# Larry Salibra
> Larry Salibra's personal website and blog.
Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. Use `/llms-full.txt` for consolidated page and post context.
Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`).

## Pages
- [About Sailing Sula](https://larrysalibra.com/about-sailingsula-com.md) - Hello! I'm Larry. Sailing Sula is a private community where I share my sailing journey and adventures sailing my boat Sula around Hong Kong and (hopefully) beyond. Getting Access If the site looks a bit sparse, that's because most posts are limited to an audience of sailing friends and family. If y…
- [About Larry](https://larrysalibra.com/about.md) - About me Larry Salibra is a technology entrepreneur who lives is Hong Kong. He's the founder of New Internet Labs where he's building a new internet of apps that can't be evil based on the Stacks technology developed while he was an early Engineering Partner at Hiro PBC (formerly Blockstack PBC). P…
- [AI Usage](https://larrysalibra.com/ai.md) - How I use generative AI.
- [Contact Larry](https://larrysalibra.com/contact.md) - Email me: hello@larrysalibra.com. Tweet at me: @larrysalibra.
- [Greatest Hits](https://larrysalibra.com/hits.md) - A selection of my most popular posts and some personal favorites.
- [What I'm doing now](https://larrysalibra.com/now.md) - What's currently going on in my life.
- [Projects](https://larrysalibra.com/projects.md) - Projects New Internet LabsBuilding a new browser for the new internet. Creator of the Can’t Be Evil sandbox.Larry SalibraLarry Salibra#WearAFuckingMaskA campaign that reached millions to get people to wear mask and reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2.Larry SalibraLarry SalibraBlockstackAn ecosystem bui…
- [Sailing Sula Archive](https://larrysalibra.com/sailingsula.md) - An archive of my sailing blog sailingsula.com.

## Posts
- [Unethical hotels and their ratings scams](https://larrysalibra.com/unethical-hotels-and-their-ratings-scams.md) - When I checked in at a hotel in China last night, the employee behind the desk excitedly told me that her hotel was now running a special free breakfast promotion. All I needed to do was to give the hotel a 5 star review on whatever platform I used to book the room. Since I rarely eat hotel breakfa…
- [The diaspora should be supportive](https://larrysalibra.com/the-diaspora-should-be-supportive.md) - I had breakfast with an old friend from Twitter that I met in person for the first time today. (Btw...if you're not meeting cool people on Twitter and hanging out with them in real life, you're doing using it wrong!) He is American and, naturally, our conversation turned towards the challenges face…
- [In Hong Kong, speed is caring](https://larrysalibra.com/in-hong-kong-speed-is-caring.md) - I was eating dinner at a fast-casual restaurant in Hong Kong last night when I was pleasantly reminded of the energy, hustle and efficiency that I love about this city. The restaurant was the kind where you sit down and order from a printed menu and are given a receipt that you take to the cashier…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - October 18, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-october-18-2026.md) - Hello friends! Time sure flies when you have a young baby. Yesterday was day 100 of my daily writing streak. This evening, I was (trying) to teach baby to brush his two teeth with a tiny baby toothbrush for the first time. I hope you enjoy my posts from the past week. Yours, Larry Encourage users t…
- [Encourage users to look under the hood](https://larrysalibra.com/encourage-users-to-look-under-the-hood.md) - Yesterday, at the DHH-meetup in Shenzhen, the MC asked DHH what people like himself "who are not developers" should learn about their vibe coded Omarchy extensions when they don't work. DHH responded that they shouldn't need to know how it works. I understand where DHH is coming from. When create p…
- [AI conference slop](https://larrysalibra.com/ai-conference-slop.md) - I attended the GOSIM Shenzhen 2026 open source conference in Shenzhen today. The headline event for me was DHH's Omarchy talk and the post-conference Omarchy meetup. They didn't disappoint. DHH can be a polarizing figure, but whatever side of his opinions you fall on, one thing that you have to agr…
- [The world runs on trust](https://larrysalibra.com/the-world-runs-on-trust.md) - When I joined my sailing club in Hong Kong, my seconder, when signing my application in support of my membership, said to me "clubs run on trust." He was talking about the fact that good clubs work and continue to exist because there is an element of trust among the members. There is trust that eve…
- [Will AI mean less variance in the world?](https://larrysalibra.com/will-ai-mean-less-variance-in-the-world.md) - When asked to pick a random number, humans tend to pick the number 7 more than the other numbers. Because LLMs are trained on human output, they take this bias and turn it into what almost amounts to a rule. Go ask your favorite LLM to pick a random number between 1 and 10 and it will probably pick…
- [It's time for Hong Kong bus companies to ditch diesel](https://larrysalibra.com/its-time-for-hong-kong-bus-companies-to-ditch-diesel.md) - The SCMP writes: Four Hong Kong franchised bus operators have applied to raise fares by up to 17.7 per cent, citing “significant financial pressure” from soaring fuel prices driven by the Middle East conflict. The bureau said the sharp rise in diesel pump prices triggered by the Middle East conflic…
- [How to pick a good landlord](https://larrysalibra.com/how-to-pick-a-good-landlord.md) - I've had at least a dozen landlords over the course of my adult life and I've had a good, or at least amicable, working relationship with all of them. This is because when I'm shopping for a flat, office or house to rent I also am shopping for a good landlord. If the landlord is not good, I won't r…
- [Western food in China is better than in the West](https://larrysalibra.com/western-food-in-china-is-better-than-in-the-west.md) - Two and a half decades ago when I first visited China and the Chinese mainland, the Western-food situation was bleak. Besides a few famous Western-owned global food chains and international hotels, white (or black or brown)-person food was not wildly available, and when it was, usually not good. An…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - October 11, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-october-11-2026.md) - Hello friends! I hope you have enjoyed the past week. We had took a short 3 day vacation to Macau with our son. His first "official" vacation went smoothly and was enjoyed by all. Below, please find my posts from the past week. Yours, Larry Adverse selection & crypto foundersThere’s very much an ad…
- [Adverse selection & crypto founders](https://larrysalibra.com/adverse-selection-crypto-founders.md) - There's very much an adverse selection problem in the crypto industry. The people that you'd actually want to start a wallet company, a security company or a crypto exchange are very often the least interested in doing it. Take, for example, bitcoin exchanges. There were two major challenges on top…
- [Newborn, mommy and peace](https://larrysalibra.com/newborn-mommy-and-peace.md) - I originally tweeted this a few months ago in the middle of the night and then deleted it, mainly because I sometimes worry about oversharing: There is nothing more peaceful than a house with a newborn baby and first-time mother both sleeping soundly The context: it was the day after we'd come back…
- [Dear US AI labs, we don't care](https://larrysalibra.com/dear-us-ai-labs-we-dont-care.md) - It's great that there's so much competition and progress in the generative AI space the past few years, but I can't be alone when I say that I'm getting really sick of the drama coming from US frontier AI labs. It's annoying how they pump out a constant stream of OMG-the-sky-is-falling stories that…
- [Crossing the street in one country, two systems](https://larrysalibra.com/crossing-the-street-in-one-country-two-systems.md) - In case you haven't been following along, I'm in Macau for a few days. Macau was handed back to China 27 years ago in 1999...two years after China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. One would think that over three decades that behavior would have converged among the three places given the…
- [Day 90 and baby's first vacation](https://larrysalibra.com/day-90-and-babys-first-vacation.md) - I'm writing this in a dark hotel room with a sleeping baby. We decided to take a first vacation with our baby across the bridge to Macau as a practice run for future travel. We took advantage of the Macau park and ride scheme for Hong Kong cars that allows you to drive your Hong Kong-registered car…
- [Chinese involution is perfect competition](https://larrysalibra.com/chinese-involution-is-perfect-competition.md) - "Enshittification" is a sort of "safe horny" term for what is really just outright impoverishment and declining living standards due to economic insolvency from deindustrialization, demographic decline, hyperinflation, etc. You are just de-developing and becoming poor. -Marko Jukic on X "Enshittifi…
- [Hong Kong's perfect real estate market](https://larrysalibra.com/hong-kongs-perfect-real-estate-market.md) - Hong Kong is perhaps most infamous for its high-priced and cramped real estate. And its infamy is well-deserved. Prices are high, quality is low, and, despite that things move very fast. A side effect of Hong Kong's high real estate prices are the efficiency with which the market prices things. Mil…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - October 4, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-october-4-2026.md) - Dear friends, I became a year older this past week and my son a month older. It's been about a month since he started sleeping through the night and that's made a world of difference in our quality of life. The first three months were challenging for us...mostly in terms of managing feeding while g…
- [Home is where your friends are](https://larrysalibra.com/home-is-where-your-friends-are.md) - People often ask me why I stay in Hong Kong. There are many reasons of course...some of which are the headline reasons that everyone likes Hong Kong: the low, simple tax system, the safety, the convenience, the nature, the opportunities, the food, etc. Over my two decades, I've built up a large num…
- [Camaraderie is the secret to success: a swimming lesson for life](https://larrysalibra.com/camaraderie-is-the-secret-to-success-a-swimming-lesson-for-life.md) - I was chatting with a high school swim team friend this evening about swimming and reminiscing about our experience swimming competitively as children. Before high school, in late elementary school, actually, I started swimming competitively on a private club team. Our club was one of the top, if n…
- [Only suckers pay the menu price](https://larrysalibra.com/only-suckers-pay-the-menu-price.md) - Rewards and discounts are everywhere. Credit rewards are well-known in the West and especially the USA where 3-5% cash back on certain spending is not unheard of. Here in Hong Kong where credit cards are less generous, 1.5% cash back is generally the highest unlimited option. If you're paying cash,…
- [Happy 77th birthday China!](https://larrysalibra.com/happy-77th-birthday-china.md) - Today is the 77th birthday of the People's Republic of China. I've been celebrating the birthday of my adopted home for almost 2 decades. It's been absolutely mindblowing to watch the progress of the nation over that time period. Every year is bigger and better than the previous. This is our first…
- [The occupation of Iraq is over. How long will it last?](https://larrysalibra.com/the-occupation-of-iraq-is-over-how-long-will-it-last.md) - I couldn't help but notice that US troops finally left Iraq 23 years after they invaded it (and that was the second time in my lifetime!). While it is good that they are finally leaving, when occupying powers meddle in a foreign country and then leave, this often results in a power vacuum which oth…
- [Children and phones](https://larrysalibra.com/children-and-phones.md) - In an editorial advocating for government action on children's use of social media (which I think is not needed), SCMP writes: Over half of children aged six to 10 own smartphones, according to parent-led group Look Up Hong Kong. I'm very early in my journey as a parent but this seem crazy. Among m…
- [Raising rates causes inflation](https://larrysalibra.com/raising-rates-causes-inflation.md) - In a recent interview, macro analyst Luke Gromen brought up his "most heretical" view which is that in current US financial environment raising interest rates is inflationary just like cutting interest rates traditional is thought of as inflationary. This is because of the size of the US debt ($40…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - September 27, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-september-27-2026.md) - Hello friends! Today is Day 80 of my write-every-day-so-I-don't-forget-to-write-in-the-age-of-ai streak. I've very much enjoyed the writing and getting emails and fun conversations in parking lots with those of you that read them! Below are my posts from the past week. Thanks for coming along on my…
- [The Tesla Semi hype is pure cope](https://larrysalibra.com/the-tesla-semi-hype-is-pure-cope.md) - TechCrunch writes "Tesla finally moves to electrify trucking after a decade of work and delays." The article was about how Tesla started production of the Tesla Semi at a factory that might one day be able to make up to 50,000 trucks a year after promising to do this back in 2019. The problem with…
- [Teething pains](https://larrysalibra.com/teething-pains.md) - I was about to begin writing a post about Hong Kong's Northern Metropolis project when I was interrupted by a very unhappy crying baby. Our son is getting his first teeth and boy is it painful. Many of us will remember the discomfort for the early period of our youth towards the end of the period o…
- [Hong Kong has no weekend](https://larrysalibra.com/hong-kong-has-no-weekend.md) - Today is Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong, but it isn't a public holiday. The public holiday for Mid-Autumn Festival, which is celebrated in the evening, is officially called "The day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival" and, as the name suggests, is celebrated tomorrow. The only catch is tha…
- [Large dogs have no place in cities](https://larrysalibra.com/large-dogs-have-no-place-in-cities.md) - Dogs have been in the news a lot recently in Hong Kong...mostly for attacking people. In the past few days, a 27-year-old woman riding a bicycle was mauled and killed by a pack of three dogs. Last month, a 33-year-old woman was killed by a dog. This evening, I was carrying my baby son around the ne…
- [Against collective guilt](https://larrysalibra.com/against-collective-guilt.md) - An organization I'm a member of in Hong Kong recently hosted a joint event with a national chamber of commerce and it caused a bit of a kerfuffle. A portion of our membership had ethical or moral problems with conflicts that said nation was or has been involved with. While I certainly sympathize wi…
- [A multipolar global financial system](https://larrysalibra.com/a-multipolar-global-financial-system.md) - If you grew up American, as I did, you probably think only in US dollars and operate in a Visa/MC/Amex world. That's how the global financial system worked for decades. But times are changing. The US financial system declining in relative importance and is no longer the only game in town. China is…
- [Baby's stretching & nature vs nurture](https://larrysalibra.com/babys-stretching-nature-vs-nurture.md) - One of the things that's amazing about being a parent is seeing which abilities babies are naturally born with vs those that they figure out on their vs those that they learn from watching other people. We get to make our own observations and draw our own conclusions about the age-old nature versus…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - September 20, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-september-20-2026.md) - Hi friends, Below, please find my posts from the past week. Yours, Larry The golden era of credit card earning is overThe Chase Sapphire Reserve kicked off the golden era of (US) credit card rewards. You could earn essentially 4.5% on anything remotely related to travel and dining as long as you we…
- [The golden era of credit card earning is over](https://larrysalibra.com/the-golden-era-of-credit-card-earning-is-over.md) - The Chase Sapphire Reserve kicked off the golden era of (US) credit card rewards. You could earn essentially 4.5% on anything remotely related to travel and dining as long as you were happy to use the "cash" to buy more travel via their portal. Competitors increased their earning rates in response…
- [Hong Kong to consider IVF support for women over 40](https://larrysalibra.com/hong-kong-to-consider-ivf-support-for-women-over-40.md) - On Wednesday, while sharing my thoughts on Hong Kong's latest fertility boosters announced in the 2026 Policy Address, I wrote the following about their plan to increase the number of spots for publicly funded IVF: If I recall correctly, there's also an upper age limit <on publicly funded IVF> for…
- [Mayday is Top Gun 3: The propaganda continues](https://larrysalibra.com/mayday-is-top-gun-3-the-propaganda-continues.md) - One reason popular movies become popular is because they make the viewers feel good about themselves or a group with which they associate themselves. This is also why popular movies make for such effective propaganda. The movie Top Gun is a classic example of a popular movie that is very effective…
- [Empires can fall like a house of cards](https://larrysalibra.com/empires-can-fall-like-a-house-of-cards.md) - I was reading analysis about the drama that the US president started recently in the UK when he came out in support of independence for North Ireland and how it has rekindled independence movements in Scotland and Wales. Some commentators believe it could lead to a break-up of the United Kingdom, e…
- [Thoughts on Hong Kong's latest fertility boosters](https://larrysalibra.com/thoughts-on-hong-kongs-latest-fertility-boosters.md) - Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee gave his 2026 Policy Address today. In it he announced a number of measures to encourage Hong Kongers to have more babies. I'm very interested in these policies because Hong Kong is my adopted home and I have an infant son who we plan to raise in the Special Admin…
- [Good writers write badly](https://larrysalibra.com/good-writers-write-badly.md) - Dr. Gio Valiante on the Knowledge Project Podcast: You want to write a book. You write a book. You don’t wait for inspiration. You sit down every day and on the days where nothing’s coming, you stay in your seat and you write it badly because you have to write through the bad days to get to the goo…
- [Apple Hong Kong's credit card fraud problem](https://larrysalibra.com/apple-hong-kongs-credit-card-fraud-problem.md) - The Standard reports: The police on Monday noted that a security gap in the online checkout process—which bypassed the standard requirement for one-time verification passwords—has enabled scammers to ring up HK$25 million in fraudulent charges during the launch of Apple's latest smartphone series.…
- [Drive like someone is watching](https://larrysalibra.com/drive-like-someone-is-watching.md) - Dance like no one is watching I was driving this afternoon in Hong Kong and saw flashing headlights in my rearview mirror. A driver who had been speeding was suddenly tailgating me and wanted to pass. I was in the right-hand, overtaking lane because I had just been passing much slower trucks and ve…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - September 13, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-september-13-2026.md) - Hi friends, This past week was the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It stands out as a major turning point in my life and marks the time I started to notice the glitches in the matrix. I wanted to flag my post on that this week for your consideration. Does 9/11 stand out in the narrative of your life or w…
- [Buying a folding bike](https://larrysalibra.com/buying-a-folding-bike.md) - Earlier this year, I moved to the suburbs of Hong Kong and bought the first car of my adulthood this year in preparation for my new entry into family life. A downside of living in the suburbs in Hong Kong is that one needs to take a bus or drive to get to a proper commercial gym. An upside, though…
- [A fork in the timeline: 9/11](https://larrysalibra.com/a-fork-in-the-timeline-9-11.md) - Twenty-five years ago today, I was sitting in a history class called "The History of US Foreign Relations," at Wesleyan University in roughly a two-hour drive from New York City. A classmate's phone rang (or perhaps she got an text message...I don't remember) and she ran out of the room crying beca…
- [iPhone Duo: the high price is a feature](https://larrysalibra.com/iphone-duo-the-high-price-is-a-feature.md) - Open Hacker News on any iPhone keynote day and, without fail, you'll see the same comments. Today with the launch of iPhone Duo, things were no different. "It's too big" "When are they bringing back the iPhone mini?" "It's too expensive" I can't really help these people - usually men in tech - with…
- [Dream feed magic](https://larrysalibra.com/dream-feed-magic.md) - For those unfamiliar with babies, the "dream feed" is the middle-of-the-night feed around midnight. It is so named because it is given a few hours after his bedtime in the middle of his night sleep session when he is sleepy and should be dreaming. As father, I've taken the role of Official Dream Fe…
- [Cutting haircuts](https://larrysalibra.com/cutting-haircuts.md) - X user/digital nomad JuanSanchez on haircuts: Haircuts around the world from a dude who got cuts in 50 countries. You don't speak the language, what do you do in a foreign country at the barber? Step 1: show them a picture of you with the hair you want. Step 2: they give you the 'local special' hai…
- [50 cent debunks the massive mansion myth](https://larrysalibra.com/50-cent-debunks-the-massive-mansion-myth.md) - “Americans don’t have hobbies, they have houses” In the video below, rapper 50 Cent debunks the male dream of having a massive mansion: I think 50% of my reason for making a life in tiny-housing-Hong Kong is a reaction to growing up in a ridiculously large (but not very expensive because it was Ohi…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - September 6, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-september-6-2026.md) - Hello friends! The weather in Hong Kong started cooling (slightly) this week and (as you'll read in today's post) my son started sleeping through the night. All of this means that spirits are high in my corner of the world! This past week, I had a kind visit from a friend who moved away from Hong K…
- [Sleeping through the night](https://larrysalibra.com/sleeping-through-the-night.md) - Figuring out baby's sleep and how to manage your own life around it has been one of the hardest challenges of being a new parent to this point. Newborn babies can't really tell the difference between day and night and need to be fed very often, so as a new parent you're thrown into what is essentia…
- [Hong Kong's public spaces in private buildings](https://larrysalibra.com/hong-kongs-public-spaces-in-private-buildings.md) - In Hong Kong, space is at a premium. Homes are small and cramped and buildings are built closely together in the area between the ocean and the mountains. While Hong Kong's housing constraints are in large part the outcome of self-imposed policy choices, there are some bright spots in Hong Kong's b…
- [Is Costco the problem or a symptom?](https://larrysalibra.com/is-costco-the-problem-or-a-symptom.md) - After watching family members struggle with weight for decades, I’m convinced Costco is responsible for a significant portion of America’s health problems. Costco causes real challenges for people who are both frugal and have challenges controlling overeating. They feel like they’re being responsib…
- [A reminder to donate blood](https://larrysalibra.com/a-reminder-to-donate-blood.md) - I donated blood yesterday at the Hong Kong Red Cross in Causeway Bay. I've donated blood on and off throughout my years in Hong Kong, largely because it's a fun, feel-good activity to do with friends. It has all the positive mental health benefits of a volunteer activity, and unlike many volunteer…
- [White Africans from the British Empire](https://larrysalibra.com/white-africans-from-the-british-empire.md) - Living in what was once a British colony, reminders of the empire are everywhere and often what you'd expect. We drive on the wrong side of the road, there are some coins that have the Queen on them in circulation and the judges wear funny wigs. There's also reminders in the population. As one woul…
- [The Angell Paradox is a destruction of trust](https://larrysalibra.com/the-angell-paradox-is-a-destruction-of-trust.md) - The Angell Paradox can be roughly stated to say that when powerful countries with commercial trade impose tariffs or sanctions, they often hurt themselves more than they hurt others. This is because their tariffs or sanctions undermine the legal certainty needed for trade and countries now need to…
- [There's no freedom on a boat](https://larrysalibra.com/theres-no-freedom-on-a-boat.md) - Boats, unlike solid land, exist to keep the people on the boat out of harm's way with "harm" being the 2/3rds of the surface of the earth that is covered by water. That's because humans, even ones who are very strong swimmers, can't survive very long in water unless the temperature of the water, we…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - August 30, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-august-30-2026.md) - Hello friends! It was great to see so many familiar faces this past week in Hong Kong at Bitcoin Asia. Thanks to those who reached out to tell me they would be in town! Below find my posts from the past week! Yours, Larry The inflight patronizing weIn English, The patronizing we is when someone use…
- [Not stealing is table-stakes for civilization](https://larrysalibra.com/not-stealing-is-table-stakes-for-civilization.md) - When people visit China, they often proclaim how safe it is. Deliveries are frequently left on a table outside hotels or housing on the side of the street or in the lobby and no one worries about their lunch or package being stolen. You can leave your phone, computer and other valuables unattended…
- [Watching the Rust Belt get hollowed out](https://larrysalibra.com/watching-the-rust-belt-get-hollowed-out.md) - When I graduated from university, I found myself in a Rust Belt whose manufacturing was well on its way to being hollowed out by the Wall Street-led offshoring movement. While I was never directly involved in manufacturing myself, growing up in Northeast Ohio in the heart of the Rust Belt meant I w…
- [No one believes Warsh](https://larrysalibra.com/no-one-believes-warsh.md) - Bloomberg writes: Bitcoin slipped back below $80,000 on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh pledged to bring inflation back to target, pushing short-term Treasury yields higher and cooling some of the week’s risk-on momentum. The move was modest rather than a reversal of the broader cryp…
- [Devaluing diamonds](https://larrysalibra.com/devaluing-diamonds.md) - The other day, a friend of mine excitedly told me about how one can buy absolutely massive lab grown diamonds in Shenzhen for very cheap. And then she showed off a massive, sparkling diamond on her finger and bragged about its very cheap price. Sometime after that, I met someone that said they were…
- [Bitcoin at Frank's Records in Hong Kong](https://larrysalibra.com/bitcoin-at-franks-records-in-hong-kong.md) - The Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong's pre-Bitcoin Asia meetup was a massive success. Over 300 people signed up with additional 100s on the waiting list. The event was on the 7th floor of 79 Wyndham Street at Frank's Records. This is a vinyl record-themed bar with an additional rooftop terrace, in…
- [AirPods Pro protect parents](https://larrysalibra.com/airpods-pro-protect-parents.md) - I've been protective of my hearing since I started listening to cassettes of children's music on a Sony Walkman in the late 1980s. I'd keep the volume low so as not to damage my hearing. I'd always wear ear protection when participating in activities with loud sounds such as working with power tool…
- [The inflight patronizing we](https://larrysalibra.com/the-inflight-patronizing-we.md) - In English, The patronizing we is when someone uses the word "we" as a synonym for "you." This is one of the most annoying linquistic habits of American so-called "service" staff. They are so-called service staff because whenever they're using the patronizing we, they have no intention of actually…
- [Whiners are the worst part of bear markets](https://larrysalibra.com/whiners-are-the-worst-part-of-bear-markets.md) - Something changed this week when US Treasury Secretary Bessent took a step towards yield curve control. The money printing is coming...it is mechanical and inevitable...and the market suddenly decided to acknowledge this. Bitcoin and high-quality altcoins, including Stacks, pumped in response. But…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - August 23, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-august-23-2026.md) - Hello friends! Very happy that the vibes about both Hong Kong and Bitcoin have both turned to positive. It's just as hard to HODL through bear markets as it is to watch many of your friends leave your favorite city because they are convinced it's over. Maybe it was for them. But it's not for me...B…
- [Fix healthcare by increasing supply](https://larrysalibra.com/fix-healthcare-by-increasing-supply.md) - I previously wrote about my experience getting blood tests in a Chinese public hospital and how fast, efficient and inexpensive the whole process was. One of the things that struck me was how much better and more accessible healthcare is in the Chinese mainland than two decades ago when I first arr…
- [Hong Kong is back](https://larrysalibra.com/hong-kong-is-back.md) - Beginning from the period of political unrest in 2019 through the end of covid, many people left Hong Kong. There was a period of time where it seemed like I was going to a couple going away parties every month. Singapore, Canada and the UK were anecdotedly the top destinations. Housing prices fell…
- [Once upon a time in the Middle East](https://larrysalibra.com/once-upon-a-time-in-the-middle-east.md) - This evening, I popped up to Shenzhen to watch the recently released Chinese anti-war movie Once upon a time in the Middle East (欢迎来龙餐馆). It's the story of a Chinese chef who moves to a fictional country in the Middle East to work in a restaurant and pay off his debts. Unfortunately for him, he arr…
- [Classic McDonald's desserts live on in Hong Kong](https://larrysalibra.com/classic-mcdonalds-desserts-live-on-in-hong-kong.md) - McDonald's apple pies are as American as, well, apple pie. But in 1992, McDonald's ruined their classic apple pie formula by changing the pies from being deep-fried to baked in the USA. All in the name of "health." As if anyone eating at McDonald's was seeking that! The apple pie isn't the only cla…
- [The adventure of calling a landline](https://larrysalibra.com/the-adventure-of-calling-a-landline.md) - I miss the telephone. No, not the smartphone, but the physical landline telephone. With landline telephones, phone numbers were addresses connected to physical spaces and not people. When you dialed your friend's home phone number, you were literally causing a ringing sound inside the physical buil…
- [Hong Kong has a service problem](https://larrysalibra.com/hong-kong-has-a-service-problem.md) - I was sending off family at Hong Kong International Airport this evening and took them to 2 Café which is a chain serving Hong Kong-style diner food. For those familiar with the airport, 2 Café took over the massive premises behind McDonald's in the pre-security departure level previously occupied…
- [Babies are fun!](https://larrysalibra.com/babies-are-fun.md) - If I knew how much fun babies were, I’d have started having them much earlier. Sure they cry a lot but watching them grow up and develop their own personalities so quickly is the ride of a lifetime. I recently learned from my parents that their generation (baby boomers) had fewer kids than their pa…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - August 16, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-aug-16-2026.md) - Hi friends! I spent the past week in Shenzhen with family that are in town. Shenzhen is incredibly livable these days...especially Nanshan District. I particularly enjoyed exploring the seemingly never-ending bike paths in lush, green, interconnected parks along rivers and the waterfront! Please fi…
- [The world’s largest App Clip deployment](https://larrysalibra.com/the-worlds-largest-app-clip-deployment.md) - The world's largest deployment of App Clips is in China.
- [Hong Kong public healthcare’s strange quality incentives](https://larrysalibra.com/hong-kong-public-healthcares-strange-quality-incentives.md) - A strange incentive of the Hong Kong public healthcare system is that for some things it's actually faster and more convenient than the private system while still also being incredibly cheap. A few years ago, I fell between the stairs and pontoon in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter and scraped open…
- [The entire city should be your backyard](https://larrysalibra.com/the-entire-city-should-be-your-backyard.md) - Chinese cities aren't making the same mistakes American cities made.
- [Amazon US is 8x more expensive than Costco China](https://larrysalibra.com/amazon-us-is-8x-more-expensive-than-costco-china.md) - Amazon US prices used to be among the cheapest in the world. Leading up to and during the pandemic, I would do much of my shopping on Amazon US, which ships to Hong Kong for free without Prime and is 100% tax-free. Slowly over the past decade, though, their advantage has eroded and almost of my reg…
- [Shenzhen scale is so much bigger than Hong Kong](https://larrysalibra.com/shenzhen-scale-is-so-much-bigger-than-hong-kong.md) - Officially, Hong Kong's nominal GDP was US$424 billion in 2025 versus Shenzhen's US$557 billion. I assert that these numbers severally understate the relative value produced by Shenzhen vs Hong Kong in the same way comparing the USA's nominal GDP to China's GDP severely understates the relative val…
- [The future of memories is here and it's spatial](https://larrysalibra.com/the-future-of-memories-is-here-and-its-spatial.md) - “The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.” -William Gibson I have an infant son and have been taking spatial photos and video of him since his birth (and previously during the pregnancy) so that I can view them on Apple Vision Pro. It's really hard express the intense emotiona…
- [True self-driving is freedom from responsibility](https://larrysalibra.com/true-self-driving-is-freedom-from-responsibility.md) - I was taking a Pony AI robotaxi around Shenzhen this evening with my dad. Until the post month, I'd only take a Pony AI robotaxi to experience the technology or demonstrate it to visitors. The reason is that, up until recently, there weren't really enough vehicles in the fleet in Shenzhen, so you'd…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - August 9, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/newsletter-august-9-2026.md) - Hello friends! Today's post is the 31st daily post in this streak. I've very much enjoyed writing something everyday and sharing it with you. Below, please find my posts from the past week. Yours, Larry Coldcard shows the challenge of a bitcoin-only businessThe Coldcard hack shows how hard it can b…
- [Stay sustainably](https://larrysalibra.com/stay-sustainably.md) - Another article about another American leaving China. This one is a weird one though. But from 2023 — a time of widespread pressures on local government finances following three years of virus restrictions and a property slowdown — he was asked instead to pay closer to market rent. Given that his v…
- [Completely isolated == easily homogenized](https://larrysalibra.com/completely-isolated-easily-homogenized.md) - I've always wondered why Chinese people living in mainland China seem so much less propagandized than Americans. I think I finally found a possible answer while listening to historian Darryl Cooper interviewed by Tucker Carlson. ...go back to the internal migrations in the 20th century after the Se…
- [Immigration needs to feel fair](https://larrysalibra.com/immigration-needs-to-feel-fair.md) - Adopted from a reply to Erik Voorhees and fluidvoice.btc's discussion on X re protectionism with regard to immigration: Nothing is ever fair in life or markets, but I respectfully submit that if a nation allows lots of immigration for one class of people or category of jobs while protecting other c…
- [Baby's last burp](https://larrysalibra.com/babys-last-burp.md) - I just sat my 3 month old son down on my leg for his post midnight feed burping. Deep in milk food coma, I tilted him forward and gently patting him on the back with a cupped hand until I heard that satisfying sound of a baby's burp. I looked at his face and found him peacefully asleep, blissfully…
- [Don't ignore the doubt](https://larrysalibra.com/dont-ignore-the-doubt.md) - There's a lot of unspoken assumptions in societies about how things work. In democracies, at least the US one in which I was raised, there was a strongly held belief that somehow voting picks the best people for the job. Even as early as middle school, it was pretty clear that wasn't true. One just…
- [Coldcard shows the challenge of a bitcoin-only business](https://larrysalibra.com/coldcard-show-the-challenge-of-a-bitcoin-only-business.md) - The Coldcard hack shows how hard it can be to run a bitcoin-only business. While building the hardware wallet itself might not be that expensive, it is a one-off cost. The associated ongoing software updates, paying for the updates to be professionally audited and running a credible bug bounty prog…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - August 2, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-august-2-2026.md) - Hello friends! I spent the past week taking family members that haven't visited China in a decade and a half around Guangdong province in the Chinese mainland. Things have really changed here in the past decade and if you haven't visited China in a while (or ever) you're missing out! Below are my p…
- [We can't choose the era we live in](https://larrysalibra.com/we-cant-choose-the-era-we-live-in.md) - A Chinese friend was telling me today that many of his friends felt that the economy today was very unfair. Today isn't like the 1990s in China where everyone was equally poor and "just" working really hard was a receipe for success they say. It sounds a lot like those who grew up in the US from my…
- [A Rockefeller connection in Hong Kong's MTR](https://larrysalibra.com/a-rockefeller-connection-in-hong-kongs-mtr.md) - After listening to The Knowledge Project's episode on John D. Rockefeller over the past few days, I started reading more about him online. I knew Rockefeller's Standard Oil was big, but didn't know that it was so big that it was selling kerosene in China during the Qing dynasty. The trade name it u…
- [Winners compete, losers cheat](https://larrysalibra.com/winners-compete-losers-cheat.md) - Banning Chinese competition is a losing strategy.
- [HK taxis & buses don't need handouts, they need EVs](https://larrysalibra.com/hk-taxis-buses-dont-need-handouts-they-need-evs.md) - Diesel and LPG fuel prices in Hong Kong have massively increased since the beginning of the Iran war. As of today, the diesel price is around US$4.6 per liter...that's approaching US$18 per gallon for the metrically challenged. To help cushion the fast change in price, the Hong Kong Government offe…
- [China's biggest EV SUV has a sense of humor](https://larrysalibra.com/chinas-biggest-ev-suv-has-a-sense-of-humor.md) - On a rainy day in China with visitors from abroad, one of the best forms of entertainment is free: test driving Chinese EVs. Today, I test drove China's largest EV SUV, the 5.4 meter long NIO ES9 "Executive" SUV. It has 697 hp and is absolutely massive. I didn't realize this was China's largest SUV…
- [SpaceX isn't a very good business](https://larrysalibra.com/spacex-isnt-a-very-good-business.md) - I didn't invest in the SpaceX IPO and even if I wanted to, couldn't easily do so since they blocked Hong Kong residents. It seems like Elon timed and priced it perfectly for the company. The thing is, it's not a very good business at anything near its current valuation...and the market seems to be…
- [EV charging: slow mode is all you need](https://larrysalibra.com/ev-charging-slow-mode-is-all-you-need.md) - There are basically two modes of EV charging: Fast mode and slow mode. Fast mode is where you want to use the car, are in a rush and are waiting for the charge to complete so you can continue on a journey. This is the mode used by people on roadtrips, people driving long distances away from home, p…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - July 26, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larnewsletter-jul-26-2026.md) - Hello friends, We are just drying off from last night's typhoon Noul here in Hong Kong. It was 3rd closest typhoon to hit Hong Kong this century...but otherwise uneventful. Below, please find my writings from the past week. I hope you enjoy them! Yours, Larry Ben Thompson is wrong: US frontier labs…
- [Western policy wonks intentionally "misunderstand" China](https://larrysalibra.com/western-policy-w-intentionally-misunderstands-china.md) - China energy expert David Fishman penned a masterful analysis and refutation of the theory that China is closing the path that earlier generations of developing countries took to industrialization. This theory is all the rage in western policy circles and most recently espoused in a wildly shared a…
- [Purchasing a product is not a political statement](https://larrysalibra.com/purchasing-a-product-is-not-a-political-statement.md) - In the past week, I’ve come across half a dozen comments saying that the poster wants to use the search engine Kagi but cannot in good conscience because Kagi apparently sources some results from the Russian search engine Yandex. To spend $5 a month on Kagi would mean the commenter is supporting Ru…
- [Indoor air in China...better, but still not smoke-free](https://larrysalibra.com/indoor-air-in-china-better-but-still-not-smoke-free.md) - The high rate of cigarette smoking in mainland China has been one of its major downsides for the ~23 years I’ve been around. And the progress on this has been very slow. I've heard theories about this having to do with the tax revenue generated by the State Tobacco Monopoly, but don't follow the po…
- [Farewell BitMEX](https://larrysalibra.com/farewell-bitmex.md) - Hong Kong-based BitMEX announced it's closing its doors on the 23rd of September of this year. I had the good fortune to know the founders and follow their journey from before they launched in December of 2014. It was amazing watching them go from an idea to a product launch and struggle through th…
- [800v vs 400v EVs...does it really matter?](https://larrysalibra.com/800v-vs-400v-evs-does-it-really-matter.md) - Headline EV charging power specs are misleading and 800v vs 400v really matters.
- [The freedom of public transit](https://larrysalibra.com/the-freedom-of-public-transit.md) - I spent the last 3 weeks in Zhuhai, the city in mainland China across the river delta from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, just north of (also technically west, east and south of) Macau. With the advent of the Northbound Travel for Hong Kong Vehicles scheme, car owners, Zhuhai has become a popular destinat…
- [Ben Thompson is wrong: US frontier labs are right to be panicking](https://larrysalibra.com/ben-thompson-is-wrong-us-frontier-labs-are-right-to-be-panicking.md) - American tech blogger Ben Thompson writes today that US frontier labs should not be panicking about Chinese open source models like Kimi K3, despite them being competitive with the best models from American labs. We can "distill" (ha!) his post down to two main arguments: Anthropic and OpenAI likel…
- [Larry's Weekly Newsletter - July 19, 2026](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-july-19-2026.md) - Hi friends! Long time no write! Now that AI is taking over the world, it seems more important than ever for us (you included!) to write regularly so that we do not find ourselves among the Write-Nots. In accordance with my AI policy for this blog/newsletter, all writing is lovingly human-crafted on…
- [A phone is a whiskey flask](https://larrysalibra.com/a-phone-is-a-whiskey-flask.md) - "a phone is a whiskey flask and humanity is drunk out of our collective minds." -me on X There's a lot to say on this topic especially with regards to the implications for things many once took for granted in their societies. For now, I'll just say that I've been trying to dilute the whiskey in my…
- [Low standards for white Chinese speakers](https://larrysalibra.com/low-standards-for-white-chinese-speakers.md) - "Your Chinese is very good...for a white guy." I strongly identify with this statement. Chinese is a great language to learn for many reasons. One such reason is that native Chinese speakers are incredibly supportive of you, no matter how little effort you've put in or progress you've made. If you…
- [Tesla is juicing its China sales](https://larrysalibra.com/tesla-is-juicing-its-china-sales.md) - If you haven't heard, Chinese EVs are amazing and they're taking over the world. And as someone who was just in the market for an EV this spring in Hong Kong, I can assure you that Chinese EVs are excellent: better features, nicer interiors, better ride, charge MUCH faster, much less expensive and…
- [LLMs, nationalism & open source](https://larrysalibra.com/llms-nationalism-open-source.md) - Inkling came out yesterday - an open source LLM by an American firm. It’s supposedly not bad but also not notably good outside of its multi-modal support for audio compared to the leading open source LLMs which just happen to be created by Chinese firms. What was more interesting than the actual mo…
- [Rudd on Xi...more Western naval-gazing](https://larrysalibra.com/rudd-on-xi-more-western-naval-gazing.md) - I listened to Ezra Klein's interview with former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd about Xi Jinping. Rudd speaks Chinese. He served in the Australian foreign service where he met Xi earlier in his career while he was in Xiamen. Rudd later went on to do a PhD at Oxford which seems to have been mo…
- [The big bad Chinese subsidies](https://larrysalibra.com/the-big-bad-chinese-subsidies.md) - This is in reply to a thread on X where Matt Stoller claims that 100% of China's success is due to state subsidies. The "China subsidized its way to success" is really just a cope shibboleth that some Americans repeat without thinking to signal group unity across political lines. It means "It's not…
- [Apple is winning the AI race](https://larrysalibra.com/apple-is-winning-the-ai-race.md) - I don't think people realize how easy it is to make use of on-device AI models in an app on most of Apple's devices shipped in the past two years. And I'm talking about the currently shipping 26 versions of iOS and macOS...not some upcoming developer releases or betas. A few lines of code are all y…
- [QR code menu enabled phone addiction](https://larrysalibra.com/qr-code-menu-enabled-phone-addiction.md) - Phone addiction in mainland China seems to be much higher than the already ridiculous levels it is in other places in the world. It’s very common in restaurants and coffee shops for tables of people to be ignoring each other and their kids bent over their phones. I suspect a large component of this…
- [Bryan Johnson blood tests in a Chinese public hospital](https://larrysalibra.com/blood-tests-in-a-chinese-public-hospital.md) - I wanted to get some Bryan Johnson-inspired blood tests for a baseline of biomarkers. He sells an expensive testing service that, as far as I know, isn’t available outside of the USA. And getting blood tests in Hong Kong means going to an expensive private lab or expensive private hospital or clini…
- [What to make? A sandwich?](https://larrysalibra.com/what-to-make-a-sandwich.md) - AI makes it really easy to build things until you realize you don't know what to build. You may think you know what you want to build until you start to build it, only to find out that not only have you not defined some of the requirements of your project, but you hadn't even considered that those…
- [A Letter to Hong Kong's Financial Secretary on the 2025-26 Budget](https://larrysalibra.com/a-letter-to-hong-kongs-financial-secretary-25-26.md) - My open letter to Hong Kong's Financial Secretary on the 2025-26 Budget.
- [⛵️Sula is sold!](https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/sula-is-sold.md) - Hi sailing friends! You're receiving this email because you were part of my one time sailing blog "sailingsula.com". As many of you no doubt already know, I sold Sula in the summer of 2023 to a very kind and loving new owner. As of now, she remains in Hong Kong, however the new owner plans to take…
- [A comparison of cellular bands in Apple's 2024 products](https://larrysalibra.com/a-comparison-of-cellular-bands-in-apples-2024-products.md) - Which regional models of the new iPhones and Apple Watches have the best cellular band support?
- [Best life-hack: Find something you love](https://larrysalibra.com/best-lifehack-find-something-you-love.md) - I spent 3 hours in the gym tonight. I hate going to the gym. Or at least I used to.
- [Gloomy Guangzhou](https://larrysalibra.com/gloomy-guangzhou.md) - Thoughts and questions from my first trip to Guangzhou since covid.

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