casualty

[John Larkin]

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

 

[Flyguy]

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 12:01:12 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

The business of a friend of mine has out-grown its current space, so I sent him information on steel buildings that are now dirt-cheap. His reaction? He is waiting for other local businesses to fail so he can get an existing building at a fire sale.

 

On Thu, 9 Apr 2020 18:05:40 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
<soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 12:01:12 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

The business of a friend of mine has out-grown its current space, so I sent him information on steel buildings that are now dirt-cheap. His reaction? He is waiting for other local businesses to fail so he can get an existing building at a fire sale.

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.
Envision crazy equipment auctions.

This shutdown is insane in so many ways.

What does your friend do?



--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

 

[whit3rd]

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33:13 PM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.

Why so? Any business without reserves will need credit, but this isn't
a management issue that benefits from dissolving, it's an accident not covered
by insurance.
Banks will loan to such businesses. What else will they make a better profit on?

> Envision crazy equipment auctions.

Shuffling production equipment through auction houses WOULD be crazy. Get it back
to work pronto!

 

[Tom Gardner]

On 10/04/20 04:36, whit3rd wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33:13 PM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.

Why so? Any business without reserves will need credit, but this isn't
a management issue that benefits from dissolving, it's an accident not covered
by insurance.

Over here a government loans to business scheme was one
of the first things launched.

I has not been as popular as expected: many small
businesses say there is no way they could payback
the money later on.

That's the attitude that my daughter has taken,
and I think it is right in her case.

She is one of the people that slips through /all/
the government support schemes: she's got slightly
too much savings for one, doesn't rent premises
for another, hasn't been self-employed for long
enough for another, and so on.

She is seriously pissed off, despite there being
sufficient savings to keep her from being thrown
on the street.

Personally I'm not happy that the government may
well write cheques for large companies that are
owned by foreign wealth funds. She and I will
spend the rest of our lives paying for those
cheques.


>> Envision crazy equipment auctions.

You are not the only person thinking that.

I've already picked up a perfect modulation
domain analyser for half the normal price
(even including shipping and import duties).

 

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 3:01:12 PM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

A bunch of parasites who don't understand contract law very well.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

 

[John Larkin]

On Thu, 9 Apr 2020 20:36:27 -0700 (PDT), whit3rd <whit3rd@gmail.com>
wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33:13 PM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.

Why so? Any business without reserves will need credit, but this isn't
a management issue that benefits from dissolving, it's an accident not covered
by insurance.
Banks will loan to such businesses. What else will they make a better profit on?

Envision crazy equipment auctions.

Shuffling production equipment through auction houses WOULD be crazy. Get it back
to work pronto!

A famous person said

"The problem with borrowing money is that you have to pay it back."

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

 

On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 20:08:55 -0700, jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com
wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:50:07 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33:13 PM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
On Thu, 9 Apr 2020 18:05:40 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 12:01:12 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

The business of a friend of mine has out-grown its current space, so I sent him information on steel buildings that are now dirt-cheap. His reaction? He is waiting for other local businesses to fail so he can get an existing building at a fire sale.

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.
Envision crazy equipment auctions.

This shutdown is insane in so many ways.

What does your friend do?



--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

He makes instrumentation specialized for mass sprectrometry research.

https://gaacustom.com/

Cool.

We developed a controller for FTMS, fourier transform mass
spectroscopy. The company we did it for was acquired by Varian, who we
also did a lot of NMR gear for. Agilent acquired Varian for their
medical products and shut down both NMR and FTMS, basically the things
that needed a giant magnet.

Looks like you friend has done some FTMS. Tell him to contact us
maybe.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5y21u1wjh4sg66d/IMG_0304.JPG?raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qbz15w5gogk9b2h/IMG_9676.JPG?raw=1

There might be a market for upgrading systems. We figured that IonSpec
was throwing away at least 30 dB of s/n. *Never* allow chemists to
design electronics.




--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

 

On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:50:07 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
<soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33:13 PM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
On Thu, 9 Apr 2020 18:05:40 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 12:01:12 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

The business of a friend of mine has out-grown its current space, so I sent him information on steel buildings that are now dirt-cheap. His reaction? He is waiting for other local businesses to fail so he can get an existing building at a fire sale.

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.
Envision crazy equipment auctions.

This shutdown is insane in so many ways.

What does your friend do?



--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

He makes instrumentation specialized for mass sprectrometry research.

https://gaacustom.com/

Cool.

We developed a controller for FTMS, fourier transform mass
spectroscopy. The company we did it for was acquired by Varian, who we
also did a lot of NMR gear for. Agilent acquired Varian for their
medical products and shut down both NMR and FTMS, basically the things
that needed a giant magnet.




--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

 

[Bill Sloman]

On Sunday, April 12, 2020 at 1:16:37 PM UTC+10, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 20:08:55 -0700, jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com
wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2020 19:50:07 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33:13 PM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
On Thu, 9 Apr 2020 18:05:40 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 12:01:12 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

The business of a friend of mine has out-grown its current space, so I sent him information on steel buildings that are now dirt-cheap. His reaction? He is waiting for other local businesses to fail so he can get an existing building at a fire sale.

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.
Envision crazy equipment auctions.

This shutdown is insane in so many ways.

What does your friend do?



--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

He makes instrumentation specialized for mass sprectrometry research.

https://gaacustom.com/

Cool.

We developed a controller for FTMS, fourier transform mass
spectroscopy. The company we did it for was acquired by Varian, who we
also did a lot of NMR gear for. Agilent acquired Varian for their
medical products and shut down both NMR and FTMS, basically the things
that needed a giant magnet.


Looks like you friend has done some FTMS. Tell him to contact us
maybe.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5y21u1wjh4sg66d/IMG_0304.JPG?raw=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qbz15w5gogk9b2h/IMG_9676.JPG?raw=1

There might be a market for upgrading systems. We figured that IonSpec
was throwing away at least 30 dB of s/n. *Never* allow chemists to
design electronics.

Nor physicists either. Some do get quite good at it, but John Larkin wouldn't know about that.

I've got a couple of comments published in Rev. Sci, Instrum. to the effect that certain physicists haven't done a particularly good job on developing their own electronics for their particular application.

The most recent one was particularly hilarious.

Sloman A. W. “Comment on ‘A versatile thermoelectric temperature controller with 10 mK reproducibility and 100 mK absolute accuracy’ [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 80, 126107 (2009)] “, Review of Scientific Instruments 82, 27101 - 027101-2 (2011).

This doesn't blind me to the fact that other physcists - Phil Hobbs does come to mind - can do better.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney

 

[Flyguy]

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33:13 PM UTC-7, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

On Thu, 9 Apr 2020 18:05:40 -0700 (PDT), Flyguy
soar2morrow@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 12:01:12 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc
picosecond timing precision measurement

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

The business of a friend of mine has out-grown its current space, so I sent him information on steel buildings that are now dirt-cheap. His reaction? He is waiting for other local businesses to fail so he can get an existing building at a fire sale.

Yes. It's a good time to have some cash. Even better, sign up for the
government emergency thing and get some more.

A lot of businesses, ones without reserves, are going to fail.
Envision crazy equipment auctions.

This shutdown is insane in so many ways.

What does your friend do?



--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

He makes instrumentation specialized for mass sprectrometry research.

https://gaacustom.com/

 

[Tom Gardner]

On 12/04/20 04:16, jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
> *Never* allow chemists to design electronics.

One of the best electronic engineers I knew was a biochemist.
He lived in Cambridge, and had a recognisable surname: Bragg.

But I don't disagree, and would extend it to not allowing
electronic engineers to make decisions about biology or
medicine.

 

On Thu, 09 Apr 2020 12:00:56 -0700, John Larkin
<jlarkin@highland_atwork_technology.com> wrote:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

https://wolfstreet.com/2020/04/13/softbanks-construct-of-fake-valuations-comes-unglued/

So here's a theory: there are a thousand startups, and a small bunch
of people invest in each one. A few of those startups make it big-time
and go public and the early investors get very rich. So those
investors decide that they are geniuses (not merely lucky) and
convence a lot of other people that they are geniuses. So they raise a
lot more money and invest even bigger.

They don't do things that actually make money; they just want the VC
"upside", to pump up the paper value of the investments while losing
billions.

But maybe they were just lucky. Maybe they don't have any special
skill at picking or especially at creating the next winners.

This phenomenon rises on top of the mostly cyclic tech curve.

Maybe actually being productive, making things and making money, takes
more time and attention span than is available.

A VC told me once "If all you want to do is build a company and make a
few million a year, we're not interested."


Maybe just now, a minor inflection point in history, is a good time to
think about things like this.





--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

Science teaches us to doubt.

Claude Bernard

 

[Bill Sloman]

On Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 2:38:14 PM UTC+10, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

On Thu, 09 Apr 2020 12:00:56 -0700, John Larkin
jlarkin@highland_atwork_technology.com> wrote:

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wework-has-stopped-paying-rent-multiple-locations

Long-term leases and short-term customers.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/08/tech/wework-softbank-lawsuit/index.html

This virus thing can't be good for Softbank. They own ARM. RiscV won't
help.

There's a pretty expensive hole in the ground here in SF, right near
the Salesforce tower. I think Softbank owned that.

https://wolfstreet.com/2020/04/13/softbanks-construct-of-fake-valuations-comes-unglued/

So here's a theory: there are a thousand startups, and a small bunch
of people invest in each one. A few of those startups make it big-time
and go public and the early investors get very rich. So those
investors decide that they are geniuses (not merely lucky) and
convence a lot of other people that they are geniuses. So they raise a
lot more money and invest even bigger.

They don't do things that actually make money; they just want the VC
"upside", to pump up the paper value of the investments while losing
billions.

But maybe they were just lucky. Maybe they don't have any special
skill at picking or especially at creating the next winners.

This phenomenon rises on top of the mostly cyclic tech curve.

Maybe actually being productive, making things and making money, takes
more time and attention span than is available.

A VC told me once "If all you want to do is build a company and make a
few million a year, we're not interested."

Maybe just now, a minor inflection point in history, is a good time to
think about things like this.

But John Larkin would be one of the people least well-equipped to think about it.

Tom Gardener seems to have been a lot deeper into the Cambridge venture capital and start-up scene than I was. I knew one or two people in it, but had managed to offend them earlier in their careers by pointing out that what they had been claiming at the time hadn't been entirely accurate.

--
Bill Sloman, Sydney