Building a financial model. I give it the business logic, the assumptions, and the structure I want. It builds the model, explains every formula, flags where my assumptions are weak. I had a full working P&L model with sensitivities in under an hour. Something that used to take a team two days.
Deep research. Say you need to understand regulation across 5 markets. Instead of spending 3 days reading PDFs, structure the research as a series of hypotheses and let AI validate, challenge, and source each one.
Learning something new. I’m not an expert in everything. When I need to go deep on a topic fast I set up a dialogue: “Explain X as if I’m a partner at McKinsey who needs to advise a client on this tomorrow. What do I need to know, what are the traps, and what would a specialist challenge me on?”
And my absolute FAVORITE: the expert panel. I ask AI to simulate a panel of 3-4 specialists debating the problem. A CFO, an operations lead, a pricing expert, and a skeptic. Each brings a different lens. The quality of thinking that emerges is something I used to get only in the best partner meetings at McKinsey
“Assemble a panel of 4 experts to challenge this work.”
A senior partner who’s seen this kind of deal 50 times and will tell me where my storyline falls apart and how to sell it to the CEO.
- A pricing expert who will stress-test my assumptions and find the holes in my revenue logic.
- A sector specialist, say telecom infrastructure or satellite or healthcare, who knows the technical reality and will call out anything I’m oversimplifying.
- A skeptic. Someone whose only job is to break the argument. To find the weakest link and pull it.
Geosmin (/dʒiˈɒzmɪn/ jee-OZ-min) is an irregular sesquiterpenoid with a distinct earthy or musty odor, which most people can easily smell. The geosmin odor detection threshold in humans is very low, ranging from 0.006 to 0.01 micrograms per liter in water.
US involvement in the 1973 Chilean coup
“Like Caesar peering into the colonies from distant Rome, Nixon said the choice of government by the Chileans was unacceptable to the president of the United States. The attitude in the White House seemed to be, “If in the wake of Vietnam I can no longer send in the Marines, then I will send in the CIA.” — Senator Frank Church, 1976
The Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe doctrine
All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.
III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba
President McKinley’s justification for annexing the Philippines (1898)
- That we could not give them back to Spain-that would be cowardly and dishonorable;
(2) That we could not turn them over to France or Germany, our commercial rivals in the Orient-that would be bad business and discreditable;
(3) That we could not leave them to themselves-they were unfit for self-government, and they would soon have anarchy and misrule worse then Spain’s was; and
(4) That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow men for whom Christ also died.
NPR: There’s a secret superfood in white rice and pasta: Here’s how to unlock it
Per the linked study there’s ~17% drop in insulin reactivity
I’m reminded of this image whenever I’m tempted to jump on a new PKM system. Obsidian has been just fine for what I needed. Plain text sync, entries based on atomic knowledge per Andy Matuschak’s advice. As I’ve transitioned to another career space, it has been helpful to just write short form blog posts on Wordpress to track ideas. I’ve been reluctant to add business ideas into my chemical/eng obsidian knowledge base but I think it should be fine. K.I.S.S. really goes a long way with sustainability.
Always enjoy other’s perspectives on reading P&L statements.
Interesting framework for executive presentation
Start by brainstorming your proposal into a series of arguments that support your answer. Once you’ve written them all down, group them into related arguments. Shape those groups into three top-level arguments, with up to three sub-arguments supporting each of those top-level arguments. Recursively apply this approach, ensuring each argument summarizes its at-most-three sub-arguments. Order the arguments within each group by descending importance.
Many have recorded “My Favorite Things,” from Mary Martin to Julie Andrews to the Supremes to Bobby McFerrin to Kelly Clarkson. But only Coltrane carries the song so far and into such mystical territory. It’s not a different version so much as a message from a parallel universe.
How John Coltrane’s ‘My Favorite Things’ Changed American Music
“Hobbies are a means of using surplus energy and time in a manner that at least will not be harmful to society and will be useful to the individual”
Has anyone fully made the jump to Fastmail? Have you taken a split approach where you migrate certain subscriptions? If so, what made the jump and what stayed behind?