Written by someone named Uri: “The truth is, I don't care if people pronounce it [x] or [X]. (I don't even really care if they call me [Y]). I have many lifelong friends who call me [x] and many who call me [X], and I can't tell you which are which because I don't notice and don't remember. “ ~ learn more
The Silicon Valley law firm Gunderson Dettmer built their own internal app for using large language models in their practice. The most exciting “component is the ability of lawyers to query documents they provide using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), a method of using relevant data from outside the LLM to augment queries.” ~ learn more
“And thanks to power law distribution of winners and losers, the worst VCs are impressively efficient at destroying wealth.” We’re invested in the asset class. I think I will hold on to my rosy expectations for the performance of the General Partners we’ve backed. Feel free to ask me at the end of this decade how that’s worked out. ~ learn more
Indie draws parallels between low budget movies and low budget startups. A quote from producer Jason Blum, who generated $193 million in box-office revenue on its $15k budget for Paranormal Activity: “The single biggest reason people don’t replicate the our model is EGO. Most people have their ego tied to their projects’ budgets.” ~ learn more
“The 'tiny habits' theory works by drastically reducing the amount of effort. It takes a lot of effort to do a whole strength-training routine, so that's a high barrier. Makes sense to reduce it. The problem is that you're often reducing the reward drastically as well. And miniscule-effort for zero-reward is still maths that works out to "not worth it".” ~ learn more
California’s new law says only physicians and surgeons can call themselves Dr. “Plaintiffs [who all hold Doctorate of Nursing (DNP) Practice degrees] claim state is criminalizing speaking the truth about their earned advanced degrees.” Meanwhile in California, nutritionist is not a protected term and anyone can call themselves one to spoon-feed you nutrition advice. ~ learn more
“To create bioCap, the researchers used sawdust as a substrate through which to filter water, given its superior chemical and physical stability and the fact that it contains cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin, which facilitate efficient water transport. They modified the sawdust by adding tannic acid, a naturally occurring plant polyphenol found in almost all plants without underground root systems.” ~ learn more
“Everybody thinks peppers are hot. There is no actual heat in peppers. … It cannot burn a hole in your esophagus. It can’t destroy your taste buds. It can’t hurt your stomach. It doesn’t cause ulcers. Nothing can happen to you other than temporary discomfort from a pepper unless you have a predisposition to allergies for nightshades.” ~ learn more
“It could look something like this: in partnership with the US government, a private company — let’s call it Regolift MegaCorp — sends fuel-cell powered, tele-operated robots to the lunar poles to mine their icy regolith. There, they separate the ice from the soil, and electrolyze the ice to make hydrogen and oxygen, which when condensed into liquid form (LOX, LH2 respectively), can be used as propellent. It’s potentially most…
I read somewhere that writing summaries is more important than reading books. So I decided to take that author's advice, and also his template. I recently finished reading The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World by David Robson. In summary, I thought it was great! In 1-2 sentences, what is the book about as a whole? Humans are profoundly influenced by our expectations, which not only color…