Last summer, my then-boyfriend—not an economist but, as it turned out, a very rational kind of asshole—drove me to the airport to San Francisco. As I trying to connect up Apple Music in the car, I frustratingly struggled with his ancient iPhone 8. He muttered that “the new one is already ordered.” I nodded. Fine. Weeks later, I landed back from Yale, and he was there to pick me up again—with the same cracked iPhone 8. He explained that he had read online that the iPhone 16 would be released soon, with significantly better performance and the same launch price as the current iPhone 15. So, being the rational agent he is, he canceled the order and decided to wait. ...

Ariana Grande’s new album Eternal Sunshine (Deluxe) is released today, with six additional songs. Eternal Sunshine Deluxe Ariana Grande has always been my favorite pop singer. Her new album as usual, is extremely complicatedly layered and emotionally authentic. I bet for at least 8.0 in pitchfork. AG is setting the upperbound of pop music. Because, pop music, just like every other genres of art, are constrained by their definition, structure, and functionality. Yes, artists are trying to push boundaries all the time. But pop is pop—you’ll always see structured blocks, repeating melodies and steady, unchanging beats in all these 3-mins long pop songs. So sorry, popular music’s landscape is too saturated and possibly has peaked over the past 20 years. ...

The Art Institute of Chicago boasts one of the world’s finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. If you’re a frequent gallery visitor, one Monet won’t be too much of a surprise. But a walls of Monet’s Wheatstacks would still be impressive… The following is one of my favourite. One of Monet’s 25 Haystacks painting (1888-1891). Btw, really good short introduction for impressionism: The Triumph of Impressionism In the 1870s, a group of young artists, who would be known as the Impressionists, redefined what a painting should be. At the time, ordinary people and places were not considered important subjects, and paintings were supposed to look as if the artist had labored on the work over a long period of time. The Impressionists disagreed with these conventions; both their choices in subject and style defied the strict rules of the official art system. These artists were united by their interest in representing the modern world of their daily experience-particularly the parks, boulevards, and public spaces found in Paris, its suburbs, and the countryside. Their vibrant colors and loose, tactile brushstrokes were meant to show that they worked outdoors rather than confined within the studio. The success of the Impressionists helped give future artists more freedom to choose their own subjects and experiment with new styles. ...

I am at Chicago Booth’s PhD admits visit day. Professor Budish suggested a really useful advice in terms of how to choose where to go to “Go and read (thoroughly) the papers of the professors you want to work with at all places you want to go to. Then you’ll know.” Professor Pernoud gave a hint on being successful PhD student: don’t procrastinate, submit papers asap. Booth’s ‘winter garden’ ...

Do Chinese people really drink that much milk tea? Mar 25 2025: Chinese tea chain Chagee filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Tuesday, seeking to trade on the Nasdaq using the ticker “CHA.” Since its founding in 2017, the company has grown to more than 6,400 teahouses across China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing. Roughly 97% of its locations are in China. ...

Match Day happens on the third Friday in March (March 21, 2025, in this year’s case). On Monday of that week, students learn whether they’ve matched with a residency program but they don’t yet find out where they have matched. This Match status notification is sent by email at 10am ET on Monday. (Students who do not match by Monday may apply for supplemental offers that concludes on Thursday, the day prior to Match Day.) ...

Facebook’s former Director of Public Policy Sarah Wynn-Williams published a memoir about her experience working at Facebook (Meta). The book is titled Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism. The book is officially published on March 11, 2025. On the day of the book’s publication, Meta filed an arbitration demand. Just a day later, the book is ‘banned’—arbitrator temporarily ordered Sarah not to make any “disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments” related to Meta and to stop promoting the book. ...

Here are two interesting articles I came across, about the ballet choreographer George Balanchine: How Balanchine saw the music and heard the dance Tchaikovsky and Balanchine: Partners in Dance Balanchine’s choreography is great with musicality. His love for Tchaikovsky well explains this. (Note: Ballenchine borns 10 years after Tchaikovsky passed away). For Balanchine, the process of creating ballets to Tchaikovsky’s music was like learning from a beloved mentor. “Without Tchaikovsky’s help, I would not have managed… I’m not smart enough for it.” ...

Pas de deux is a dance duet in which two (typically male + female) dancers perform ballet step together. A strictly classical balletic pas de deux follows a fixed pattern: a supported adagio, a solo male variation, a solo female variation, and the final flashy coda. The Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux is interesting for its music origin. The music is composed by Tchaikovsky, obviously. But actually it’s part of Swan Lake. ...

I’m TAing Discrete Math for Professor Nick Gravin this semester (2025 Spring). We’ve introduced extra problems—a set of challenging bonus questions that provides extra credits, meant for students who find the regular coursework too easy. The goal is to provide meaningful enrichment, but we’ve encountered a mechanism design problem: How do we structure rules and incentives so that students put in genuine effort, avoid academic dishonesty where they copy from each other to get scores, and maintain fairness in the grading process? ...