RRR28: Political Exhaustion, AI Image Recognition Wins, WW2 Films, Inner Monologues, Portfolio Management, and the Cade Cunningham Manifesto
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Existing in Pennsylvania during an election cycle is pretty tiresome π΄.
Every day at about 4PM, the postal service throws about 10 (Iβm not joking) political ads through the mail slot on my door. Iβve also had four doorknockers that wanted to talk to me about my vote, which I donβt mind as much because itβs just volunteers who are eager to participate in the democratic process β.
If the NBA game Iβm watching cuts to commercial, I get absolutely bombarded with extremist political content. The ratio of political ads to non-political ads has to be something around 4:1.
As if the attack ads arenβt bad enough, the craziest ones Iβve seen are not about politics at allβ¦
Seems like a great ideaβ¦ π€’.
To be clear, we obviously should vote, but we should not engage in cheap political tactics which only serve to make engaging in our civic duty feel icky instead of fun or fulfilling.
*Update after originally writing this: The ad above was funded by a left-leaning PAC and it predominantly aired in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Atlanta. Guess it didnβt work too wellβ¦*
In Recent Timesβ¦
I recently stumbled upon an insane AI value-add while managing my fantasy basketball league's keeper system. As commissioner, I deal with some pretty over-the-top league participants, and unique administrative challenges that AI helped me solve in an incredible way.
Let me break down how our keeper system works:
Teams can keep up to 5 players from their previous season's roster
Each kept player's cost increases based on a scaled tax system relative to their original auction price
Only players you originally drafted are eligible to be kept (no waiver wire pickups or trade acquisitions)
Your total budget for the next season's auction is reduced by your keepers' costs
For example, if I drafted Jalen Brunson for $30 in our auction, keeping him would cost more the following season based on our scaling tax formula.
Every year, I've had to manually compile spreadsheets showing:
Each team's keeper-eligible players
Original draft costs
Calculated keeper values with scaled tax increases
Acquisition methods to verify eligibility
The process has always been painfully manual since ESPN's platform doesn't provide any API access or easy data export options. I'd spend hours copying data from various ESPN web pages into spreadsheets before I could even write the excel functions I needed.
But this year, I had a breakthrough moment π‘.
Instead of frustrating manual entry, I took screenshots of the relevant ESPN pages showing draft costs, acquisition methods, and roster information. I uploaded these to Claude and asked it to parse the information into a clean text file.
The results honestly blew me away. Outside of a couple minor hiccups with similar player names, Claude extracted the data with incredible accuracy. For fun, I even had it generate CSV files by creating web pages with export functionality β Claude literally created a workaround for something it doesnβt have the ability to generate π€£.
This little experiment showed me yet another way AI can eliminate mind-numbing busywork. If you are committed to reducing time spent on tedious tasks, you can pretty much always find a way with AI.
The fantasy basketball commissioner role just got a lot easier π.
Content Corner WWII Films Edition πππΊ
La Vita e Bella (1997)
Last weekend I hosted a little movie night and we watched this oldie but goodie.
It was an interesting watch because most of us had no idea what to expect. It started off objectively hilarious, but pivoted midway through to become dark, but also beautiful, at the same time. WARNING: minor spoilers below.
The story is about a Jewish man (Guido), who marries the woman of his dreams (Dora). When Guido and their son Giosue are whisked away to a labor camp, Dora follows them there. The plot becomes about whether Guido can keep his spirits lifted enough to use his sense of humor to keep he and his family alive until the war ends
The Pianist - Chopin Ballade in G Minor Scene (2002)
Again, minor spoilers below β β β .
The prior weekend I watched the Pianist. It was my fourth time watching it, and I got the same goosebumps I always do when WΕadysΕaw (Adrien Brody) lays down some of the most beautiful music youβve ever heard, all after going through hell on earth prior to bellying-up at the piano β an example of unwavering human resolve and spirit.
Without a doubt, my favorite part of the scene is how the music nearly perfectly suits the thoughts that must have been racing through the German officers head as the clock was striking midnight on a fever dream of violence and atrocities that he has been a part of. The perfect backdrop for a dark and nearly final introspection, mixed with the unbelievable reality that he was witnessing in the moment β that he had stumbled into a decrepit war-torn neighborhood and encountered a barely living holocaust survivor that was now playing a masterpiece on the piano.
Apparently before the film was shot, Brody was intensely practicing his keystrokes to make them look more believable and as if he was at the caliber of the real WΕadysΕaw Szpilman.
A must-watch film if you havenβt seen it.
Portfolio Management Habits
One of my friends and I are holding each other accountable on our personal investments.
For normal people that donβt invest for a living, the age old advice of sticking your money in index funds with low fees feels pretty wise.
But, because I have an uncontrollable urge to make my life more complicated than it needs to be, I do some single stock investing as well.
The reason that putting your money in index funds might be a better strategy is two fold:
Built in diversification so you are less likely to suffer crushing losses
You donβt need to actively manage and stay informed on several positions. You' can just bet on a group of companies / industries / economies and to some extent, set it and forget it
I like to invest in stocks as well because doing the deep research to truly understand these businesses and the industries they operate in, gives you a far deeper understanding of how business works. This has a ton of practical benefits.
Sometimes, it even gives you a better understanding of how the world works ππ·ββοΈπ¨.
Donβt get me wrong β I still keep a huge percentage of my investments in low cost funds that track major stock indices.
Yet, Iβm happy to take on the extra burden of risk and due diligence in order to continue down the path of lifelong learning π€.
Anyways, my friend and I are committing to the following:
Every week, one of us will present the other with a research brief on an investment weβre currently holding and have a discussion about it.
If after discussion (and potentially follow-ups), the investment holder still feels good about the position, they can move on to another holding for their next presentation.
After weβve done this for every asset we own (and cleaned house of anything we donβt want to hold anymore), we move into pitching the other person on an investment idea once a month or once every other month.
Weβre each only allowed to initiate new positions, or sell out of existing positions three times a year at maximum.
The idea is that:
Weβll get to know each investment weβre holding at an even deeper level than we did previously (or do enough research to see if our initial investment thesis is still intact)
Limiting buying and selling opportunities will help mitigate any impulse to chase a stock or panic sell something that we shouldnβt
Stupid? Unnecessary? A waste of time?
Potentially it could be all three, but weβre going to try it and see how it goes!
I did my first research brief on XPO Logistics and will be sharing some of it with the RRR family soon π.
I want to know β if you have individual investments outside of where you live / retirement accounts, how do you stay on top of it and try to make sound financial choices?
Do You Have an Inner Monologue?
I was re-reading RRR27, and I wanted to clarify with you something that I wrote:
Here are some simple reminders I realized Iβve been telling myself lately when my mind is getting anxious:
Itβs dumb to put people on an unrealistic pedestal
Outside of irreversible health problems, thereβs nothing you canβt solve. You have the internet
You probably wonβt care very much about this tomorrow if you get a good nights rest
Radically telling the truth (to yourself as well as others) will make you feel better
You arenβt as good at this as youβd like, but if you are just consistent, you will be
As I was processing what I wrote, though I think it perfectly describes what I was thinking through, it struck me that the sentence about realizing what Iβd been telling myself reads extremely weird.
I think many people, if not most, would have written something like, βHere are some simple reminders Iβve been telling myself latelyβ¦β
But for me, it took me a bit to realize what my thoughts meant, because I donβt have a constant inner monologue.
Essentially, I had a feeling that sort of led me to act / think / behave differently, without ever having told myself those things. Only after sitting down to write about that feeling was I able to put words to it. It was at that moment I realized what I had been βtellingβ myself all along.
I had a feeling I had written about this before, and look what I found in the original RRR βcoming soonβ post:
I am not someone with a conversational inner monologue. Iβm really looking forward to putting words together to describe my thoughts on various subjects as they come to me. My belief here is that if I take the time to unpack my feeling on something, I can turn it into a fully articulate idea / view / curiosity, for myself at the least, if not the reader.
It makes me wonder if I would enjoy hearing my own voice in my thoughts consistently, or if Iβm much happier this way π€.
The Cade Cunningham Manifesto: Recalibrating Expectations
When Cade Cunningham entered the NBA as the first overall pick in 2021, the comparisons were as lofty as can be. "Luka Doncic lite" was a common line.
In theory, just like Luka, Cade was a βjumboβ playmaker who could control the game with size, skill, and basketball IQ rather than explosive athleticism. While these comparisons at the time served to juice expectations and hype, they now cause many onlookers of Pistons basketball (ohβ¦ itβs just me in here?) to become overly pessimistic about Cunningham's development and future potential.
The Luka Doncic comparisons were always unfair.
Doncic arrived in the NBA as perhaps the most accomplished European prospect ever, having already won EuroLeague MVP as a teenager.
Cunningham, while intriguing, was a 19-year-old freshman who played well but didnβt absolutely dominate in college basketball. The expectation that he would seamlessly translate into an NBA superstar overlooked the adjustment period that most young players, especially primary ball handlers / creators, face.
Yet, Cunningham has demonstrated consistent progress in key areas:
His shot-making has improved significantly from his Rookie season
His playmaking reads are becoming more sophisticated, with better manipulation of defenders and improved timing on passes
He's showing better patience in the pick-and-roll, allowing plays to develop rather than forcing action
In addition to his development, the Pistons' recent offseason moves to add shooting and veteran experience are now providing Cunningham with a more professional environment to showcase his skills.
But as with the good, we are indeed compelled to acknowledge the ceilingβ¦
While Cunningham continues to develop, there are legitimate limitations that may prevent him from reaching the absolute highest tier of NBA stardom:
His lack of explosive athleticism makes it harder to consistently get all the way to the rim and finish plays
Despite his considerable size, he hasn't yet mastered how to consistently punish smaller defenders in mismatch situations. He lacks feel in this regard
He has a high turnover rate for someone that also doesnβt have considerably high-level playmaking ability
These factors suggest his ceiling might be closer to a multi-time All-Star rather than a perennial All-NBA selection - and that's perfectly fine.
The modern NBA has shown us that player development isn't linear, and careers can take unexpected turns with proper combination of work ethic and opportunity.
Cunningham was dealt a challenging hand β both in terms of the expectations placed on him and the tumultuous situation he entered in Detroit.
However, his steady improvement and expanding skillset suggest patience will be rewarded. While he may not become the transcendent superstar many projected on draft night, Cunningham is showing all the signs of developing into a very good NBA player who can be a second or third best player for a competitive team.
The key to blissful consumption of Pistons hoop is to judge Cunningham for who he is and who he's becoming, rather than measuring him against impossible standards or draft night comparisons.
Despite not living up to what was expected of him in his young NBA career, letβs remember that in another situation he would be a player worth celebrating rather than criticizing.
Hereβs a good video that came out on Cade just before the season started.