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The first time I met Steven Seagal, it was in the lobby of a posh hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. He came downstairs sharply dressed, complete with his yellow-tinged ‘Tony Stark’ sunglasses, ready to hit the nightclubs for the evening. My friend Adam introduced us. Steven bowed to me, and, slightly puzzled, I bowed
75 years ago this month, a group of 744 delegates from around the world gathered at the very posh Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire to build a brand new global financial system. The year was 1944. World War II was still raging in Europe and the Pacific. But with the successful invasion
Here’s our weekly roll-up of the most absurd and concerning articles we came across this week from both sides of the Atlantic. 8th grader gets 3-week suspension for picture of airsoft gun Airsoft guns are toy guns which shoot little plastic BBs. As long as kids are wearing safety glasses, these guns pose
Every time I come to Singapore I can’t help but marvel at its spectacular rise. I have a number of local friends who have been living here since independence in the 1960s, and they tell me the most incredible stories about how impoverished and underdeveloped Singapore was back then. Things were so backward
Here’s our Friday roll up of the most absurd and concerning articles we came across this week. US Government officials consider banning end to end encryption Leaders from US government agencies are rumored to be pursuing a ban on end-to-end encryption. Tech companies like Apple and Google often build encryption into their technology
In October of 2008, a plumber from Ohio named Joseph Wurzelbacher made national headlines when he confronted US Presidential Candidate (then Senator) Barack Obama at a campaign rally: “Your tax plan’s going to tax me more,” Joe told Senator Obama. The confrontation sparked a sensation, and Joe became known nationwide as “Joe the
The average Westerner who hasn’t traveled very much believes Moscow to be a cold, bleak, desolate capital city that’s filled with Stalinist-era architecture and a population that lives in utter misery. But the reality of this place is nearly the complete opposite. Moscow is a bright, beautiful, cosmopolitan city. I’ve always found Moscow
Here’s our Friday roll up of the most absurd and concerning articles we came across this week. Jail time for offensive image in Great Britain Recently some idiot teenager in Britain edited an image of Prince Harry into something that was stupid and racist. This moron clearly intended to be offensive. His photo
In the spring of 1937, a young Scottish diplomat named Fitzroy Maclean embarked on a two year journey across the Soviet Union. It was something that no Westerner had done in more than two decades, and this was well before any modern conveniences, so Maclean had to travel by any means necessary– including
Here’s our Friday roll up of the most absurd and concerning articles we came across this week. UK bans advertisement with “harmful gender stereotypes” UK bureaucrats will now decide if ads and commercials are too offensive. New regulations ban advertisements with gender stereotypes “that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread
Earlier this week the United Nation’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs released its 2019 world population report… and there were a number of very interesting findings: 1) World population continues to grow slightly, but the rate of global population growth is at the lowest level since at least 1950. 2) Global population
On January 3, 2009, about six months before I launched Sovereign Man more than a decade ago, the Bitcoin blockchain came into existence. 50 bitcoins were mined by the network’s creator in that very first transaction. And within a few days, the first open-source Bitcoin software was released. Few people noticed. By October
In the year 705 AD, a Japanese entrepreneur named Fujiwara Mahito opened a small inn at the foot of the Akaishi mountains in central Honshu. At the time, few people probably thought the inn would last very long. Fujiwara didn’t know anything about being an innkeeper… he had been groomed to follow in
For this Friday’s roll-up of bizarre and disturbing stories from around the world, we found ourselves zeroing-in on some ridiculous data privacy violations. Soccer app spies on fans The Spanish soccer (sigh, OK– football) league, known by fans around the world simply as La Liga, knew that most pubs across Europe showing its
It was only a few days ago that the Japanese government’s Financial Services Agency published its oddly-titled “Annual Report on Ageing Society”. (Like everything in Japan, English translations often hilariously miss the mark…) This is a report that the Ministry of Finance puts out every year. And as the name implies, the report
