Elizabeth Van Nostrand
Freelance research analyst and writer of the blog Aceso Under Glass, known for 'epistemic spot checks' of non-fiction claims.
Elizabeth Van Nostrand did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Latest Blog
What they believe
-
In California, lack of money is not what stops public beautification projects from getting built.
The client was hoping for an instruction manual on buying beauty, but at least in California, money isn't the bottleneck.
acesounderglass.comSaid 12 Aug 2026This on korrents
-
Farm animal welfare tends to improve when an animal's stress directly and measurably reduces farmers' economic productivity.
An advantage cows have that egg chickens lack is that stress immediately and measurably decreases their economic productivity.
acesounderglass.comSaid 1 May 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
10 October
1 October
25 September
12 August
From one piece Why can’t we have nice things? Like, specifically? 2 beliefs · acesounderglass.com
-
korrents.com
When a bureaucracy never issues a formal refusal, there is no decision to argue against, only endless shadowboxing.Their words
If the city said no we could have an argument about procedures and decisions, but as it stands its all shadowboxing.
-
korrents.com
In California, lack of money is not what stops public beautification projects from getting built.Their words
The client was hoping for an instruction manual on buying beauty, but at least in California, money isn't the bottleneck.
18 July
5 July
1 May
From one piece Dairy cows make their misery expensive (but their calves can’t) 3 beliefs · acesounderglass.com
-
Their words
if we can't solve the sadist problem in nursing homes I don't see how we can assume it's solved in cows.
-
Their words
I have a pet theory that removing the option for antibiotics forces farms to treat animals better, because bad conditions engender disease and without the quick fix of antibiotics that can get very expensive.
-
Their words
An advantage cows have that egg chickens lack is that stress immediately and measurably decreases their economic productivity.
15 April
From one piece Church Planting: Lessons from the Comments 2 beliefs · acesounderglass.com
-
Their words
Creative destruction is even more built into evangelism than I thought.
Church Planting: Lessons from the Commentsacesounderglass.com
-
Their words
The link between venture capital and evangelical Christianity was closer than I thought. They're not just analogous; they deliberately cross-pollinate.
Church Planting: Lessons from the Commentsacesounderglass.com
25 January
-
Lovedrcmnd.app
Jennifer WangTheir words
I only checked a handful of youtube reviewers, but my favorite is Jennifer Wang, who seemed properly autistic about clothing quality and understanding that there are multiple places on the pareto frontier one might choose to occupy
-
Mixed onrcmnd.app
ThredUpTheir words
ThredUp was amazing when it was in the "VC free money" stage, but their return policy tightened up and it's now merely okay.
15 November 2025
From one piece The Boring Part of Bell Labs 2 beliefs · acesounderglass.com
-
Their words
There is a feeling that a lot of tail-chasing in industrial improvement is due to interactions not being recognized.
-
korrents.com
Designed experiments can reveal causal relationships that observational data alone cannot determine.Their words
But even more important than efficiency, designed experiments can inform about causality, which is very difficult to determine from collected observed data.
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 12 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
In California, lack of money is not what stops public beautification projects from getting built.
The client was hoping for an instruction manual on buying beauty, but at least in California, money isn't the bottleneck.
Why can’t we have nice things? Like, specifically? Said 12 Aug 2026
When a bureaucracy never issues a formal refusal, there is no decision to argue against, only endless shadowboxing.
If the city said no we could have an argument about procedures and decisions, but as it stands its all shadowboxing.
Why can’t we have nice things? Like, specifically? Said 12 Aug 2026
Farm animal welfare tends to improve when an animal's stress directly and measurably reduces farmers' economic productivity.
An advantage cows have that egg chickens lack is that stress immediately and measurably decreases their economic productivity.
Dairy cows make their misery expensive (but their calves can’t) Said 1 May 2026
Show 9 more
Removing routine antibiotic use forces farms to improve animal conditions, since poor conditions become too costly without a quick pharmaceutical fix.
I have a pet theory that removing the option for antibiotics forces farms to treat animals better, because bad conditions engender disease and without the quick fix of antibiotics that can get very expensive.
Dairy cows make their misery expensive (but their calves can’t) Said 1 May 2026
If oversight fails to prevent abuse of vulnerable people in institutions like nursing homes, similar oversight is unlikely to prevent mistreatment of farm animals.
if we can't solve the sadist problem in nursing homes I don't see how we can assume it's solved in cows.
Dairy cows make their misery expensive (but their calves can’t) Said 1 May 2026
Venture capital culture and evangelical church-planting culture don't just resemble each other, they actively borrow from and influence each other.
The link between venture capital and evangelical Christianity was closer than I thought. They're not just analogous; they deliberately cross-pollinate.
Church Planting: Lessons from the Comments Said 15 Apr 2026
Evangelizing religious movements are shaped by a creative-destruction dynamic that discards congregations that fail to grow.
Creative destruction is even more built into evangelism than I thought.
Church Planting: Lessons from the Comments Said 15 Apr 2026
Designed experiments can reveal causal relationships that observational data alone cannot determine.
But even more important than efficiency, designed experiments can inform about causality, which is very difficult to determine from collected observed data.
The Boring Part of Bell Labs Said 15 Nov 2025
Much of the wasted iteration in industrial process improvement comes from failing to recognize interactions between factors.
There is a feeling that a lot of tail-chasing in industrial improvement is due to interactions not being recognized.
The Boring Part of Bell Labs Said 15 Nov 2025
The body prefers to use glycogen over fat for energy because converting glycogen wastes far less energy than converting fat.
In general your body would rather use glycogen than fat, because glycogen loses almost no energy in the conversion from and to sugar and fat loses a lot.
The Biochemical Beauty of Retatrutide: How GLP-1s Actually Work Said 13 Oct 2025
Cortisol promotes fat storage and muscle breakdown and increases insulin resistance.
empirically cortisol promotes fat storage and muscle breakdown, and increases insulin resistance.
The Biochemical Beauty of Retatrutide: How GLP-1s Actually Work Said 13 Oct 2025
Semaglutide and tirzepatide increase the rate of thyroid tumors in rodent studies.
In rodent studies, semaglutide and tirzepatide were both found to increase the rate of thyroid tumors.
The Biochemical Beauty of Retatrutide: How GLP-1s Actually Work Said 13 Oct 2025
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 6 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Mixed on ThredUp
ThredUp was amazing when it was in the "VC free money" stage, but their return policy tightened up and it's now merely okay.
acesounderglass.com 25 Jan 2026
Loved Jennifer Wang
I only checked a handful of youtube reviewers, but my favorite is Jennifer Wang, who seemed properly autistic about clothing quality and understanding that there are multiple places on the pareto frontier one might choose to occupy
acesounderglass.com 25 Jan 2026
Liked Martyr Made
I started listening to Darryl Cooper's Martyr Made last year as part of a deep dive on cults, but kept going because I found him incredibly insightful.
acesounderglass.com 19 Sept 2021
Show 3 more
Mixed on Why Does He Do That
Overall, I think this book has some really good points and brings a lot to the table. It also propagates some really toxic ideas.
acesounderglass.com 25 Nov 2014
Liked It's Always Something
And I think she did a really good job portraying that- the ups and downs, what a positive attitude can and can not get you, the costs and benefits of fighting doctors and using alternative treatments. It was a very honest description of both hope and despair without become overwhelming.
acesounderglass.com 24 Jun 2014
Recommends High Price
So if you're either looking for an introduction to this issue or share my very strange definition of light reading, I highly recommend this book.
acesounderglass.com 24 Feb 2014
Where they publish
Blog Aceso Under Glass Her blog of research write-ups, book reviews and 'epistemic spot checks'.
Recent
- Before I could read, I would write 10 Oct 2026 My first dream was to be a writer. Before I could write for myself, I made up little stories and my parents obligingly wrote them down for me. Eventually I learned to write and did it myself, with increasing sophisticat…
- Elizabeth Elsewhere (Sept 2026) 1 Oct 2026 I have another piece out in Asterisk, The Unacknowledgeable Work of Pastors’ Wives. This is a follow up to last year’s piece on church planting and the isomorphism to VC start-up culture. I was also featured in an episo…
- Frog and Toad and the Increasingly Capable Machines 25 Sept 2026 Do you want to talk to your loved ones about the HuggingFace swarm, but don’t know how? Have you watched your cousin’s face glaze over when you talk about the METR report? Do you wish there was an easier way? Now there…
Show 7 more
- Why can’t we have nice things? Like, specifically? 12 Aug 2026 The world doesn’t need another op-ed on how building things is illegal in San Francisco. But it does need more specifics on exactly how that plays out (this is the same instinct that led me to interview my Dad about Bel…
- How I use AI for writing 18 Jul 2026 dynomight recently wrote an article calling for bloggers to state publicly whether and how they use AI. Here are ways I currently use AI in ways that might show up on this blog: I use AI to find papers and explain bits…
- Elizabeth Elsewhere 5 Jul 2026 Last month I made my print debut in Asterisk Magazine, with a title so good it made me rethink my entire philosophy: We’re all one crisis away from taking unlicensed research peptides. Then this month I published On the…
- Dairy cows make their misery expensive (but their calves can’t) 1 May 2026 How much do cows suffer in the production of milk? I can’t answer that; understanding animal experience is hard. But I can at least provide some facts about the conditions dairy cows live in, which might be useful to yo…
- Church Planting: Lessons from the Comments 15 Apr 2026 Last summer I got nerdsniped by evangelical christianity, and in particular church planting, the domestic missionary system used by nondenominational churches to resolve the conflict between an abhorrence of hierarchy a…
- Things I learned from reddit fashion 26 Jan 2026 When it comes to clothes, I live at the “low cost/low time/low quality” end of the pareto frontier. But the bay area had a sudden attack of weather this December, and the cheap sweaters on Amazon get that way by being m…
- The Boring Part of Bell Labs 15 Nov 2025 It took me a long time to realize that Bell Labs was cool. You see, my dad worked at Bell Labs, and he has not done a single cool thing in his life except create me and bring a telescope to my third grade class. Nothing…
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
x.com @acesounderglass Their X account.
Link verified 23 Sept 2026.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.