Hi All!
Below is your weekly dose of a list of things I’m reading, watching, listening to, or thinking about from my No. 228 May 3, 2024 newsletter. If this message was forwarded to you, sign up for this newsletter using this link.
Quote I’m Re-Reading
If you’re not sure what to do, make something. – Paul Graham
Video I Posted
A semiconductor is a material product usually comprised of silicon that can conduct electricity and can be modified through a process called doping, which allows it to be used in electronic devices.
Imagine a busy highway with cars representing the flow of electricity.
A conductor, like copper, would be a wide-open highway where the cars (electrons) can flow freely and easily.
An insulator, like glass, would be a brick wall that completely blocks the cars (electrons) from moving.
A semiconductor is like a partially blocked highway.
It has some openings and gaps that allow some cars (electrons) to pass through, but not as easily as the wide-open highway.
The “gaps” in the semiconductor can be adjusted by adding special materials, just like adjusting the number of openings in a partially blocked highway.
This ability to control the flow of “cars” (electrons) is what makes semiconductors so useful in electronics.
Semiconductors are the key materials that enable solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity through the photovoltaic effect.
Article I Read
How I Think About Debt is a fascinating thought exercise by Morgan Housel. One of my favorite lines from the article is, “As debt increases, you narrow the range of outcomes you can endure in life.”
Podcasts I Listened To
Founders by David Senra offers listeners lessons from history’s greatest entrepreneurs. I can’t get enough of this podcast. Senra’s knowledge from reading hundreds of biographies plus the way the podcast gives you lessons to use in your life is incredible. Here are a few recent podcasts that had a positive impact on me:
How Walt Disney Built His Greatest Creation: Disneyland
The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness: David Ogilvy
The Lessons of History (Will & Ariel Durant)
Book I Read
On Target (Gray Man) by Mark Greaney is the second book in the Gray Man series. Court Gentry aka the Gray Man is recruited by his old handlers, the CIA, for a hit against the president of Sudan. The majority of the story takes place in Sudan and eastern Africa. Gentry first attempts to kill the president of Sudan for the Russians but is soon lured by the CIA to kidnap the president. This story is wild.
