Library Day -- Part 1 -- September 10, 2023

Locator: 45597BOOKS.

Library day.

A reminder: dinosaurs did not swim, they did not fly. They only roamed terra firma.

Ancient Sea Reptiles: Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs, and More, Darren Naish, c. 2022.

A Smithsonian Book. The author: a paleontologist. British. 

Years: 252 - 66 million years ago.

Mesozoic: Age of Reptiles.

Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.

The Mesozoic marine reptiles occupied the roles filled today by seals, dolphins, and whales.

There were five main Mesozoic marine reptile groups:

• shark-shaped ichthyosaurs;
• the (mostly) long-necked plesiosaurs;
• the crocodile-like thalattosuchians or sea crocs;
• the giant swimming lizards known as mosasaurs;
• the sea turtles;

They were not dinosaurs and they were not closely related to them.

************************
Macro-Genealogy

Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas: Jennifer Raff, c. 2022.

I did not care for the "land acknowledgment statement" but I'll let that pass.

Interestingly, for archaeologists, "1950" is now the year that has been fixed as the "present." It appears BC / AD and BCE and CE are now passé, and "1950" is the new "present." 

Basic errors in the index suggest the author, editor, indexer, or spell-checker had trouble "with" Roman numerals. An editor once said the quality of a book can be determined by the quality of the index; I've always believed that and when I find an error with my first-time using the index makes a huge (negative) impression.

Probably the best general-interest book I've seen to date, though I bet there are many, many others.

Raff is way too "woke." Her apologies and her "wokeness" interfere with the flow of the writing.

A better editor, or a writer willing to listen to an editor, could have done it much differently, and much better.

The author appears to apologize for being white, and wondering if her ancestors had any appreciation for Native Americans. Even after 272 pages of writing, and in the epilogue, Raff wonders if genetic research on human remains is ethical, and writing, "[w]e must consciously ask ourselves, Am I treating DNA as sacred."

One wonders if she is pro-life, and if she isn't how she reconciles ...

*************************
Investing

Forbes, display until October 15, 2023

Wiz: cloud security; one of the fastest-growing software startups ever. 

$200 million in sales and a $10 billion valuation in just three years.

Interestingly enough, same article was posted online, August 8, 2003.

Nexus: Sam Altman, OpenAI.

While folks are worried about Apple's new iPhone, Tim Cook is looking at Wiz. And so is "everyone" else.

Forbes Annual Top 100 PRIVATE Cloud Computing Companies

For those analysts and mainstream writers who suggest AI and OpenAI and NVDA are hyped, and a bubble, here are 100 private cloud computing companies. 

Valuation:

• #1: $28 billion
• #2: $38 billion
• #3: $50 billion
• #4: $40 billion
• #5: 7.5 billion
  

Greatest valuation: $50 billion.

All valued in multiple-billion dollars, except for a few at single-digit billions. None are valued less than one billion dollars.

Least valuation: $1 billion.