James Basili

Investing in public companies that are just getting started @lightsailcap | Board of directors @punchcardproj

[James Basili @jfbasili]

@punchcardproj puts on a fantastic conference (though I’m biased) and today is the last day to get the cheapest tickets. Come to NYC on April 11th & say hi to me & speakers like @alixpasquet, @ChrisBloomstran and @cheryleinhorn

More speakers and a link for tix👇

[projectpunchcard @punchcardproj]

The Project Punch Card investing conference is back after a pandemic hiatus! Come to NYC on April 11 to hear from a stellar line up of investment minds & help a great cause!

See below 👇 for a sampling of speakers.

Tickets are just $199 until March 15.

https://t.co/wznwU8kSfc

[the ghost of groditi’s future 👹 @GRoditiD]

there is nothing more inflationary than armed conflict. it destroys useful stuff, uses labor and material resources to destroy stuff, requires investment into production of destructive items that do nothing to meet the consumptive needs of households. wars are inflationary.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

There are many ways to get across the point of distortion in the Mercator map. Here's a planisphere indicating a distance across Africa and another distance across Russia and things don't add up [source, read more: https://t.co/O3oZ1beSF2]

[James Basili @jfbasili]

[Referring to Malthus] I mean, obviously yes!

Yet all we can do is the best we can do.

But best to approach these things with more humility than I think a lot of EA leaders tend to exhibit.

[SidewaysKoyote @sidewayskoyote]

@reconfigurthing would an EA of the time, promoting the future of humanity, have made some really bad errors?

[Paul Biggar 🇵🇸🇮🇪 @paulbiggar]

I don't get the hate for Adam Neumann. He destroyed $8B of Saudi dictators' wealth! He's about to burn $350m that was funding endless crypto scams. The man is doing god's work. A true comrade

[James Basili @jfbasili]

I see a lot of survivorship bias on Twitter, but maybe Charlie was being unfair to Phil here.

[James Basili @jfbasili]

Munger introduces this story about Title Insurance & Trust Co. as a cautionary tale about what we’d call compounders today.

[Frederik Gieschen @FrederikNeckar]

Munger ('95) on wonderful businesses: "What was interesting to me about the Phil Fisher businesses is that a very great many of them didn’t last as wonderful businesses."

[James Basili @jfbasili]

And Fisher would’ve been one of the first to say that one wants to be on the right side of new technologies, and to sell a former compounder when its growth opportunities had dried up.

[James Basili @jfbasili]

Absolutely wonderful.

[🎆𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖘𝖔𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖞🎆 @parasociality]

A hierarchy of alienness: Pictures of animals from least to most related to you.

Least-related animal: Sponges. You and sponges are both animals. That's basically all you've got in common.

[Win Monroe @WinMonroe]

I'm sorry, what? It was Bagehot that told Darwin to extend his theory of natural selection to humans???

[James Basili @jfbasili]

Some mitigating info in this thread:

[Jeremy Horpedahl 🥚📉 @jmhorp]

@radleybalko Yep, that seems to be what's driving it

https://t.co/ATfiD5SU59

[James Basili @jfbasili]

How do we build systems that minimize this? Meaning where the rich, powerful, and connected aren’t exempt from rules while the poor, weak, and guanxi-less bear the brunt of them?

Don’t think there is an easy answer, but who is doing new interesting work on the question?

[Clagett @Clagett]

Researchers at Syracuse University found that 46% of IRS audits in the most recent fiscal year were aimed at people who receive the Earned Income Tax Credit — a tax break designed to supplement the income of low-wage workers.

[James Basili @jfbasili]

Same theme in this week’s Chartstravaganza:

[Plan Maestro @PlanMaestro]

2. Rhine River

(@bloomberg)

[James Basili @jfbasili]

I try to avoid doom posting, but couldn’t resist here. Warnings from the past like this are eerie but also wonderful examples of our shared humanity across time and space.

“If you see me, weep.”

[Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath]

Drought conditions in Europe are revealing ancient “Hungersteine”—or “Hunger Stones”—markers of previous times of drought and famine.

One stone from 1616 is engraved with a warning that reads:

“Wenn du mich seehst, dann weine” or “If you see me, weep.”

https://t.co/cPHymtpIGh

[James Basili @jfbasili]

More:

[ArchaeoHistories @histories_arch]

Recent droughts in Europe once again made visible the "Hunger Stones" in some Czech and German rivers. These stones were used to mark desperately low river levels that would forecast famines. This one, in Elbe river, is from 1616 and says: "If you see me, cry"

#archaeohistories