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
The concept of universal love for mankind did not exist before Jesus
“Love of mankind as a whole did not exist in Jesus's day as a concept. The intellectual, social, and racial climate of Jesus's day was hostile to this message of loving mankind as a whole.”
Historical sources agree more on Jesus's death than Caesar's assassination
“Paul Johnson says something that's very interesting. He says, there's more agreement in the sources about the death of Jesus than there is about the assassination of Julius Caesar.”
PayPal Prioritized Execution Speed Above Everything Except Its Recruiting Standards
“Obviously they move fast, but they prioritize speed over everything else except in one area, recruiting. Max Ludgen kept the bar for talent exceedingly high, even if that came at the expense of speedy staffing.”
Elon Musk Personally Interviewed the First 3,000 Employees Hired at SpaceX
“He interviewed the first 3000 employees at SpaceX. That's how important it was.”
All 250+ Les Schwab managers were promoted from entry-level tire changers
“In our 34 years of business, we have never hired a manager from the outside, nor have we ever hired an assistant manager directly to do that job. Every single one of our more than 250 managers and assistant managers started at the bottom changing tires.”
Les Schwab retail store managers were paid more than corporate headquarters staff
“Our store managers make more than our office people.”
Elon Musk recruited an engineer by having Larry Page transfer his wife
“So I heard you don't want to move to LA, and one of the reasons is that your wife works for Google. Well, I just talked to Larry, and they're going to transfer your wife down to LA, so what are you going to do now? To solve this problem, Musk had called his fr…”
Paul Graham: Determination matters far more than intelligence for entrepreneur success
“He was asked one time, what plays a more important role in the success of entrepreneurs determination or intelligence. And he said, determination by far.”
Musk personally interviewed the first 3,000 employees hired at SpaceX
“He interviewed the first 3000 employees at SpaceX. That's how important it was. One of Musk's most valuable skills was his ability to determine whether someone would fit his mold. His people had to be brilliant. They had to be hardworking, and there could be n…”
CNN went 13 years without a 24-hour cable news competitor
“It would be 13 years before we faced another 24 hour news channel.”
Oracle hired university graduates who claimed to be the smartest they knew
“When they were recruiting from universities, they'd ask people, are you the smartest person you know? And if they said yes, they would hire them. If they said no, they would say who is, and they would go hire that guy instead.”
Elon Musk personally interviewed SpaceX's first 3,000 employees
“He personally met with every single person the company hired through the first 3000 employees.”
Russian buyers drove half of Gagosian's global sales from 2004 to 2008
“Incredibly, between 2004 and 2008, Russian buyers were responsible for almost half of Gagosian's business worldwide.”
Senra: Jobs called early Pixar his only all-'A-player' company
“There's a famous quote that I read in one of the biographies of Steve Jobs, where he said, the only time he ever saw an entire company of A players was in the early days of Pixar.”
Pixar's Braintrust holds no authority to mandate changes to directors
“The brain trust has no authority. The director does not have to follow any of the specific suggestions given. The brain trust notes are intended to bring the true causes of a problem to the surface, not to demand a specific remedy.”
Unlike Balenciaga Christian Dior Could Not Physically Make a Dress Himself
“Dior could not actually make a dress. He was a designer, as Coco Chanel said, not a courtier.”
James Cameron Turned Down a Seat on the Ill-Fated Columbia Shuttle
“The punchline is, the shuttle mission that I refused? It was the Columbia.”
The Earliest Version of Photoshop Fixed CGI Glitches on Terminator 2
“Photoshop is actually the first thing they use it for is to solve a technical problem that James Cameron is having on Terminator two.”
A Fox President Demanded James Cameron Surrender His Titanic Profit Points
“20th Century Fox president Bill mechanic told Cameron that the film would never see a dime a profit. He suggested that Cameron should not only surrender all his points, meaning his profits on Titanic, but give back half of his points on the next film he did wi…”
Senra: Toyota reverse-engineered Chevrolet engines to accept Chevy replacement parts
“The result was an engine so exact that it could accept Chevy replacement parts, a major advantage when the inevitable breakdown occurred.”
Ogilvy strictly banned hiring spouses and relatives to prevent office politics
“I have an inviolable rule against employing nepots and spouses because they breed politics. Whenever two of our people get married, one of them must depart.”
Ogilvy: Headlines of ten or more words consistently outsell short ones
“Researchers found that headlines of 10 words or longer consistently sold more merchandise than short headlines.”
Robert Moses used investigative dossiers to leak against opposing city officials
“This was a team of investigators who had compiled dossiers on other city officials, which Moses leaked to newspaper, newspapers, if an official opposed him.”
Earl Woods had two-year-old Tiger hitting golf balls two hours daily
“By the time Tiger was two years old, Earl made sure that he'd spent two hours a day hitting golf balls.”
Vanderbilt and Rockefeller praised Jay Gould as America's smartest businessman
“Vanderbilt told a newspaper that Gold was the smartest man in America. Rockefeller, when asked who he thought had the best head for business, answered Jay Gold.”
Warren Buffett Bypassed Standard Due Diligence When Acquiring Helzberg Diamonds
“When Warren Buffett bought Hellsberg diamonds, he felt so positive about the deal that he cut out the usual due diligence to speed negotiations.”
Senra: Only one of 1,900+ YC startups was killed by competitors
“YC has founded 1900 plus companies at the time. This is several years ago. One was killed by competitors.”
Alfred Loomis considered Vannevar Bush the second most indispensable American in WWII
“Alfred Lee Loomis is on record saying, hey, out of every single American that if they died, their death would cause the greatest setback to the American war effort in World War II. Number one is FDR, and he says Van Busch would be second or third.”
Sam Zell Earned a 3% Real Return Instantly Through Debt-Inflation Arbitrage
“I essentially took on four billion dollars of non-recourse debt at an average interest rate of six percent in an environment with inflation of nine percent or higher. That means I was already making three percent returns the second the deal closed without doin…”
Senra: Teledyne delivered 20.4% annual compound returns under Singleton
“Singleton, in contrast, ran Teledyne for almost 30 years, and the annual compound return to his investors was an extraordinary 20.4%.”
Henry Singleton Repurchased 90% of Teledyne's Shares via Eight Tenders
“1972 and 1984 and eight separate tender offers. He bought back an astonishing 90% of Teledyne's outstanding shares.”
Singleton's Stock Repurchases Generated a 42% CAGR for Teledyne Shareholders
“Singleton bought his own stock extremely well and generated an incredible 42% compound annual return for Teledyne's shareholders across the tenders.”
Senra: Henry Singleton rejected detailed strategic plans for flexibility
“Singleton did not believe in detailed strategic plans, preferring instead to retain flexibility and keep his options open.”
Singleton never exercised control despite holding controlling stakes in six companies
“We actually held enough shares in six of these corporations to effectively have control over them, but Henry never exercised that capability.”
Henry Singleton was an early investor in Apple Computer
“Not the one Henry helped to finance. He invested in Apple.”
Senra: David Ogilvy built his advertising agency on Claude Hopkins' work
“And David Overby said, essentially, like, he built the foundation for his giant advertising agency that he founded, just on the work alone of Claude Hopkins.”
Senra: Albert Lasker made the most money in advertising history
“Albert Lasker is the person that made the most money in advertising ever.”
Senra: Albert Lasker locked Hopkins' manuscript in a safe for 20 years
“Albert Lasker read the book, told Claude Hopkins, absolutely not. You are not publishing this book. This is giving away all of our secrets. You have to wait until I'm done making all this money. Albert Lasker put the book into a safe for 20 years.”
Warren Buffett made more on Ogilvy's agency than David Ogilvy did
“In fact, interesting enough, Buffett made more money on Ogilvy's company than Ogilvy did because Ogilvy got scared and sold his equity too early before it appreciated.”
Hopkins: Changing an ad's headline commonly multiplies returns five to ten times
“The identical ad run with various headlines differs tremendously in its returns. It's not uncommon for a change in headlines to multiply returns from five to 10 times over.”
John von Neumann was guarded by military personnel on his deathbed
“One of Shannon's fellow NSA scientific advisors, John Van Neumann, was watched around the clock by uniformed military personnel when he was on his deathbed.”
Claude Shannon averaged a 28% annual stock return over 30 years
“Over 30 years. From the late 19 fifties through 1986. Shannon's returns on his stock portfolio was 28% a year.”
Senra: Claude Shannon and Ed Thorp built the first wearable computer
“Ed Thorpe and Claude Shannon wind up building the world's first wearable computer.”
The Rothschild Banking Dynasty Never Allowed Outsiders to Inspect Archives
“The Rothschilds never let any outsider go through their archives.”
Zuckerberg Rejected Yahoo's $1 Billion Facebook Buyout in 10 Minutes
“When Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for a billion dollars in July, 2006, I thought we should at least consider it. But Mark Zuckerberg walked into the board meeting and announced, okay, guys, this is just a formality. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. We'…”
Honda was the only Japanese manufacturer to reject government import protections
“At this time, there's a lot of other people in Japan trying to petition the government to essentially stop importing foreign goods and essentially protect their goods. And Honda is the only one of these manufacturers that doesn't vote for this.”
Honda spent ten times the value of its assets on machine tools
“They spent something like 10 X on tools than the entire assets of the company.”
Honda's intense engineering focus repeatedly tanked sales before creating massive booms
“When Honda would concentrate on a goal, he would pay so much attention to it, and the company would concentrate on it so much that sales would fall off. Observers on the outside world would say that Honda was on the road to bankruptcy. When Honda then succeede…”