P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #191

🦍 One evening this week, Kim brought up a topic that I spent about a minute confidently opining on until I finished my thought with, “actually, I have no idea what I’m talking about.” It felt good to both recognize and acknowledge that fact so promptly. How often am I guilty of confidently spewing nonsense without the benefit of realizing it? I’m reminded of Daniel Kahneman’s point on the subject: “In general, confidence is a very poor cue to accuracy. Because intuitions come to your mind with considerable confidence and there is no guarantee they’re right.”

I’ve been testing a new wearable tracker for a few weeks, the Amazon Halo. While the early feedback from users is mixed, it’s certainly differentiated. One of its more unique features is a tone-of-voice analysis that samples my voice throughout the day to chart whether my tone of voice is positive/negative and high/low energy. The feedback certainly makes me more conscious of my voice and how others might perceive it. The tech doesn’t work super well today, probably because the microphone is far from my mouth on my wrist. But, I expect it’ll improve significantly in the coming years.

Let’s imagine a future where these two ideas intersect. What if a similar wrist-worn device could subtly vibrate when some overconfident mumbo-jumbo exits my mouth? I bet it’d be good for all of us if I retracted my worst ideas more quickly and frequently.

🙏 Check out the Common Threads Charity Auction! I’m proud to serve on the Chicago Board of Common Threads. They teach cooking skills to kids from underprivileged communities and have been continuing programming virtually during the pandemic. Every $25 raised provides groceries for two meals for a family of four (which are made during their virtual lessons). Big thank you to our friends at Made In Cookware and Factor (link to $40 off first order) for their auction donations!

Chuck E. Cheese fun facts. “A thing I think about a lot is that in 1980, Chuck E. Cheese sued Showbiz Pizza for ripping off their concept and won, and then in 1984 Chuck E. Cheese went bankrupt so Showbiz Pizza bought the company, and then they turned all the Showbiz Pizzas into Chuck E. Cheeses” | learn more

The physics of war in space. A very intriguing primer on how to conduct war in space. “Scenes from Star Wars, books, and TV shows portray a world very different from what we are likely to see in the next 50 years, if ever, given the laws of physics.” | learn more

Financing the American home. “On American streets, the [30 year mortgage] is everywhere. It makes up around 80% of an $11.3 trillion mortgage market. Yet, with the exception of Denmark, it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Even baseball exists in more countries.” | learn more

What do people actually see on Facebook in the US? Published by Facebook’s VP of Analytics, Alex Schultz: “The vast majority of what people in the US see on Facebook is in their News Feed. Most of the content people see there, even in an election season, is not about politics. In fact, based on our analysis, political content makes up about 6% of what you see on Facebook.” | learn more

Automation & the young telephone operators of the 20th century. Automation does indeed lead to job losses, but then what? This analysis explains what happened when automatic switching took over for hundreds of thousands of young American women. | learn more

76 growth marketing hacks. Ironically, this content itself serves as a tool for growth. “Free list of growth marketing tactics and hacks to rapidly scale any business from B2B to DTC.” | learn more

Yes, it’s all your fault: active vs. passive mindsets. “The hard truth is that most things in your life – good and bad – are your fault. The sooner you realize that, the better things will be. Here’s how to cultivate an active mindset and take control of your life.” | learn more

Telling the 800-lb gorilla to shove it up his ass. On competing with big companies. “Every founder frets about competition from a big company, me included. We scoff at their inability to innovate and for prioritizing shareholders over customers, but still we quiver in fear.” | learn more

Amazon jumps deep into the pharmacy business. This goes well beyond their PillPack acquisition from 2018. The new offering, Amazon Pharmacy, allows customers to order prescription medication with free delivery, accepts most insurance, and even lets you compare your insurance price to the cash price (which is sometimes less). Meanwhile, in a fun bit of foreboding, Walgreens’ CFO downplayed the threat to the brick & mortar pharmacy. | learn more

Are infections seeding some cases of Alzheimer’s disease? The most widespread theory is that a type of plaque builds up in the brain to cause Alzheimer’s, but no treatments to remove the plaque have shown good outcomes fighting the disease. Maybe the plaque is an immune response to infection. “A fringe theory links microbes in the brain with the onset of dementia. Now, researchers are taking it seriously.” | learn more

How raising children can change a father’s brain. “The bodies and brains of fathers, not just mothers, are transformed through the love and labour of raising a child.” | learn more

Four simultaneous gene edits; explained in a fun video. Eleanor, a PhD student at Cambridge, makes fun videos explaining science. In this video, she explains BEAM-201, a new CAR-T base editing development candidate. She does a great job! | learn more

Always start a food business, especially in a pandemic. A new project from Eric, who happens to be a PS subscriber! They’re selling a Texan pastry called Kolaches in Chicago. “Here’s some good advice that I never heard: Start a business, it’s easy. Start a FOOD business, those have the highest success rates. Do it in a pandemic. A quote I have always loved is: “It’ll either be a good time, or a good story.”” | learn more

Floating cities: the future of civilization? “Seasteading isn’t the answer to our most complex problems. The answer is more experiments in government. But at its core, floating cities would allow market competition “in the most powerful industry on earth: governance”” | learn more

Square sold a lot of bitcoin in Q3. “Square said that it sold $1.63 billion in bitcoin through its Cash App during 2020’s third quarter.” One side-note: I still don’t know anyone who uses this app. | learn more

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