Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack Podcast

Note: At the bottom of this article you’ll get several FREE tutorial videos that will show you practical uses for AI that you can start using today. This is just a taste of what you’ll learn in the full course.

* How to use AI to create a poem for your grandson

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* How to use AI to plan a vacation customized to your...

Capitalism gets a bad rap as a ruthless, dog-eat-dog system, but in reality, it’s the most effective way to create shared prosperity.

Unlike socialism, which focuses on redistributing wealth, capitalism multiplies it. Take Peter Thiel’s $500,000 investment in Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. At the time, Thiel was the wealthier of the two. But as Facebook scaled, Zuckerberg became exponentially richer than Thiel—while Thiel still walked away vastly wealthier than before. That’s the power of investment: it creates more wealth for everyone involved, rather than just shifting it around.

Year Of The Opposite - Travis...

Personal Note: I’m very sorry for the delay in publishing. We took a vacation to Florida to see the first launch of Blue Origins New Glenn rocket. Our 6 year old loves rockets and space —it was awesome! Although a bummer that all of the launches were at 1am. Quite a difficulty for a 6 year old and a wife that is 6 months pregnant. But they were troopers and really impressed me. If you can make it down to the space coast, I highly recommend it.

My research project this week was about the microplastics we keep hearing abou...

*This is my personal account of Bill Hamilton from my own personal memory. I’m sure that I have some of the details and facts wrong. I apologize for any errors

On December 15th, 2024, Bill Hamilton, the Founder of TechSmith died from a heart attack at the age of 77.

Bill Hamilton was the greatest entrepreneur of the Lansing area in this century. Arguably more.

He was a husband, a father, a veteran, a computer programmer, a Spartan, an amateur ham radio enthusiast, a competitive shooter, an avid reader, a history expert, a philanthropist, an...

I wanted to follow up on my post from last week, Return to Real Science, that talked about “Relativism”. Two things happened since then that I thought perfectly illustrated the problem with “Moral Relativism” or “Moral Inversion”.

I posted the following writing on Facebook:

“I am appalled that many people, including journalists like Taylor Lorenz (Washington Post & New York Times), are celebrating the murder of an insurance company CEO. Taylor posted a screenshot of another health insurance company making a change and her post said: “And people wonder why we want these executives dead”.

This is the prob...

Over the past few decades, a troubling shift has occurred in how we perceive and utilize science, particularly within educational contexts. Traditional science, grounded in facts, evidence, and experimentation, is increasingly being overshadowed by modern social science frameworks that emphasize subjective interpretations over empirical data. This shift has significant implications for the reliability and credibility of scientific knowledge.

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The way we know this is a problem is something called the reproducibility crisis. Reproducibility—the ability to replicate th...

I’m sick of the crap story that we’re taught about the founding and “discovery” of America.

The narrative is skewed, overemphasizing accidental “discovery”, guilt, and grievances while ignoring the truth: history, like nature, is savage and brutal.

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Migration, conflict, and innovation have always defined humanity. No one has a monopoly on virtue or violence. To pretend otherwise is dishonest.

The real story of America isn’t about conquest alone. It’s about people fleeing pers...

The world is drowning in words that mean nothing because they can’t be tested, proven, or falsified. Words like “racist” or “bias” often serve as weapons, not tools of understanding. They rely on feelings, assumptions, and shifting definitions, making them impossible to disprove.

If a person tells an offensive joke but is married to someone of that same race, are they a racist? Instead of using an unprovable label like “racist,” use precise language: “The comedian told this joke. I personally didn’t find it funny and felt offended by it. Here’s why it bothered me…” This approach a...

Two years ago, I got the call I’d always feared. A close friend had suffered a heart attack after years of alcohol abuse. Within 48 hours, he was gone. He died alone in a hospital bed, separated from loved ones by pandemic restrictions. But that isolation wasn’t new to him. 

His alcoholism had been isolating him for years. I often wonder—what came first? Did his alcoholism drive his isolation, or did his isolation drive his alcoholism?

15% of men say they have no close friends. That’s about 25 million American men without a single friend to...

Thomas Jefferson said: "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”

The idea of choosing your friends or distancing yourself from family based solely on who they choose to support in a political election seems deeply unamerican to me. But sadly it seems to be very fashionable again as we grind through the last days of this painful election cycle.

I understand this isn’t a new phenomenon, and I am sympathetic to the idea that people feel so moved and energized by thei...

Back when I co-owned the restaurant chain Slice by Saddleback, I was looking for ways to increase the net income of the business. One of the things I became fascinated by was how sports stadiums would sell the naming rights to their stadiums as an advertisement to large businesses. Consider how many stadiums are named after companies, like the Staples Center or the DTE Energy Music Theatre. I thought, What if we could do that for a pizza?

Opening restaurants requires a lot of cash. So when we were buying Detroit Frankies to open Slice by Saddleback...

I Dreamed I Had an Interview with God by James J. Lachard (Jim Brown)

"So, you would like to interview me?" God asked. "If you have the time," I replied, and God smiled. "My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?"

"What surprises you most about humankind?" I asked. God answered, "They get bored with childhood, rush to grow up, and then long to be children again. They sacrifice their health to make money and then spend that money to restore their health. By worrying about the future, they forget...

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I used to say no—a lot. No to new experiences, no to challenges, no to anything that pushed me outside my comfort zone. But with The Year of the Opposite challenge, I started saying yes.

It’s been about two years since I made that shift, and it has been a game-changer.

Take Ragnar Michigan 2024, for example. When Kenny asked me to j...

A quick update: The post that I get the most questions about is “How to get a CT Calcium Score.” The most frequent question is: “Where can I get one?” and “How much does it cost?”

The cost question was a surprisingly hard question to answer.

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The costs generally range between $100 and $250. I but I didn’t know much precise cost until this week. It came in at...

Yesterday I shared a statistic: 54% of American adults can’t read above a 6th-grade level. I thought it was pretty shocking so I wanted to note it so I could start investigating it. That’s why I shared it.

But it’s the responses (some had to be hidden/deleted) that I want to talk about.

The comment replies quickly turned into assigning blame to either teachers or parents. It had to be one of them!

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I want to be very clear: I am NOT endorsing or opposing any politician or candidate. But this is an incredibly important topic and I am hoping that I can break it down fairly and dispassionately. I am also going to try my best to keep my personal views out of it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, comments, corrections and questions. Here goes…

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In pl...

This is a hard post to write. It’s uncomfortable talking about sadness. Many of us have been conditioned to think that it’s unproductive or even wrong to discuss. While I do think there is some truth to the idea that we shouldn’t overly focus on our negative emotions, I also think that ignoring these feelings can give others the incorrect impression that everyone else has their life figured out and that when you are personally struggling with the feelings of sadness, it can make you feel like the only one experiencing those feelings.

After I star...

Note: Sorry for the poor audio on the podcast. I’m on vacation and don’t have access to my usual studio setup.

Lansing is a fine city. I love my family here, I love my in-laws here, and I love my friends here dearly. But it is unquestionable to say that I hindered my career and my intelligence by staying in Lansing, Michigan.

One of the truest things ever said about relationships is that you become the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

From my perspective, that is u...

The biggest misconception of my life was assuming that other people would want to know when something they said was incorrect.

I always thought I was doing them a favor.

But, in my experience, most people would rather go on being wrong than face the personal trauma of being confronted with new information that doesn’t align with their opinion—even when their opinion is incorrect.

It was easy for me to recognize this silliness when I was the one dispensing the correction because the receiver would surprise me by becoming uncomfortable or angr...

The National Association of Realtors agreed to pay $418 million to settle an antitrust suit that showed that they colluded to inflate commissions, block competition, inflate US housing prices, and harm consumers.  The $418 million might seem like a lot, but it’s less that a half percent (.5%) of the $100 billion of real estate commissions that consumers pay every single year!  

So why did they settle? Because if they didn’t settle they could have faced a fine close to $6 Billion!  They settled, gave up their right to appeal, and they probably got off cheap.  

Thanks for read...

Today I am going to complain and I feel gross about it because my life is amazing and no one wants to hear someone complain. But I want to share this story because I think it shows a side of humanity that people don’t talk about.

TLDR: Here’s the short version…

* I believe in active citizenship, so I joined the School Board.

* I had a silly idea to donate $3,000 to any staff or teacher at the school district.

* To make it a democratic process, I allowed anyone to nominate a staf...

My friend posted a short video from the amazing Jon Stewart. I love Stewart and I think he’s a national treasure. But on this particular issue, I think he has it exactly backwards. Here is the video:

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I would suggest, this isn’t a problem of corporations. Definitely not ALL corporations.

Let me explain, last week I closed a business that I founded called Open Install Alliance. I trie...

First a confession… I’ve been predicting Full Self-Driving cars would be a reality “this year” for about a decade, so you might want to take my predictions with a grain of salt. 😂😂

However, I recently got my hands on Tesla’s Full Self Driving version 12, marking the first iteration that leverages machine learning and neural networks, akin to AI systems like ChatGPT. This new approach eschews traditional programming for a model where the system learns by observing the world’s best drivers (with consent) and emulates their driving styles. This is a huge advancement for many reasons.

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I bet my friends $500 that I could make them happier in 7 days and 100% either got happier or stayed very happy. It was a huge success! In my opinion… However, one of my readers significantly disagreed with me.

I shared the readers previous comment in my last post titled “Challenge Results: All Participants Got Happy In 7 Days!”

That reader replied to the last post so I wanted to share it to see what you all think. I want to get outside opinions to see if maybe I’m off the mark on this one. I always like to...

I wanted to give a short personal update: I've joined Scribe Media as VP of Marketing. I've been a fan of Scribe for a long time because they have published some of my favorite books including those from David Goggins & my good buddy Eric Jorgenson. If you read business books, I've probably given you a copy of The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant.

Scribe has been around for almost a decade and has produced 2,000 plus books. Hundreds of them have been Amazon best sellers and 23+ were New York Times & WSJ best sellers. They have published books from authors...

Welcome to Year Of The Opposite: Travis Stoliker's Newsletter for People That Don't Subscribe to Newsletters. Ex: Saddleback, Liquid Web, & Techsmith.

Read Time: 6 minutes.

3 months ago I proposed a crazy challenge: “You'll be happier in 7 days or I'll pay you $500!” I proposed this challenge because I was worried about how many of my friends were telling me that they were depressed. I had an idea that perhaps the strategies that worked to resolve my own depression from grief might help others.

I was a little surprised that this offer upset one of my loya...

I’m very sorry for my absence. My son and I fell very sick with a stomach bug and we are finally back rejoining the world. That was rough. Thanks for your patience.

Whenever I’m sick I am reminded of the quote: “A healthy person wants a million things. A sick person wants just one.” This made me want to tell the story of the medical therapy ATA188.

A month ago I shared the story of an incredible invention that will cure the terrible pain from Sickle Cell Disease. Miraculously, there are now two drugs ap...

Joe,

I apologize for posting this letter publicly. I know you’re a private guy. But I don’t have your new address.

Today marks two years since you left us and I have a lot of updates to share. But dude, I gotta confess, I was pretty angry at you for leaving the way you did. It kinda fucked me up.

Losing you sent me into a depression that was difficult to overcome. Hell, I still can’t listen to Jimmy Eat World songs without getting overwhelmed with emotion. You’ve kinda ruined t...

Sickle Cell Disease impacts about 100,000 people in the US every year. It’s an incredibly painful disease where the cells become misshapen like a crescent moon or a sickle. This shape causes the cells to get trapped and restrict the blood flood which causes chronic pain, organ damage, strokes, and shortened life expectancy.

Bone marrow transplant has been the best treatment for patients, but it was very challenging to find a potential donor. Only 15% of siblings are a suitable match to be a donor and the chances of finding a match in the general population is about 10%. Th...

I’m currently reading ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to his son’. Both books have me thinking a lot about childhood and parenting.

I will be 56 years old when Lane turns 18 and as an older father, my mortality is always on my mind. I know that despite my best efforts to improve my health, any of us could be taken at any time. I don’t want Lane to be fatherless.

Year Of The Opposite - Travis Stoliker's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my w...

I was honored that one of my readers asked for my assistance in evaluating the health claims made by products referred to as “Hormonal Teas”. The specific advertisement she referenced was from a company called “Avery Apothecary” and the product is “Goddess Tea Blend.”

The product makes several claims on their website:

“Ladies, enjoy a cup of this tea every day and the synergy of the plants help to restore and keep balance in your cycle. Regular health and hormone upkeep can help prevent issues in the future, can help to ease symptoms of PMS and any pain a...

One of my first challenges in the Year Of The Opposite was the 40 degree cold plunge. Now, I'm addicted to it, not solely for the muscle recovery and numerous health benefits (which I'll cover in another post), but because of what it does for my brain, mood, and attitude.

Over the past year I have been increasing my tolerance up to a current maximum of 14 minutes in 40-42 degree water. But my regular routine is 5-7 minutes at the Michigan Athletic Club. I love it!

Here are some of the tips that I learned along...

First: Thank You to all the new subscribers to my Newsletter. I appreciate you. Because we have so many new subscribers, today’s newsletter is going to be a bit different. I thought it would be appropriate to provide a bit of background on myself, explain what The Year Of The Opposite is, and let you know what kind of writing you should expect to receive from this newsletter.

Reminder: As a reminder, my name is Travis Stoliker and I was one of the Co-Owners of Saddleback BBQ & Slice by Saddleback. I just recently exited and handed of...

You may have already seen the news that I have sold all of my shares in Saddleback BBQ, Slice By Saddleback, all of our properties, and the LLC’s to Co-Owner, Matt Gillett.

It’s been a long process and I have a lot of mixed feelings about the sale that I’m still trying to process. On one hand, I’m super proud of what we have achieved and that the businesses are in a place where they can be fully handed off to Matt. On the other hand, I will miss regularly interacting with all of our c...

This has been one of the most impactful processes that I have used to improve my mental heath, build deeper relationships, and accomplish my personal and professional goals.

This is a free step by step guide on how to complete a 360 degree review of your strengths and weaknesses and use the power of artificial intelligence to synthesize the data to produce an actionable list of 10 New Year’s resolutions.

These resolutions are then turned into 5 simple tasks/habits to improve your life.

When implemented, these simple daily habits will dramatically improve your life, ha...

Summary (The TLDR)

* Alarming data is coming in: Some patients on Wegovy & Ozempic are seeing 50% to 60% of their weight loss come from lean tissue. (muscle). Patients may be getting lighter on the scale but increasing their body fat percentage. This is concerning. (One study here)

* As a comparison, when losing weight naturally, it is typical that about 25% of your weight loss will come from lean tissue and muscle mass.

* But, there is a SOLUTION! To combat this, patients taking these drugs need to strength train and eat a high protein diet. This will...

No one took me up on my offer last week. Lets try again.

As you may recall, last week I made the offer that “I will improve your winter blues in 7 days, or I'll pay you $50.” I was nervous because I was risking $23,000 of my own money and trying to have some “skin in the game” as they say.

It started off strong with four people saying that they wanted to do it, but unfortunately, no one made it after just the first day.

I’m so confident that this will make anyone happier an...

I will improve your Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) or winter blues within 7 days or I will pay you $50. It’s that simple.

If you’re like me, the short days, lack of sunlight, and cold weather can make me a little sad or throw my mood off in general. I’ve developed a system that helps me overcome the winter blues. I am risking $23,000 of my own money because I’m that confident that my system will improve your winter blues or seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Here is my offer!

I will improve your Sea...

As most of you know, I am the Co-Owner of two BBQ restaurants and two Pizza places in the Lansing, Michigan area. We also offer two BBQ sauces and two spice rubs in our restaurants and retailers around Michigan and online.

But this isn’t a sales pitch for them… I’m mentioning this because I want to give you a FREE bottle of Sauce as a Thank You for being a subscriber to this newsletter! All you need to do is reply to this email and I will send you a coupon code so that you can ge...

This will be a very brief note: I want to thank Rachel Hosie from Insider.com for covering my story (read it here!) and the Year Of The Opposite.

Thank You! I want to thank YOU for subscribing and following this journey. It means the world to me.

Some people have wondered ‘How Did the Insider.com Article Happen?’

My good friend Matt Tubergen came across this article from Rachel at Insider.com “A man lost 125 pounds by doing the opposite of everything he tried before, including eating carbs” It was amazing how similar...