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Stay Curious.
Make the most of your college experience.
Jeff Hulett
Curator, The Curiosity Vine
Stay Curious.
The Curiosity Vine is an idea incubator.
Our contributors have experience and interest in a variety of high-impact topics, such as science, technology, conservation, mathematics, data science, public policy, economics, and others. Our objective is to promote early-stage ideas, enable idea collaboration, and test idea purchase.
TCV platform is curated by Jeff Hulett.
Join our team - become a TCV contributor!
Learn about why you should join The Curiosity Vine.
TCV's ideas are used to provide seminars, write books, build businesses, and especially to help people.
So take a look around the site, feel free to ask or answer your own questions, and enjoy your own curiosity exploration!
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Featured Posts
Birds, Frogs, and AI: Who Wins and Loses in the New Labor Economy?
In 2008, theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson delivered a famous lecture describing two types of thinkers driving scientific progress: Birds and Frogs. Birds fly high, surveying broad vistas, unifying disparate concepts, and proposing grand theoretical frameworks. Frogs live down in the mud, delighting in fine details, solving specific localized problems, and exploring concrete structures. Dyson insisted both remained essential; neither held superiority. A frog-like focus alig
The Science of Changing Your Mind: An Intuition-First Guide to Bayesian Thinking
Decision-makers navigate uncertainty, seeking conviction in an unpredictable world. This article explores a practical, intuition-first application of Bayesian Inference. Readers learn how a straightforward mental model, supported by a clear framework and an interactive calculator, sharpens decision confidence. While the text examines core mathematical relationships, the mechanics remain in service of practical intuition, equipping individuals to evaluate new evidence and adju
Beyond "Lesser-of-Two-Evils": A Guide to Voting Your Conscience
People like to imagine political campaigns as a pitch for a better future (a candidate standing on stage declaring, "Vote for me because here is what I will build, protect, and deliver"). Instead, voters face a relentless strategy built almost entirely on fear. Over the past fifty years, institutional reforms shifted power toward low-turnout primaries dominated by party activists and focused money. Consequently, positive visions quietly gave way to defensive positioning. Mode
An Investment in Emergence: 35 Years, Four Children, and the Generational Power of Everyday Faithfulness
Looking back on our journey together, my wife Patti and I feel such gratitude. We met over 40 years ago at the beginning of college and now approach our 35th wedding anniversary. Over those decades, four wonderful children (three sons and a daughter) blessed our lives, ranging from 31 down to our youngest, David, who is 25. Born roughly two years apart, watching them grow from energetic kids into healthy adults remains the great privilege of our lives. Recently, David got eng
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The Quiet Wealth of Parenting: 10 Practical Lessons for Raising Thriving Children
It's not about money or perfection; it's about presence, governing our seeking, and being a self-learner. Discover the 10 Practical Parenting Lessons from "The Quiet Wealth of Enough" that teach resilience, self-learning, and the true meaning of wealth for raising healthy, happy children. These lessons come from a deep understanding of the behavioral and cognitive sciences, financial education, teaching, and the practical experience of raising four confident, resilient, an
Jeff Hulett
Nov 29, 20252 min read
The Geometry of Getting Rich: Why Mathematical Intuition is the Key to Personal Finance Success
In the realm of personal finance success, few skills prove as critical yet misunderstood as mathematical intuition. It represents the ability to grasp abstract concepts—compound interest, convexity, or the impact of time—not merely as equations, but as tangible, predictable forces shaping our reality. For many, this intuition remains elusive, a casualty of a mathematical education system focused heavily on formalization. The central challenge in personal finance is not in und
Jeff Hulett
Nov 19, 202520 min read
Behind The Concrete Curtain: How Zoning Benefits the Few at the Cost of the Many
Concrete is the ultimate institutional metaphor. It begins as an agreeable fluid, easily shaped to conform to any purpose. When it's first mixed, it's sloshy and pliable, easily molded around any form or foundation. But then, it sets. It hardens into a rock-solid, unforgiving mass, freezing forever any shape or preference it was poured into. This is the apt metaphor for congealed preferences describing institutions. In politics, initially fluid intentions are poured into in
Jeff Hulett
Nov 16, 202510 min read
Mortgage Rates Update: November 13th, 2025
After several weeks of favorable declines, the housing market faced a slight headwind for the week ending November 13th, 2025, as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate experienced a notable increase. The rate rose by 7 basis points (bp), settling at 6.24%. This move defied expectations set by the Treasury market, where the 10-Year T-Note rate actually decreased by 1bp. Upcoming releases: Next new jobs Oct 3 (Fed Govt shutdown, no data released) Next CPI release is Nov 13 (F
Jeff Hulett
Nov 14, 20251 min read
Treasury Rates Update: November 13th, 2025
This past week in the U.S. Treasury market was characterized by a distinct lack of movement, indicating the market is taking a pause after the significant volatility spurred by the late October Fed rate decrease and the recent jobs data. Upcoming Key Economic Data Release: Next net new job release is 11.7.25 (10.3.25 Fed Govt shutdown, no data) Next inflation release 11.13.25 (10.15.25 Fed Govt shutdown, data delayed to 10.24.25. no release 11.13.25) Next Fed meeting is
Jeff Hulett
Nov 14, 20251 min read
The Illusion of Affordability: Why the 50-Year Mortgage Will Make Housing Less Affordable
The American dream of homeownership has never felt further out of reach. With a severe housing supply shortage driving prices to astronomical levels, a new proposal has emerged: the 50-year fixed-rate mortgage. The pitch is simple—by spreading payments over five decades instead of three, the monthly cost of owning a home falls dramatically, putting the keys back into the hands of young buyers. As an economist and a real estate investor who has spent decades studying how money
Jeff Hulett
Nov 11, 20256 min read
Solving the blurry line between man and machine: Example of using GenAI as your thinking partner
I wrote the next speech and published the text on Personal Finance Reimagined. PFR is a sister platform to The Curiosity Vine, our idea incubator. The Time Traveler's Co-Pilot: Guiding Your Child Through the College Decision This speech is part of the program introduction for high school parents, as a kick-off for a SCHEV-sponsored Gear Up program at several Virginia high schools. It is an amazing program and we are proud to partner with SCHEV. This article is about how we
Jeff Hulett
Nov 10, 20254 min read
The Rewired Life: Seeking Better, Not Just More
Seeking is profoundly natural. In fact, it is a drive wired deep into our brains, a crucial part of our evolutionary biology. In many ways, seeking is why we exist today—it is the fuel for growth, discovery, and survival. So, this article is not about stopping that powerful, innate force; it's about channeling it. Are we seeking the wrong things? In a world saturated with curated lifestyles, comparison-driven ambition, and endless information, the impulse to achieve more is
Jeff Hulett
Nov 5, 202516 min read
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