"But rocket science is arguably simpler than weight loss, in the sense that it involves less unpredictability and variation. We control how rockets are made, and they don’t change their material composition over time."
The composition of rockets do change over time. Small fractures, corrosion, wear-and-tear from reuse, and manufacturing defects can have catastrophic consequences. The exposure of O-rings to extreme cold, leading to the Challenger disaster, is one example.
The block-based visual programming system also looks similar to Scratch. I think kids still pick up valuable experience with basic logic, side-effects and weird cases like non-terminating loops.
I met a 10-year-old who made a cat-and-mouse game with Scratch. He was thrilled to explain to me that in a previous version of his game, touching the mouse would do infinite damage. He needed to throttle the damage function to 10 times/sec to get reasonable scores.
The issue here is there needs to be administrative mechanisms to match supply and distribution of assets to demand. If you give someone $20 worth of food, but what they really need is a place to sleep, then that's not an optimally distributed asset. They could maybe trade the food for a place to rest, but this will incur search, transaction, depreciation and negotiation costs. They won't get the full value of the asset.
With cash, the recipient gets $20 worth of value to spend on what they need most. They don't need to barter the asset they received, they can directly participate in consumer markets to get what they need. We also already have the mechanism to generate these cash flows, in the form of interest and dividends on capital assets.
It's important to start saving first and buy property only after you have a sustainable nest egg. The extra liquidity from saving helps in all scenarios: if you need to find a new rental, if you need a down payment, if tragedy strikes and you need to support a loved one.
If I had to list financial lessons for most Americans they would be:
1. Pay down high-interest debt. Nowadays that's 5%+. Anything above 10% is an emergency.
2. Save an emergency fund: 2-3 months living expenses. Put most of this in a high-yield savings account earning ~2% interest.
3. Look at retirement savings plans that are advantageous for your taxes. Tradtional IRAs, Roth IRAs and employer-match 401ks are a few places to start. Try to save at least 15-20% of your income this way.
4. Great job! Continue to build your emergency fund (to 4-6 months), pay down moderate-interest debt (3-5%), and contribute to retirement accounts.
5. Put extra cash in stock and bond index funds in a taxable account. You can use this money anytime but its value will fluctuate (hopefully growing long-term).
6. Saving for a house? Sock more money in that high-yield savings account to hit a 20% down payment for a home mortgage.
7. Now you're ready for OP's life lesson #1. Buy a house you can afford and keep saving.
I do truly hope insect biomass decline is uncorrelated to global climate change, and has more to do with local land use (farming, concrete, fertilizer, etc). That would mean we could make significant progress on restoring land-based insect biodiversity even with smaller community initiatives.
John Bogle created the index fund, and along with it a savings philosophy that enabled the average investor to build wealth by taking an appropriate amount of risk (with exposure to stock/bond markets) and minimizing fees.
The Bogleheads Wiki has great resources on topics related to savings, retirement and investing. Here are a couple entry points into what Bogle's method looks like:
The Motorola Razr M was an even smaller form factor with a 4.3" display. And all the iPhones from 3g to SE were outstanding in this now-extinct category, especially the 5s.
The 5s has the venerable status of being not only small, but one of the oldest currently-supported smartphones. At over 5 years old, it can still run respectably with iOS 12.
The thing about looking elsewhere is— what alternatives are there on the Android side?
The XZ2 Compact is only marginally smaller than the iPhone 7. At this point the 7 (Apple refurbished) is cheaper than even the XZ1 Compact and will probably be viable for longer with software updates. Many Android users consider the S8, Pixel and Essential to be "small phones" now.
Even though the SE is discontinued, it's still eligible for Apple's battery replacement program. So there's a level of long-term support there that most Android phones lack:
I'd argue Apple now has an iPhone Nano in its product line: the Apple Watch with LTE. Which is great, but still a generation or two away from being a well-rounded device (especially battery life).
Anyways, I'm surprised and annoyed that Android manufacturers aren't clawing for market share with a small, reasonably priced device. Except for Sony, who doesn't seem to be trying that hard in the US market.
Bitcoin isn't really attempting to fulfill the currency use-case anymore. It's pretty much sticking with digital gold. Likewise with Ethereum, the currency is primarily used to run the protocol. Low price volatility is not a pressing design goal for either system.
https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/02/keep-your...