-
Gold has leapt to historic highs, leaving many asking: “Why now?” Join me as I unravel the layers — safe-haven flows, real interest rates, institutional demand, supply constraints — that explain this surge. With clarity and nuance, I invite you to think differently, comment, and share your views. Because knowledge is best when it spreads.
-
What if the data center powering your AI assistant is quietly drawing as much electricity as a small city? As AI surges, hyperscale campuses, edge nodes, microgrids, advanced cooling, and novel energy sources all collide at the frontier of tech and sustainability. Dive into the untold story—see how “green” gets real, where regulation, community pushback, and emerging power models are reshaping the backbone of the digital age. Share to spark conversation.
-
How close are we to building a machine that thinks like a human? In this post, we dive deep into expert predictions for AGI timelines, the monumental technical and ethical barriers in the way, and what those breakthroughs might look like. Whether AGI arrives in 2030 or 2050, this journey reshapes how we live, work, and dream. Let’s explore together—and discuss where you think we’ll really land.
-
AI isn’t just for engineers anymore. In this post, I dive into the top non-technical AI programs that are trending in the U.S. — from DeepLearning.AI’s “AI for Everyone” to MIT’s No-Code AI certificate — with full breakdowns of their curriculum, what people love (and don’t), and tips on which suits you best. If you’ve ever wondered how to leverage AI without writing a single line of code, this is for you. Let’s demystify AI together.
-
Your emotions aren’t invisible. They rewrite your hormones, your immune system, even how your cells repair themselves. Dive into the science of how stress, joy, love, and gratitude can literally shape your body — and discover how to regain balance through simple, natural changes.
-
What if your body could heal itself, clean out toxic waste, and reset your metabolism — simply by pausing eating? Grounded in “The Complete Guide to Fasting” by Jason Fung, this post breaks down the science, real-life benefits, and easy steps to incorporate safe, effective fasting. Whether you’re a busy professional or health seeker, get inspired to try a smarter, gentler path to detox, energy, and freedom. Share this with someone who’s ready to break free from diet rules.
-
2025’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis for revealing macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy quantization in superconducting circuits. Their work crossed the boundary between the strange quantum realm and devices you can hold. This isn’t sci-fi — it underpins future quantum computers, sensors, and encryption. Dive in with me: I’ll break down what they did, why it matters today, and how it could shape your tech-driven future. Drop your thoughts and let’s explore together.
-
This year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine illuminated one of the immune system’s greatest miracles: how it avoids attacking our own bodies. Scientists identified the so-called regulatory T cells and showed how the FOXP3 gene guides their function—revealing how immune balance is achieved. That discovery could transform treatments for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and organ rejection. Here’s a friendly, data-driven dive into the science, its promise, and what it might mean one day for you or someone you love.
-
Cloud-native AI is transforming machine learning, turning once-exclusive workflows into scalable, accessible ecosystems. With platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, startups and individuals now enjoy the same infrastructure once reserved for billion-dollar enterprises. From AutoML to serverless pipelines, the cloud is democratizing innovation, accelerating development, and sparking breakthroughs across industries. The future of AI is no longer locked inside research labs—it’s unfolding in the cloud, open for anyone with vision and courage to build.
-
GPUs started as tools for gamers chasing better graphics, but today they’re fueling the biggest shifts in human progress—from artificial intelligence to the Metaverse. This essay explores how graphics processors are redefining industries, reshaping creativity, and powering a future where imagination knows no limits. Whether you’re a gamer, a tech enthusiast, or simply curious about what’s next, this story will change the way you see GPUs forever. Dive in and discover why GPUs are no longer just about pixels—but possibilities.
Gold has leapt to historic highs, leaving many asking: “Why now?” Join me as I unravel the layers — safe-haven flows, real interest rates, institutional demand, supply constraints — that explain this surge. With clarity and nuance, I invite you to think differently, comment, and share your views. Because knowledge is best when it spreads.
Social Security History
Background Since a pair of 1938 Treasury Department Tax Rulings, and another in 1941, Social Security benefits have been explicitly excluded from federal income taxation. (A revision was issued in 1970, but it made no changes in the existing policy.) This changed for the first time with the passage of the 1983 Amendments to the Social Security Act. Beginning in 1984, a portion of Social Security benefits have been subject to federal income taxes.
The three Treasury Rulings (see below) established as tax policy the principle that Social Security benefits were not subject to federal income taxes. This was special treatment for Social Security benefits since most private pensions are partly taxable. In most private pensions, an amount of the pension equal to the contributions made by the worker are tax-free. The amount of such private pensions which exceeds the amount of the worker's contributions, is usually subject to federal income taxes.
A slightly different, and more complicated, way of saying essentially the same thing is that the portion of pension benefits not subject to taxation is that on "after-tax income." For a worker, his entire pay is subject to federal income taxes, including that part that is subject to Social Security payroll taxes, and so, in the sometimes confusing parlance of tax policy, this is said to all be "after-tax income." His employer, however, is allowed to deduct his portion of the Social Security payroll tax from his taxable income. So Social Security payments made by the employer are considered "before-tax income" (and hence, not taxable). So the value of the "before-tax income" received by the beneficiary (i.e., the employer's contribution) is potentially taxable. Or to say it the other way, only that portion of the worker's "after-tax income" on which he paid payroll taxes, is not taxable.
Yet another way of describing this idea is to use "exclusion ratios," which is how the Treasury Department defines the taxable portion of a pension benefit. In all of these ways of describing it, the basic idea is the same: the pension recepient is generally liable for taxes on that portion of his benefits that he did not himself contribute.
Treasury's underlying rationale for not taxing Social Security benefits was that the benefits under the Act could be considered as "gratuities," and since gifts or gratuities were not generally taxable, Social Security benefits were not taxable. It is likely that Treasury took this view owing to the structure of the 1935 Act in which the taxing provisions and the benefit provisions were in separate Titles of the law. Because of this structure, one could argue that the taxes were just a form of revenue-raising, unrelated to the benefits. The benefits themselves could then be seen as a "gratuity" that the federal government paid to certain classes of citizens. Although this was clearly not true in a political and moral sense, it could be construed this way in a legal sense. In the context of public policy, most people would hold the view that the tax contributions created an "earned right" to subsequent benefits. Notwithstanding this common view, the Treasury Department ruled that there was no such necessary connection and hence that Social Security benefits were not taxable.