thoughts of food
How Two Buck Chuck revolutionized the wine industry
“This is the tale of one wine brand, two vintners, and the unlikely democratization of a historically snobby industry.” | learn more
thoughts of food
The invention of a new pasta shape
“For the past three years, Dan Pashman of The Sporkful podcast has been on something of a mission: to invent a new pasta shape. All of Pashman’s hard work has paid off with the debut of cascatelli pasta…” | learn more
under the microscope
Bacteriophages, a multi-tool to fight infectious disease
“Bacteriophages (or phages) have been in the toolbox of medical treatments for almost a century. The use of phages to treat infection was mostly confined to eastern European countries, while in the Western world we abandoned their use a long […]
under the microscope
The future is nano
“One emerging field that exemplifies this transformation of science is ‘protein nanotechnology’, where nanotechnologists use proteins to design and construct microstructures and nanostructures, thereby imitating life.” | learn more
better doing
Good explanations are hard to vary
This short Naval Ravikant post posits that good explanations, “should make risky and narrow predictions.” Part of his point is that tons of things are falsifiable in fact without leading to progress. Example: “If you eat 1kg of grass, it […]
tech, startups, internet
Interview with Stripe cofounder Patrick Collison
This is a written Q&A interview—maybe my favorite format. I have a new appreciation for the depth of his interests. “His biggest intellectual interest is the idea of technological progress — what it means, why it happens, and how to […]
tech, startups, internet
What Facebook sees in newsletters
“Today let’s talk about platforms’ growing interest in building newsletter tools — and whether Facebook, against all conventional wisdom, might have an opportunity there.” | learn more
fun facts
Fake insider trading is illegal, too
I skipped over a headline last week about a SpaceX engineer who was insider trading. The story became much more interesting once I learned he wasn’t really selling insider info. Rather, he was selling fundamental research falsely advertised as insider […]
fun facts
Filling my boots
I learned a new idiom this week. To fill one’s boots is to, “take or obtain as much of something as one can. Primarily heard in UK.” | learn more