The Best Words I Found Last Week
optimized for "novel and interesting"
Ratings reminder (points for novel and interesting):
1-3: filtered out, bottom 90%. 4 and above was worth saving
4: read if intriguing, but you’re not missing too much
5: skippable if busy, but missing out if this is your thing
6: uncommon quality, worth a read if at all interested
7: pretty much everyone should read this
Disclaimers reminder:
summaries are haphazard and ratings are intentionally subjective
not necessarily an endorsement, just made me think
(Full explanation and complete history available 👉 here 👈)
6/7 - Dylan Patel & Jon (Asianometry) — How the Semiconductor Industry Actually Works (long, podcast) — extremely information dense and energized, everything from China's hypercompetitiveness to AI hardware buildout projections
5/7 - Election Fraud Map (variable) — database of all known cases of election fraud; there is extremely little
5/7 - A tale of two machines (medium) — convenient location to collect my notes on why the Democrats lost
4/7 - America Has Changed. So Has Jon Stewart. (medium, podcast) — some good visceral takes on how the media really is just here to make money, and stoking the fire is what makes money
4/7 - Looking for Alice (medium) — well describes something indescribable that I cherish in relationships
4/7 - Polling by asking people about their neighbors (medium) — seems not clearly better than normal polls, but there are several considerations
Bonus throwbacks:
6/7 - Book Review: The Educated Mind (long) — Really thought provoking and resonant-feeling. I would definitely want to reread this in preparation for my own children's education
6/7 - The rise and importance of Secret Congress (medium) — The government isn't actually gridlocked. Only on widely known fights is it gridlocked, because in those cases the "big win" for the other party is too painful to allow. For everything else there's actually lots of good compromise and bipartisanship
Ideas worth spreading?
(this post will be deleted next week — the full archive has all this and more)