The Appian Way. On my last visit to Rome, we walked the Appian Way and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It takes you outside the city, but it was a pleasant walk and thereās a park out there. Recommended!
Shows like MTVās 16 and pregnant led to a 5.7 percent decrease in teen births, ~1/3 of the decline in teen births during the period. Via Liam Delaney.
A Roman trebuchet was called an onager because of the power and danger of its kick, like that of a wild ass. I have a name for my next company. Via ACOUP.
Humans are unique among mammals for not creating their own vitamin C. Most mammals, except humans, guinea pigs, and some bats are able to d this. From Survival of the Sickest via Chris.
Musings
Anyone who does not believe in miracles is not a realistā ā Audrey Hepburn (via the Browser)
An emerging pattern Iāve seen with AI start ups is connecting software with physical processes in order to create a durable edge.
The third day of the Battle of Gettysburg was 162 years ago today. An amazing reminder of the capacity of America to change and flourish. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. Happy early birthday, America. I continue to love you and believe in you šŗšø š
Worth your time
If this doesnāt inspire you, I donāt know what to tell you.
Having no experience did not stop me from making a VTOL with world-class range and flight time, all in 90 days.
Einstein and relativity. His path of generating the theory stood out to me: in 8 years of thinking about the problem, he cracked it when he signed himself up for a series of lectures where he had to articulate it to others. āFinally, in the week before his last lecture, Einstein cracked it. At the end of the week, he stood up at the Prussian Academy and announced to the world the general theory of relativity he had figured out just days earlier.ā
The SCARF Model: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness
Things I learned
More Romans were killed at Cannae than Americans in Vietnam or British on the first day of the Somme ā The Rest is History
Musings
āTo create anything worthwhile, you have to put God in it.ā ā Nabeel Qu
Sacred vs. secular values. When people see an issue as a moral imperative, asking them to compromise on it with money offends them and makes a compromise less likely. Instead, the key is to offer respect and a compromise on a similarly important issue.
Commercial success demanded blending science and marketing; a steelmaker had to recognize not just the value of a new alloy, but its potential use. Benno Strauss, of the Krupp Works, later spoke about recognizing the potential of his stainless steel in plumbing, cutlery, medical equipment, and mirrors. He, like Brearleyāwho realized his stainless steel would be useful in spindles, pistons, plungers, and valvesāwas focused.
Things I learned
One step back, two steps forward
āResearch on third-grade retention policies [holding kids back in 3rd grade] has found that students who are retained tend to have better long-term outcomes than those who are notā from this article on the Mississippi Miracle.
Trade laws of nature?
The distance elasticity of trade (the rate at which trade between two cities drops off as they get farther away from each other) seems to be the same today as it was in ancient Assyria.
Musings
The fact that exposure therapy works with phobias (e.g., if youāre afraid of airplanes, the cure is actually getting on a plane and seeing that it works out okay) makes me more sympathetic that the idea that one should act brave in order to become brave.
In an attempt to make my writing more LLM friendly Iāve added an llms.txt file and a /llms feature where anyone ā you included ā can copy ~all of my writing for use in your chatbot of choice. Like most things around here, I built this for myself, but perhaps it will be useful to you too!
Worth your time
Four SeasonsRecomposed by Max Richter. Bewitching.
āThe key thing to internalise is that the customer does not care about your writing, or about your product. A customer does not buy your product because they like your product. A customer buys your product because they believe it will turn them into a more awesome version of themselves. From Speedrunning the Skill of Demand. I also appreciated the insight that some detachment is needed to make great products. If itās too personal, you canāt see it clearly.
Non-linear ethnic niches: 90% of grocery stores in Detroit are owned by Chaldeans. 95% of Dunkin Donuts stores in the Midwest are owned by Indians, mostly Gujarati Patels. In New England and New York,Ā 60% of Dunkinā Donuts storesĀ are operated by Portuguese immigrants.Ā 90% of the liquor stores in BaltimoreĀ are owned by Koreans. Via Aporia Magazine.
Musings
āMaybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regretsā ā Arthur Miller (via The Browser)