Goal of the Jones Act: national security resilience, economic self-sufficiency, maritime labor force. Reality of the Jones Act: Tiny non-defense shipbuilding industry and labor force that is irrelevant to wartime logistics. Higher prices on intermediate and consumer goods.

Large Vienna Secession cabinet from 1902 with two reliefs, modeled after Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze, depicting "Poetry" and "Strength". Both reliefs are unsigned but probably executed by Georg Klimt - Gustav's younger brother.

I never bought an iPhone again. It was such an unbelievable insult.

Alexandra Djokic (Serbian, b.1970) "Underwater," 2023 Acrylic on paper 150 x 100 cm

Here's my assessment of what's going on inside Goldman and Morgan Stanley right about now around the $SPCX IPO. 1) The math isn't mathing for institutional investors to participate at $135/sh in the size they need them to. Research is being heavily pressured by banking to get more aggressive on their estimates/teach-in materials to try to make valuation make sense. It's not working. The biggest brass across the firms are now getting involved - Jamie Dimon & David Solomon are taking meetings - it's all hands on deck. 2) Accordingly, the bookrunners are increasing the % of the deal allocated to retail to 30%. Remember, it's the banks buying the shares from the company and if their largest institutional relationships aren't biting in the size they need them to - they have to find demand somewhere else they're going to be on the hook for the delta between $135/sh and wherever the stock trades multiplied by the number of shares left in inventory. Find the demand - whoever and whatever it takes. 3) Banks are also pressuring the index providers to create forced buying as well across a ton of indices and their associated products. This has worked in some places and hasn't in others (credit to S&P for their backbone here). This will create a large amount of demand but I don't know the math here relative to the float coming public - if anyone has seen smart math here please share. All and all, this is going to be a fascinating IPO to watch but I have next to zero interest in participating - I suspect I'm in the majority here.

The New York State legislature is going for total control. In this mindset, you have no right to do anything without constant spying and "papers please" permission. youtu.be/ma12AyQHzYs

Can't believe that the kind of prose my heart had been craving for exists in Moby Dick. Insane opening chapter. 11/10

J. S. Bach - Toccata and Fugue in D minor A superb arrangement, not a single note is lost. Performed perfectly: neat, clear, yet full of emotion. Thank you for a wonderful experience!

Astronomers seem to have much better odds of surviving.

Although there's much that I don't agree with here, this piece nails some key aspects of the culture today. Absolutely worth a read. Triple if you are or have ever been involved in a startup. x.com/i/status/2057094527236…

Completely absurd industry and education killing law in NY. This is a totalitarian legislature creating a "papers please" state nobody who builds anything except absurd laws will want to work in.

Insane story from NYC:

Age verification is a totalitarian dream. And, it's gratuitous. The large platforms are able to deduce the age of their users with high accuracy.

There’s been some reporting that Meta contributed an unfathomable sum to promote age verification laws globally. This is broadly true, but actual situation is a bit more complex. Figured it was worth an update.

TIL:

RFK Jr. has called the HPV vaccine “the most dangerous vaccine ever invented.” A staggering new review covering 274 studies found the opposite (again). HPV vaccines, without a doubt, remain one of the greatest cancer prevention tools in modern medicine.