Marvin’s Best Weekly Reads Sept 18th, 2022
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude” -Oprah Winfrey
Net net: don't own assets in China. You will lose it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fomuXEaEAJA
2. So happy but it's not over yet. Good overview of what's up with eastern offensive in Kharkiv. Slava Ukraini!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAD684eczq8
3. 50 Cent is a brilliant businessman.
"Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson didn’t become an entertainment mogul by being diplomatic. Whether when he was emerging as a hip-hop legend during the aughts, or developing his hit Starz crime drama Power into a franchise that now spans four series, he always gets things done with a mix of talent, shrewdness, aggression, and forthrightness. And he expects everyone who’s a part of his empire to share the same drive.
As with his music career, where he elevated his visibility through personal conflict, 50 Cent has a propensity for starting digital fires to call attention to his TV shows. His music fused brilliant, melodic hooks with a rugged edge, but he was always selling himself.
That’s still the case, but now he’s a behind-the-scenes force who’s happy to step out into the open and start a war, even if he has to make one up: He’s arguably even more calculatingly contentious as a TV producer than he was as a musician. And with 25 shows sold across nine networks, and more in production, it seems to be working. 50 Cent became a mogul by creating his own genre, and he’s determined to do what he needs to keep growing his empire."
https://www.gq.com/story/50-cent-tv-empire-power-ghost-raising-kanan-force-bmf
4. Both are very good books for founders.
"The best way to create a category is to go sell some software. Early-stage startups excessively focused on category creation are trying to win the game by staring at the scoreboard.
The best way to be a category king is to be the most aggressive company during the growth phase of the market. Do that by executing what I call the market leader play, the rough equivalent of Geoffrey Moore’s “just ship” during the tornado. Second prize really is a set of steak knives."
5. "With a CBDC, your food, clothing, travel, carbon, savings, spending choices and more could all be controlled, limited, or blocked at the push of a button. Everything you need to survive could be given, or taken away at will, by your government.
The very power of life and death itself.
The early United States government believed forgery was such a dire threat that to take part in it warranted the death penalty. And modern governments believe a currency controlled by the people is so menacing, that the solution is to create something with the ability to control every single aspect of your life.
So let me ask you this: what’s the bigger threat, and to whom?
To me, it is blindingly obvious that a CBDC poses a bigger threat to our freedoms, than crypto does to our society as a whole.
But that’s certainly not how they’ll frame the story."
https://abundantia.substack.com/p/franken-money
6. "If Betr can break the mobile-sports-gambling duopoly of DraftKings and FanDuel, it wouldn’t be the first time Paul has beaten the odds to make his way in a new industry. As a teenager, Paul’s aggro class-clown antics on Vine and YouTube attracted millions of followers as he grew up in front of the camera, learning to monetize nearly every moment of his time. With his older brother, Logan, he helped set the tone for the first wave of bro-y influencers living together in what are now known as hype houses. There were commercially — if not aesthetically — successful forays into music and acting.
Logan is now suplexing wrestlers in the WWE, but Jake found a home in the boxing world, where he has been driving pay-per-view sales with his DNA-level drive for self-promotion, a knack for starting feuds, and a right hook mean enough to knock out four amateurs who didn’t really know how to block a punch. Paul’s detractors still say he is a distraction and point to the fact that he hasn’t actually faced any pro boxers.
To show he means it, Paul has gotten extremely ripped and has won each time he has stepped into the ring against pros from other sports like mixed martial arts and basketball. Whatever boxing fans think of him, the prankster has become a serious force in professional fighting, earning seven-figure purses and feuding with UFC president Dana White over providing lifelong health insurance for its fighters.
At 25, Paul hopes to pivot again, this time to a role that doesn’t involve him getting punched in the face."
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/08/jake-paul-takes-on-sports-media-with-gambling-app-betr.html
7. This is a very good point. Fragmentation of the media world means there are so many famous people but within niches & groups, not universally known anymore.
https://sotonye.substack.com/p/the-end-of-the-mega-star/comments
8. "Malone, who was raised in Connecticut and graduated from Yale with degrees in economics and engineering, traveled west and made his fortune by getting in on the ground floor of the cable TV business in the 1970s.
In its earliest years, cable was sold as a way to deliver broadcast channels in areas where normal TV antennas wouldn’t work, like the Rocky Mountains. Malone built up his Denver-based company Tele-Communications Inc. into a cable Goliath by rolling up a series of small mom-and-pop operators using debt financing. Along the way, he used his power as a distributor to extract ownership stakes in cable TV programmers like Fox News and QVC. He cashed out by selling to AT&T for $48 billion in 1999.
Since then, Malone has bought and sold and swapped companies and stakes in companies over and over, always with an eye on keeping his taxes as low as possible. He now owns a portfolio that includes meaningful ownership in everything from satellite music service SiriusXM to baseball’s Atlanta Braves to Live Nation, the ticketing and concert giant."
https://www.vox.com/2022/8/26/23322761/cnn-john-malone-david-zaslav-chris-licht-brian-stelter-fox
9. The case for remote work.
"The combination of portable computing, great communication and collaboration software, and the internet has empowered new ways of working and living to emerge. In the face of this, companies that don’t adapt will bleed talent to their competition, and companies that embrace remote work will replace companies that don’t.
Probably not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it’s a movement that won’t be undone. In the same way e-commerce has decimated many physical stores, virtual companies will crush office-based companies."
https://future.com/remote-startups-hire-top-talent
10. This is good. A list of things that make most people happy.
https://sotonye.substack.com/p/doing-things-that-make-you-happy
11. "A new friend reminded me yesterday that everything in life is fear-based except love. It’s a simple but profound insight. Only keep and use stuff that you love and that loves you back in ways that resonates with your higher being. Resist the emotional pull to heal wounds and fill voids by buying things that you don’t need or will never or rarely use. It’s a waste across so many areas, not mentioning an insult to yourself."
https://fewerbetterthings.substack.com/p/everything-is-fear-based-except-love
12. "The more the company has tried to denounce its associations to these influencers and their ideologies, the more these figures seem to endorse their product.
This phenomenon — when a brand is unwillingly co-opted by fringe groups to advance their message –—is known as hatejacking. Hatejacking has become increasingly common as extremist politics have crept into the mainstream, interfering with brands aiming to please broad audiences.
Most of the time, the fringe group picks its targets at random. There are no clear answers for why it happens and to whom. Just as confusingly, there’s no surefire strategy for silencing the fringe groups."
https://thehustle.co/what-happens-when-your-brand-is-co-opted-by-extremists
13. "Another effect of the digital medium is more indirect but may also be more profound. The moment one enters the online environment, the self begins to liquify. The lack of external or internal pressures makes it impossible to maintain a definite shape or character. On the web, you can be anyone or anything—a vertigo-inducing condition that is equivalent to being nothing.
Identity, which in traditional culture was pressed hard upon us by social forces and in modernity became problematic, now dissipates into thin air. Those of us who are of a certain age will borrow attributes from the analog world. But the young make no distinction between virtual and real. They are stuck on a question that is part narcissism and part fear of the monster in the labyrinth: What am I?"
14. "In summary, new web3 creative projects are inverting the media creation model: communities of owners are forming around nascent creations, writing their own stories into existence with skin in the game, and distributing them to communities with shared upside, then to broader audiences. Fans become creators, and their own fans become creators, too, resulting in a prismatic assemblage of creation, all powered by a native business model and new funding mechanisms. The end result, hopefully, being the democratization of storytelling and creativity for everyone."
https://li.substack.com/p/fans-are-the-new-creators
15. "Since the 15th century, the last five global empires have issued the world’s reserve currency — the one most often used by other countries — for 94 years on average. The dollar has held reserve status for more than 100 years, so its reign is already older than most.
The dollar has been bolstered by the weaknesses of its rivals. The euro has been repeatedly undermined by financial crises, while the renminbi is heavily managed by an authoritarian regime. Nonetheless, alternatives are gaining ground. Beyond the Big Four currencies — of the US, Europe, Japan and the UK — lies the category of “other currencies” that includes the Canadian and Australian dollar, the Swiss franc and the renminbi. They now account for 10 per cent of global reserves, up from 2 per cent in 2001. Their gains, which accelerated during the pandemic, have come mainly at the expense of the US dollar. The dollar share of foreign exchange reserves is currently at 59 per cent — the lowest since 1995. Digital currencies may look battered now, but they remain a long-run alternative as well.
Meanwhile, the impact of US sanctions on Russia is demonstrating how much influence the US wields over a dollar-driven world, inspiring many countries to speed up their search for options. It’s possible that the next step is not towards a single reserve currency, but to currency blocs."
https://www.ft.com/content/989b2e50-e8b5-474c-86a3-190c6881b235
16. This is grim but it sounds about right.
This is the consequence of really bad economic and energy policy in the EU. (although US/Canada is doing everything it can to shoot itself in foot too). All self-inflicted.
https://twitter.com/HKBelvedere/status/1563975832741216256
17. This guy writes beautifully despite being white supremicist Intel. But he is correct in that America has gotten soft. Conflict & disorder is coming so we need to toughen up fast to protect our way of live and values from the barbarians coming.
"We live in a world where the strength in man isn’t valued. Why be strong when there’s airplanes and drones that will bomb you to hell before you even get a shot off? Fortuna is almost gone from battlefield. It’s still a fallacy to ignore physical culture. You aren’t important enough to send a drone yet anyways. You must keep to the old ways of physical prowess because it’s the key to victory. You cannot win without a strong warlike people at your back. Never forget this.
Oswald Spengler believed that this leviathan can only be overthrown by force. You weren’t going to vote your way out of the tyranny of money and mind. You have to bring a different, a new and superior way of life to the forefront. Be capable of forging superior men who will embarrass the regime. Develop superior methods of war that will leave your enemies dumbstruck. Stop reacting to the enemy and go on the offensive.
You must cultivate the frontier spirit of Heracles and the American frontiersman again. Power and freedom are what matters. The Warrior Religion makes ritual all that grows our power and freedom. This is where true religious rites come from. The will to survive and thrive in nature, in enemy territory. Making sacrifices in pagan style don’t make sense to men in the same manner it did for the ancients. The ultimate purpose is to create religious rites that help forge a chosen, warlike people who will fight. You must do this.
It’s not sacrifice that made a man pagan. This is only Christian slander. There are many ways of sacrifice. The PAGAN, not the Christian, believes in justice. The frontiersman had a frontier code of vengeance when Indians butchered settlers, for example. Also in “pride and personal honor, will to power, patriotic readiness to meet force with force” as said by Robinson Jeffers."
https://resavager.substack.com/p/warrior-religion-ii
18. This is certainly disturbing reading.
"As you can see the policies benefit people who *already* own assets. If your goal is to get rich by working for someone else, it will be quite difficult since your wage growth will not mirror the company growth perfectly and your equity in the firm is likely minimal.
Fortunately? You’re reading this from a Computer. That computer is capable of reaching billions of people for a measly cost of around $4 a month. If you have any skill in the world where people go out of their way to tell you “hey you’re good at this” we can all but guarantee you can earn money online from it."
https://bowtiedbull.substack.com/p/lowering-your-standards-a-history
19. "the huge rise in energy prices in Europe, and demand destruction will cause massive disruptions to global supply chains. Manufacturing production which used to be competitive in Germany will no longer be at this level of energy prices, which means output will be taken off line.
This means that different parts of the supply chain (capital good, fertiliser, widgets that make things work but you never knew they came from Germany) will be disrupted - think of the supply chain disruptions during Covid but on steroids. This likely will accentuate global stagflationary pressures - the world will suffer because of this, and ultimately because of Putin's unfettered ambition and brutality.
So my advice to ME readers and listeners is be careful/cautious in how you view this crisis, and this is not a time for schadenfruede, but building your own economic defences for likely much harder economic times for all looming globally. I also think it is time the West pulls together with friendly nations in the Gulf and elsewhere to prevent rising energy prices causing a catastrophic global recession."
https://timothyash.substack.com/p/energy-exporters-need-to-be-worried
20. "The only purpose of sanctions that makes any logical sense is this: Sanctions should make it harder for Russia to prosecute its invasion of Ukraine, as well as any other future invasions that Putin may decide to carry out. And the way to weaken Russia’s military machine is to weaken Russia’s defense production. And the way to weaken Russian imports, so that Russia can’t buy the parts and machinery it needs to make weapons.
But remember, reducing Russian imports was the whole point of sanctions! Russia needs to import a ton of parts and machinery in order to make tanks, missiles, air defense radars, jets, and all its other implements of destruction. Now, thanks to sanctions, it can’t do that nearly as much. In fact, exports to Russia have rebounded a bit since the initial plunge, but almost all of the rebound has been in consumer goods, rather than in machinery, materials, and other “dual-use” goods.
And that’s exactly what we should want — we’re not starving the babushkas, but we are starving Russia’s military machine.
In other words, the strong ruble is pointless, because the cause of the strong ruble is that sanctions are preventing Russia from getting the imports its military needs."
https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/yes-sanctions-on-russia-are-working
21. I love Jiro Dreams of Sushi and watch it every year. This is a great retrospective on how that film changed the sushi scene forever.
https://www.eater.com/23327804/sushi-omakase-united-states-nakazawa-jiro-dreams-of-sushi-history
22. Love NAFO. Down with Vatniks.
"Russian influencers have struggled to respond to the badly-drawn Shiba Inu memes, YouTube-style viral videos and the power of ordinary social media users debunking Kremlin talking points. Even answering a Twitter account whose avatar is a “doge” can make a Russian diplomat look foolish. In essence, NAFO can swim in online waters that governments would struggle to enter.
Five Western national security officials, almost all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, welcomed the rise of such pro-Ukrainian internet warriors. Unlike the usually colorless official efforts at dispelling Kremlin’s falsehoods, NAFO has tapped into wide public anger against Russia via popular culture references and laughter, they added.
“Employing humor to counter disinformation is a brilliant strategy,” said Jakub Kalenský, a senior analyst at the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, a joint initiative between NATO countries and the European Union. “One inspiration we should take is that it is possible to fight back. It is really possible to do something — so stop being lazy and trying to look for excuses.”
23. Worthwhile & helpful thread on how to categorize a country collapse. Net net: we are not there yet in the USA.
https://mobile.twitter.com/Rest_Stop_Juche/status/1564953253846355968
24. Another reason many founders find most of their VCs to be useless.
"This person agrees, however, that boards have become “broken.” For one thing, he says that most that he attends have slackened into Zoom calls that feel even more perfunctory than in pre-COVID days.
He also says that in addition to frenetic deal-making, two other factors have conspired to make formal meetings less valuable: late-stage investors who write checks to younger companies but don’t take board seats, leaving their co-investors with a disproportionate amount of responsibility, and newer VCs who’ve never served as executives at big companies — and sometimes weren’t even mentored — and so aren’t quite as useful in boardrooms."
https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/31/coming-out-of-covid-investors-lose-their-taste-for-board-meetings
25. "The men of the early Roman Republic exemplified Barbaric Vitalism. Their definition of virtue (virtus) was manliness. Virtue didn’t carry the connotations it does today. It just meant you were manly. The way to show your manliness to the Romans was through labor. Strenuous exertions and ordeals made or broke men. In Rome, you weren’t born a man. You had to become one.
Manliness to the early Romans was associated with physical power, vigor, vitality, energy, and violent action. The Romans compared to the many tribes that surrounded them weren’t that impressive. Their adversaries were often bigger, stronger, and outnumbered them. You’d think the way we’re taught about the Romans, they won most of their battles, but they actually lost most of them.
The Romans were known for their no surrender, never say die mentality. The Romans refused to admit defeat. They lost 50,000 men at Cannae at the hands of Hannibal, but still refused to throw in the towel. The Romans showed energy, vigor, VITALITY. They had the powerful desire to OVERCOME. They would rather be killed off then live the rest of their lives as slaves. This is Barbaric Vitalism.
Barbaric Vitalism is seeing nature at play and realizing all the bullshit feelings of the modern world don’t matter. It’s realizing nature doesn’t care about equality, decency, or who was where first — nature only cares about who wins."
https://resavager.substack.com/p/the-power-of-barbaric-vitalism-361
26. "Sadly for Mr. Ford and the well-intended but totally naïve young woman holding out hope that the unicorn concept of “cheaper cleaner greener” energy is actually a thing, they are both victims of insidious propaganda. As reality will soon demonstrate, if a country can’t afford to keep its citizens warm during the winter, then that country is poor, not rich. And if the proposed solution to this crisis is to double down on the same crazy policies that caused it in the first place, then we should expect the problem to get worse, not better.
In hindsight, our expectation that Western leaders would awaken to the laws of physics was terribly mistaken. Instead, they have behaved as though they have leverage over Putin, not the other way around. Despite already skyrocketing energy prices, Nord Stream 2 was canceled, adding further strain to the EU’s depleting energy options. Emboldened by the cards handed to him by his geopolitical opponents, Putin invaded Ukraine. The West’s response – attempting to sanction Putin’s energy from global markets – was quite literally the dumbest option available, akin to sawing off your own hand in the middle of a boxing match.
In the past week, the market for European electricity broke, begging the question of exactly who is being sanctioned by whom. Forward-year prices for baseload power in Germany skyrocketed to over €1,000 per MWh before crashing by more than a third a day later. The same contract was selling for €45 per MWh less than two years ago. The imminent crisis is now undeniably laid bare for all to see. How will Europe navigate the upcoming winter? Will logic, sanity, and genuine leadership take hold, or will the same fools who rushed into this mess double down on their foolishness?"
https://doomberg.substack.com/p/dead-of-winter
27. Sacks has been listening way too much to discredited Mearsheimer. But its always a good discussion on this show. All in Podcast is a great show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc-Leuq0G7o
28. Crisis investing in the emerging & frontier markets. Fascinating discussion.
https://mailchi.mp/497e654bdaeb/crisis-investing-in-frontier-and-emerging-markets?e=123a1c25c4
29. "Going forward I think these water level and shipping-related problems will occur more often than some people today expect. The last time we faced a similar problem was in the summer of 2018. I think this will become a regular problem for us in the years ahead.
My Biggest concern is because of the enduring drought in Europe, China and the US is, on the other hand, another one. I think low water levels will lead to less hydropower capacity around the globe which would be bad for our green energy transition ambitions. The other potential threat I can’t stress enough are crop yields.
As water becomes scarcer and therefore more valuable farmers will most likely use less water to water the crops and if those drought conditions intensify over the next years this will hit the crop yields in times when the world population is growing faster than ever."
https://commodityreport.substack.com/p/the-rhine-shipping-crisis
30. "Stradner said that “Russia is weaponizing information to destabilize and divide our allies. If the West wants to win the information war against Russia it must put the Kremlin on defense and counter Russian information operations globally.”
Echoing this sentiment, Cesar Villaroel, a television and communications expert in Latin America, indicated that he had seen an increase in the numbers of people tuning in to RT in Spanish to get the latest of current events. Villaroel indicated that, “Despite the fact that the war in Ukraine is a big story in the US, and in Europe, the fact is Ukraine’s message is not effectively reaching people across Central and South America.”
https://www.kyivpost.com/russias-war/the-information-war-of-ukraine-falters.html
31. The question is whether Russia can find the trained crews and infantry to protect them. Here is to Saint Javelin destroying more of these! Slava Ukraini!
"The Kremlin’s reckless and unsuccessful blitzkrieg on Kyiv resulted in the loss of over 1,000 tanks – within just a few weeks after Feb. 24.
By April, many battlefields in northern Ukraine had become tank cemeteries, with dozens of scorched machines eviscerated by Ukrainian anti-tank squads.
This is a heavy blow for Russia’s offensive component, even given its large military. Contrary to its propaganda, Russia’s infamously large stockpile of Soviet tanks is little more than a pile of scrap metal unfit to be used in battle.
However, we can not expect Russia to run critically low on tanks anytime soon.
Despite heavy losses, Russia still has enough machines to continue waging its war for years."
https://kyivindependent.com/national/how-many-tanks-does-russia-really-have
32. 110% agree.
"First, bottoms-up and top-down are no longer binary. In fact, the layering of top-down over bottoms-up is becoming the de facto playbook. I’ve lost count of the number of “product-led” companies that had stagnated, but bit the bullet, built an enterprise sales organization, and have since found their second wind.
So I’m going to call it. We’re no longer living in a world where bottoms-up growth is the only “fundable” go-to-market strategy. Let’s hope investors (and public markets) respond to these trends in kind."
https://medium.com/angularventures/its-not-all-about-bottoms-up-a87671cfd3c3
33. "Your devotion to The Gods will be shown by your commitment to way of a warrior. Your first steps should be towards self-reliance. This is a big country and while not everyone can separate yourself completely from the system, you should consider yourself a spiritual steppe nomad. Don’t depend on the state to save you, ever. Make your and your family’s safety your responsibility. You should be getting in shape. If you don’t know how to fight, pick up a martial art like boxing, general mma, or muay thai. BJJ is popular right now, but I wouldn’t recommend it as your first martial art. The last place you want to be is stuck on the ground.
No one really talks about it, but your confidence is greatly improved by humbling yourself in a martial art. Unfortunately, war isn’t all hand to hand, so you must also be armed. Make sure you have knives and tomahawks like frontiersman forefathers. Make sure you bear arms. Do not be like those guys who own like twenty different assault rifles, but lack body armor and night vision. You’re much more tactically sound if you get basic riffle and handgun with body armor and night vision vs having your own armory.
You will feel most alive when you’re testing your strength. Whether it’s lifting weights, climbing mountains, sparring in the gym, or war itself. You will never feel quite right until you’re trying to make yourself as proficient as possible in the ways of war. You must treat your training with as much reverence as a holy man does his religious rites. This is after all, a Warrior Religion. They are religious rites and The Gods will reward you for keeping to these rituals. It was a mistake to delegate war to the government. It should be the duty of every man."
https://resavager.substack.com/p/the-disciple-of-the-warrior-religion
34. This was a fun interview & discussion. Go Batch 14!
35. More of this please! Much more.
36. Great advice for founders.
https://twitter.com/mwseibel/status/1565869137192226819
37. It's about time Taiwan got serious about preparing for an invasion by China.
"Tsao, who donned body armor for his announcement, warned it would be “an intentional slaughter and vicious war crime and crime against humanity” if China were to use force against Taiwan.
The tycoon said he would put TW$600 million towards training three million “black bear warriors” in the next three years who could work alongside the military.
Another TW$400 million will be used to train 300,000 “marksmen” with shooting skills."
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/09/01/taiwan-tycoon-train-civilian-warriors
38. "I’m excited about deep tech. The SPAC boom doesn’t offer a sustainable model for building these kinds of companies, but the combined effects of software advances, social and political interest, and a growing talent base might be enough of a cocktail of tailwinds for era-defining companies to be built."
https://mandel.substack.com/p/four-theses-on-deep-tech
39. This is much needed in Europe. New breed of Fund of Funds for Emerging VC Fund Managers.
https://sifted.eu/articles/equation-europe-vc-fund
40. "So, what am I personally doing right now to prepare for a potentially catastrophic global financial market? Well, not investing in the stock market for a start. Furthermore, I’m doing all I can to pump excess cash into lowering my company’s real estate loans as a preventative measure, and lowering my debt liability in the case of inflation (and interest rates) getting even higher than it already is.
I’ve also just placed my biggest order for gold and silver for 2022 so far. Because to me, whenever people put too much faith (and money) into hopes and dreams of future payoffs, I prefer to put my faith in stability, as well as assets that humanity has used to store value for thousands of years. And to me, that’s why metals are always a safe bet.
Long story short, when it appears everyone has placed their bets on belief for far too long, I prefer to put my faith in those things that have stood the test of time. Things like precious metals, real estate, or following the fundamental basic tenets of good finance like making an effort to lower one’s debt.
Anything but investing money, time, or resources into a market that right now, seems to only be propped up by belief alone."
https://abundantia.substack.com/p/the-superbubble-pop
41. "I call this “sameness” trend the fast-foodification of everything.
It’s this feeling that we’re in a sea of the same. It all feels sterile. This is mediocrity at its finest.
Why fast food?
Well, fast food is something that is convenient and tastes good in the moment. But once you start driving home, you start feeling the effects. That KFC isn’t sitting well.
Fast food content. Fast food cities. The rise of standardization.
Standardization makes it easy for you to know what to do or where to go. Chances are if you walk into a Starbucks you instinctively know where the barista is standing or where to run to the bathroom. It’s extremely intuitive. People psychologically do well when they expect what they are looking for. No surprises."
https://latecheckout.substack.com/p/the-fast-foodification-of-everything
42. I'm a big fan of Julian Robertson and it’s so awesome that he started Tiger when he was 48! Find your zone of genius.
"When Fortune profiled him in 2008, they reported a return of 403% on his own capital on an estimated $1 billion fortune at the time he shut down.
Despite exiting during a drawdown, I think he made a smart choice for himself. He kept doing what he loved: he mentored great talent, traveled the world, and pulled the trigger on investing his own capital. The work of answering to investors, navigating a massive fund, and managing an extensive staff disappeared. He’d returned to what he loved: the craft of investing and spending time with his favorite people. No wonder he kept on winning."
https://neckar.substack.com/p/the-tiger-that-was-a-wolf-lessons
43. "Expensive gas threatens Europe in two basic ways. First, with winter approaching, Europeans will find it difficult to heat their homes (despite global warming, Europe still gets very cold). Second, much of European industry is dependent on cheap electricity. Aluminum output has cratered, chemical plants are closing all over the continent, lots of British manufacturers are saying they could go out of business, steel plants are starting to close, and so on.
The basic problem is that Europe uses a lot of natural gas — it’s about a quarter of the region’s total energy production and more than a fifth of electricity generation — and about 40% of that gas traditionally has come from Russia. In the long run, Europe can and will switch much of this to solar and wind power, and import more liquified natural gas from the U.S. In the short run, that’s just not going to happen.
So what will Europe do in order to sustain its economy and keep from freezing in the short term? Well, there are two basic strategies — price-based demand curbs and rationing — both of which will involve painful tradeoffs. European countries will probably choose a mixture of these. And in the end, Europe will be a little bit poorer, but it will make it through.
As a coda, although it’s too late for recriminations to be anything but a distraction in the current crisis, it’s worth remembering how Europe — and especially Germany — was forced into this unhappy tradeoff in the first place. There were two big mistakes: environmentalism without pragmatism, and a romantic attachment to the idea of peace through commerce."
https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/dont-panic-europe-will-deal-with
44. "In the throes of the current bear market, there is no better time for crypto-natives to be building. Join a DAO, read a crypto newsletter, write a blog post, pick up a technical skill, do a podcast, solve a practical problem.
Perhaps most importantly, build relationships. The bear market weeded out the crypto tourists, and the people remaining are the true crypto-natives. Indeed, building in the bear is a reliable way to meet like-minded folk serious in their convictions.
Put simply, when the excitement of the bull party is over, the bear market is the best time to solidify your second citizenship in the crypto world. Just as the Chinese or Jewish diaspora exists as an entity outside of whatever nationality they hold, crypto citizens hold “dual citizenship”, one “officially” in their physical nation state, and one “unofficially” in the crypto world of their choosing."
https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/the-sovereign-crypto-native
45. This is a much needed VC fund here. Congrats to Jai Malik
46. This fund will actually do well I think.
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/kim-kardashian-starts-investment-firm-4944785
47. Too early to tell but I certainly hope so! Slava Ukraini!
https://timothyash.substack.com/p/are-russian-forces-on-brink-of-collapse