Things I Learned - May 2025

+ notes on ksa

Hello and greetings from Philadelphia. Here is this month’s Things I Learned.

Things I Learned

1. The TSA considers peanut butter to be a liquid. (source)

2. Jane Street, the world’s most profitable trading firm, has no CEO. The company is informally led by a group of 30 or 40 senior executives. (source)

3. White asparagus and green asparagus are the same exact plant; white asparagus is simply created by growing the asparagus without access to sunlight. (source)

4. Both violent crime and property crime peaked in the US in 1991. (source)

5. Coney Island used to display premature born babies in incubators as a tourist attraction. (source)

6. Canadians make up a quarter of all foreign visitors to the US (source)

7. Berkshire Hathaway originated as a textile manufacturer, dating back to 1839 (source).

8. From 1983 to 2023, the percentage of American 30 years old who were married dropped from 80% to 45%.¹ (source)

9. Coconuts and potatoes can be mailed unwrapped through the US postal service, so long as you write the destination and return address either directly on the product or on a label affixed to the skin or husk. (source)

10. In the US, there are 62 times as many corporate bonds as there are stocks. (source)

11. Emirates was the first airlines in the world to introduce a personal entertainment system on its commercial aircraft, which it did in 1992. (source)

12. The largest private landowner in New York City is Columbia University (source)

13. In the US, it is not possible to copyright a recipe (i.e a list of ingredients); however you can apply to copyright a recipe if it “is accompanied by substantial literary expression.” (source).

14. In Saudi Arabia, charitable giving or fundraising without government approval is illegal (source.)

15. Virginia has the highest U.S. vanity plate penetration rate. (source)

16. More people take the MTA subway in a given day than fly domestically in the US. (source)

17. John Wilkes Booth was a fairly famous actor even before he shot Lincoln; many American households would have already known who he was, and his older brother was considered the most famous American actor of his era. (source).

Articles I Liked

• The Pour-igin of Species

• How to Find Ancient Assyrian Cities Using Economics

• Notes on Tunisia

Articles I Wrote

• Buy the dip: the trend that keeps stocks from crashing ft. this graph:

  

• What the failure of a superstar student reveals about economics ft. this graph:

  

Lastly…

I recently returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia, where I was visiting a friend in Riyadh. I wanted to jot down some quick notes.

• Saudi Arabia is very hot. I was there in May — before the heat of the summer — and virtually every day was above 100 F. Most of the events the country puts on (tennis matches, concerts, etc) all pause during the summer months. The country has done a fairly good job at installing an air conditioning apparatus (far better than the UK, where I basically have yet to find an apartment with AC). We made a short trip to Jeddah, where the beachfront offered a nice way to cool down, but I suspect the temperature will be a major obstacle to the Kingdom’s broader goals.

• The majority of Saudis I encountered wore a Thobe or Niqab (including, for example, every Uber driver). This attire is far more than I had seen in other places in the Middle East, though I gather this is fairly common in gulf countries. And other Arabs in Saudi, including Egyptians, wear western clothes. Wearing t-shirts was fine, but I did not see anyone wearing shorts (and one tourist I saw got told off for wearing shorts).

• The Kingdom is going through an immense construction phase as part of Vision 2030. Virtually every horizon is scattered with cranes all constructing megaprojects (amusement parks, malls, complexes, etc). The contrast between the construction projects and the literal desert on every horizon is striking.

• Many parts of life are still gender-segregated, including gyms, some restaurants, and sections of the subway. On public transit, though, the separation isn’t strictly between men and women, but rather between single men and women or families. For example, men can ride in the “women and families” car if they’re accompanying relatives

  

  Riding the “male” car of Riyadh’s new transit system.

• There’s a large number of ex-pats in Riyadh, especially European and Americans. Some are affiliated with diplomatic missions; others are there for business. Many find the 0% personal tax rates very appealing. Almost all live on these self-contained compounds in the city, many of which have pools, gyms, private security, etc.

• Snapchat is very popular in the country, including among adults.

• Bottled water is extremely plentiful and very cheap. Lots of places, including many restaurants, provided it for free. When it was sold it was ridiculously cheap (~10c).

• The e-governance of Saudi Arabia is pretty impressive. Digital alerts to all citizens, automatic resolution of car crashes through insurance systems, etc.

• The police drive Lucid Motors cars:

  

• The Saudi weekend is Friday and Saturday. Sunday is a workday.

• On every flight I took in, out, and within KSA, they played an Arabic prayer over the PA.

• Saudi (Arabic) coffee is yellowish-brown color.

• Although alcohol is technically illegal (more so than in, e.g., Dubai, where tourists can have it at hotels), it is pervasive, especially in expat and diplomatic communities. The police have a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. Most of the alcohol is, apparently, not official labels, but stuff closer to moonshine. Nonalcoholic beers are fairly common at the supermarket.

• It’s amusing seeing certain western / NYC-coded brands in Riyadh. The most surreal one I saw was NYC-brunch-favorite Sarabeths, with Saudis queued up outside. It reminded me of a Jake Anbinder tweet I saw a while back, “‘We had brunch at Riyadh Sadelle’s’ sounds like a Woody Allen bit”.

I have many more thoughts on the country, Vision 2030, stray observations, etc., but those are best left to longer conversations than to short bullet points. And I’m hoping to do some more travel notes as I continue to explore more places this summer.

Next week I’ll be graduating from my PhD, and will probably interrupt the regularly scheduled ‘Things I Learned’ for a post reflecting on graduate school.

Wishing everyone a pleasant June.

1. Glad to finally be in the majority!