Along This Trail
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Another “Master’s Degree” in Finance: An AI-Assisted Learning Journey
Several weeks ago, I interviewed for an analyst position at a financial institution. During the interview process, I realized there was a gap in my knowledge that caught me by surprise: I wasn’t aware that LIBOR had been replaced by SOFR as the primary benchmark interest rate. It wasn’t a major issue, but it reminded…
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MICHIGAN’S U.P. WHERE THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE IS SOMEWHERE
On average, I find myself returning to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula every couple of years, usually for a camping trip or a scenic road adventure. I’ve visited many of its well-known destinations over the years, including Tahquamenon Falls, Mackinac Island, and the Keweenaw Peninsula during peak fall color season—an experience deserving of a post of its…
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250 Years of America Through the Lens of the Accounting Profession💙🤍❤️
Every profession has its own history, but few mirror the development of a nation as closely as accounting. The July issue of the Journal of Accountancy features a special commemorative section celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States by tracing the evolution of the accounting profession alongside the nation’s history. Rather than presenting accounting…
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Will AI Really Take Everyone’s Job? Lessons from The Prediction Machine
A few days ago, YouTube recommended a book-review video by a Chinese content creator discussing The Prediction Machine (published in Chinese as AI Minimalist Economics), a book originally written in English by three economists from the University of Toronto. The video offered one of the clearest economic explanations of AI that I have encountered, particularly…
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From Information to Knowledge: Building a Personal AI Knowledge Base
Over the past few weeks, YouTube’s recommendation algorithm has repeatedly suggested courses on building AI agents. Many of these courses, particularly those created by Chinese content creators, focus on using large language models to automate research, organize information, and create personal knowledge systems. While exploring the topic, I came across a video titled “How to…
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Internal Controls Over Generative AI: Moving Beyond the Framework
Generative AI is rapidly finding its way into accounting, auditing, finance, compliance, and operational processes. As organizations begin integrating these tools into day-to-day activities, a familiar question emerges: How do we maintain effective internal controls when the system generating information can produce different answers to the same question? While reading the June 2026 issue of…
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One Song That Took Me to The Lone Star State ⭐
Many years ago, I watched a Mongolian singer perform Amarillo By Morning on YouTube. That performance introduced me to George Strait and, in many ways, to Texas itself. I have always enjoyed folk music regardless of language or culture, but one thing I came to appreciate about American folk traditions is how they evolved into…
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AI and I Built This Website in 5 Days (Part II): Debugging My Way Through the Full Stack
In a previous post, I wrote about how AI helped me launch Great Lakes Data Forest in just a few days. Looking back, getting the website online was only the beginning. What happened afterward turned out to be equally educational. Once the basic structure was in place, I began refining the site’s appearance and user…
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From Correlation to Causation: How a Simple Question Led Me into the World of Complex Systems
One of the most persistent ideas I encountered while studying statistics, machine learning, and data science was a phrase repeated almost everywhere: Correlation is not causation. At first, it seemed straightforward enough. We can measure correlations. We can build predictive models. We can identify patterns hidden within large datasets. But a question lingered in the…