Recent posts – dr.Pep

Founders are gaslighted by VCs in order to convince them that they need to take high risks that are not in their own best interest

Juicy slightly contrarian view written with sufficient self-deprication in order not to offend anyone in the vally.

To contain AI (and synthetic biology), humanity should bet on regulation

In the light of the message of the book, the writer’s move to join Microsoft as AI chief in early 2024 was surprising.

Use ‘validated learning’ to launch your ‘MVP’, and ‘pivot’ when your ‘value and growth hypotheses’ are falsified

A staple of startup literature, advocating a deceivingly simple concept which is hard to get right (as is proven by the examples of startups that have failed since publication).

Re-read 2024: Even though some examples are by now pretty stale, there are still many relevant insights in there.

The West has for a long time under-estimated the tenacity of Russian covert operations

Gordon Corera – Russians among us

The connection between ‘illegals’ and digital information warfare seems mostly motivated by the author’s (or publisher’s) desire to give the book more relevance, rather than the coherence of the narrative.

To disagree with Kara Swisher is not for the faint hearted

Kara Swisher – Burn book

Entertaining rather than enriching, with strong emphasis on the ways in which Kara lets other people know that she is right

If power is all you want, just follow these 48 simple steps

Robert Greene – The 48 laws of power

A pile of cynical, often conflicting, recommendations presented with Machiavellian panache.

Understanding behavioral economics is quite helpful when you want to understand what works in marketing.

Phil Barden – Decoded

A smart repackaging of Khanemean for marketeers that is indeed worth a second edition nine years after initial publication

The populist far-right has been able to gain ground due to the failure of progressives to address underlying concerns across broad strands of the population

Nioma Klein – Doppelganger

Rhetorically strong, with well chosen observations spun into a seductive narrative that is designed to give hope.

Brain variances manifest differently in women, leading to widely-held misconceptions and many living undiagnozed and untreated

Janara Nerenberg – Divergent mind

Does a great job explaining the negative impact.

A bunch of geeks figured out a better way to run a company and are now taking over the economy

Andrew McAfee – The geek way

The case that “data trumps opinions, provided your corporate culture doesn’t get in the way” contains little original thinking, but that – to be fair – is not the author’s objective

Most crypto currencies are Ponzi schemes funded and operated by hardened criminals and effective altruists lacking a moral compass

Zeke Faux – Number go up

The author’s hard-felt frustration that the crypto market could (and in a sense still can) stay irrational as long as it did makes the story even more juicy.

Writing your tests first saves a shitload of time in debugging

Harry Percival – Test Driven Development with Python

It take quite some wasted hours of coding to appreciate the full power of the TDD approach

If you are quirky enough; people may just trust you because you seem harmless even if you have a history at a Wall Street trading firm

Michael Lewis – Going infinite

Amazing story, told with a consistent yet not so surprising perspective

To optimally solve for the UN Social Development Goals, optimize on simple metrics with good pay-off

Bjorn Lomborg – Best things first

Nice exercise that provides some nice contrarian thinking, as long as one is aware that the methodology of cost-benefit analysis (as applied here) seems to ignore systemic risks (e.g. climate change) and under-plays the difficulty of getting from theory to policy (let alone realization).

Sourdough oliebollen

Ingredients

600 gr starter
700 gr wholewheat flour
500 gr sparkling water
30 gr sugar
2 eggs
15 gr salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
vanilla from 1 stick
Zest of 1 orange
50 gr melted butter
500 gr currants

Method

Start expanding your starter 2 days in advance of baking to ensure you have enough; use white flour for that
Soak the currants for15-30 minutes
Mix starter, flour, water, eggs; using the paddle attachment of your kitchen machine, c. 3 mins at speed 1
Add salt, cinnamon, butter, vanilla, and orange zest. Continue mixing for another c. 2 mins at speed 2
Spoon in the currants
Let rise for c. 4 hours (or overnight in a cool place)
Stir through and let rise for another 2-3 hours
Fry in frying pan with sunflower oil at 180 degree Celsius. Flip after c. 3 mins, boil for 6 mins in total.

The original recipe is in Dutch

My twist: add vanilla and orange zest to the dough.

Want to try: touch of cardamon

It requires a risky mix of naive optimism, grotesque bluff, and boneheaded persistence to get a scoop on a yakuza boss

Jake Adelstein – Tokyo vice

The story is, appears heavily romanticized, but provides a nice insider perspective on many quirks of Japanese culture.

100% rye bread

Ingredients

The gelatined rye mix

480 gr Water at 90 degrees C
120 gr Rye flour

The dough

400 gr rye leaven
100 gr cold water
600 gr gelatined rye mix
600 gr rye flour
12 gr salt

Method

The gelatinated rye mix

Quickly whisk rye flour in the hot water
Leave for 1 hr to 1 day

The loaf

Set apart 4 tablespoons of the gelatinated rye mix to brush over the loafs later
Mix the leaven in the cold water
Add the gelatinated rye mixture
Add the flour and the salt
Stir until you have a sticky paste
Knead gently into two balls
Shape each ball into a baton
Let the loafs rise on floured cloth in a basket for 5 hours / until doubled in size
Just before baking, brush with the remaining gelatinated rye mixture and spray with water
Bake for 50 minutes at 210 degrees C
Leave to cool fully
Wrap in kitchen baking parchment tied with a string and leave for 24 nrs before slicing