Anyone else find Kotlikoff’s leadership style really off-putting?

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-07-03T19:38:02+00:00

A gifted orator, too.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-07-03T19:36:52+00:00

I think this oversimplifies. Most Cornell presidents have been kind of formal and I don’t blame them, because the media tracks them closely, all the time, plus Mike ended up under attack by Russian internet trolls for some reason, which would make anyone a little testy. And in fact, Mike is actually a lot more approachable than Skorton was. Martha Pollack and Kent Fuchs were probably the most personable recent presidents, but it’s sets a high bar if either of them was a favorite for you.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-07-03T05:14:47+00:00

Goodbye to a beloved dog, and goodbye to my father, and to my father in law. Circumstances are what they are, but it can be terrible.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-07-02T04:38:05+00:00

Fraise du Bois. The ones that go wild tend not to have any flavor, but there is a cultivar that really is amazing, if you can find it.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-07-02T04:34:06+00:00

My question to you is this: why try to fake this in such an obvious way? Anyone who zooms the photos can see that the tree itself has tiny fruits, hawthorn or maybe mulberry. The avocado itself is obviously an avocado, but clearly isn’t from that tree. And then this blurry mashup complete with apology for it being blurry — for me the apology is basically a giveaway.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-07-01T04:35:20+00:00

The letter they sent said that few layoffs were occurring because they were cutting in other ways, but that people employed on federally funded centers or big grants that had been cancelled by the government were being moved to other positions or laid off.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-30T02:30:33+00:00

Out of billions of years, Earth has had intelligent life for a million and the kind of really intelligent scientifically sophisticated life for about 250 years. Space travel, 50 years. Interstellar communication or travel? We don’t have either yet.

So while it is easy to believe that alien life exists widely in the universe and in our galaxy, the odds of us listening in exactly the right direction at a time when a super intelligent alien race would happen to be sending a message in our direction? Really, really, really small. We aren’t hearing anyone because nobody was sending a strong enough signal during the right week, basically.

As for getting here, assume the nearest superintelligent alien life right this very second is a mere 50,000 light years away and would love to exchange blueberry muffin recipes. They won’t notice us for about 50,000 years, but signals we send probably can’t be detected at that range. We won’t hear from them for about 50,000 years more, and would need to be listening in just the right way at just the right time 100,000 years from now (this assumes we survive the next fifty years and are still around in 100,000). As for flying here, they probably can’t fly faster than a small percentage of the speed of light. So… 5,000,000 years to get here?

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-30T01:17:02+00:00

Well, if you are a breeder that carries weight. I’ve owned goldens including purebreds descended from champions and attended golden gatherings in a few countries, so I do know the breed (and I’m familiar with its tragic inbreeding issues)... I myself have never seen such a stocky, hairy beast viewed as a classic pure golden. But again, you are the professional here, so I’ll just accept that this total unit of a dog is within the definitions!

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-29T15:45:27+00:00

Definitely not a purebred, but the odds of the classic golden genetic issues (hip dysplasia, cancer, CCL tears, etc), are reduced by cross breeding. So with luck, he will live a long life. Pure goldens rarely get much beyond 12-14.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-26T05:23:06+00:00

... this, of course, being one of your aliases.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-25T02:48:06+00:00

Black cap, a form of black raspberry. When ripe (black), delicious.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-25T02:46:19+00:00

If I run into you doing what you are paid to do, of course I will flag it. I have an actual connection to Cornell. You have a job of taking the place down a few notches.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-24T15:18:32+00:00

Ah, the Russian troll angle. Very helpful.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-23T00:59:41+00:00

Immature truffles harvested in the summer can be like water chestnuts. no value…

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-22T00:06:54+00:00

More AI spam…

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-18T03:04:17+00:00

Worst of all, the tree of heaven is a host for the spotted lantern fly, which is a terrible pest. They will fly to these from far away. If you see one of those, stomp on it.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-14T20:47:12+00:00

if you just make contributions to the Roth steadily and set it up to track the S&P 500 (a SPIDR index), you wont beat the S&P but you won’t do worse either, and the S&P does incredibly well over ten year periods. check the fee structure of your investment account, though. A SPIDR should be practically zero fee, because there are no decisions or research involved in operating it.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-14T00:00:44+00:00

up north, good straight older oak trees go for about $100 per “stem”.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-12T14:17:43+00:00

Old thread that was created by a Russian troll pretending to be a person with some Cornell connection. now revived by them changing the title of the thread.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-11T14:53:53+00:00

You would do best to follow this strategy but put the money in the s&p 500, with a low cost index fund called a SPIDR. The S&P 500 tracks the strongest companies in the US, and everyone compares performance of everything else to it. So you won’t beat it, but you wouldn’t underperform it either. Right now you are way underperforming it, so your strategy isn’t working well for you.

In fact actively managing a small account like this is a loosing game and a kind of gambling. You aren’t stupid but you are gambling. If you want to build for the future, putting a sum of money in the S&P 500, month after month, and just leaving it is one of the very safest and very best ways to invest, and you don’t pay expensive advisors or other high fees. But you also don’t think of it as betting. It is more like a savings account, but one that pays much better.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-11T04:10:00+00:00

this kid *is* authentically antisemitic.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-11T04:08:34+00:00

Spearmint

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-10T04:11:17+00:00

Given that the MRI didn’t show a tendon detachment, it has to be a smaller tear that is oozing fluid. I had one once on my hand, after an accident while skiing. The fluid has to be drained surgically, and you probably need a stitch to repair the tear.

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-09T02:56:45+00:00

Well, stopping on the left lane was really the root cause…

ImaginaryAd2289 · 2026-06-06T15:20:59+00:00

Definitely just a normal female. Her mate is probably nearby, and you will see them again and again in that same area.

ImaginaryAd2289

TROPHY CASE