Thursday, May 18, 2023
Monday, March 13, 2023
13: News Bulletin
HSBC plans to acquire Silicon Valley Bank UK for £1, citing “strategic sense for our business”; as of March 10, SVB UK had ~£5.5B loans and ~£6.7B deposits
Having perfected the art of using hype to move markets, VCs managed to hype their own rumors to collapse SVB, accidentally slaying a much loved accomplice
SVB draws support from 500+ VCs, including General Catalyst and Sequoia, while 5,000+ founders and CEOs sign a Y Combinator petition asking US Congress to act
Sources: long before its collapse, SVB remained technologically stagnant, including failing to integrate Stripe's tech and biometric authentication on mobile
CNN wins its first Oscar for Navalny, in the documentary feature film category, about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny and commissioned by CNN Films and HBO Max
New York shuts down Signature Bank as US regulators cite a “systemic risk exception” like for SVB, announcing all of Signature's depositors will be “made whole”
The closure of SVB, Silvergate, Silvergate Exchange Network, and Signature adds stress to a troubled crypto industry; fiat conversion costs may rise by 20%-40%
Signature closing means its real-time payment platform Signet can no longer serve crypto clients, a blow after SEN closed; BTC jumps ~7% and USDC regains peg
As AI explodes, humanity must accelerate its adaptation or reach a collective, enforceable decision to slow the development of these technologies
A YouTuber who went viral as a toddler says she resents her family for monetizing her childhood, as some influencer parents take their children off social media
Netflix wins six Oscars, including the Best International Feature Film for All Quiet on the Western Front and the Best Animated Feature Film for Pinocchio
A developer runs Meta's 13B LLaMA model, considered to be competitive with GPT-3, on his laptop, showing local language models are feasible on consumer hardware
Meta plans to block Canadians' ability to view or share written and broadcast news on Facebook and Instagram if the country passes its proposed Online News Act
A look at the unprecedented level of executive turnover at Apple, which lost 11 key people, most just below Senior Vice President, since the second half of 2022
Twitter is in decline and less stable under Elon Musk, echoing LiveJournal and Tumblr falling apart under new ownership that didn't understand their communities
Worried that cloud giants offer concentrated hacking targets, the US plans to regulate the security practices of Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and others
An interview with Gowalla co-founder and CEO Josh Williams as he re-launches his location-based social networking app at SXSW, 14 years after its debut
The first 6 founder deep dives are live!
— Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) March 13, 2023
Intentionally have an even split of men and women
I'm sharing their stories, how they started and grew their companies, and lessons we can all learn from them
Each takes 20-25 hours of research and writing
Who should be next? pic.twitter.com/LaRWCAff9I
Definitely something we've thought about. Need a few more features like outbound wires, multi-user support etc.
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) March 13, 2023
Non-fractional reserve "banking" is definitely looking more attractive right now.
What are the key features you'd want?
Our defence editor chooses seven good books on spying
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) January 26, 2023
Now that a bank run is avoided, we can finally get back to inflation destroying our economy.
— Douglas A. Boneparth (@dougboneparth) March 13, 2023
A lawsuit was filed against the father of Masha Moskaleva to restrict his parental rights & put her in an orphanage because she drew an anti-war picture in school & her father was arrested for making anti-war statements on social media.
— Mikhail Khodorkovsky (English) (@mbk_center) March 13, 2023
Alexei Moskalev faces up to 3 years in jail pic.twitter.com/08TxZTUY3G
Staffers of internet service provider companies work tangled bundles of overhead cables at Kalanki-Sitapaila section of the Ring Road on Sunday.
— The Kathmandu Post (@kathmandupost) March 13, 2023
Photo by: @Sayami pic.twitter.com/EDvo9zbRuR
I average 3,000 reps of calisthenics each morning. Yet each day: I emphasize something a little different. One day heavy on squats. Another heavy on push-ups. Another big on burpees. In this way? 1) Workouts are never boring. And 2) They keep your body guessing & growing. TRY IT.
— Jeff Sekerak (@jeffsekerak) March 13, 2023
Delaying hard decisions kill startups.
— Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki) March 13, 2023
Feature not working? Sunlight it.
Employee not working out? Let em go.
Go to market not working? Fix it.
If something is not working please do what you know you have to do as a founder because you don't have forever.
Too small to fail is the new too big to fail.
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) March 13, 2023
The Fed may or may not realize it but it has created a two-tier banking system:
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) March 12, 2023
1. Tier 1: Systemically Important Banks. These are the "too big to fail" biggest banks. If you have money there, it's a true deposit. You can't lose it.
2. Tier 2: Everyone Else. If you have money… https://t.co/RFTF9kjeUS
Pairs well with our two tiered judicial system, our two tiered education system and our two tiered legal system.
— Shelby Varney 𝝅 (@nyxxiana) March 12, 2023
Sunday, March 12, 2023
12: News Bulletin
The importance of blue carbon mangroves
The benefits of mangrove restoration from blue carbon to biodiversity
7 important agreements reached at COP15
The Wildfire-Climate Change Cycle and how to Tame it
This Geothermal Startup Showed Its Wells Can Be Used Like a Giant Underground Battery
Detection Stays One Step Ahead of Deepfakes—For Now
GPT-4 Might Just Be a Bloated, Pointless Mess
Microsoft Unveils AI Model That Understands Image Content, Solves Visual Puzzles
Figure Promises First General-Purpose Humanoid Robot
Ethereum Moved to Proof of Stake. Why Can’t Bitcoin?
Face Recognition Software Led to His Arrest. It Was Dead Wrong
As AI Booms, Lawmakers Struggle to Understand the Technology
Key Steps in Evolution on Earth Tell Us How Likely Intelligent Life Is Anywhere Else
Stability AI, Hugging Face and Canva Back New AI Research Nonprofit
I Made an AI Clone of Myself
California Company Sets Launch Date for World’s First 3D-Printed Rocket
ChatGPT-Style Search Represents a 10x Cost Increase for Google, Microsoft
Ingenious Technique Could Make Moon Farming Possible
The US Copyright Office Says You Can’t Copyright Midjourney AI-Generated Images
AI Is Dreaming Up Drugs That No One Has Ever Seen. Now We’ve Got to See if They Work.
MIT Team Makes a Case for Direct Carbon Capture From Seawater, Not Air
This Startup Can 3D Print a Battery Into Any Shape You Want
Confusion Spirals in Crypto as the US Cracks Down
For the First Time, Genetically Modified Trees Have Been Planted in a US Forest
Huge & costly miss by the media and govt in thinking SVB collapse is about ‘big tech.’
— Alex Macdonald (@alexfmac) March 12, 2023
Big tech banks with the big 4.
The vast majority of founders run small businesses.
This is about thousands of small businesses, their employees and their families. https://t.co/1KOUmiv0W9
Press Release on the visit of Mr. Zhang Shaogang, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) to Nepal. pic.twitter.com/knfIR115V1
— Ambassador Chen Song (@PRCAmbNepal) March 12, 2023
केही बर्षअघि यही ट्विटरमा लेथेथें, यस्ता परियोजनाहरूमा निर्णय गर्दा, feasibility हेरिॅदैन? कसैले जवाफ मा ‘यस्ता game changing योजनामा के को study, DPR बनाउने, अघि बढ्ने’ जस्तो गरे! यी कुरामा सायद राजनीति, ‘द्रव्यनीति’ थपिंदा यो गति भो। थप ऋण भार पनि हाम्ले यसै गरि बोक्ने होला।
— Devendra Raj Panday (@DRP39) March 12, 2023
Problem also lies on the international law on conflict-related “gross” human rights violations. The Rome Statute of ICC only covers grave crimes like war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. International human rights treaties do not define conflict-era gross violations. https://t.co/xJ72AA1ZTB
— Madhu Raman Acharya (@MadhuRamanACH) March 11, 2023
I do hope to succeed in business 🤞
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2023
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
— Pastor Peter bankar (@PeterBankar) March 12, 2023
Psalms 46:10
YOU SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED RIGHT NOW — THAT IS THE PROPER REACTION TO A BANK RUN & CONTAGION @POTUS & @SecYellen MUST GET ON TV TOMORROW AND GUARANTEE ALL DEPOSITS UP TO $10M OR THIS WILL SPIRAL INTO CHAOS
— @jason (@Jason) March 12, 2023
watching the lord of the ring trilogy for the first time. gollum is such a drama queen lol
— ali (@_ali_taylor) March 12, 2023
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 12, 2023
Timeline cleanse: A Lightning Strike In Australia. 📷 by David Diehm Photography pic.twitter.com/0znCE0npjU
— Jürgen "jkr" Kraus (@jkr_on_the_web) March 11, 2023
There was a lighting strike on the sidewalk near where I used to live. It created a hole in the cement. I'll bet the pictured strike created fused sand particles.
— Richard Peterson ⸮⸮⸮ (@genuine_rp) March 11, 2023
Kohli has made 12 runs in 20 overs - a fascinating phase of play, complemented by Murali Kartik and Matthew Hayden lecturing us about growing a thick skin and why Test cricketers should not be on social media.
— Abhu (@abhu_tyagi) March 12, 2023
The stupendous stupa of Kesaria, Vaishali. Partially restored, the rest a hillock with beautiful trees. @Kishore_chandra and I were greeted by the cultural doyen of Champaran, Ramsharan Agarwal. pic.twitter.com/3ZnQAafyEP
— Kanak Mani Dixit (@KanakManiDixit) March 11, 2023
Make sure you get outside today if you're in #banking or #fintech. What a week #SiliconValleyBank pic.twitter.com/WzZBNzRUDW
— wadearnold (@wadearnold) March 11, 2023
Touch the grass or snow this weekend. I’m also available if needed. Reach out pic.twitter.com/qdn0lm7FkJ
— Peggy Mangot (@peggymangot) March 12, 2023
“These are the good old days!” – frens
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2023
Scary thought: We've been in a low-interest rate world for over a decade straight, and within 6 months of rates rising, we've seen SPAC collapses, FTX, and now SVB.
— Tanay Jaipuria (@tanayj) March 11, 2023
What else unravels over the next year or two?
Blaming depositors for bank failure is like placing the blame for medical malpractice on patients because they didn’t do a good enough job shopping for a doctor. Depositors expect the Fed to ensure that banks are safe.
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) March 12, 2023
Full house for Voices for Ukraine with @ilya_poet @katiefar @OlgaLivshin @OlenaJennings @returnstosender @suvorovawrites @SashaVasilyuk @bowlga & more, sponsored by @brackenmagazine @uwtranslation @simpson_center @UwSlavic pic.twitter.com/gToAlRvEOK
— Sasha Vasilyuk (@SashaVasilyuk) March 12, 2023
Kind of amazing how the "Silicon Valley" in SVB leads people to think it's just a bank for the elites.
— Sriram Krishnan - sriramk.eth (@sriramk) March 11, 2023
A bit stunned over a lack of concern for startups and innovation that power so much of what we use today.
Which business magazine/paper do you trust the most?
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) March 12, 2023
If other, which one? 👇🏽
Pandemic. Bank run. Land war in Europe.
— James Mishra (@rishmishra) March 12, 2023
I feel like I'm seeing my AP US History textbook happen in real life.
Driving an Electric Vehicle to be "green"? Well, nearly 60% of your electric fuel comes from fossil fuels (coal + natural gas) and nearly 80% comes from fossil fuels + nuclear. Less than 11% comes from windmills and less than 4% from solar panels. #RealityCheck pic.twitter.com/0yZnYiIFy0
— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) March 11, 2023
Today, I finally understand the anger that led to the creation of Bitcoin.
— Nuseir Yassin (@nasdaily) March 11, 2023
Who do you trust with ur livelihood?
A “gov insured” bank that’s not actually insured?
An exchange that goes bust?
A stablecoin that depegs?
Or a currency that makes you 8% poorer every year?
What is good for the soil is always good for your body because your body is just an embodiment of soil. #SadhguruQuotes pic.twitter.com/TDx9A1FJT3
— Sadhguru (@SadhguruJV) March 12, 2023
Honestly. This isn’t classy. Congrats if that’s what you were going for
— Peggy Mangot (@peggymangot) March 12, 2023
Major problem. These are oversubscribed in America.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2023
The beauty of B2B? You can get on the phone and start pitching people. See their reactions and get feedback in real time!
— Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) March 12, 2023
It's a great way to scale and open up a whole new world of opportunities for your business. pic.twitter.com/1YA8jCVA1w
“Silicon Valley gets what it deserves! Screw tech, startups and VCs!”
— Tom Loverro (@tomloverro) March 11, 2023
-Sent from an iPhone via Twitter and Instagram, w an ARM processor instruction set by Marvell, code repo by GitHub, delivered via Cloudflare, while driving a Tesla Model 3 and Slack/Gmail w co-workers
He is not just a clown, he is a puppet clown. pic.twitter.com/Cjbb6oVPGX
— Proud Unrepentant Ultra MAGA Gina Bella (@ginabella) March 12, 2023
#BREAKING: The strategic bomber #B52-H Stratofortress of the #USAirForce, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, about 2 hours ago, went to the position of launching missiles in St. Petersburg near the island of Gotland, which is located at a distance of about 200 km from the… https://t.co/W0piEKkhnh pic.twitter.com/I5vAecKZCN
— TRUTH PUKE (@TruthPuke) March 11, 2023
— John Metzner (@JohnRMetzner) March 12, 2023
I would happily accept the end of carried interest tax treatment for VCs and private equity, in exchange for knowing SVB depositors will get back 100 cents on the dollar.
— Roy E. Bahat (@roybahat) March 11, 2023
Here’s how fake crab meat is made.
— clemenza🥩⚡️| healthy skeptic (@CarniClemenza) March 11, 2023
Who is eating this stuff? pic.twitter.com/mVkVwoTimf
We can’t have a functioning economy if the average American has to assess the balance sheet of a bank before they deposit money.
— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) March 12, 2023
We don’t even teach personal finance in most schools, let alone how to read financial statements.
Extroverts are convinced the Internet makes people more lonely. Introverts are convinced the Internet makes people less lonely.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 12, 2023
I deleted my tweet because I learned too many ppl are unaware that wires don’t go out on wkends and that banks are not open on Sundays.
— Elizabeth Yin 💛 (@dunkhippo33) March 12, 2023
I’m disappointed in ppl.
If you’re a female founder impacted by #svb and working to pull a deck together for an emergency BOD meeting to discuss your options & want help, DMs are open & my weekend is free.
— Abbie Strabala (@straballar) March 11, 2023
I can do: Formatting. Storytelling. Scenario planning. Cash flow projections. Draft comms.
❤️
If Russia wanted to destroy or materially impair 65k of our most promising new technology and biotech companies, there is no better method than a cyber attack that blows up @SVB_Financial with the @FDICgov not guaranteeing deposits. The irony is that we did it to ourselves. https://t.co/Gl9Rr6HvXc
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) March 11, 2023
Last 24 hours has been pretty eye opening to see how many people are rooting against the tech industry and innovation
— Alex Cohen (@anothercohen) March 11, 2023
I WATCHED PEOPLE TELL ME SVB WAS FINE, THEN FRB WAS FINE… WHILE MORE INTELLIGENT/CUT THROAT FOLKS WERE WIRING OUT OF BOTH PLACES — THIS IS THE PRISONERS DILEMMA
— @jason (@Jason) March 12, 2023
Are we really at a point that we think Roku made a mistake but holding $487 million in one account at the 16th largest bank? That they should have known better and spread is over about 1,750 different accounts to stay under the $250k arbitary limit?https://t.co/iRKdmpE5hX
— Jim Bianco biancoresearch.eth (@biancoresearch) March 12, 2023
I swear this is a true story.
— Hailey Lennon (@HaileyLennonBTC) March 12, 2023
You can’t leave your house in DC without hearing discussion of SVB
A table behind and a guy literally said “I have exposure to SVB and I wish I had exposure to bitcoin instead”
I have a business idea, it is like a bank, but they keep your money in a vault, don't lend it to anyone else, and charge you a fee for the service.
— Peter McCormack🏴☠️ (@PeterMcCormack) March 11, 2023
Pretty radical I know, who wants in?
Guaranteed increase in anger levels
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2023
Sunday poll: What’s the best Indian Sunday breakfast ?
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) March 12, 2023
Most people don't know:
— Michael Girdley (@girdley) March 11, 2023
1- SVB is an LP in many venture capital funds
2- Those VCs pushed startups to get venture debt from SVB.
3- The terms made startups put nearly all cash in SVB
It's easy to say, "the startups were dumb!"
But it's more complicated.
Silicon Valley Bank’s shareholders and executives lose it all, as they should. Depositors in good faith, however, should recover and have access to their deposits in order to meet their payrolls, pay their suppliers, and to prevent contagion.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 11, 2023
Sunday, March 05, 2023
Thursday, September 15, 2022
Putin
Life Is an Accident of Space and Time
Why the U.S. Is Being Ominously Compared to Hungary and Turkey A conversation with Max Fisher, who covers the decline of democracy around the world.
Opinion: Putin is fooling no one -- certainly not Xi In Samarkand, Putin will undoubtedly keep up his triumphant, self-assured demeanor -- but that will fool no one, certainly not Xi, who must be deeply worried about the astonishing collapse of Russia's forces in northeast Ukraine....... Not only is Russia humiliated, Ukraine exuberant, and the West united, but even China, which still expresses support for the Kremlin, is making statements that embarrass Russia. ........ Russia confirmed Xi and Putin would meet on the sidelines of the summit for "very important" talks. China has confirmed Xi's trip, but its foreign minister on Tuesday declined to confirm a meeting with the Russian president. ........ The relationship between Xi and Putin was never one of equals, but now Putin is encountering Xi during one of the most disastrous moments of his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. He will likely seek more support from Xi, who has been generous with words but much less with deeds. ......... China has been reluctant to break the sanctions, or step in to provide a major boost to Russia's dwindling military supplies. If it had, Putin could have avoided the awkward spectacle of seeking weapons from Iran and North Korea, minor, if aggressive powers. .......... Putin needs Xi much more than Xi needs Putin, and that imbalance has grown far greater since their last meeting. ........ he Russian president's suppression of all criticism about the war has taken an expected turn. Those who opposed the "special military operation," have gone to prison, exile or have mostly fallen silent. But now some of the war's most vocal supporters are fuming, enraged by the military's poor performance. (They even call it a "war" -- a word that could not previously be uttered without some consequence.) ........... A strongman cannot afford to be weak, and Putin knows it. ........ For now, there's no chance that Beijing will discard its unofficial alliance with Moscow, even if Russia is a greatly diminished power. Xi wants to be the leader of a global front opposing the US-led liberal democratic order. To do that, he needs to line up support from nations large and small. And Russia remains an important, nuclear-armed nation. ........... Next month, China's Communist Pary will hold its twice-a-decade party congress. Xi, China's most powerful figure since Mao, is expected to secure an unprecedented third term amid a sharp economic slowdown, made worse by his extreme zero-Covid policy. The possibility of a global recession, heightened by Russia's gas wars against Europe, would hit export-reliant China very hard.
Why the U.S. Is Being Ominously Compared to Hungary and Turkey A conversation with Max Fisher, who covers the decline of democracy around the world. ....... That democracy is declining more or less everywhere now. Not necessarily in every country but in every region, in rich and poor countries, old and new democracies. And the decline is incremental but steady, which means that the scale of the change isn’t necessarily obvious until you start looking at the data. ......... What happens is more like what has occurred in Venezuela, say, or Turkey or Hungary. Elected leaders rise within a democracy promising to defeat some threat within, and in the process end up slowly tearing that democracy down. ......... more democracies are in decline today than at any other point in the last century. .......... The United States fits pretty cleanly into what is now a well-established global pattern of democratic backsliding.
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
12: Tucker
Here's some candid advice on this topic from my experiences bootstrapping vs raising capital with my past startups and now with @microacquire. pic.twitter.com/73az710q3S
— Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki) July 12, 2022
Fair Tale in Moscow :) pic.twitter.com/JXISbVYVxm
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) July 11, 2022
🇮🇳💪 pic.twitter.com/htFa640Q5l
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) June 5, 2022
Salute of Victory in Moscow 🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/dOJOX4qesh
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) May 9, 2022
Interesting fact 👌 pic.twitter.com/vSAVP39OGN
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) April 21, 2022
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) April 9, 2022
Five stages of grief are :
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) April 8, 2022
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Paying in rubles
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) April 5, 2022
Why was everyone silent when the West made wars pic.twitter.com/Pgsq3kQnFJ
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) April 4, 2022
Fair enough. But this is actually a case against the war in #Ukraine.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 12, 2022
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) April 1, 2022
Truly impressive. Russia is an intellectual superpower. Tolstoy, @Kasparov63 etc. https://t.co/HAppdDXblh
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 12, 2022
April fool is for boys,
— Yulia Kapoor ॐ ASTROLOGER (@KapoorYulia) April 1, 2022
We ladies don't lie or cheat 😁#AprilFoolsDay
You can say since you have him on mute.
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) July 12, 2022
5/8/23 Update: Goshen (NY) puts Third World corruption to shame, thanks to greedy, corrupt, unethical lawyers like Andra Dumais. ..... I toppled a Third World dictator and German Radio called me Robin Hood On The Internet. I am not going to get intimidated by some small-town racist. Andrea Dumais is a small-town racist. ....... You are treating me worse than the people 2,000 years ago.
Saturday, June 18, 2022
18: China, India, Russia
This tweet has been brought to you by management fees 🥂
— jordi.eth (@jordihays) June 18, 2022
Leaders must communicate that it’s OK not to respond to things in real-time, that it’s OK to decline meeting requests, that it’s OK to turn off notifications, and that it’s OK to not be online all day. https://t.co/xAtXBQeaJb
— Harvard Business Review (@HarvardBiz) June 18, 2022
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. #dalle2 pic.twitter.com/3WVsKMajnk
— Carlos E. Perez (@IntuitMachine) June 18, 2022
If your long term Bitcoin investment thesis changes because of the price, you never understood Bitcoin
— Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) June 18, 2022
⚡️Dutch PM: War in Ukraine is ‘our war’.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 18, 2022
“Ukraine must win, that is really important. In any case, we must ensure that we do everything we can to bring them closer to that victory,” Mark Rutte said, as cited by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
5/8/23 Update: Goshen (NY) puts Third World corruption to shame, thanks to greedy, corrupt, unethical lawyers like Andra Dumais. ..... I toppled a Third World dictator and German Radio called me Robin Hood On The Internet. I am not going to get intimidated by some small-town racist. Andrea Dumais is a small-town racist. ....... You are treating me worse than the people 2,000 years ago.