In 1997, the former Soviet leader needed money, and Pizza Hut needed a spokesman. Greatness ensued. It’s dangerous for leaders to outlive their countries. Whether they move on or become obsessed with returning to power, they cannot escape their role as symbols of a vanished world—a condition fraught with both nostalgia and danger. Nobody knows that burden like Mikhail Gorbachev, the final leader of the Soviet Union. Since his involuntary retirement, Gorbachev has raised money for worthy causes, attempted to make a comeback in Russian politics, and, notoriously, made an advertisement for Pizza Hut.
Month: November 2019
Fiber topography
Spotting an undersea fault using fiber-optic cables
He and his team had disconnected the cable from all its usual sensors so they could use the fiber itself to sense vibrations on the ocean floor. By monitoring how light beamed and bounced through the transparent fiber, Lindsey’s team was able to describe the texture and topography of the earth it was buried in
Beautiful News Daily
Beautiful News Daily has been posting infographics and data visualizations that share some good news about the world. The site’s tagline is “unseen trends, uplifting stats, creative solutions”.
a balanced media diet contains good news. this is a good source.
Axions
Physicists have long searched for hypothesized dark matter particles called WIMPs. Now, focus may be shifting to the axion — an ultra-lightweight particle whose existence would solve 2 mysteries at once
Hawking radiation
the hologram within a hologram gives the desired answer to the question of what happens to a 2D black hole’s information. Most experts assume that if the reasoning is correct, it should carry over to higher-dimensional black holes like those in our universe. A common concern, however, is that the authors might be reading too much meaning into this abstract calculation
Post-Christian culture wars
Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. They have 27 governorships and governing trifectas in 21 states. But many conservatives — particularly Christian conservatives — believe they’re being routed in the war that matters most: the post-Christian culture war. They see a diverse, secular left winning the future and preparing to eviscerate both Christian practice and traditional mores. And they see themselves as woefully unprepared to respond with the ruthlessness that the moment requires.
Levitating 3D Pixel
Imagine that 1 of the pixels on your monitor could jump right off of the screen, and float in front of your face. Just 1 pixel wouldn’t be much use for conveying information. But imagine if that pixel could then zig and zag through the air, fast enough that it could draw letters or images you can read.
Index fund confusion
Index providers should do case-by-case studies of stocks? Look, if you said to me that investors should do careful case-by-case analyses of the stocks they want to buy in order to make sure that their valuations were justified, I’d be like, sure, yeah, that sounds like investing all right. But if you told me that the indexes used by passive investors should do careful case-by-case studies of all the stocks they include in order to make sure that their valuations were justified, I’d be like, no, wait, that doesn’t sound like indexing at all. That is fundamental analysis; it is subjective and controversial; the whole business of stock markets is to adjudicate disputes over whether valuations are justified. The general idea of indexing is that you stay neutral in those disputes, and just buy stuff at whatever valuation the market gives to it.
Cybertruck
For the Cybertruck to succeed the way the Model 3 has, Tesla must steal the customers Ford, GM, Chrysler, and other automakers most value. To paraphrase Boromir, one does not simply walk into Detroit with such a plan. The big automakers pay very careful attention to their trucks: They know their customers well and develop each new model based on decades of learnings. Musk has a knack for rethinking the customer experience, and the Cybertruck’s radical design could appeal to drivers looking for something different. But when it comes to meeting what those drivers really need and want from their trucks, it’s playing catch up. “Tesla can figure it out, but they don’t already know. If the truck can’t deliver the functionality [drivers] need, they’re not gonna buy it.” Which means that Tesla is fixing to challenge its core competency—designing vehicles that delight and surprise their drivers—as never before.
and here’s a nice design roast:
They said if we converted the CAD file from IGES to DXF we were going to lose some data. I told them we didn’t mind.
It is also far superior to the F-150:
and perhaps could be used for lunar mining:
SpaceX could use the electric skateboard of the Cybertruck to build all the of vehicles that they need for a lunar mining operation. 30 cybertrucks could be delivered to the moon with every SpaceX Starship.
Great Pyramid in 2560 BCE
The current outer surface of the Great Pyramid at Giza is made of rough limestone blocks, colored a dark sandy brown from 100s of years of pollution and weathering. But when it was first built, there was a smooth layer of fine white limestone on the outside of the structure, all cut to the same angle and polished to a shine so bright it almost glowed.
Gregor J. Rothfuss 