Category: General Gabbing

A variety of delighting sights; a smattering of happenings; a compendium of concepts…

Induced Demand

JulianLeave a comment

Partner and I went on a crawl of some of the best food in The City that would have been prohibitive two years ago.

I wrote a prompt:

“Find me all the 4.9* or higher rated restaurants on Google Maps in New York City with at least 500 reviews.”

With a little coaxing, Claude did it.

When a new technology arrives, we — that is to say the average people and the general public — exalt how it will change work forever. Give us all so much free time.

To some degree that’s true.

It unlocks possibility.

But that possibility also unlocks possibility that destroys the original possibilty.

Induced Demand, they call it. It’s the story of why 6-line highways have no less traffic than 4-lane highways. It’s why friction really truly does prevent people from doing things but frictionlessness doesn’t lead to empty space.

The time fills. The space newly open is immediately claimed.

I now have a google maps list of every top-rated restaurant in New York City. Tomorrow, I’ll sort it by price. When hungry, I’ll be able to open up my phone and spy exactly what I want in the blink fo an eye.

I’ll find it glorious. My children will roll their eyes. Their children will laugh. And their children will wonder what the hell was food.

The Community of my Community is my Community 

JulianLeave a comment

Tonight I helped a friend of a friend think through his work plans. He lent me a book from his shelf that I enjoyed leafing through. 

I like this group of friends that this this friend has. I’m three for three on liking them (I’ve liked him and two of his friends). My normal hit rate on befriending people is probably in the single digit percentages. 

They’re 25 years old. I’ve got 8 years on them. Not necessarily 8 years wiser; just 8 years. 

The conversation started when he complained that the company he wants to work for re-posted the job he applied for. They didn’t reply to his resume and cover letter two weeks ago: just re-posted the job opening online. I suggested he walk into their office tomorrow. Dress nicely, bring a copy of your resume and cover letter, find a way to talk to the would-be-boss. Tell them “I like what you’re doing and would love to help.” Know some info about the guy. It’s an assistant role: be ready for that particular guy. It’s a big city: you gotta stand out. 

He liked my advice. He plans to execute it. Even if it fails, he’ll have Done The Thing. Doing The Thing increases your ability to do. If you walk into 400 theater companies in nyc, one of them will hire you. Or at least you’ll get some exercise. 

I wonder whether I like helping this group of guys because it’s the same generation as the youth group I used to advise. Similar friendly banter. Same camaraderie. Same desire for impact and intellect. Same idealism. 

I like being helpful. I like where life is. 

He lent me a book. How to Survive the Modern World. I would like to do that. I would like to Survive. 

I like exchanging gifts. That’s how you make friends. 

Games Played 

“You’re forgiven for making me leave the house.” -Partner, after I brought her delicious fried chicken (delicious fried chicken in Harlem? What a surprise!)

Me: “When is the delivery driver expected to arrive?” 

Delivery company dispatcher: “He’s on Broadway.” 

Me: “Broadway is a reasonably large street. Do you have a cross street?” 

(This is an instance of “Tell me you don’t live in New York without telling me you don’t live in New York.”) 

How did the Chelsea Hotel become the Chelsea Hotel? 

JulianLeave a comment

I saw a one-man show today. The star, Ned Van Zandt, did heroin with Sid Vicious in the Chelsea Hotel shortly before Sid’s overdose. He drank and drugged with the creative types of the time. They all stayed at the Chelsea Hotel. 

Part strikes me as a coordination game. A Schelling point. Artists want to be with artists. Chelsea and Greenwich Village had been artistic hubs. Artists need a place to stay. This particular hotel might have some happenstance trait that makes it The Place. Once it’s The Place, it shall remain so. 

In these scenes, there is always A Place. The Algonquin Round Table was a similar structure: influential, passionate artists who enjoyed associating with each other. They started at the Algonquin Hotel, but then evolved into a more portable group. A Movable Feast is this same structure, I’ve heard, but haven’t read. 

When you create a context that attracts great people, they want to bring their friends. These places can be created. They’re worth creating. 

Firing the wrong person

JulianLeave a comment

Someone conscripted me for a project. 

I wasn’t super interested. 

I didn’t know the team, didn’t care about the topic, and the scope was out-of-wheelhouse. 

Still, they wanted to take on the topic, and the money was fine. 

The structure: a two-week work trial. We produce one article, after which the company may extend our contract. 

Someone & I worked on it for a week. Someone put in ~80% of the hours; I structured the content. We sent The Boss an outline. 

The Boss was livid. “Unacceptable”, he said, along with other epithets. He didn’t like the appearance, completely ignoring key traits and lacking in curiosity. I said to Someone, “If he replies like this, the price of the actual work just went up.” 

We hopped on a call. I spoke most on my team’s behalf: Someone prefers I do the talking because Someone wants me to own the relationship going forward. 

Afterwards, The Boss called Someone for a one-on-one. The Boss wants to drop me from the team. The irony? It wasn’t my work! I was just the point of contact! 

Someone told him they don’t have bandwidth to shoulder this whole load themselves. I’ll still send him a finished draft, because that’s what we agreed. Then maybe he’ll seek to only hire Someone for the bigger project, despite a misread of the situation. 

There’s irony for ya. 

If I cared, I’d care. But I don’t; I just find it funny. 

In the “Do good work, turn it in on time, and have people like you” world of freelancing, with this particular gig, I’ve nailed the first two. The third one? Fortunately, it’s a “choose any two”. 

Games Played

“I was going to ask you what the Jewish creation myth is. I then laughed at myself when I thought of the question.” — Partner, who was raised catholic.

How much of employment is emotional soothing? 

JulianLeave a comment

Actually: how much? 

I recently read a Reddit post by a multi-exited CEO. She mentioned that most of her job is informational framing. It’s the same facts, framed precisely for the target. 

I’ve coached a number of CEOs. I’ve ghostwritten for even more. The uber-successful ones are universally kind, curious, and generous. The medium-successful are jumpy and reactive. 

I wonder if emotional soothing is such a big deal for humans that it’s the key piece to be solved before all others. (“You’re not you when you’re cranky”, and the like.) 

If that’s true, then solving this main need opens up a lot of doors. Logical thinking becomes much easier. Reliable behavior, too. 

People like people they can rely on. People bet on people they can rely on. 

Perhaps it’s those middle-successful who need the emotional soothing, 

while the best of the best just take care of themselves.

Don’t gussy up poor-person food and tell me it’s rich. 

JulianLeave a comment

I’ve been to Indonesia. I’ve eaten nasi goreng. I liked it. That’s why I can’t eat it anywhere else. 

Nasi goreng is poor-person food. For under $5, you can get a heaping plate of eggs, rice, vegetables, meat, and spices. In the US, you can get the same (or more often, a worse version of the same) dish for $20. That doesn’t make it better! 

I’m in Dublin. Today, I ate a boxty. It’s potato dumplings plus cream sauce. It’s clearly poor-person food. I followed it up with fish & chips, also poor-person food. The first was 27euros. The second 21euros. Both were bland and uninteresting. Both would have been passable at 7euros. These were the best places in Dublin! The highest-rated for their respective dishes! Featured on best-of lists! 

I’m perfectly satisfied by 6-dumplings-for-$5.50 from a basement store with a bathroom toilet more disgusting than any at Woodstock. What I don’t like is putting a bow on that set of dumplings and selling them for $20. 

So far, Partner and I have eaten 6 meals in Ireland. We are 2/5 on passability: the late-night kebab upon arrival was delicious, as was the full Irish breakfast this morning. The beef-and-guinness stew, the fish & chips, and the boxtys are to be avoided. 

Tomorrow, we try the lamb. At least a $23 lamb shank seems appropriately priced. Let’s hope it’s also appropriately tasty.  

I <3 Ireland

JulianLeave a comment

I landed in Dublin three hours ago. Three of my first five experiences: 

  1. Outside the airport, I ask a fellow whether we can tap-to-pay on the bus. He says we need euros in cash or a local transit card. We tell him we don’t have either. He initially pulls out a 5 euro note to give it to us, then realizes he can just tap us on instead, so he does. What a generous bloke! 
  2. Immediately after exiting the bus, Partner & I ask a bouncer at the local pub if they’re still serving food. He says no, but goes out of his way to suggest other options. This is not typical bouncer behavior. 
  3. A short walk later, a college-looking kid tells a homeless-looking man, “I’ll get ya tomorrow.”

I’m going to like Ireland.

Oh, Spain! 

JulianLeave a comment

Oh Spain,

Why do I hate thee? Let me count the why’s…  

  1. Your airport security of pointless inefficiency. Not so bad as France – where one is mandated to snake all the way up and down through every single stanchion – but close. Yes, I think airport security is a waste of time and money (and I shall #neverforget this fact). But I also think that a security officer shouldn’t allow the passenger to rifle through their own bag in search of whatever suspected contraband may be present. Anyone with any sleight-of-hand skill would be able to beat that! 
  2. A lack of maintenance or respect for quality. You can smell that they peaked in the 1500s and have performed no maintenance since. 
  3. People touching you in lines and on the bus. When standing beside the busdriver, a woman physically moved my hand in order to speak to the bus driver. Where I live, you get slapped for that shit. That’s not even accounting for the fact that she was talking to the bus driver while the bus was in motion, immediately below the sign that said do not talk to the bus driver while the bus is in motion. 
  4. They think their food is good. The cheese is good (but not as good as French or Italian cheese). The bread is fine (but not as good as French bread). The jamon is out of this world incredible. Bien hecho, no quiero nada mas. 
  5. The language is dumb and inconsistent. France has a whole department dedicated to the quality of their language. Spain has multiple languages. 
  6. The restaurants are closed from 4-7pm. That’s when I want to eat! 

Thank god I’m going to Ireland in two days. 

Green-Haired, Harem-Having Druids 

JulianLeave a comment

How many people do you know who go by “Druid” who have green hair and a harem? 

I know two. 

The first I met ~6 years ago. The second I met tonight. No, I don’t think they’re the same person. I conjured a memory of the first-Druid‘s face. It’s distinct. 

You might think the world of people who go by Druid with green hair and a harem is small. But in the Burning Man community, the name Druid is a reasonably common name. Burners frequently dye their hair. A Druid is one in touch with nature, so the obvious color is green. Further, many Burners date in polyamorous relationships. Basically, if you grabbed a random guy out of a bag of 1000 Burners, you shouldn’t be particularly shocked by a green-haired, Druid-named harem-haver. 

I’m reminded of an AI matchmaker whose blog I used to write. One client said to the CEO something like “I’m looking for a six-foot tall half-Asian CEO with blue eyes.” The CEO scoffed, saying “there are probably like two of those in the country.” The client said “I’ve dated three.” 

If you exist in the subculture — whatever the subculture is — you’ll see a lot of them. And people in subcultures agglomerate. 

Put another way: a friend of mine swung down from New England to visit New York for a week. He said to me, “I don’t know how to ask this question, and I mean no offense by it: why are there so many gay people here?” 

I told him, “Because there are so many gay people here.” 

The ease of AI

JulianLeave a comment

Today, Partner and I planned a trip. Three days ago, we weren’t planning on going to Europe. Yesterday night, we had booked and scheduled nothing. Today, we have an entire itinerary, including flights to and from, housing, five restaurants (one reserved), two tours, one museum, and four theater show tickets.

Previously, this trip would have taken me ~3 days to plan. Now, I do it in five hours. Thank you, Claude.

Where does the extra time go?

I’ve heard that work-time-savings leads to people working more hours. For me, I don’t know if that’s true. We’re all on the hedonic treadmill to some degree. But the hour I spend at the gym is a glorious hour, and it’s not improved by more expensive equipment. The Chinatown basement dumplings are exquisite, and they’re $5.50 to eat while strolling across the bridge to Brooklyn. When Partner and I visited Budapest, we stayed in a five-star hotel for 2 nights, followed by a $60/night aparthotel (an apartment converted into a hotel). We dramatically preferred the aparthotel, and not just for fundamentals like location. We like having our own fridge and stove.

Much happiness comes from the removal of friction. When drudgery goes away, the system shines brighter. I could be aging; my values changing, but I don’t feel the need to spend the extra time grinding. What would be the point? Where would we go? If you grind, grind, grind, eventually: you disappear.