timelets

mini-Musks

2026-01-28T06:14:53Z

Women who were surveyed by Obi were essentially evenly split when it comes to choosing Waymo or Tesla, with Zoox a distant third at 8%. But 56% of men surveyed preferred Tesla to Waymo (25%) or Zoox (7%).

https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/27/the-price-gap-between-waymo-and-uber-is-narrowing/

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timelets @ 2023-11-14T18:14:00

2023-11-15T02:22:04Z

He[Ricoeur] derives this initial ethical understanding of institution from Arendt’s concept of “power in common” that is contrasted with domination (“power over”) and that is realised by a plurality of people acting in concert. ...

Because acting in concert with unknown third parties needs time to unfold, institutions are needed. Institutions thereby provide the neces- sary temporal dimension for the power in common to endure, which lies at the basis of any political community. ( Read more... )

--- Reijers, Coeckelbergh. Narrative and Technology Ethics.

In this respect, good institutions bridge time, i.e. form social infrastructure the same water reservoirs form physical infrastructure. Need to find a related quote from Hegel that good judges/courts represent infinity.

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timelets @ 2023-10-28T14:57:00

2023-10-28T21:58:53Z

Duolingo founder talks about why and how the company works

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timelets @ 2022-09-27T20:42:00

2022-09-28T03:43:02Z

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Putin delenda est

2022-05-29T19:44:48Z

Картинка с выставки китайского делового искусства:

Все российские самолеты Boeing не могут летать в воздушном пространстве Китая до последующего уведомления, говорится в письме для клиентов логистической компании Global Link, которое распространено по российским Telegram-каналам. В нем отмечается, что данное уведомление получено компанией от Администрации гражданской авиации КНР.
...
речь идет о закрытии Китаем неба «для российских эксплуатантов всех самолетов, в том числе Boeing и Airbus, с двойной регистрацией».

https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2022/05/27/924013-kitai-ogranicheniya-rossii

Отличный пример, как Китай делает озабоченное лицо по поводу ужасных западных санкций и отбирает бизнес у российских компаний.

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Putin delenda est

2022-04-28T19:45:19Z

BERLIN—Germany is now ready to stop buying Russian oil, clearing the way for a European Union ban on crude imports from Russia, government officials said.

Berlin had been one of the main opponents of sanctioning the EU’s oil-and-gas trade with Moscow.

However on Wednesday, German representatives to EU institutions lifted the country’s objection to a full Russian oil embargo provided Berlin was given sufficient time to secure alternative supplies, two officials said.

...
The Gdansk port infrastructure, which is equipped to receive oil supertankers, is connected to the Russian pipeline with a separate link operated by Poland. This means oil imports to Gdansk could be immediately channeled through the pipeline to the Schwedt refinery, replacing Russian supplies, government officials said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-drops-opposition-to-russian-oil-embargo-11651155915

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timelets @ 2021-12-03T22:30:00

2021-12-04T06:31:33Z

Supply chain problems illustrated and explained.

https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2021/12/global-supply-chain-problems/index.html?shell

upd. also of interest a historical overview of major events/narratives expressed in Singapore press headlines https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2021/12/st-headlines-2021/index.html?shell

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timelets @ 2021-11-29T22:54:00

2021-11-30T06:57:17Z

In the Three Little Pigs tale, the brick house is a ~~non-exclusionary~~ non-rival good, which can be modeled as a distributive category.

BH x (Pig1 + Pig2 + Pig3) -> BHxPig1 + BHxPig2 + BHxPig3.

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timelets @ 2021-11-20T21:54:00

2021-11-21T05:55:43Z

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The Flue is dead

2021-01-21T22:44:29Z

Good news!

Influenza, usually raging throughout the Northern Hemisphere this time of year, has become virtually invisible.

It is a small bright spot amid Covid-19, although the number of people saved from a flu death pales next to the number dying from the new pandemic. It also presents questions that doctors around the globe will likely be wrestling with for years: If flu can be nearly wiped out this season, why not every season? Which steps help the most to stop the flu from spreading?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-has-nearly-wiped-out-the-fluhow-do-we-keep-it-from-coming-back-11611230410

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timelets @ 2020-12-03T23:08:00

2020-12-04T07:09:47Z

https://youtu.be/5_bqD6tTHG8?t=664

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TIL: the Density Divide

2020-11-27T19:04:26Z

https://www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wilkinson-Density-Divide-Final.pdf

Self-selected migration has segregated the national population and concentrated economic production into megacities, driving a polarizing wedge between dense diverse populations and sparse white populations—the “density divide.”

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timelets @ 2020-09-07T07:51:00

2020-09-07T14:54:33Z

“...said Nestor. ... So, my plan is that Argus, Tiphys and his men dismantle the Argo into portable sections which we take overland from the eastern shore of the Propontis to the western shore of the Euxine Sea, thus circumventing the Symplegades entirely.

Phineus sprayed fruit and bread everywhere as he snorted with derisive laughter. ‘Circumventing, you say? Oh dear me, that’s a good one. Circumventing. The land between, your ‘circumventing land’ bristles with bandits, some of them only half human. They hide in the bushes, shoot arrows and wait for you to die of your wounds. You’ll never see them. For all your crew of musclebound heroes you’d be better turning for home than trying such a foolish thing. Suppose they only got ten of you – that would be ten pieces of your ship you vitally need. Circumvent that.”

--- Stephen Fry. “Heroes: Volume II of Mythos.”

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timelets @ 2020-06-13T10:10:00

2020-06-13T17:12:48Z

A real technology revolution in action:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched its first rideshare mission into orbit today (June 13), lofting a new batch of 58 Starlink internet satellites along with three small Earth-observation satellites before nailing a Falcon 9 rocket landing at sea.

Thanks to the sheer number of satellites in orbit, SpaceX is operating the largest satellite fleet ever.

https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-8-planet-satellite-launch-rocket-landing-success.html

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TIL

2020-06-05T00:18:29Z

Given the huge size of the empire, factors of distance and time determined how closely central government could control the diplomatic activities of its governors on the frontiers.
..
Yet this was not the norm.
..
Sea travel was largely seasonal and often dangerous. Probably more important, it was highly unpredictable.42 A death sentence from Caligula in Rome for the governor of Syria was three months en route, arriving twenty-seven days after news of the emperor’s death.
..
The relative reliability of land communication was the preferred option. Augustus is said to have introduced a system of runners (Suet. Aug. 49), but if it was ever implemented it was soon abandoned. The Principate relied on the imperial post (cursus publicus), a system where those with official authorization (diplomata) could requisition horses and vehicles from either private sources or official posting stations (mansiones).43 It has been estimated that the average speed of this system was about 50 miles a day, although for urgent messages it could have managed up to 160 miles a day.
...
The sometimes leisurely nature of diplomacy can be accounted for by the nature of ancient warfare. It was both seasonal, rarely being conducted in the winter, and slow-moving, ancient armies usually only moving at a speed of about 15 miles a day.46 There was often no need for diplomacy to hurry

--- Sabin, et al. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, V2.

The ratio of communication speed vs the underlying events is what matters the most.

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Quote of the Day

2020-06-01T03:58:33Z

About the stock market crash of May 28, 1962

“Remember that this happened at the end of about twelve years of generally rising stock prices. After more than a decade of more or less constant profits to yourself and your customers, you get to think you’re pretty good. You’re on top of it. You can make money, and that’s that. This break exposed a weakness. It subjected one to a certain loss of self-confidence, from which one was not likely to recover quickly.” The whole thing was enough, apparently, to make a broker wish that he were in a position to adhere to de la Vega’s cardinal rule: “Never give anyone the advice to buy or sell shares, because, where perspicacity is weakened, the most benevolent piece of advice can turn out badly."

John Brooks. “Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street.”

( Read more... )

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timelets @ 2020-05-23T11:32:00

2020-05-23T18:39:21Z

Japan's approach to controlling the spread of the virus:

[1. ]An early grassroots response to rising infections was crucial. ... experts praise the role of Japan's contact tracers, which swung into action after the first infections were found in January. The fast response was enabled by one of Japan's in-built advantages - its public health centres, which in 2018 employed more than half of 50,000 public health nurses who are experienced in infection tracing. In normal times, these nurses would be tracking down more common infections such as influenza and tuberculosis.

While countries such as the US and the UK are just beginning to hire and train contact tracers as they attempt to reopen their economies, Japan has been tracking the movement of the disease since the first handful of cases were found. These local experts focused on tackling so-called clusters, or groups of infections from a single location such as clubs or hospitals, to contain cases before they got out of
...
[2.] The early response was also boosted by an unlikely happening. Japan's battle with the virus first came to mainstream international attention with its much-criticised response to the Diamond Princess cruise ship in February that led to hundreds of infections. Still, the experience of the ship is credited with providing Japanese experts with invaluable data early in the crisis on how the virus spread, as well as catapulting it into the public consciousness.
...
[3.] Experts are also credited with creating an easy-to-understand message of avoiding what are called the "Three Cs" - closed spaces, crowded spaces and close-contact settings - rather than keeping away from others entirely.

"Social distancing may work, but it doesn't really help to continue normal social life," said Hokkaido University's Prof Suzuki. "The 'Three Cs' are a much more pragmatic approach and very effective, while having a similar effect."

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/did-japan-just-beat-the-coronavirus-without-lockdowns-or-mass-testing

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timelets @ 2020-05-01T11:53:00

2020-05-01T18:57:55Z

This is a real problem for air travel:

In an interview with the Press Association news agency, Mr Holland-Kaye [the CEO of Heathrow] said: "It's just physically impossible to socially distance with any volume of passengers in an airport."

He said a "better solution" is needed to make air travel safe. "The constraint is not about how many people you can fit on a plane, it will be how many people you can get through an airport safely."

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52504183

A line for security checks at Heathrow would stretch for miles if social distancing rules were in place.

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timelets @ 2020-04-24T11:54:00

2020-04-24T18:59:02Z

The grand lines of fortification sometimes constructed by the army served a practical purpose, but they were also visually very impressive, and as a result intimidating to an enemy, most of whom were incapable of constructing comparable works. This same combination of spec- tacle and utility was also a feature of the roads, causeways and bridges which the army constructed to facilitate its advance.

Bridges were an especially impressive statement of the Romans’ deter- mination not to be prevented by nature from achieving their objectives.

Philip Sabin, et. al. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare, Vol. 2. 2007.

It's interesting to think about a bridge as a speech act, specifically, as a deterrence signal. Does it relate to MxU -> 2 ?

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TIL: the movie industry in 2019

2019-11-18T22:37:31Z

So far this year, more than 27% of the box-office grosses in the U.S. and Canada have been generated by the five-highest grossing movies, according to Box Office Mojo. Four of those movies were released by Walt Disney Co.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-to-terminate-longstanding-legal-rules-for-movie-distribution-11574110393

Disney seems to be the best in making modern fairy tales:

Highest-grossing films of 2019
Rank	Title	Distributor	Worldwide gross
1	Avengers: Endgame	Disney	$2,797,800,564
2	The Lion King	Disney	$1,655,168,910
3	Spider-Man: Far From Home	Sony	$1,131,845,802
4	Captain Marvel	Disney	$1,128,274,794
5	Toy Story 4		$1,073,173,585
6	Aladdin		$1,050,693,953
7	Joker	Warner Bros.	$1,016,599,593
8	Hobbs & Shaw	Universal	$758,910,100
9	Ne Zha	Beijing Enlight	$700,547,754
10	The Wandering Earth	China Film Group	$699,760,773

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A communication failure

2019-11-10T05:22:30Z

Timoxeinos would write a letter to Artabazos, or Artabazos would write one to him, and they would wrap the message around an arrow beneath the point, tie it to the feathers, then shoot it to an agreed-upon place. But the plan of Timoxeinos to betray Poteidaia was detected, for on one occasion when Artabazos shot an arrow to the assigned location, he missed his aim and hit a man of Poteidaia in the shoulder instead. A crowd of people gathered around this wounded man, as tends to happen in war; they at once pulled out the arrow, and when they perceived the letter, they brought it to their generals. ”

Herodotus, Histories.

They haven't invented cyphers yet.

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The invention of postal relay

2019-11-07T03:02:33Z

“There is nothing that travels faster, and yet is mortal, than these couriers; the Persians invented this system, which works as follows. It is said that there are as many horses and men posted at intervals as there are days required for the entire journey, so that one horse and one man are assigned to each day. And neither snow nor rain nor heat nor dark of night keeps them from completing their appointed course as swiftly as possible. The first courier passes on the instructions to the second, the second to the third, and from there they are transmitted from one to another all the way through, just as the torchbearing relay is celebrated by the Hellenes in honor of Hephaistos. The Persians call this horse-posting system the angarcion.”

Herodotus, Histories.

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Fucking Moron (tm), the soybean edition

2019-07-04T17:48:13Z

It's not about manufacturing any more:

Brazil, which overtook the U.S. as the world’s biggest soybean exporter several years ago, stands to gain ground. The U.S. share of world soybean exports is expected to drop to 31% this season, the lowest on record, while Brazil’s portion is forecast to swell to 52%, which would be its largest ever.

At an agricultural forum in Beijing last fall, according to Mr. Schickler, China’s deputy agriculture minister said China would not easily forget the current standoff, and China is building alternatives for soybean imports so it will never again be so dependent on a single source.

According to Mr. Sutter, the CEO of the Soybean Export Council, Chinese companies are working to develop soybean production in Russia, where soybeans haven’t yet become a major crop.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/farmers-built-a-soybean-export-empire-around-china-now-theyre-fighting-to-save-it-11562260248

Instead of US farmers making money by selling their goods abroad, the US government gives them a subsidy of $28B to offset its protectionist trade policies.

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Beyond 1984

2019-04-08T05:21:56Z

The app allows users to earn points for staying on top of news about Mr. Xi. Watching a video about his recent visit to France, for example, earns one point. Getting a perfect score on a quiz about his economic policies earns 10.

Schools are shaming students with low app scores. Government offices are holding study sessions and forcing workers who fall behind to write reports criticizing themselves. Private companies, hoping to curry favor with party officials, are ranking employees based on their use of the app and awarding top performers the title of “star learner.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-study-the-great-nation-app.html

The surveillance society reaches a new high.

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TIL: a fight for line of sight rights

2019-03-09T01:36:20Z

High-frequency trading drives an arms race in transmission technology and real estate around trading centers:

...[in 2010] a startup called Spread Networks dug through mountains and tore up parking lots to lay what became the straightest fiber-optic line between trading centers in New Jersey and Chicago, because the more direct the line, the faster data zipped through it. ... the data line moved information at about two-thirds the speed of light.

... [in about 2014] Spread’s technology was essentially obsolete for trading, overtaken by microwave radio transmissions, which can carry data through the air at about 99 percent the speed of light.

Microwave networks rely on line-of-sight transmissions—a microwave dish has to be able to see the dish it’s communicating with. The Earth’s curvature forces traders to relay their signals from towers that are typically spaced every few dozen miles.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-08/the-gazillion-dollar-standoff-over-two-high-frequency-trading-towers

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