A Sunday newsletter about things I find too interesting to keep to myself.
“Since 2006, 24% of the variation in the distribution of CEO compensation across pay components — salary, bonus, stock awards, options, non-equity incentives, pensions, and perquisites — disappeared.” ~ learn more
“RAND’s halcyon days lasted two decades, during which the corporation produced some of the most influential developments in science and American foreign policy. So how did it become just another think tank?” ~ learn more
This reminds me of what happened in Chicago when the city demolished Cabrini-Green and a couple big gangs became a hundred smaller gangs. Also, more bad news: “Some of the newer gangs appeared to be considering threats of physical violence rather than just online intimidation, he said.” ~…
“After the Great Fire of 1871, ordinances were passed requiring these tanks on top of warehouses, factories and public buildings. The law spawned a whole industry in water tank construction and maintenance.” ~ learn more
“Much as they would like you to forget, Copilot is not Microsoft’s first crack at a digital assistant. In fact, they’ve built two before this: Clippy and Cortana—the former of which we loved to hate and the latter of which we simply hated (or completely ignored).” ~ learn…
“It’s not a SQL statement that would work today in a cloud data warehouse. But an LLM would understand it : summarize the book Moby Dick in two sentences.” ~ learn more
This is cool. It’s a demo, of course, so don’t expect to be able to do the same thing any time soon. ~ learn more
“The things we keep under our bed—suitcases, shoeboxes—are like dormant memories. They’re out of sight, but not out of mind. We know they exist. They live rent-free in our unconscious mind. They interfere with the important work our unconscious mind does when we’re asleep.” ~ learn more
This is not my recommendation. Most days I take zero pills! However, this is what Peter Diamandis wrote. “My meds & supplement routine is built around addressing as many of these as possible. The 12 hallmarks include: Genomic Instability, Telomere Attrition, Epigenetic Alterations, Loss of Proteostasis, Deregulated Nutrient-Sensing,…
“We’re bringing a couple of aspiring scientists together, sticking ‘em in a house, giving ‘em some money and mentorship, and letting ‘em set sail. It’s kind of like a PhD program except it doesn’t give you clinical depression. The two inaugural Scholars of Science House are already publishing…
FOB China prices are now under $0.05/watt for the most popular solar cells in the market. Lower prices open new markets, which drive more volume, which can lower prices further. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for this virtuous cycle! Note that solar project “soft costs” are not following…
“While residential hardware costs have varied over the past 10 years, soft costs (SG&A, permitting, inspection, interconnection and labor) have remained stubbornly high and have even increased, pushing the soft cost share to its highest point in years.” ~ learn more
“The project is part of a $14.3bn plan to insulate Morocco from the effects of climate change launched four years ago (see further reading).” ~ learn more