Action Figure Daniel

Author: Daniel

  • “Chip War” by Chris Miller

    • There is only one factory in the world that can fabricate Apple’s newest processors
    • It all comes down to making switches
    • Semiconductors work by limiting electron flow when no field is applied
    • “Chips” are chipped off a large wafer
    • Early chips focused on meeting military needs but took off as prices dropped
    • Sony had a vision for the use of chips
    • Japan had a vision for what was possible with the new chips
    • The French scoffed at the Japanese as “transistor salesmen”
    • “The best weapons are cheap and familiar.”
    • Intel started with a generalized DRAM which helped them for the world with cheap, effective chips
    • The military started Silicone Valley but consumers sustained it
    • The Japanese became known for superior implementation
    • Japanese conglomerates were able to leverage their breadth into cheap loans
    • US firms lobbied hard to get congress to subsidize their research
    • Simplot (of potato fame) jumped into the memory market as it become a commodity
    • Pivoting chip design from a manual, fabrication-centric process to a systematic one, was important to designing with speed
    • The USSR struggled to design and manufacture chips
      • Even when they could, they did not have the US’s global network for mass production
    • Taiwan crafted an industry of printing anyone’s chips, without fear of competition
    • China “woke up” and started changing from “1st machine imported, 2nd machine imported, 3rd machine imported” to “1st machine imported, 2nd machine China built, 3rd machine exported”
    • ASML started growing by investing in new lithography technologies
    • Intel fostered extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) but did not want to get into fabrication itself
    • Intel saw mobile devices coming but refused to explore it because the PC business was too good
      • (Being worried about margin seems ridiculous. Instead, growing new businesses is best when the margins are good.)
    • Graphics helped fabless solutions succeed
    • Nvidia developed free software that allowed generalized compute on their chips
    • Qualcomm and Nvidia really benefited from fabless solutions too
    • ASML flexed its Supply Chain Management skills as much as R&D skills
    • EUV is so precise that new techniques were needed, you so not just imprint the pattern
    • Intel did not adopt EUV as quickly as others, leaving them mostly out of the market by the time they picked it up
    • Beam forming directs radio signals only towards your phone helping improve signals in a crowded space
    • Military efforts are leaning ever more into tech
    • The US tried to just “run faster” but that was not adequate for the China strategy
    • Building a single-country chip supply chain is impractical given the level of technical skill it requires
    • The post-COVID chip shortage was not about capacity (we produced more chips than ever) but that previous chip orders were cancelled, losing their “spot” in the production line

  • “Magic Pill” by Johann Hari

    • GLP-1 helps us feel full
    • “Snack” and “quick” food started to appear in the mid-70’s
    • “Fresh food rots quickly”
      • Sugar and fat slows bacteria
      • Salt preserves it longer
    • “Processed” food is made to look like “real” food with coloring and agents
    • Chewing breaks our eating enough for brain signals to catch up
    • Artificial sweetener deprives your body of the energy the taste told it to expect
    • High fat and sugar only naturally occurs in breast milk
    • We have highly developed senses of taste which are totally confused in the modern world
    • Diabetes complications are medically much worse than HIV complications
    • GLP-1 stimulants are a medical solution to a societal problem
    • The biological weight set-point is acquired over time
    • “You can’t run off a bad diet.”
    • They tend to dampen all chemical addiction
    • We eat “junk food” as an antidepressant
    • Eating can be because we do not know how to self-soothe
    • “Overweight is overseen”
    • Taking away overeating will expose any underlying mental issues

  • “Empireworld” by Sathnam Sanghera

    • Britain introduced alcohol to much of the world
    • Empire changed the world’s agriculture
    • Many of Empire’s laws that exploit have morphed into protective laws
    • NGOs are often created to continue the legacy of Empire
    • Relying on an NGO undermines national rights
    • Homophobic (and sodomy) laws were spread to discourage Imperial workers from infidelities
    • Gay marriages were common in Africa mining communities
    • Indian homosexuality was common pre-colonial
    • The Victorian era was obsessed with controlling sex
    • “Britain is basically governed by investigation”
    • Skin color was ancient novelty but not grounds for discrimination
    • Former Spanish colonies tend to have more stable democracies than former British ones

  • “The State of Affairs” by Esther Perel

    • We have an average of 2-3 significant relationships in our life
    • We feel betrayed by violations of ambiguous agreements
    • New definition of a relationship
      • Secrecy
      • Sexual alchemy
      • Emotional involvement
    • Fire needs air to burn
    • Often, the secrecy is what intrigues us
    • “Confusing ideal and the real never goes unpunished.”
    • We get divorced because we think we could be happier
    • All parties are shocked by the revelation of the affair
    • We need to transfer vigilance from the betrayed to the betrayer
    • Volunteer information to remind the betrayed that you still remember the wrong
    • Be careful to recognize the pain rather than trying to solve problems
    • We (in the West) take pride in our “lack of jealous”
    • We want to know that our partners came back to US, because they want us not because they had nowhere else to go
    • Jealousy is a late developing emotion
    • “We feel most vulnerable where we are most insecure”
    • Contributing to the environment that made the affair happen is different from being responsible for it
    • Without a chance to retaliate, we tend to move on faster
    • Truth
      • Is it honest
      • Is it helpful
      • Is it kind
    • Sometimes silence is kindness
    • “Do you really want to know or do you want your partner to know that you have the question?”
    • Ask investigative questions not detective questions
    • Cheaters do not forfeited all rights to privacy
    • Sometimes we are looking for another version of ourselves, not a new partner
    • We balance wanting security and adventure; these comes from different places
    • Infidelity is most disdained but is still legal
    • Breaking the rules is sometimes the point
    • “Eros is a light sleeper”
    • Time never exists on its own, it is what you do in that time

  • “Piping Hot Bees & Boisterous Buzz-Runners” by Thomas D Seeley

    • All bees are basically wild
    • Bees are sensitive to carbon dioxide
    • Hives need enough space to store honey through the winter
    • Scouts “debate” over which nest site to choose
    • Anomalies help show the power of the rules
    • Workers monitor their queen’s location while flying
    • Bees fly on full stomachs
    • The ladies warm up to 95f before taking off
    • Bees do not “shop around” on waggle dances
    • Workers adjust their choosiness based on the availability of nectar
      • They know this by how long it takes to find someone to take their nectar
    • Worker bees are blind to the color red
    • Queen are shaken by nurses to encourage them to “prepare for greater activity”