11. write a newsletter like this inspiring other people to try out one of the approaches. (That's probably a subset of a technique you covered in round 1, isn't it.) It would be very hard to love this post more - thank you.
Adam! Another fab essay that had me laughing and thinking and learning. You are a gem. This. Look at this! I will write when I post this link on my fb wall. 🌝
Great post. One thing I want to add to the last section (Death Star Superstars) is that in our world, no one gets applause for *preventing* disasters. I know this article is about underrated ways to change the world, and prevention is about maintaining the status quo.
But shouldn't we also celebrate the unsung heroes who keep your toilet from backing up? The ones who keep terrorists from poisoning your water supply? The ones who keep you from becoming a human missile when you get into a car accident? The ones who keep your toilet paper splinter-free? Your Charmin tri-ply used to be a tree, after all.
Take #5, "Be an honest broker in an otherwise skeevy industry" or #8: "Make your own damn system work." By encouraging people to go fix things, you're encouraging the most motivated people to run around, being heroes so they can say "I fixed XYZ." You're not encouraging them to keep a good thing humming along, since there's no approbation in it.
In fact, in truly dysfunctional systems, you create an *incentive* to let things rot so that that the high-energy achievement seekers can ride in like a knight in shining armor, proclaiming "calm yourself, peasants! The hero has arrived!"
Thanks for the tip! I usually try to refrain from judging a book by its cover, but the book cover looks like several porcelain plates repaired with a kintsugi technique. How could I resist?
These photos are too good. I've always just accepted it as a pleasant mystery I don't need explained, but I just want to acknowledge how good they are. They're good.
Not related at all to the content, but I'm going to be disappointed the first time that the top photo in the post is NOT credited to "your dad". Love them all, thank you.
I’m just back from a strip mall store, where there was a white-bearded, stooped old man with a long-handled craw grabber picking up litter and putting it in a trash bag. I wish I’d read this before I went, because I couldn’t think of an reason to ask him more about why and how often he does this, but I would have if writing this response would have given me an excuse.
Excellent! Saving this one for when I need some inspiration on making the world a better place.
Other similar things I like to keep in mind:
Be a decent coworker or boss! People spend something like 40% of their weekly waking hours on work. Try to be polite, helpful, communicative, and supportive. That's one of the biggest ways we
Be a good family member! Hug your kids, compliment your spouse, pick up your socks, and plan fun outings.
These are basic, but they give you some ways to pat yourself on the back for things you're probably already doing.
What about the basics? Get a job, do it well, have and love some kids and raise them well, cherish your spouse, don’t act shitty in public and don’t raise your kids to act shitty in public. Don’t lie, cheat, and steal. A lot of my daily suffering would disappear if people did these actions that used to be considered the bare minimum of living in a society. Maybe the problem is everyone wants to save the world but they all think they’re too special to waste their precious time on the rules of basic decency.
I'm 65 and I can't think of a time when people haven't been shitty. I would argue that in our virtual world we simply have to see a lot more shitty behavior that we otherwise wouldn't have seen back in the day when just a few companies controlled all the news.
I've personally found that I'm a lot happier when I focus on what I can do to make the world a little better and let shitty people be shitty. Shitty behavior is usually it's own worst punishment. And not all people are shitty. There are quite a lot of people out there doing good things in the world and trying to live decent lives. I focus on them.
I don't think the world actually benefits from people who don't want kids having kids. (Yes, people are reproducing less in many regions. There are plenty of people who would like more kids than they have. To the extent that population decline is bad we should support them in doing that. We don't need to additionally push people who don't want kids to reproduce.)
Your idea about the Chicago parking stickers reminded me of a time 30 years ago when I lived in New York City and was looking for a roommate. I went to the Columbia University neighborhood and posted some flyers near a bus stop. Some time later, I received a notice about a $250 fine for posting illegal flyers ($50 per flyer). There were no signs in the area prohibiting flyers, and lots of other people had stuff posted. I opted to go meet with a court official who handles these things. I was exceedingly polite and apologetic. I promised never to do it again. And I asked if 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 the fine could be reduced down from $250. The answer? No can do. I always wondered if there was an upper limit to how much they could fine you. Like, what would have happened if I had posted 50 flyers all up and down the street? Would I owe $2,500 then?
Donald Shoup was a giant. This newsletter was the last place I expected to see his legacy praised, but it's heartwarming to see his ideas percolate even after his passing, especially among people who aren't in the field.
Do you have a list of Viral Statistics Bingo statistics that have either been tracked down or that you think should be tracked down?
One of my favorites--potentially solved more than twenty years ago--is the claim that you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day... which plausibly comes from a 1945 Food and Nutrition Board recommendation of 2.5 liters but who also added that "Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods."
11. write a newsletter like this inspiring other people to try out one of the approaches. (That's probably a subset of a technique you covered in round 1, isn't it.) It would be very hard to love this post more - thank you.
Adam! Another fab essay that had me laughing and thinking and learning. You are a gem. This. Look at this! I will write when I post this link on my fb wall. 🌝
Great post. One thing I want to add to the last section (Death Star Superstars) is that in our world, no one gets applause for *preventing* disasters. I know this article is about underrated ways to change the world, and prevention is about maintaining the status quo.
But shouldn't we also celebrate the unsung heroes who keep your toilet from backing up? The ones who keep terrorists from poisoning your water supply? The ones who keep you from becoming a human missile when you get into a car accident? The ones who keep your toilet paper splinter-free? Your Charmin tri-ply used to be a tree, after all.
Take #5, "Be an honest broker in an otherwise skeevy industry" or #8: "Make your own damn system work." By encouraging people to go fix things, you're encouraging the most motivated people to run around, being heroes so they can say "I fixed XYZ." You're not encouraging them to keep a good thing humming along, since there's no approbation in it.
In fact, in truly dysfunctional systems, you create an *incentive* to let things rot so that that the high-energy achievement seekers can ride in like a knight in shining armor, proclaiming "calm yourself, peasants! The hero has arrived!"
Stewart Brand's book on maintenance is just out, you would appreciate it.
Thanks for the tip! I usually try to refrain from judging a book by its cover, but the book cover looks like several porcelain plates repaired with a kintsugi technique. How could I resist?
These photos are too good. I've always just accepted it as a pleasant mystery I don't need explained, but I just want to acknowledge how good they are. They're good.
Not related at all to the content, but I'm going to be disappointed the first time that the top photo in the post is NOT credited to "your dad". Love them all, thank you.
Hopefully never!
I’m just back from a strip mall store, where there was a white-bearded, stooped old man with a long-handled craw grabber picking up litter and putting it in a trash bag. I wish I’d read this before I went, because I couldn’t think of an reason to ask him more about why and how often he does this, but I would have if writing this response would have given me an excuse.
When I was in Japan, there were old men there who were employed by the city to clean up trash on the sidewalks
Lovely. You're the super-hero-mensch simple ideas deep thinker. The planet is better with you on it.
Excellent! Saving this one for when I need some inspiration on making the world a better place.
Other similar things I like to keep in mind:
Be a decent coworker or boss! People spend something like 40% of their weekly waking hours on work. Try to be polite, helpful, communicative, and supportive. That's one of the biggest ways we
Be a good family member! Hug your kids, compliment your spouse, pick up your socks, and plan fun outings.
These are basic, but they give you some ways to pat yourself on the back for things you're probably already doing.
What about the basics? Get a job, do it well, have and love some kids and raise them well, cherish your spouse, don’t act shitty in public and don’t raise your kids to act shitty in public. Don’t lie, cheat, and steal. A lot of my daily suffering would disappear if people did these actions that used to be considered the bare minimum of living in a society. Maybe the problem is everyone wants to save the world but they all think they’re too special to waste their precious time on the rules of basic decency.
I'm 65 and I can't think of a time when people haven't been shitty. I would argue that in our virtual world we simply have to see a lot more shitty behavior that we otherwise wouldn't have seen back in the day when just a few companies controlled all the news.
I've personally found that I'm a lot happier when I focus on what I can do to make the world a little better and let shitty people be shitty. Shitty behavior is usually it's own worst punishment. And not all people are shitty. There are quite a lot of people out there doing good things in the world and trying to live decent lives. I focus on them.
I don't want kids, but I try to make the world a better place by being a good high school chemistry teacher for around 120 kids.
I don't think the world actually benefits from people who don't want kids having kids. (Yes, people are reproducing less in many regions. There are plenty of people who would like more kids than they have. To the extent that population decline is bad we should support them in doing that. We don't need to additionally push people who don't want kids to reproduce.)
>What about the basics?
What about them? I don't come here to be told things I already know.
Your idea about the Chicago parking stickers reminded me of a time 30 years ago when I lived in New York City and was looking for a roommate. I went to the Columbia University neighborhood and posted some flyers near a bus stop. Some time later, I received a notice about a $250 fine for posting illegal flyers ($50 per flyer). There were no signs in the area prohibiting flyers, and lots of other people had stuff posted. I opted to go meet with a court official who handles these things. I was exceedingly polite and apologetic. I promised never to do it again. And I asked if 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 the fine could be reduced down from $250. The answer? No can do. I always wondered if there was an upper limit to how much they could fine you. Like, what would have happened if I had posted 50 flyers all up and down the street? Would I owe $2,500 then?
Man why do we seem to such expansive state capacity in the places we need it least?
Welcome to Chicago.
Donald Shoup was a giant. This newsletter was the last place I expected to see his legacy praised, but it's heartwarming to see his ideas percolate even after his passing, especially among people who aren't in the field.
Do you have a list of Viral Statistics Bingo statistics that have either been tracked down or that you think should be tracked down?
One of my favorites--potentially solved more than twenty years ago--is the claim that you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day... which plausibly comes from a 1945 Food and Nutrition Board recommendation of 2.5 liters but who also added that "Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods."
Good one! I should keep a list and I don't, but here are two recent ones:
-the "people swallow eight spiders every night" myth has a lot of layers to it: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/swallow-spiders/
-the "10k steps a day" number apparently comes from a Japanese pedometer company from the 1960s: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/10000-steps-a-day-or-fewer-2019071117305
Brilliant as always.
Great sequel!
Αdam! I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!