Misc

Miscellaneous is often where the gems are.

Misc

Viruses & Bats

  • Fascinating article about why viruses, like the current Corona virus outbreak, tend to come from bats.
  • Why Bats? They are mammals, so sufficiently close to us, not domesticated, and live in huge flocks
  • Bracken Cave, in Texas, is home to roughly 20 million breeding Mexican free-tailed bats, similar to the (human) population of the Mexico City urban area. In places there are 500 bat pups per square foot on the wall. To a virus that represents a tasty buffet.
Misc

Creative Idea Generation

  • This is an interesting list from Rory Sutherland’s new book.
  • The concept is how one should let go of logic in order to generate brilliant ideas.
  • An interesting exercise is to think how these ideas can help in investing.
  • “Being logical makes you predictable, and your competitors will know what you’re going to do before you do. This is because using logic will very likely land you in the same place as everyone else, and sharing a market space with competitors this way creates a race to the bottom. Instead, figure out the logic model of your competitor, find where their use of it is too narrow and exploit this.“
  • h/t The Browser.
Misc

How to Invest in Start-ups

  • A really great article by Sam Altman.
  • An interesting perspective on how to invest in winners.
  • “There is a lot of advice about how to be a good startup founder.  But there isn’t very much about how to be a good startup investor. Before going any further, I should point out that this is a particularly hard time to invest in startups—it’s easier right now to be a capital-taker than a capital-giver.”
  • h/t The Browser.
Misc

Genetic Diversity

  • We all know about the cost of inbreeding.
  • As a result it is generally accepted that species should outbreed as much as possible – but did you know there is a cost of outbreeding as well?
  • “To produce healthy children, you should marry a third or fourth cousin. Farther out, the genetic costs of outbreeding begin to outweigh those of inbreeding. That was what a cohort study found in examining Icelanders born between 1800 and 1964. Fertility was lower if the woman’s husband was either closer in or farther out (Helgason et al. 2008).“
Misc

Animals

  • Amazing article on the human impact on animals.
  • “We breed and kill at least 100 billion animals per year for food and at least 115 million per year for research. Fishing kills 1-3 trillion animals per year. Deforestation destroys animal habitats. Leaf blowers and light pollution kill insects. Building and vehicle collisions kill at least a billion animals per year. This year, more than 300 birds were injured or killed in collisions with a building in North Carolina in a single night.“
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