Author: Steve Ainslie

I posted something in the GenX subReddit that went viral. Within 2 hours, it had more than 13,000 views and dozens of comments. By the next day it was over 250K views, 3600 upvotes and 300 comments. I’ve pasted the post below. It was a simple nostalgic memory I had that morning. I wondered if…

My wife was a natural listener and empathizer. Everyone knew it – even strangers who had never met her before would make eye contact and the next thing you knew, they were sharing deeply personal secrets, fears and stories. I used to tease her about it because it happened everywhere: at the grocery store, walking…

China’s strength, speed and ability to manufacturer products and infrastructure has been a frequent topic of discussion on many of the business and news podcast I listen to. Often the speaker will gloss over China’s dictatorship, government control of business, slavery/poverty wages, and dissent crushing tactics saying something like, “…although China is a dictatorship that…

I have always taken pride in my ability to grind through difficulties. This ability is a point of pride and core to my identity. It has enabled me to get through many challenges in life: I could add to this list for hours, but you get the idea. I may not be fast. I may…

I started noticing something during Covid that I’ve now become hypersensitive to observing. The numbers quoted in breaking news stories are made up. At best, they are broad estimates made by a person with a modicum of relevant expertise. At worst, they are wild-ass guesses often based on a single-source and then repeatedly quoted by…

I’ve been listening to the “What We Spend” podcast lately. In it, the host interviews a normal person about their financial situation (expenses, education, job history, earnings etc.). For the next week, that person records an audio diary of all of their spending. The host then does a final interview with the guest discussing the…

Unavoidably, I have written my strongly held opinions about politics, current events, and politicians many times over the past 6 years. Less frequently, I’ve shared a few political opinions online on Reddit and even more rarely, on the solo forum and in comments on Youtube. In real-life conversations I’ll occasionally share my political opinions when…

I am currently reading “Eyewitness to History” by John Carey. This book is a compilation of “Civilization’s most momentous events come vibrantly alive in this magnificent collection of over three hundred eyewitness accounts spanning twenty-four turbulent centuries — remarkable recollections of battles, atrocities, disasters, coronations, assassinations and discoveries that shaped the course of history, all…

Back in the old days when I was a teenager hanging out with my friends, we’d share hilarious (to us) stories about getting drunk, doing silly stuff or seeing something that made us crack up with laughter. Occasionally, when the storyteller was out of breath from laughing so hard, he’d look up to see his…

A large number of podcasts that I listen to attempt to ascertain another person’s reason for doing something. This spans everything from politics to relationships to violence to charitable contributions to every other human behavior. Sometimes it cracks me up to hear pundits trying to parse the hidden meanings behind a politician’s tweet or, even…