Things I Learned - September 2023
💡 This is September’s edition of “Things I Learned.” I learned less stuff this month than last month, hence the shorter list.
In monopoly, the square most landed on (other than Jail) is Illinois Avenue (cite).
Of the more than 10,000 ETFs and mutual funds in the US, only 43% have at least one portfolio manager who owns shares of their own fund. (cite)
There has not been a fatal crash involving a major US airline since Februrary 2009. (cite)
28% of all paid workdays are now work from home (cite)
The largest soccer stadium in Europe would be the 9th largest college football stadium in the US (cite).
The Hard Rock Cafe is entirely owned by the Seminole tribe of Florida (cite)
If you are a bird, odds are that you are a chicken (cite)
90 percent of Italian ski slopes rely on artificial snowmaking, compared to 37 of French ski slopes. (cite)
Until 2022, firms in Switzerland were allowed to deduct bribery from their taxes. (cite)
Retail investors owned 50% of the London stock market in 1960, compared to 12% today. (cite)
Starbucks has enough customization options such that there are 383 billion ways one can order a latte (cite)
During Joe Dimaggio’s record-breaking 56 game hitting streak, Ted Williams had a higher batting average and on-base percentage. (cite)
Pre-pandemic, Apple bought 50 business class seats each day on the United route San Francisco to Shanghai. (cite).
Most of the volume of a sphere is close to the surface. For example, a sphere with radius 1 inch has almost 90% of its volume within 1/2 an inch of the surface (cite).
The entirety of continental south America lies east of Michigan (cite)
The revenue generated by Anguilla’s .ai domain — around $3 million per month — currently accounts for around a third of the government’s monthly budget. (cite)
Mexico’s gangs are the 5th biggest employer in the country (cite)
A day on Venus is longer than its year (cite)
The technology behind GPS was made available to the public by Ronald Reagan after an Korean airplane made a tracking error and got shot down by a Soviet missile. (cite)
The cleanliness of the Warsaw water system is monitored by clams. (cite)
In the Great Depression, US output contracted by 32%. For comparison, it contracted just 4% in the Great Recession and 10% during Covid. (cite)
The word “cheese” is one of 400 words that are only mentioned once in the bible (cite)
51% of first-time homebuyers in Italy do not take out mortgages (cite)
Graphs I Found Interesting
Why: I am of the view that issues surrounding Ivy League education get more attention than they merit. While Ivy League are (well) represented among SCOTUS justices and presidents, they are a small share of overall college students and CEOs.
Why: Drivers licenses, working for pay, dating, and alcohol are very different things, but the fact that use of them declined among teenagers to similar degrees and around the same time speaks to an interesting demographic change. I am not sure what the common factor is.
Why: To quote James Medlock: “The bottom 50%:
gained ~0 wealth between 1990 and 2010
lost 3/4 of their wealth in the Great Financial Crisis
Got back to 1990 levels of wealth by 2019
Actually made sustained gains during the pandemic era”
Why: Pretty bad that life expectancy in the US (a) is lower than 22 other countries (b) is so segmented by education (c) has declined in the past 3 years.
Why: In 1980, 18% of workers worked for firms that were less than 5 years old. By 2010 it was less than 8%.