Chemical Rockets Win: Batteries Lack Orbital Energy Density
Elon Musk: "Wish orbital rockets could be [electric], but there's no escaping Newton's Third Law." "If u saw The Simpson's and wonder why SpaceX doesn't use an electric rocket to reach orbit, it is cuz that is impossible." Chemical combustion provides a highly concentrated and lightweight way to store energy. Batteries are fundamentally limited by their energy density. To lift a heavy rocket into orbit, you need immense instantaneous energy,
AI Excels at Demand Forecasting, Not Inventory Control
If a manager had asked AI whether inventory control is a good application for AI, what would it say? "The sweet spot for AI in inventory is forecasting demand at scale across many SKUs — not the control logic itself,...
Benchmark Turned $6.7M Into $6.7B in Two Years
“When Benchmark invested $6.7 million in eBay in 1997, the auction company’s valuation was put at $20 million. By the next spring, the company was valued at more than $21 billion; the value of Benchmark’s stake had grown 100,000 percent...
Frontier AI Generates Unprecedented Global Consumer Surplus
John Doerr in 1996: The Internet will lead to the “largest legal creation of wealth in the history of the planet”. In 2026 Frontier models are causing the largest legal creation of consumer surplus in the history of the planet....
Space Firms Go Full‑stack to Lock in Pricing
The business of space is going "full stack" because of wholesale transfer pricing power. Buying part of a vertical stack from a third party means you pay the retail price and do not control non price terms. Costs drop with volume...
Private Pre‑IPO Secondaries: Asymmetric Info Drives Reflexive Pricing
In the late 1990s, founders, employees and venture investors sold shares before IPOs through private transactions. It me! Buyers in sales were sourced informally. Private secondaries involve: asymmetric information illiquidity signaling optionality and reflexive pricing. https://t.co/SiLOMFYGJF
Telesat's GEO Business Falls 25%, Loss Triples
Seems like a lot. "Telesat’s Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite business declined 25% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026" Net loss for the quarter was CA$151 million ($111 million) compared to a CA$51 million ($37 million) loss in the prior year, https://t.co/cluTNPsoHJ
Anthropic Eyes Gigawatt Orbital AI Compute via Rumored Dario Centers
It is just a rumor that the SpaceX capacity Anthropic will use will be provided by satellites called: "Dario Centers." "As part of this agreement, Anthropic also expressed interest in partnering to develop multiple gigawatts of orbital AI compute capacity." https://t.co/qlH6StuyIB
Philippine Inflation Spikes to 7.2% in April.
"Beats" is not the right word in this headline. "Exceeds" is more accurate. Philippine inflation surged to 7.2% in April 2026 from 4.1 % in March 2026, led by higher costs in food and transport the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday....
2025: 79% Large‑Cap Funds Lag S&P
There is no Warren Buffett to replace Warren Buffett at BRK. In 2025, 79% of all active large-cap U.S. equity funds underperformed the S&P 500, worse than the 65% rate observed in 2024 and the fourth-worst year for active large-cap managers...
Trout Devour Hatchery Salmon Fry on Lake Sammamish
Cutthroat trout caught on a 4 weight 10' fly rod with floating line with sinking tip on Lake Sammamish this morning. Trout are feasting on just released King salmon fry from a hatchery. The streamer fly looks like a salmon fry....
Berkshire’s Pricing Power Shifts as Buffett Steps Back
Times are changing: "Warren Buffett doesn’t participate much in pricing decisions and has only talked three times in the past ten years to one Berkshire CEO." May 2018. A private seller's motivation is now different. From coverage by Barron’s of...
Berkshire's Cash Surges to $397B After $8.1
A tender for Berkshire shares by BRK seems more than possible: "cash jumped to $397 billion in the first quarter as it offloaded a net $8.1 billion of equity holdings in the period. Operating earnings got a boost from an...
Spirit's Debt Crisis Undermined Value, Merger Might Have Helped
Was Spirit Airlines Roomba-ed®? Did debt levels make Spirit walking dead? Would the JetBlue merger have made the end less painful for employees of Spirit and Spirit shareholders/debt holders? Did Spirit have any pricing power? Anyone. Anyone. Bueller?...
Telecom Bubble: $20B CLEC Revenue, yet Massive Losses
I was directly involved in the telecom bubble. It wasn't a pleasant experience especially when it popped. In 2000, the collective revenue for Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) in the US was ~$20 billion. A typical CLEC then operated with a...