When to Rob a Bank

Freakonomics authors. This is an easy, enjoyable read — it's just a curated collection of their blog posts

Fitbit

Me: I drove a zipcar a couple times 

Dad: what kind of car was it?

Me: I don't remember, some kind of crappy car, like a Honda something…

Mom: a Fitbit!

Persimmon

My dad: here dog have some persimmon

Me: Hey don't give him persimmon! Is that even okay for dogs?

Dad: Well, he ate it once before! 

Me: Alexa, is persimmon okay to feed to your dogs? 

Alexa: persimmon is poisonous to dogs. Take your dog to the vet if you think your dog has been exposed to a harmful dose of persimmon 

Me: Dad!!!!!

Dad: well no wonder he doesn't like it!

Metal detectors at the beach

Do you ever encounter some false beliefs retained from your childhood still not cleaned out from your brain? Today I saw a man using a metal detector at the beach, and I thought, "Ah yes, he's looking for buried pirate treasure." And then I thought, "Wait no that doesn't make sense. What the fuck is he actually doing?" And then I had to learn the real reason people use metal detectors at the beach

Somewhat related: http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html

Reasons for why I am working in freight

If I put all my reasons in here, then I will stop doubting myself! Need to have reasons for why I should work on something for 10 years straight (++ indicates unique to this vs. immediate climatetech vs. biotech vs. pandemic defense work):

• Edge (uses our strengths and human capital as a competitive advantage, also our advantage in AI from our particular school, also this will be my third "try" which is a huge boost, considering I've been studying freight since 2018)++
• Makes money++
• Highest probability of success / many ideas / many doors instead of one++
• Feedback loops++
• Can demonstrate my talent in business specifically and as an organizer of capital++
• Good teammates / cofounders++
• Can work remote / travel benefits the business++
• Can be big / uses the leading edge of technology / has intrinsic societal vision
• Can be used for climate change
• Industry peers are missing, but can get them from serving climatetech companies
• There are many urgent problems in the world, but they aren't going away in 10 years / there will be new ones available where you can make a difference

Perhaps to convince myself to feel good about freight - the idea that we will be in a better position to do useful climate work once we have established ourselves in industry:

1) movement of wind turbines and oversized renewable energy projects, esp eg complicated ones like offshore wind

2) movement of hydrogen

3) movement of solar panels

4) special preference or specialization in serving climate tech to accelerate the dynamism/transition

5) facilitate carriers' access to climate rebates

6) establishment in freight debt —> help finance electric trucks

7) influence with rail companies allows solar railways

8) influence with ports allows laying hydrogen pipelines

9) influence with ships allows fixing ship problems 

The key point is that working in freight will allow us to work in the space of physical assets.

We can also commit the company to R&D investing in climate hardware, explicitly, via a PBC incorporation.

And as a reminder of why I'm not working on pandemic defense, even though it may be 100x more impactful than climate work, and I can see, emotionally, why we ought to throw significant weight behind it:

• May not be able to contribute anything useful, may be stuck as an underling, basically all the ++'s that are missing
• A 100x exists for pandemic defense, but I can compensate with a 100-10,000x impact doing something where I am actually successful with my big bets
• I guess the nice thing about pandemic defense is that as long as the world doesn't go to crap then you can pick it up later without much consequence, when you now have some prowess to kick butt and move bigger institutions
• Pandemic work may be 100x over climate, but it's also important to keep "The Middle Way" in terms of extremism and a well-balanced life, as demonstrated from learning from my older friends at the college reunion

Winter is coming

I think what's trippy is that it's true that we do enjoy these little pockets of societal stability that last 5-10yrs throughout the 20-21st centuries and makes us forget that it's not always guaranteed 

And like rn it's super nice to think about "Oh where do I want to live What kind of jobs and assets do I want" 

And it's like

We just emerged from COVID 

Still nobody is preparing for the next "winter" that is the next pandemic 

College reunion in Venice Beach

I just got back from Day 1 of a college reunion. I'm feeling genuinely quite happy, with a happiness level that is quite high in a long time, so I thought I'd journal a bit here tonight.

It's not a college reunion for the entire university, but it's for a student organization I joined in college. The main thing is that everyone is super tight-knit with everyone else, and so instead of small talk it feels like just seeing your friends again, but like a bunch of them all at once. Which is a lot to take in because in post-grad when you reconnect with a few of these friends, it's only a little subset at a time, and that already feels joyful and intense. 

I've also done a great job maintaining a lot of these connections--I just haven't realized it--and so having everyone in the same place was very much a reaping of what I've sowed in terms of keeping in touch with friends, texting them, meeting them in ad hoc settings, calling them, etc. That makes me very happy.

Not sure what else to say. I think the reunion is great because it's true that everyone has been feeling a little bit of nostalgia for LA; and also there is nostalgia for the fact that we all are a particular group of people with a strong set of shared values that are extremely hard to replicate or find in another context for some reason. It's really great to meet people who are 5+ years older than me, and they're making jokes with the same humor that I know and love, even though I've never met them, because we come from the same cultural background of our club.

Like, nobody's fake. Nobody's too nerdy but also nobody's too empty headed. Nobody's arrogant, that kind of thing. It's just us friends hanging out like normal. It's just that our tribe is absolutely massive.

We have two more days of hanging out, so it's definitely gives you enough time to talk to everyone without feeling needlessly pressured. That being said, tonight I had engaging, authentic, chill conversations nonstop from 5:30pm to 11pm. As an extrovert, that felt so damn good. Like I said, I don't even have to have smalltalk or do the "life catch up" because I really have put in the effort over the last few years to keep in touch with my friends even when they're not physically present. Or rather, because I've really rarely had them physically around, I've never taken them for granted. 

We ate at Wurstkuche, and I thought it was hilarious that they had the space to accommodate us without us having to make a reservation. It's almost as if Wurstkuche is a dining hall. I guess the one is Arts District is more crowded, and that's what I was expecting and thought we wouldn't have room. I mean it was Saturday night after all. 

It's really nice to reconvene with your old friend with whom you have so much shared context, but also shared values, who take certain things seriously but not all of life seriously, or as someone put it, making sure to take care of one's "peace" among it all. That's super vague in the context of a blog post, but I'm just going to keep it vague. And also to hang out with people who have tried covering the same philosophy or life perspectives that you have, and who have come to similar conclusions from it about what they want to take away from different input sources and how to harmonize it into a life well lived.

I'm very excited for the next 2 days. Goodnight!

Chicken

<a href='https://postimg.cc/cKGQrz6h' target='_blank'><img src='https://i.postimg.cc/cKGQrz6h/7-F941-C7-B-F94-C-4-A40-8430-4-C6-FAA957688.jpg' border='0' alt='7-F941-C7-B-F94-C-4-A40-8430-4-C6-FAA957688'/></a>

Cooked a chicken for the first time

https://postimg.cc/cKGQrz6h

Baked 

Trader Joe’s frozen salmon with butter

Basically comes with all the seasoning you need. Super easy, did a microwave thaw + pan fry and flavor came out perfect twice. And no issues with dry salmon. Only thing is second time I think I let the pan get too hot before putting the salmon in and the oil popped (maybe ensure the salmon is more dry next time), so I got a tiny burn on my thumb 

Undergrad runway

It has been an explicit goal of mine to start a profitable business, for as long as I can remember. I have always been fascinated by money.

I spent my undergraduate years messing around with business ideas. I thought of my undergrad years as a “runway”: I needed to get my airplane, a viable business, off the ground before my runway ran out, or else if I waited until after having graduated, I’d lose my “cover.” There’d be a lot of societal and familial pressure to “get a normal job,” and the opportunity cost in lost income would start to go way up. I even tried to extend this runway by going to college early, then changing universities, thus taking 5 years to graduate. I did not get an airplane off the ground during this time.

And it turns out my fear was right! The pressure does seem to go up once you’re done with undergrad! So the time for me to finally get a plane in the air is, well, now!

In undergrad, there were 3 industries I started taking seriously for business theses—freight, biology, and climate change; and how one might sprinkle in some technology to these places—and I kept waffling between them! Maybe it would have been better to focus. But anyway, that’s where a lot of my ideas these days are coming from.

Takeoff of Migos has passed away

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/01/1133115916/takeoff-migos-dead-at-28