Trevor Noah - Born a crime excerpt

From Trevor Noah's book: 

 A secondhand car was also the reason my mom got married. If it hadn't been for the Volkswagen that didn't work, we never would have looked for the mechanic who became the husband who became the stepfather who became the man who tortured us for years and put a bullet in the back of my mother's head--­I'll take the new car with the warranty every time. As much as I loved church, the idea of a nine-­hour slog, from mixed church to white church to black church then doubling back to white church again, was just too much to contemplate. It was bad enough in a car, but taking public transport would be twice as long and twice as hard. When the Volkswagen refused to start, inside my head I was praying, Please say we'll just stay home. Please say we'll just stay home. Then I glanced over to see the determined look on my mother's face, her jaw set, and I knew I had a long day ahead of me. "Come," she said. "We're going to catch minibuses." My mother is as stubborn as she is religious. Once her mind's made up, that's it. Indeed, obstacles that would normally lead a person to change their plans, like a car breaking down, only made her more determined to forge ahead. "It's the Devil," she said about the stalled car. "The Devil doesn't want us to go to church. That's why we've got to catch minibuses." Whenever I found myself up against my mother's faith-­based obstinacy, I would try, as respectfully as possible, to counter with an opposing point of view. "Or," I said, "the Lord knows that today we shouldn't go to church, which is why he made sure the car wouldn't start, so that we stay at home as a family and take a day of rest, because even the Lord rested." "Ah, that's the Devil talking, Trevor." "No, because Jesus is in control, and if Jesus is in control and we pray to Jesus, he would let the car start, but he hasn't, therefore--­" "No, Trevor! Sometimes Jesus puts obstacles in your way to see if you overcome them. Like Job. This could be a test." "Ah! Yes, Mom. But the test could be to see if we're willing to accept what has happened and stay at home and praise Jesus for his wisdom." "No. That's the Devil talking. Now go change your clothes." "But Mom!" "Trevor! Sun'qhela!" Sun'qhela is a phrase with many shades of meaning. It says "don't undermine me," "don't underestimate me," and "just try me."

Source: https://cpl.catalogue.library.ns.ca/Record/1305431/Excerpt

Some weekend reads

Elton John on a film about him:
Some studios wanted to tone down the sex and drugs so the film would get a PG-13 rating. But I just haven’t led a PG-13 rated life. I didn’t want a film packed with drugs and sex, but equally, everyone knows I had quite a lot of both during the 70s and 80s, so there didn’t seem to be much point in making a movie that implied that after every gig, I’d quietly gone back to my hotel room with only a glass of warm milk and the Gideon’s Bible for company.

I hadn’t even wanted to be a rock star in the first place, I just wanted to be a successful songwriter – but it just got bigger and bigger over the next few years. I kept a diary the whole time, and it’s inadvertently hilarious. I wrote everything down in this matter-of-fact way, which ends up making it seem even more preposterous: “Woke up, watched Grandstand. Wrote Candle in the Wind. Went to London, bought Rolls-Royce. Ringo Starr came for dinner.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/may/26/elton-john-in-my-own-words-exclusive-my-life-and-making-rocketman

On space travel:
Almost every President since Nixon proposed going back to the moon.” (President Obama focussed instead on studying an asteroid near Earth and working toward the distant goal of sending astronauts to Mars.) “But the money was never allotted. Congress decided we couldn’t have guns and the moon at the same time.” The Department of Defense’s budget is now nearly seven hundred billion dollars, whereas nasa’s funding is $21.5 billion, or around half of one per cent of the national budget. The U.S. is still believed to spend more on space programs than the rest of the world combined.

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/06/the-race-to-develop-the-moon

On croissant: 
The plural of anecdote is not data, and the 19th arrondissement is a long way from the posh 16th, but in my old Paris neighbourhood several years ago it was the ordinaire and not the seductively glittering beurre that was carried off in bagsful by eager customers every morning, snaffled in the street and gobbled at the counters of the neighbourhood bars. Apparently they’re better for dunking in your coffee. There seemed to be fewer ordinaires about last time I was in town, though its cunning rebranding as a croissant naturel in one bakery suggests that vegan celebrity for the margarine croissant may be lurking just around the corner, even in France. And there you have it: the croissant, perennial breakfast of controversialists. Bon appetit, you wild rebel, you.

Source: https://www.1843magazine.com/food/world-in-a-dish/the-croissant-breakfast-of-rebels

On being an astronaut: 
The key is to move slowly, nimbly, “as a cat, very smooth,” said Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky. Push off too hard and “you immediately hit your head on the wall.” At first there’s a lot of that. “During the first two weeks we have bruises,” he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/50-astronauts-life-in-space/?utm_term=.0671b633708e

Incredible how a commercial carrier is still missing: 
The mystery surrounding MH370 has been a focus of continued investigation and a source of sometimes feverish public speculation. The loss devastated families on four continents. The idea that a sophisticated machine, with its modern instruments and redundant communications, could simply vanish seems beyond the realm of possibility. It is hard to permanently delete an email, and living off the grid is nearly unachievable even when the attempt is deliberate. A Boeing 777 is meant to be electronically accessible at all times. The disappearance of the airplane has provoked a host of theories. Many are preposterous. All are given life by the fact that, in this age, commercial airplanes don’t just vanish.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/mh370-malaysia-airlines/590653/


One of my fav pieces from David Sedaris: 
Learning French is a lot like joining a gang in that it involves a long and intensive period of hazing. And it wasn't just my teacher; the entire population seemed to be in on it. Following brutal encounters with my local butcher and the concierge of my building, I'd head off to class, where the teacher would hold my corrected paperwork high above her head, shouting, "Here's proof that David is an ignorant and uninspired ensigiejsokhjx."
https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a1419/talk-pretty-0399/

Some incredible things on language:

HZ: The G-spot is named in tribute to the German gynaecologist Ernst Gräfenberg, who did a lot of research on the role of the urethra in orgasm. Also in 1929, he invented an early form of IUD, made from silk and silver. Luxe!

HZ: But words like laser, scuba, taser - and the care in ‘care package’, those are all acronyms.

HZ: The classic four-letter swears are NOT acronyms.

so very literal: ‘log in’, after the log on a knotted rope that would be thrown overboard from a ship to measure its speed - calculated by the length of rope unspooled over a particular time - and that would be logged in the log book.

HZ: 700 years ago, ‘nice’ meant ‘stupid’ or ignorant. There’s nothing stupid about being nice, people!

https://www.theallusionist.org/transcripts/hundredth

Some things I read recently

A profile of morningstar CEO: 
"Kunal is very open-minded, and he demands feedback, absolutely demands it,” said Catherine Odelbo, AB ’85, MBA ’00 (XP-69), who retired in 2018 as Morningstar’s executive vice president of corporate strategy. “It’s not just inviting it and hoping you don’t give it. He wants the team to be collaborative, but at the same time, he wants the team to air their issues.”
Source: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/magazine/winter-2019/features/all-in-for-investors-kunal-kapoor-morningstar

Waymo and Xerox parallels:
"Some of the parallels between Waymo and Xerox are obvious. Like Xerox PARC, Google's self-driving car project created technology that was years ahead of its time. Like the Alto, Google's early self-driving cars were extremely expensive, with rumored costs as high as $250,000 per vehicle.

And like Xerox, Waymo has struggled to commercialize its technology. In November 2017, Waymo announced it had begun testing fully driverless cars on public roads, with plans for a commercial launch in 2018.

But Waymo failed to live up to its own hype. When Waymo launched its "commercial" service called Waymo One in December 2018, every car had a safety driver behind the wheel. That almost certainly means the company is losing money on every ride—which is probably why Waymo has only invited a few hundred people to use it."
Source: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/02/googles-waymo-risks-repeating-silicon-valleys-most-famous-blunder/


The rise of US beef:
"Beef was a paradigmatic industry for the rise of modern industrial agriculture, or agribusiness. As much as a story of science or technology, modern agriculture is a compromise between the unpredictability of nature and the rationality of capital. This was a lurching, violent process that sawmeatpackers displace the risks of blizzards, drought, disease and overproduction on to cattle ranchers. Today’s agricultural system works similarly. In poultry, processors like Perdue and Tyson use an elaborate system of contracts and required equipment and feed purchases to maximise their own profits while displacing risk on to contract farmers. This is true with crop production as well. As with 19th-century meatpacking, relatively small actors conduct the actual growing and production, while companies like Monsanto and Cargill control agricultural inputs and market access."Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/07/the-price-of-plenty-how-beef-changed-america


Data does not equal network effects: 
"Systems with network effects generally have the property of direct interactions between the nodes over a defined interface or protocol. Joining the network requires conforming to some standard, which increases direct interaction for all nodes and makes those interactions increasingly stickier. But when it comes to the popular narrative around data network effects, we don’t often see the same sticky, direct interaction play out (let alone mechanical interdependencies between nodes due to protocols or interfaces)."

"...we encourage startups to think more holistically about defensibility. Greater long-term defensibility is more likely to come from packaging differentiated technology; understanding the domain and reflecting that in your product as you verticalize across industries; dominating the go-to-market race; and winning the talent war to build a world-class team. These efforts will pay off in defending and winning in the markets far more than data alone."
Source: https://a16z.com/2019/05/09/data-network-effects-moats/

Some things I read recently

Atual Gawande on why doctors hate computers:
Medicine is a complex adaptive system: it is made up of many interconnected, multilayered parts, and it is meant to evolve with time and changing conditions. Software is not. It is complex, but it does not adapt. That is the heart of the problem for its users, us humans.

Adaptation requires two things: mutation and selection. Mutation produces variety and deviation; selection kills off the least functional mutations. Our old, craft-based, pre-computer system of professional practice—in medicine and in other fields—was all mutation and no selection. There was plenty of room for individuals to do things differently from the norm; everyone could be an innovator. But there was no real mechanism for weeding out bad ideas or practices.

Source: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/12/why-doctors-hate-their-computers

Silicon Valley, China: 

Work habits weren’t the only sharp difference between the Valley and China. By the end of the week, a group of American executives and investors found an alternate tech universe. It resembles Silicon Valley superficially. Look closer, and it becomes a futuristic yet closed-off world that can be equally impressive, alienating and dystopian.

Although some Chinese tech companies can look very Silicon Valley-esque — with sprawling campuses that include dining halls, gyms and nap rooms — their preferred management style is still top down and results driven. Unlike Silicon Valley, smart underlings have less freedom to start something new.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/business/china-silicon-valley-technology.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbusiness&action=click&contentCollection=business&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Tesla and dodgy HSE records:
Watson recalled one worker who had passed out on the job and went to the hospital because of her exposure to fumes in the factory. Even though a work-related loss of consciousness is required to be counted, no such injury was recorded on Tesla’s injury logs.

Temp workers hurt on the production line also were often rebuffed by the clinic, said former clinic employees. At one point, there was a blanket policy to turn away temps, they said.

Source: https://www.revealnews.org/article/inside-teslas-factory-a-medical-clinic-designed-to-ignore-injured-workers/

Silicon Valley's doomsday historian/forecaster:
“I’m interested in how Silicon Valley can be so infatuated with Yuval, which they are — it’s insane he’s so popular, they’re all inviting him to campus — yet what Yuval is saying undermines the premise of the advertising- and engagement-based model of their products,” said Tristan Harris, Google’s former in-house design ethicist and the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology.

Part of the reason might be that Silicon Valley, at a certain level, is not optimistic on the future of democracy. The more of a mess Washington becomes, the more interested the tech world is in creating something else, and it might not look like elected representation. Rank-and-file coders have long been wary of regulation and curious about alternative forms of government.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/09/business/yuval-noah-harari-silicon-valley.html

Fascinating interview with Eric Schmidt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEH3j7AINwU

Investors need to change or die:
Autos A cyclical, capital-intensive business that makes commoditized products is a troubled industry to begin with. If driverless cars become a reality, then car sharing is not far behind. Once that occurs, it’s virtually certain we’ll need fewer automobiles. Falling production on a fixed-cost base—look out below.

Insurance Another cyclical, commoditized business with no barriers to entry except capital—which is to say, no barriers at all. Returns on equity in insurance have been in structural decline for 30 years, with personal lines most at risk. Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate is invested in insurance, has acknowledged that self-driving cars could significantly decrease auto-insurance premiums. Such coverage may join the buggy whip in terms of utility within the next generation.
http://fortune.com/longform/value-investing-warren-buffett-tech-stocks/

Some BoJack:
It’s not about being happy, that is the thing. I’m just trying to get through each day. I can’t keep asking myself ‘Am I happy? ‘ It just makes me more miserable. I don’t know If I believe in it, real lasting happiness, All those perky, well-adjusted people you see in movies and TV shows ? I don’t think they exist.

— Diane Nguyen, BoJack Horseman, Season 3: BoJack Kills

On touching and China: 

Perhaps touch between friends was partly set free, and came to the fore, because sexual touch was prohibited by the Communist Party under Mao. Sex was confined to marriage, and even then wasn’t supposed to distract from the love for the revolution.

Among the older generation, who grew up under these ideas, couples are fairly formal with each other physically in public. When I spoke to older people sitting by Beijing’s Back Lake about the kinds of touch they shared with their spouses in their homes they were matter-of-fact. Sex was sex, one lady told me, it never involved kissing. An elderly man told me of his relationship with his wife: ‘I rub her back, she rubs mine.’

Source: https://granta.com/touch/