2025.07.DisappearingMoment
My background contemplation this month has been about siblings. I am astonished by how different they can be. The way that some people seem more skeptical and others more credulous. The range of variability in how much they care what other people think of them. What they believe other people owe them and they owe others.
I have no idea if nature or nurture is a useful framework or continuum. What siblings believe and how they behave could be random or preordained. The signal may always hide behind noise.
In “The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville,” Warren Buffett wrote that, “the idea of buying dollar bills for 40 cents takes immediately to people or it doesn’t take at all. It’s like an inoculation. If it doesn’t grab a person right away, I find that you can talk to him for years and show him records, and it doesn’t make any difference. They just don’t seem able to grasp the concept, simple as it is…. I’ve never seen anyone who became a gradual convert over a ten-year period to this approach. It doesn’t seem to be a matter of IQ or academic training. It’s instant recognition, or it is nothing.”
It’s like an inoculation.
Over the past 25 years, I have read this essay a dozen times. I have internalized the idea that, for some things, we have “instant recognition” or “nothing.”
I forgot that Buffet compared it to an inoculation.
What started this contemplation about siblings was vaccines. What reinforced it was vaccines.
I have always appreciated the idea of buying a dollar for 40 cents. I know there are other ways to achieve similar aims. You can buy precious metals, cryptocurrency, or meme coins. Gamble on cards or sports or derivatives. Flip houses or stockpile apartments. Use private equity or capital to buy businesses and “make them more efficient”.
There are a lot of people who have made more than I will ever make by following paths that I would never consider. I trust that they are doing what is right for them. I worry about its toll on the rest of us.
Welcome to July 2025’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
Podcasts
I have reviewed 162 podcasts in Disappearing Moment. A lot of them were limited series. Others have ended or are dormant. These are the podcasts that I listen to every time they release a new episode:
- If Books Could Kill
- Kauffman Corner
- Money Stuff
- Nobody Asked Us with Des & Kara
- Weird Little Guys
I like podcasts that release new episodes at most weekly. I want them to be less than an hour long. One or two hosts who value empirical analysis and expertise. Minimal production.
If you have a podcast to recommend, I would be grateful. It feels like it is getting harder to find the kinds of podcasts that I like.
Nerdy Software
Signal has a good interface, and it’s convenient and secure. Use it to communicate with people you respect.
Free Font
Computer Modern Serif by Donald Knuth. Adapted for the Web by Christian Lawson-Perfect. Publish like an old scientist.
Bougie Products
We have three Sony SRS-XB100 Bluetooth speakers. They’re inexpensive, cute, durable, sustainable, and waterproof. They also pair with each other and sound good.
Personal Finance and Investing
Do you have family members that you like, and live far away? Visit them in person.
Reading
- Jen Christiansen and Meghan Bartels (edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier), “See Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science in These Handy Charts” (I Loved It): Good design saves lives.
- Deerhoof, “Bye Spotify” (I Loved It): “We don’t want our music killing people.” See also, “Why We Quit Spotify.”
- Sumana Harihareswara, “You Can Just Show Up” (I Liked It): “…the same thing happened over and over: the don't-bother-me body language in a passer-by changed once I said ‘judges,’ and they came over…”
- Kieran Healy, “American” (I Loved It): We hosted naturalization ceremonies at the Princeton Public Library when I worked there. They always made me cry. Fuck every fascist's specious claim to patriotism.
- Cathy O’Neil, “Why is Bernie Sanders touring Red States?” (I Liked It): “(Democrats) stopped thinking about voters. Instead they started looking at numbers, and polls, and focusing very narrowly on incremental elections….”
- Chelsea Troy, “The Homework is the Cheat Code: GenAI Policy in my Computer Science Graduate Classroom” (I Loved It): I appreciate teachers and could not do their job well. That does not make me sympathetic to claims that AI makes teaching any harder.
- Jon Paul Uritis, “Why Are There Still Seven Continents?” (I Liked It): I adore harmless diversions that make me question received wisdom. Harmless is doing the heavy lifting in that sentence.
- Kay Vellos, We Should Get Together (I Loved It): This newsletter is a rejection of parasocial media. I am not performing for you. I am inviting you to discuss our ideas, feelings, and art.
- Brie Wolfson, “Notes on 'Taste'” (I Liked It): What is the narrative equivalent of covers or remixes? Adaptations? Plagiarism? I want to refer to these rewrites as “glosses”. And start with this essay.
Survey
This is an experiment. Buttondown, my newsletter host, added surveys as a new feature.
Albini Engineered
Steve Albini was a recording engineer and musician. He died on May 7, 2024. Six months later, on November 25, Chicago dedicated part of a street to him: Steve Albini Way. At the ceremony, his widow, Heather Whinna, said something about him that has become a maxim for this newsletter.
It sounded like a directive for other people in their lives, but it wasn't. It was a directive for him in his life.
These are some of the albums that Albini recorded. They are not my favorites. These are albums I don’t know and want to learn.
Want to play along? There’s an app for that.
- Alpha Strategy, The Gurgler (2018)
- Bedhead, Transaction de Novo (1998)
- The Breeders , Title TK (2022)
- Bonnie "Prince" Billy, I See A Darkness (2012)
- Brainiac, Hissing Prigs in Static Couture (1998)
- Cloud Nothings, Attack on Memory (2012)
- Crain, Speed (1992)
- Danielson, Fetch the Compass Kids (2001)
- Decibelles, Rock Français (2019)
- Dirty Three, Ocean Songs (1998)
- Electrelane, The Power Out (2004)
- The Ex, Turn (2004)
- Fiddlehead, The Deaf Waiter (1994)
- Giddy Motors, Make it Pop! (2002)
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Yanqui U.X.O. (2002)
- High On Fire, Blessed Black Wings (2005)
- The Irradiates, Audio Mental Manipulation Device (2010)
- Jawbreaker, 24 Hour Revenge Therapy (1994)
- Killdozer, God Hears Pleas of the Innocent (1995)
- Low, Secret Name (1999) and Things We Lost in the Fire (2001)
- Mclusky, Mclusky Do Dallas (2002)
- Mogwai, My Father, My King (2001)
- Mono, You Are There (2008)
- My Disco, Paradise (2008)
- Nina Nastasia, Dogs (2001) and Run to Ruin (2003)
- Neurosis, Times of Grace (1999)
- The New Year, Newness Ends (2001)
- Scout Nibblett, The Calcination of Scout Niblett (2010)
- Owls , Owls (2001)
- Palace Music, Viva Last Blues (1995)
- Pegboy, Cha Cha Damore (1997)
- Pussy Galore, Dial 'M' for Motherfucker (1989)
- QuiverLip, Off the Coast (2003)
- Risk/Reward, Risk/Reward (2014)
- Songs: Ohia, The Magnolia Electric Co. (2003)
- Sparklehorse, Bird Machine (2023)
- Sunn O))), Life Metal (2019)
- Tar, Over and Out (1995)
- Three Second Kiss, Long Distance (2008)
- Uzeda, Different Section Wires (1998)
- Valina, A Tempo! A Tempo! (2008)
- Shannon Wright, Over the Sun (2004)
- XBXRX, Gop ist Minee (2000)
- Yourcodenameis:Milo, All Roads to Fault (2004)
- Zao, The Fear is What Keeps Us Here (2006)
- Zeni Geva, Total Castration (1991)
Thank you for spending a few moments with me. I appreciate you and look forward to corresponding again next month.
Brett
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