduce myself or...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
...devolving to the old days of, if you want a real answer you need to travel somewhere, knock on a door and harass someone in person. Enshittification of the internet or something.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Once upon a time you could post a question to Stack Exchange/MathOverflow (and before that sci.math) and get real answers after a pretty short wait. Now it takes the better part of a day to post a question in a coherent way, and you get nothing but crickets. Somehow the world seems to be...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
This has been and will continue to be a snowballing problem. There is a dark side to "send your paper to an editor you know". www.science.org/content/arti...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Flashbacks to Boardwalk Pipeline Partners and the Tisches.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Fingies crossed that they walk the talk. $NRP
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Fwiw, I am a U.S. citizen and have refused (pre-current admin) to answer any survey question that asks for race/ethnicity/sexual orientation/skin color. I have always been paranoid that way. I would imagine that my normally over the board paranoia is more average these days.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
This is a very difficult situation for a CEO to deal with. Must be awarded sufficient compensation to manage this mess. Think $30B should do it.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
...there needs to be more of an awareness that (at least as it stands currently) these are extremely unreliable narrators with an almost sociopathic tendency to lie in order to please. Although, maybe anthropomorphizing them is also problematic in itself.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
often blindly used as reasoning tools. "Figure this out for me" vs "find me information about". Ofc, can argue that we have always had similar problems even with paper (if it's in print by an author with credentials then it must be true). I dont think people who use LLMs should be mocked, but...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
I have a lot of sympathy for your point of view. OTOH I do think (maybe incorrectly) that there is a (dangerous?) difference between the advent of paper (or even search/internet) vs ChatGPT/LLMs as tools. Paper/search have mainly been used as memory aids/knowledge repositories. LLMs seem to be...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Unfortunately, getting closer by the day.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Divvie yield north of 7% Definitely boomer co.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Damnit! I did not need to know that about Morgan.
Dan Davies (@dsquareddigest.bsky.social) reposted
This is a war crime.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
On the flip side, it's the first time I have traveled within the country with my passport within reach. For context, I didn't feel the need even in the immediate aftermath of Sep 11.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Pfft. Panican.
Dan Davies (@dsquareddigest.bsky.social) reposted
At the 'stack, I expand thoughts on bats, newts and regulation backofmind.substack.com/p/toward-a-t...
More Abstract Popehat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) reposted
Radley Balko is always worth reading, but when he talks about police militarization, he’s speaking as one of the most qualified journalists we have. He’s rather apocalyptic about where we are with a huge ICE force. He’s right. open.substack.com/pub/radleyba...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Driving through some backroads in Wisconsin at the moment. Really warms my heart to see patches of the landscape just completely papered over with solar panels.
Dan Davies (@dsquareddigest.bsky.social) reposted
I would take this much further - any university where there is evidence of sufficient "elite" status to support an industry of admissions consultants should be considered prima facie socially destructive and measures taken to shut down its undergraduate class and transition to a research Institute.
Anadarko (@anadarkocapital.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
Tesla is the checking account. SpaceX is the savings account
QuoProQuid (@quoproquid.bsky.social) reposted
in 1967, senators rfk and joseph clark took a tour of the mississippi delta. they were horrified by the sheer scale of poverty, malnutrition, and neglect. their report caused a national scandal. the scenes haunted kennedy; he considered it the worst thing he'd seen in his life.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Just absolutely butchered everything. Not just the general universe, but also style of writing - feel like my 11yr old self would be cringing at the writing style too.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
I read Anderson before (Thrawn series). Liked them. Think the entire body of the new Dune sequels/prequels is just a money grab - which I am ok with as long as you get decent books out of it. I blame it all on the son (note: didn’t mention Anderson in top post).
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Every damn one of the prequels/sequels written by Brian Herbert is terrible. Every single one. And yes, I am angry about it.
herman mark schwartz (@thunen.bsky.social) reposted
AI is going to kill us but not for the usually cited reasons. Stupid people doing stupid things justified by AI hallucinations.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
All well and good, but the insurance issue isn't going to be settled till the "who's liable if something bad happens" has been tested in courts. Ofc, this applies to all entities peddling self-driving. Will be a painfully slow and uncertain state by state process is my guess.
Michael Clemens (@mclem.org) reposted
The White House has ordered the US Dept. of Justice to prioritize denaturalization: voiding the citizenship of US citizens. Who will it denaturalize? "Any" case that it "determines to be sufficiently important". Point 10 leaves the criteria opaque and arbitrary. substack.com/redirect/169...
More Abstract Popehat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
/3 The main impediment to revoking citizenship for foreign-born adoptees has always been norm-based — that it’s such a freakishly shitty nativist thing to do that the government would never do it and the populace would never tolerate it. That’s not the America we live in now, if we ever did.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
I'd ask when you turned old enough to legally buy the hooch, but you are North Mexican. So probably as soon as you were out of the cradle?! That can't be it.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Year or so ago, pointed out to someone that a naturalized citizen would always be a 2nd class citizen in the sense that if the govt wanted to deport them, all they had to do was claim lying on the naturalization application. Truth irrelevant as *something* can always be found. Hate being Cassandra.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Money. People want independence and that means money (like it or not). I get it. It's depressing, but I get it.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
For reasons had to look up some colleagues from prev life. These are accomplished ppl w/ all the trappings - had tenure at household name universities, good prospects, etc. 2 are now working in crypto. 1 is in some sort of ad tech, another is a quant. Ruined my day. Totally depressed now.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Now sponsored by Fartcoin!
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
...advantage and all that fun stuff. I was promised a post-scarcity society by the bros and am just angry that it is nowhere in sight.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
I don't have a good answer (or much of a sensible thought). On the one hand, yes supply chain security for drugs is a big deal, build some factories here. OTOH, semiconductors, precision manufacturing, etc. etc. are also a big deal. Build it all here. But then there is such a thing as comparative...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
In other fun things to worry about. (via FT Alphaville) www.propublica.org/article/fda-...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Resident: Herr Doktor, the patient has venom contaminating the wound. What do we do?! Dr House: Hmm, let’s see what happens if we take refined venom and inject it straight into their heart. 🤡🤡🤡
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Hades 2 update came out a few days ago. Didn't notice it until now. As if I didn't have enough other stuff going on. Will play till my eyes bleed all the way through WWIII.
Bill McBride (@calculatedrisk.bsky.social) reposted
"Having good data is a [great] public good." Powell. Yes, invest more in Census, BEA, BLS, etc ...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Yup. www.theregister.com/2025/06/16/j...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Intervals again, but progress.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzW...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
We are all emerging market investors now.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
...to produce papers on the spot if I was out and about somewhere. I mean could you? Are you carrying your birth certificate or passport on you at all times? Do you even have a copy of your birth certificate (or a passport) at home? Drivers license and SSN card doesnt count.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Something I don't understand about "show us your papers". No one(?) carries their "papers" on them all the time. You don't carry your passport (with visa stamp) or green card on you all the time. You keep it locked in a safe at home. Heck, I am a citizen but don't "fit in". I'd not be able...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
This platform isn't dying. However, as far as I can tell, some niches don't have critical mass here. That is also partly a good thing - you don't have to worry about filtering a certain type of dangerous garbage.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Cashtags would be good. Images in DMs too. Unfortunately, I think without some ability to lock/make private accounts there are large contingents of Fintwit that will have a hard time moving here (compliance worries). Not that Fintwit has to be recreated here. It is what it is.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Lol, I have been here. Just not posting as much. Down a rabbit hole (offline). Too much information overload following more people. I have a hard time keeping up as it is (ditto on the bird app). I get that people look at few follows askance. But the alternative just doesnt work for me.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
...stuff than on here. Yadda, yadda, yadda. tldr; network effects are real.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
...still mainly on the bird app. If I have a dumb question about some financial niche, all I have to do is ask on there (even w/ a small locked account) and am almost guaranteed to get a couple of informative responses. Also, even w/ broken search on there, searching cashtags surfaces more useful...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
As someone who is posting a bit more on Twitter (despite the self-loathing coming from "helping" Musk), I'll say that the main issue (personal) is that posting into the void is all well and good, but you DO need *some* minimal interaction. For a lot of Fintwit type stuff, the communities are...
More Abstract Popehat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) reposted
I am really getting tired of the trend of “I was surprised when the leopards ate my face” confessional piece. It’s like an endless parade of self-pitying essays from dumb teens about “why it was a good idea for me to go into that dark basement in this slasher movie.”
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
Piranesi is very good. Of course, if you like it, you should also go read Borges.
No Sunk Costs (@nosunkcosts.bsky.social) reposted
There has been a lot of ink spilled by journos and thinkbois about “how did we get here” or “why did he win” and yet I’d argue the total nihilism and rank careerism evident in every paragraph of this piece is one of best guides to our current moment that I’ve ever read
Dan Davies (@dsquareddigest.bsky.social) reposted
it is a useful constraint on both right and left wing politics, and in many ways fundamental to the survival of civilization, that complete bastards often find it hard to work together.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Too many conspiracy theories that go along with all this. None of them particularly comforting.
Karthik Sankaran (@rajakorman.bsky.social) reposted
A country that has the hegemonic debtor’s privilege of being essentially immune to BoP crises and the hegemonic creditor’s privilege of imposing conditionality not just for concessional lending in its currency but also for access to that currency’s pipelines is moaning that it bears a burden. SMDH.
Joe Uchill (@joeuchill.bsky.social) reposted
A lot of people know about the Germans in the space program, but the more relevant engineer might be Qian Xuesen, the MIT/CalTech aerospace professor who co-founded JPL and was sent to recruit the Germans. We deported him the 1950s. He became the leader of China’s missile program.
Kevin Anchukaitis (@thirstygecko.bsky.social) reposted
Trump administration cuts to NSF will result in more than 200,000 FEWER people per year involved in basic science, training, and education - what should have been the next generation of US scientists. This isn't even eating your seed corn, it is setting your seed corn on fire and salting the earth.
Atul Gawande (@agawande.bsky.social) reposted
After Musk’s dismantling of USAID, deaths can be counted by the hundreds of thousands. “If there were justice in the world, Musk would never be able to repair his reputation, at least not without devoting the bulk of his fortune to easing the misery he’s engendered.“ www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
Where? The second one actually sounds like a fun one.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
I think CNRS, MPI, ETH, etc. have already upped their efforts in wooing people in the physical sciences. While I do think it’s harder than most people realize to shift the balance of power in R&D, 4 years of this is going to hurt. www.ft.com/content/9027...
Dr Stylite (@columnist.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
I've seen skeets you people wouldn't believe. Attack threads on fire off (the) shoulder of Orion. I watched C-bloots glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those skeets will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Karthik Sankaran (@rajakorman.bsky.social) reposted
Stop Saying Gold Standard As If It Means Anything Other Than An External Nominal Anchor Itself Wholly Dependent On The Intersection Of Geological Vagaries And Mining Technology!!!!!
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social) reply parent
The speech is very interesting. I had never thought of (national) banknotes in the context of the public being able to transact directly in central bank money.
GenevaGirl (@michellev.bsky.social) reposted
Excellent piece on stablecoins from @himself.bsky.social and @dsquareddigest.bsky.social. Philip Lane’s speech from a few months ago, referenced in the article, is well worth a read www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/da...
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
This book has been enjoyable. Surprisingly so. Contrary to the outward appearance, it isn't technical at all. Pop sci, but without the negative connotations. Think Asimov/Sagan or even Penrose (as opposed to Gleick). Got a couple of interesting perspectives out of it.
Transverse Slice (@transverseslice.bsky.social)
That's all very nice, but how about we get the capability to, I dunno, send images in DMs. Or some sort of bookmarks feature?! www.wired.com/story/big-in...