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The Helmholtz decomposition is one of the fundamental results of vector calculus. It says any well-behaved vector field can be split into two parts, one capturing sources and sinks through divergence, and one capturing rotation through curl.



It’s cliche but life comes at you fast. I go back and forth between pushing for a sense of urgency in life versus enjoying the journey. I’m in my 40s and feel young but also am stressed that I don’t have enough time. Recently I connected with two early 30 hedge fund guys asking for advice. First guy’s path was equity research and then pod hedge funds where he’s experienced some bad luck as both of his portfolio managers at different firms had been let go after poor performance. Recruiters were chasing him and his resume is clean so he would have been able to find a job quickly, but he was reticent to stay on his current path as the idea of finding a new job every 2-3 years seemed unsustainable. He came to the factory earlier this year to learn about business buying. Second guy’s path was banking, private equity and now single manager that has over a $1bn but performance has been blah and he is losing confidence it is a path of growth long term and is considering long only or pod hedge funds. He is smart enough he will both options no doubt. First guy lives a spartan life with his fiance (W2) and they live in a cheap apt outside of Manhattan to save money. They have enough liquidity to buy a sizable business and are now pursuing this path. They want to play the long game of finding a business knowing it could take time. Second guy is more debating if pods worth it given the stress and high turnover with exit options less clear to him if he’s 40 and gets canned (happens a lot) versus the lower beta long only path with less upside. I’m in year 4 of business ownership and it’s hard as heck and there have been periods where I didn’t pay myself for 6 months to prioritize not having to let employees go and pay down debt (I’ve paid off close to 7 figures of debt since the deal closed). I am still trying to figure shvt out myself and still have days I think I’m dead while other days I think my business is worth 8 figures. I’ve been fortunate that things have been working out, but what’s funny is that I would love to be 32 again. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized time is just as important if not more important than money. I had similar concerns as both of them at 32. I was at a pod and like most of the industry had severe career insecurity as I basically saw a team fired weekly. I was too scared/risk adverse to leave until I had a daughter and realized I wanted to be around her more. I asked my friends if they would rather have $500k and be 30 or have $5mm and be 40. 100 pct said be 30. I agree with this. Both of these guys will be fine. I get the stress. But 40 will be here sooner than they think and it’s smart they are both thinking out 5 years. They both don’t realize it because they are too focused myopically on their current decision trees, but they both still have something us older guys wish we had more of=> time.⏳ x.com/adamstatonsmit…

Not getting nearly enough pushback on this Always makes me nervous when consensus catches up to me


Ohh my god it’s true California Democrats wrote in the Billionaires Tax Bill they can amend the tax to apply to all California residents by a simply 2/3 majority with no votes needed from residents The legislative authority clause allows future 2/3 majority amendments by the Legislature (no voter approval needed) if they further the Act’s purposes This enables broadening, like lowering thresholds to include more people or making it recurring. This turns the “Billionaire Tax” into something substantially wider Section 50308 defines the scope (who qualifies as an “applicable individual”) Meaning everyone This bill is a Trojan horse

@catehall I dunno, mark me as one of your skeptics. From reading your posts, you at your lowest period of agency resembles a *completely normal functional* adult









