The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 1,245 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 39 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Teledyne entered semiconductors in 1960 for long-term growth over quick profit
“We went into the semiconductor business in 1960, even though we were in the midst of a business crisis at the time, we did it because of our conviction that it was necessary for our long-term future growth and not because of any conviction that we would immedi…”
By 1977, Teledyne was largest shareholder in nine Fortune 500 companies
“By 1977 Teledyne was the largest shareholder in nine of the fortune 500 companies.”
Senra: Henry Singleton was the third-largest US landowner when he died
“When he dies, I think he's the third largest landowner in the United States at the time.”
Senra: Henry Singleton never sold a single piece of real estate
“In fact, the book says that he never sold a single piece of real estate, whether it's a house or his ranch or just empty land in his entire life.”
Henry Singleton achieved a perfect 100 in every MIT course
“Henry Singleton's grades everywhere were a hundred. Three digits squeezed into the space for only two. For every course he took, every final exam, 100.”
Schlitz jumped from fifth place to first after Claude Hopkins' campaign
“Schlitz jumped from fifth place to neck and neck with first place in a few months.”
Hopkins turned a $13,000 investment in Pepsodent into $700,000
“That 13,000 for that, those shares, it paid him 200,000 dollars of dividends. And then he also sold that, that 13,000 many years later for 500 grand.”
Anthropic named its AI model Claude after Claude Shannon
“Claude Shannon Is the reason that Anthropic called Claude, Claude.”
Senra: Shannon's circuit theory obsoleted analog computers within a decade
“Less than a decade after Shannon's paper, the great analog machine was effectively obsolete, replaced by digital computers that could do the same work literally a thousand times faster, answering questions in real time, driven by thousands of logic gates. The …”
Senra: Shannon's 1948 paper laid foundation for the Internet and modern computing
“Shannon's work is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientific papers of the 20 century and laid theoretical foundation for things like the Internet, data compression, error correcting codes, digital telecommunications, Modern computing and much o…”
Senra: Bell Labs kept Claude Shannon on payroll after he joined MIT
“Even after he leaves Bell Labs they thought he was so important and he was so disinterested in money for money's sake that Bell Labs kept him on the payroll. So he winds up getting paid from MIT and Bell Labs.”
Merchant Bankers Began as Commodity Traders Before Shifting to Credit
“Almost all merchant bankers were merchants before they came bankers. They traded with certain commodities in certain parts of the world and later found it more profitable to leave the actual trading to others and to deal in credit instead of goods.”
Senra: NVIDIA's Massive Value Was Created 25 Years After Founding
“Think about in Jensen's case. He's been running a company for 33 years. It wasn't 10, in NVIDIA's case, it wasn't the value came 10 to 15 years into the company. They came 25 to 30 years into the future.”
The Honda Super Cub has sold over 100 million units
“The Honda Super Cub has been in constant and uninterrupted production for over 60 years. They have sold over a hundred million Super Cubs.”
Soichiro Honda once sprayed tax officials with a fire hose
“Honda made local headlines when he got into an argument with the tax office. Honda decided to have it out with tax officials. By getting a fire engine hose and dowsing officials as they came out of their building.”
Toyota rejected 47 of the first 50 piston rings Honda delivered
“So he winds up selling like 50 piston rings to Toyota and they send 47 of them back to him.”
Honda scavenged dropped US bomber fuel tanks for precious wartime metals
“The extra gasoline tanks from the US fighter planes dropped on these attacks, supplied him with needed precious and scarce metals. Honda called this dividend from the bombings Truman's gift.”
Early Honda faced bankruptcy because retailers defaulted on credit sales
“Honda was facing bankruptcy since many of the products it sold were just not being paid for. The shops he sold to on credit would never pay or they'd go out of business.”
Takeo Fujisawa built Honda's 5,000-dealer network using a direct mail campaign
“This set up a distribution network of 5000 dealers on the basis of the replies that Fujisawa received from this letter.”
Honda remained loyal for decades to a small bank that spared them
“And Honda in turn repays many decades later when Honda is a giant, giant company, when they're much more successful than they are now, they're still doing business with this small bank, even though they had better options available to them at that time.”
Soichiro Honda mandated that every Honda product must contain an engine
“Honda resisted suggestions that the company move into other fields. The company's products, he said, must have an engine.”
Honda rejected US joint ventures to maintain independence while competitors partnered
“Most of his competitors at the time are merging or doing joint ventures with larger American car manufacturers, so like Mitsubishi goes and partners with Chrysler, Isuzu partners with General Motors, and Honda did not”
Pulitzer acquired the St. Louis Dispatch at auction for $2,500
“So Pulitzer is able to get a newspaper for only 2500 dollars.”
Joseph Pulitzer calculated a 17-week cash runway for his bankrupt newspaper
“He figures out how much money he has left, how much the paper is losing every week, and he says if he can't turn it around, he's gonna run out of cash in 17 weeks.”
Joseph Pulitzer paid his newspaper cartoonist twice the salary of his reporters
“Pulitzer finds a very gifted cartoonist, hires him to make pictures for the newspaper, and pays him more than twice the salary that he paid his reporters.”
Paul Rand Charged Steve Jobs $100,000 For One NeXT Logo Option
“When Steve spoke to Paul for the first time, he asked if Paul could present him with a few options for Next logo. No, Paul said, I will solve your problem and you will pay me. Paul's price, a 100,000 dollars, whether or not Next ended up using the logo. It was…”
Ross Perot Invested $20 Million in NeXT For a 16% Stake
“Ross is going to put twenty million dollars into next for a 16% stake in the company. He becomes the company's largest outside shareholder. But as one prerequisite of the deal is that Steve has to have more skin in the game. So he asked Steve to put in another…”
NeXT Burned $1 Million Per Month Before Generating Revenue
“His company's burning through a million dollars a month.”
IBM agreed to $60 million licensing deal with NeXT
“IBM agreed to Thirty million dollars on signing the contract and another thirty million dollars on shipping and then royalties on every copy they ship. A total investment of sixty million, which is three times how much Ross Perot put in and a windfall that bro…”
NeXT Shipped Only 205 Computers By the End of 1988
“In November, the first cubes finally shipped by the end of the year. Next had shipped a measly 205 computers.”
Canon Invested $100 Million in NeXT For 16.67% Stake
“And so he convinces Canon to put a hundred million dollars into next in return for their a hundred million dollars. They get 16.67% stake in the company.”
Canon provided NeXT an emergency $40M investment to prevent bankruptcy
“Cannon agreed to give them another forty million dollars.”
NeXT Took Nine Years to Achieve First Profit of $1 Million
“That year, the company achieved its first profit of a million dollars on revenues of almost fifty million. After nine years of losses, Next was finally stepping into the black.”
Dell's WebObjects-powered online sales grew to $3M per day
“Within a year, Dell's web objects powered online sales exploded, growing to three million dollars a day and quickly becoming the core of the company's distribution strategy.”
Steve Jobs Opened Apple Acquisition Negotiation at $500 Million
“Steve opened, offering the company at 12 dollars a share, which would have made the total acquisition price five hundred million dollars.”
Apple's Acquisition Pricing Negotiation With Steve Jobs Took Five Minutes
“The whole pricing discussion took five minutes.”
Phil Knight worked part-time at Nike for its first seven years
“It takes like seven years for Blue Ribbon to be able to afford for Phil Knight to quit his job and start working at his own company full time.”
Bill Bowerman's book 'Jogging' sold millions of copies and expanded Nike's market
“So this book called Jogging winds up selling millions of copies, and as a result, which again, I don't think was intentional, drastically expands the market for their products”
Senra: The name Nike originated from Jeff Johnson's dream
“And of course, the name for Nike comes from Jeff Johnson. It says, Johnson phone first thing this morning. Apparently a new name came to him in a dream last night. What is the name? I asked Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.”
Nike posted $2 million in sales before splitting with supplier Onitsuka
“We posted two million dollars in sales last year, none of which had anything to do with Onitsuka.”
Phil Knight was worth $178 million the day Nike went public
“Nothing had changed, least of all me, and yet I was worth a hundred and seventy-eight million dollars.”
Schwarzenegger used bodybuilding principles as a blueprint for movies and business
“Arnold lays out what he learned to get to the top of this very unusual And frankly, widely ridiculed sport of bodybuilding back then and says, Hey, wait, the same principles I used to get to the top of this sport, I'm going to use to become a movie star and bu…”
Schwarzenegger tracked physical gains monthly via photographs and magnifying glass
“On a calendar, I kept even fractional changes in measurements and weight. I had a photographer take pictures at least once a month. I studied each shot with a magnifying glass.”
Schwarzenegger performed 55 sets of squats during three-hour forest workouts
“I remember the first day we carried 250 pounds out into the forest and we did squats
For three hours straight.
We ended up doing something like 55 sets of squats each.”
DeepMind created an AI system defeating top Go players in 2016
“In 2016, DeepMind solved a grand challenge in computer science, creating a system that surpassed the intuitive brilliance of the world's best players of the ancient board game Go.”
Demis Hassabis Worked 10 PM to 4 AM Night Shifts Alongside Normal Office Hours
“Like Ender, Demis has dedicated every fiber of his being to the accomplishment of a mission, which is why he worked night shifts from 10 in the evening until four in the morning, in addition to his normal office hours.”