Seven years ago, I went to a dinner at a friend’s house. One of them brought the most delicious cheesecake known to mankind as a gift. It was light, fluffy, not too sweet, and creamy. The crust was powdery and perfect. I was surprised to find out that it wasn’t some Michelin star concoction — it was made by an idiosyncratic 85 year old baker in the Richmond. He had been doing this for decades, and had brought together the best of European and Japanese cheesecakes to create his own style. But just as soon as I sought out the bakery, I found out that the baker had retired. I was bereft. I have been dreaming of that slice of cheesecake ever since. It haunts me.
Dearest reader, I had a slice of that cheesecake this weekend. It was everything I dreamed of and more. I shall die happy now. If you want some, let me know, I’ll share. I have a WHOLE CAKE.
Anyways, onto my other recommendations. Though none of them are as good as cheesecake, I’ll tell you now.
I was floored to learn where that “9/11 security fee” line item on plane tickets goes.
Every time I try to write something good about work and purpose, I find a pretty amazing Paul Graham essay on that exact topic. I read them all at some point, but I am newly surprised by how good they are.
I’ve always said that Kelly Sims (Stripe’s former head of comms) is disproportionately responsible for its valuation, and I guess Mike Moritz agrees.
Noah Smith (Noahpinion) has an excellent take about the “recession narrative” versus the actual numbers. Some hot takes from annoying tech Twitter included!
I feel about Taylor Swift the same way Kobe Bryant does.
As a part of my research, I’ve been on the hunt for some academic opinions on automation, AI, and work.
I expect all of you read Ben Thompson’s piece on the AI order, but if you haven’t it is a must read. It got me hunting down papers about MSFT’s anti-trust case in 2001.
This is why Gavin Newsom can never become president.
My former colleague Rob Heaton talking about parenting strategies and a famous twin study. Rob is hilarious.
I’ve been spending a lot of my time reading and thinking about Figma’s product dev strategy. This recent Stratechery analysis about the Adobe earnings call is interesting, and of course I’ve read Kevin Kwok’s piece. Anything else you’d recommend?
Thank you!