Sam Mendelson

Financial inclusion expert, writer and wanderer

[Sam Mendelson @MendelsonSam]

@HunterBiden My kid brother died of a fentanyl overdose on Xmas, 2018. I wish he’d been able to hear from you Hunter. Good for you.

[Hugh Laurie @hughlaurie]

Thanks for your critique, Janet. We actually tried a couple of episodes where House (Hugh Laurie) (please put the brackets in the right place) gets it right first time, but they were only 6 minutes long. NBC weren’t happy. Then we tried some where House never gets it right and the patient dies. The audience wasn’t happy.

One could apply your trenchant analysis to other art forms: JS Bach wrote 30 Goldberg variations on the same chord structure; Frida Kahlo painted 50 portraits of herself; Henry Moore, what??

The point is, or was, variations on a theme; if all you see is hospital, medical blah blah, then it wasn’t meant for you.

Nonetheless, I look forward to your first novel!

[Ryle Nugent @ryle_nugent]

This is glorious. I’ve read it 3 times already and it was only published 71 minutes ago.

Paul Howard: You’ll spend the rest of your life chasing the way your first World Cup made you feel

https://t.co/bv1eZRhr9w

[Bronwyn Millar @gingerhaderach]

Our child got a phone age 11, in 2020 when she was SO lonely and isolated. We'd just moved countries and the local kids were being shits. Within 10 days she "came out" trans. We didn't know WTF was going on but when the school found out they sent us for mandatory "counselling". The 2 psychs (wearing masks on zoom) spoke with such thick Cork accents we didn't understand most of it. They then asked to speak to her alone. I listened at the door. They didn't even ask about the horrible bullying the local kids had put her through, and she spent 15 mins saying "pardon" because she couldn't understand them. Then they told us she was trans and we had to affirm or she would khs. Sent us breastbinding info and sent our GP a letter telling him to refer us to the gender clinic. They put our name down for some bizarre "Big brother" type programme where an adult trans person, a total stranger, with no clinical training, was going to pick her up and take her for an ice cream so she could talk about her feelings. We of course refused, but as the Irish CPS has a horrific reputation for removing kids whose parents don't toe the line, we were deeply uneasy about all of it. We left Ireland shortly after that, returning to South Africa, where the govt does NOT trans your kids.

We found out that she had been groomed online, on her phone on tiktok and other social media, lovebombed by ADULT groomers like Fuzzz99, Jacob Tobia and Jeffrey Marsh (If you think you might be trans, YOU ARE TRANS! Cut off any family that doesn't affirm the REAL you... etc). She begged for blockers and T, which we refused. We did the pronouns and the name change but were very firm that hormones etc were NOT on the table. Natural puberty hit like a freight train. She started wearing push up bras for the breasts she used to tell us she wanted amputated, nails, hair, make up became super NB. Noticing boys, falling in love with her body.

She's now the MOST FEMME creature imaginable, has a long term boyfriend, is fantasising about the names she wants to call the children she told us she was never going to want.

Of the 14 trans kids in the support group we joined in 2022, only ONE is still "trans" and he's a super femme, super autistic "aromantic" and "asexual" gay boy. One of the other girls now has a deep voice and facial hair and is furious at her parents for puttin her on the T she begged for - that she had said she would khs without.

We have been through absolute hell. But thank the Goddess I trusted my instincts and KNEW MY CHILD. It was a trend, a gaslighting cult, an inhuman attack on the family. We were told we were bigots for daring to question any of it. Affirm, affirm, affirm was the only avenue allowed. The mothers have their voices back now and we are NOT GOING TO SHUT UP ANY LONGER.

[Sam Mendelson @MendelsonSam]

@howie_hua it's crazy and unintuitive to me that that probability isn't proportional to n. You'd think that the bigger the deck - the more flips - the greater the chance of a match, but no. Seems once you get to 7 it's effectively stuck. Remarkable. thanks!

[Katherine Argent @effthealgorithm]

Search is full of ads and wrong answers. Every other email is an ad. Prime Video charges you and shows ads. Paramount? Ads. Peacock? YouTube? Hulu? Ads followed by more ads. Netflix full of ads. Meta and X, every other thing is an ad. Pinterest is nothing but ads. AI is in everything. AI finishes sentences incorrectly and won’t stop. AI reads your email and search history to target you with more ads. Every time you open an app or visit a site there’s an update making it worse. In a hurry? First, click here to agree to terms you don’t have time to read and must accept. You need an account to do that. Change your temporary password. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email and enter that code. Now use a passkey. Your password is too simple to remember. Change it. No, not like that. Now log on. Enter your 2FA code. Check your email for a code… Welcome back! We’ve updated our terms of service and privacy policy (you have none). Subscribe to the site. Subscribe to Netflix. Subscribe to toilet paper. Subscribe to these groceries. Pay a membership fee for the right to subscribe then tip your driver who delivers the subscriptions your membership lets you subscribe to. Time to work? We’ve got to update your laptop and will slow down everything you do until you agree to update. But first, click here to agree. Update installed — your laptop’s broken now. It doesn’t matter, since your boss just replaced you with AI. Go to your phone to complain on social media. Wait, your phone needs an update so we can add more AI. Click here. Oh sorry, your phone can’t handle this update. Now it’s useless. Go get the newest phone. Here’s a text from a friend, an email, a voice mail they left three days ago but you didn’t see until now because of sync problems with the cloud. It’s their GoFundMe. Their MLM. Their Patreon. Never mind, you didn’t respond to their text within 9 minutes and now you’re no longer friends. They blocked you. Make new friends. Download this app to find people in your area. In your neighborhood. On your street. Two doors down from you. Do you know this person yet, we think you’d get along. You need an account to use this app. That username is taken. Enter a password. Not that one, you used it on another site. You need to be connected to WiFi to download the app. Allow the app to connect to other devices on your network. Allow the app to access your contacts, know your precise location, store your credit card details. Oops, sorry, we got hacked now all that info is available on the web. There’s a class action suit. You can join. It’ll take a decade to get your $3.73 share of the ten billion settlement. We’ll send it via PayPal or deposit it to your bank, just tell us those details. Oh no, another hack. That info is circulating now, too. Here’s a spam call, a spam email, a spam text. Why are you angry? Why are you talking about getting rid of your phone? Why don’t you like AI, it lets us make all of this easier? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? This is progress. You’ll be left behind. Do you want to be left behind? Do you???

[Ethan Brooks @alt_w_v_g]

My wife mentioned a nice private school over dinner this week
She said the campus was beautiful
I asked what's the tuition
She said we should look at it as an investment in him not a cost
I made a note
She said don't make a note
I said I always make notes
She said this isn't a deal
I said everything is a deal
She closed her eyes

She said we'd discuss it Saturday
I agreed

Saturday 7:02am
She came downstairs in her Saturday robe
Coffee in hand
I had my cargo shorts on

The dining room had been cleared
The projector was on
The analyst was at the head of the table
Quarter zip on, three iced coffees, a legal pad, and two laptops
He had been there since 6:44am

I texted him at 11:14pm Friday
The text said dining room 6:45am bring the model
He sent a thumbs up

My wife stopped in the doorway
She said what is this
I said you said you wanted to discuss it
She said this is not a discussion
I did not respond
She sat down anyway

The analyst stood
He said good morning ma'am
She did not respond
He sat back down
A printed deck in front of each seat
A fourth copy in case

Slide 1 Tuition Schedule
$38,500 per year
Thirteen years
$500,500 nominal
Before escalators
The school has raised tuition 4.2% per year for a decade
With escalators $648,000
My wife said okay
I said I'm not done

Slide 2 Opportunity Cost
Even before escalators
$38,500 invested annually
10% nominal return
S&P long-run average since 1928
By his eighteenth birthday $944,000
My wife said we can afford it
I said I know that's not the slide

Slide 3 Terminal Value at Age 65
$83 million
She was quiet

The analyst slid the sensitivity tables across the table
8% return $31 million
10% return $83 million
12% return $222 million
She did not look

She said this isn't about money
I said it's always about money
She said no it isn't
I said then what is it about
She did not answer

She said you can't put a dollar value on his teachers his classmates his environment
I said I can the analyst already did slide 6
He flipped to slide 6
She did not look

She said the school is the best in the city
I said best is a feeling
She said it produces the best students
I said the students were already the best before they got there

She said our son deserves it
I said our son deserves $83 million

My son walked in
He is five
Dinosaur pajamas
He looked at the projector
He looked at the open deck on the table
He looked at slide 3
He said are we modeling pre-tax or after-tax
The analyst opened a new tab
My wife looked at the ceiling

He said what's the discount rate
The analyst set down his pen
She closed her eyes

He said is this the same return assumption from the 529 conversation
The analyst stopped typing
He looked at me
I did not say anything

She stood up
Sat back down

He said dad can I help
I said yes
He pulled up a chair
The analyst handed him a printout
He started reading

My wife watched him read
She watched him for a long time

She said his name
He looked up
She said do you like school
He said the work is too easy and the kids don't ask questions

She did not respond
She looked at the ceiling
She walked out of the room

The analyst started packing up
He said should I follow up Monday sir
I said no follow up needed

He'll be fine

Sent from my iPhone

[Clare Quilty @cquilty52]

BREAKING: Evidence suggests Jewish students rig their exam results by secretly memorising all they've learnt the night before exams. Exam boards say no rules have been broken, but Irish parents have pulled their children out of schools until the Jewish manipulation is stopped

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

Same man. Same child pretending to be dead. Same hand gestures and fake tears. Same fake plea for help.

Different background scene. Different clothes. Different fake acting by the child.

This is Pallywood.
And the world fell for it.

Without the lies, Palestine dies.

H/T to the amazing @GAZAWOOD1

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

⚠️ EXTREMELY GRAPHIC ⚠️

43 seconds of October 7, 2023.

This is what Hamas did to innocent civilians… babies, families, young people at a music festival.

Slaughtered. Shot. Stabbed. Burned. Raped. Kidnapped.

The world wants us to move on.
We can’t. We never will.

Never Forgive.
Never Forget.

[Sam Mendelson @MendelsonSam]

@joshglancy @thetimes This really moved me Josh. Thank you.

[Yael Bar tur @yaelbt]

Wow wow wow. Take a minute to watch these incredibly powerful remarks from a Rabbi in London.

I’ll add - if you’ve never had to send a loved one an “are you ok?” text after yet another attack, kindly stfu.

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

Like that famous scene from the film “Love Actually”…

This is “Hamas Actually - the infidel edition”

Western liberals really are gullible useful idiots

[Eyal Yakoby @EYakoby]

BREAKING: The suspect is being treated by Hatzola paramedics.

He just tried to cut the throats of two Jews people.

Remember last month when the internet said Hatzola only treats jews? Well they’re currently treating a man who attempted to stab jews.

[Dr Alan Bleaching. RBLP GradDipHlthS DPhil(x) @alanbleaching]

One of the funniest things about this is that they gave a bunch of professional victims literal victim cards and they then spend all their time arguing over who got to play their victim card and when. Brilliant.

[Sam Mendelson @MendelsonSam]

@EtanSmallman @nicolelampert Straw that breaks the proverbial. Have just cancelled membership after 13 years. I expect there are many like me.

[Giles Coren @gilescoren]

Wow, this is some mad fucking antisemitism from @guardian - and a truly honking piece of restaurant writing into the bargain.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🚨🇮🇱🇮🇷 In what might be some of the most powerful footage to come out of today, Israelis and Iranians are dancing and celebrating side by side in the streets of London.

[RS Archer @archer_rs]

Our small contribution, my wife went shopping earlier today and bought Israeli tahini, hummus, Medjool dates, couscous and some avocados.

The actions of some nasty little antisemites in Bristol and Brighton UK drove us to do this.

#Israel

[Mor Edge Insight @MorEdge_Insight]

Van Jones nails it