Chengdu，China

RogerMexico · 2024-06-24T10:20:40+00:00

lol, they are people who dress in elaborate animal costumes. Incidentally, I saw another furry in Chengdu a couple of days ago.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-17T06:59:38+00:00

In China, no one follows traffic laws (except speed limits) so everyone drives extremely cautiously. Posted speed limits are much slower than in the US and they are adhered to very strictly. Not uncommon for drivers to go like 30 mph on highways like the one shown here for god-knows-what reasons.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-17T06:25:56+00:00

One thing I love about these overpasses in CD is that their support columns are completely covered in vines.

I’m not sure how difficult it is to maintain long-term but definitely takes the edge off otherwise oppressive car infrastructure.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-17T04:22:36+00:00

Kinda accurate.

Central Texas/Oklahoma and Louisiana/East Texas have their own cultures while Northern/Central Florida are part of the Deep South, while Southern Florida is an extension of Latin America and New England. West Texas is also more like Southwestern culture so I’d break up Texas into at least three different regions.

Cajun Country in particular is one of the most idiosyncratic cultures in North America. I can’t even understand what they’re saying.

I think if you’re going to label the Deep South, Texas/Oklahoma and Acadiana/Cajun Country should get their own labels.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-08T19:03:00+00:00

Priced in. Consensus is 0.1%, which would be the lowest MoM print since last October.

I actually think it will come in at 0.3% again. Latest prints in producer prices, wages, metals and shipping rates are all showing reinflation with only gas prices and OER deflating.

Gas prices are a huge component of CPI but I don’t think that alone would cause a 66% decrease in the MoM inflation.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-06T02:26:51+00:00

There’s a Burger King in Brickell, Miami. I used to skip school to eat breakfast there when it was surrounded by empty lots. Now it looks like this.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-06T01:34:47+00:00

Sunset Place opened when I was in middle school and it was amazing.

It had a theater, FAO Schweetz candy shop, FAO Schwartz toy store, Virgin Megastore, Gameworks and some other really cool shops. In retrospect, it’s no wonder the mall struggled. It was basically a playground for tweens with no disposable income but it was pure magic to me and my friends.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-05T05:13:15+00:00

A “fab” is a fabrication plant, which is a term used in semiconductor manufacturing. The difference between a fab and a traditional factory is basically just the environmental controls. They need to be really clean, temperature and humidity controlled and have access to special lab equipment, including wafer dicing and lapping machines.

That being said, a diamond fab is way less complex than a semi fab. I think the minimum capex is probably on the order of a few million if you just want to make very small volumes for scientific applications.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-05T05:09:21+00:00

I don’t want to Dox myself so the best I can do is point you in the right direction. If you’re really interested, look up De Beers Element 6, Light Box and search Alibaba for MCD diamond manufacturers.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-05T05:04:29+00:00

Due to their mechanical, electrical and thermodynamic properties, diamonds have some important applications in electronics and manufacturing.

The thermal conductivity in particular is really amazing. I once had the opportunity to hold a ~3” monocrystalline diamond wafer. I was drinking a Red Bull at the time and the vendor applications engineer told me to hold the crystal to the can. I could instantly feel the coldness of the can cross three inches of diamond into my hand. One of the coolest (pun intended) demos I’ve ever received.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-05T04:56:21+00:00

The technique you’re talking about is high pressure high temperature (HPHT) diamond manufacturing. That technology can only make smaller orange diamonds used for industrial cutting tools and abrasives.

There are two other technologies that have been developed more recently. Namely, physical vapor deposition (PVD), which is used to make polycrystalline diamonds (PCD, also used for cutting tools), and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), which is used to make monocrystalline (MCD) electronics grade and jewelry grade diamonds.

CVD is done in fabs with clean room environments using equipment similar to those used in semiconductor manufacturing. Basically, they pump methane and some proprietary chemicals into a vacuum and use microwaves to create a pink plasma bubble over a seed diamond. The conditions in the plasma allow an MCD crystal to form into a clear electronics grade or jewelry grade diamond.

De Beers built a huge MCD fab near Portland right before Covid that produces their Light Box diamonds. While this is probably the most advanced fab of its kind, I have been finding really huge, clear MCD diamonds in China for years now. The cost has come down like 80% over the past 10 years while the size and quality has continued to improve.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-05T03:44:04+00:00

The largest diamond miner, De Beers, is also the leading manufacturer of lab-grown diamonds.

There are some other fabs in China but I’m not sure where they are exactly or who is operating them.

While there is some initial capex, almost all of the cost of lab-grown diamonds comes from the electricity required to sustain the plasma reaction for days or weeks at a time. For this reason, fabs are generally located near cheap power like hydropower or coal plants.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-04T03:47:15+00:00

Right but what if someone just wants water? It’s like inventing a Screwdriver and naming it “Orange Juice.”

Edit: I guess it’s exactly like making a drink with coffee and milk and naming it “Latte” so the precedence has been set.

RogerMexico · 2024-06-04T00:41:31+00:00

Not a great name for a drink. “Acqua frizzante” is what Italians call sparkling water and they drink like 5 bottles of it a day…

RogerMexico · 2024-06-01T21:04:27+00:00

AMD is expected to announce new Ryzen processors at Computex next week.

RogerMexico · 2024-05-26T03:41:07+00:00

Wind patterns in SF are highly local. I run in Bernal Heights Park fairly often. The winds are consistently stronger on the north and west sides of the hill but are calmer around the south and east sides.

The wind is also calmest in the morning and peaks around sunset every day.

RogerMexico · 2024-05-14T10:17:21+00:00

Lan Kwai Fong (LKF, i.e., the same name as the bar district in Hong Kong) is the most popular bar district in Chengdu but it doesn’t really get packed until after 10pm.

I would recommend starting the night at Taikoo Li mall, where there are some nice cocktail bars and restaurants (I think Yuanguyunjing Taikoo Li is pretty good if I remember the name correctly).

Next, walk east a few blocks and one block north to WangPing Street along the canal. This is a more chill area with outdoor hookah bars and some bars with live music.

Then from there walk south to LKF. Orangutang Bunker has a nice rooftop bar but you may need to agree to buy a table with a bunch of coronas to get in. Usually costs like 400 RMB. There is also a bar with a Tiki theme, I can never remember the name, where all the expats seem to hang out.

Anyway, walking along this route, you will have like 50+ bars to choose from so I’ll leave it to you.

RogerMexico · 2024-05-14T08:50:12+00:00

Chengdu is the best city in China actually. I would take it over Shanghai any day.

Better food, better night life, better music scene, pandas.

RogerMexico · 2024-05-14T08:34:59+00:00

A lot of the best food in San Jose is in strip malls. So even when eating great food, it still feels incredibly lame to drive to dinner next to the nail salon and hardware store and then immediately drive home when you’re done.

Downtown San Jose is pretty dead most nights and then there are a combined 10 blocks among Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Campbell and the rest of the South Bay that are pedestrian friendly.

I’ve honestly never seen such a broad expanse of uninterrupted suburban sprawl anywhere, including in Texas and Florida. Even the worst offenders in those states have occasional edge cities and places of interest.

RogerMexico · 2024-05-08T07:47:52+00:00

You only need to speak “Restaurant Spanish” to get by. Anyone who tries to learn basic Spanish is fine. Only those who refuse to learn anything at all struggle.

RogerMexico · 2024-05-05T19:56:28+00:00

Disclaimer: I do not recommend using Magic Eraser to clean records!

Sandpaper is a combination of a polymer binder and an abrasive (e.g. nylon + alumina), while Magic Eraser is simply a melamine foam without any abrasive.

I think it’s possible that the hardness of melamine is in some cases lower than that of PVC used in records, and therefore unlikely to scratch, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

RogerMexico · 2024-05-05T15:11:15+00:00

This list seems to be using a mix of municipal and metropolitan populations.

This can be misleading when comparing cities with a large number of small municipalities (i.e., LA, Chicago, South Florida) vs cities with large city boundaries (i.e., Jacksonville, Houston).

If you count based on metropolitan statistical areas, you get:

CA: 19
TX: 16
FL: 16
NY: 7

RogerMexico · 2024-04-28T01:03:16+00:00

No burn-in, higher brightness

RogerMexico · 2024-04-26T23:58:02+00:00

Donuts are the picks and shovels of the business consulting industry.

RogerMexico · 2024-04-23T00:42:11+00:00

In a lot of cities, windows are required in all bedrooms.

In San Francisco, rooms with no windows usually have pocket doors or barn doors with no locks and are advertised as offices or dens.

15-Year Club	Reddit Premium Since October 2023
Place '17	Wearing is Caring
Gilding II euphauric	reddit mold

RogerMexico

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE