The American chip industry’s $1.5trn meltdown (Economist $)Increase in supply, decrease in demand, and export bans are causing a meltdown in the American chip industry The War to Define What Work Looks Like (WSJ)The workplace is in the middle of an unusual collision between what bosses and workers want. Employees feel empowered after two years…
10-21-2022: “Very Brilliant”, AI capturing market value, & pooping rainbows!
Writers, be wary of Throat-Clearers and Wan Intensifiers. Very, very wary.“very” is a fraud, masquerading as a strengthener when it merely wheedles and pleads. To call someone “brilliant” is to make a bold assertion; to call someone “very brilliant” attempts to persuade others of something one appears not to truly believe. Moreover, it’s a dull…
10-20-2022: Bose, magician-mathematician, & mysterious baroness
Counting in the darkThere is an amusing story about Dirac’s visit to Calcutta. He arrived with his wife, and Bose went with some of his students to meet them at the railway station. After alighting from the train, they were taken to Bose’s car and ushered into the back seat while Bose and his students…
10-19-2022: On Sound, Binance Exposé, & Lottery
How Does Sound Work?A cool, interactive, hands-on tutorial on sound. How Binance CEO and aides plotted to dodge regulators in U.S. and UK A Reuter’s exposé on Binance. What We’ve Lost Playing the Lottery
10-18-2022: Rober De Niro, Ian McEwan, and Credit Suisse
Robert De Niro’s Career in Five ArtifactsTo prepare for his 1976 role as Travis Bickle, a haunted, lonely Vietnam veteran turned New York cabby, De Niro spent a little over a week actually driving a taxi. This was just after he had won an Academy Award for “The Godfather Part II,” and one passenger recognized…
10-17-2022: Truffles, Single-Result Search, and Human Neurons In Rats!
Interesting facts about truffles (from “How truffles took root around the world“) The truffle’s unique aroma is the result of a set of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the fungus. Of all fungi, truffles are among those that emit the highest amount of volatile organic compounds. More than 200 of these have been identified…
10-16-2022: Robot Army, Sleep & Selfishness, Honey I Shrunk The Fat Cells!
Christopher Mims (WSJ) calls out – aging workforce, increased capability (of robots), and cost-effectiveness – as three forces that drive the increase in robot deployment across industries. We all know the importance of good sleep. Now a study states that sleep-deprived people are more selfish and lonely. Honey, I Shrunk The Fat Cells!
10-15-22: Intellectual Curiosity, Overeating Software, Ozempic
The Death of Intellectual CuriositySven builds up his arguments and makes “on the other side” to be simpler. He starts by calling out intellectual laziness as a reason for the lack of curiosity amongst adults, proceeds with flaws in the educational system, and wraps up with some pointers for developing curiosity. Did We Overeat on…
10-14-22: Pricing, Letting AI decide, and On Bestsellers
How to price products? Patrick O’Shaughnessy talks to Madhavan Ramanujam.Pricing based on benefits and not based on features. (A benefit is what your product does for them, and a feature is how they use your product to do it) The messy morality of letting AI make life-and-death decisions.What kinds of decisions is it appropriate to…
10/13/22: Some useful rules, machine-eyes, short-sightedness on the rise
Good list of rules from the ever-interesting Morgan Housel. My favorites: There are two types of information: stuff you’ll still care about in the future, and stuff that matters less and less over time. Long-term vs. expiring knowledge. It’s critical to identify which is which when you come across something new. Good ideas are easy…