Interesting stuff

  1. Read: The Great Resignation is restoring flexibility to America’s economy (and Americans’ lives) — watch this space!
  2. Listen: The bizarre ways in which Big Butter tried to stop margarine
  3. Read: How climate change is causing heavier downpours
  4. Listen: An insightful look into the physical and financial drivers of commodity prices
  5. Read: Workers are rethinking the role of “work” in their lives 
  6. Read: David Graeber died last year, but his last book is coming out soon. The Dawn of Everything looks like a good counterargument to those scholars who propose centralised versions of early human settlement.
  7. Read: The US defence establishment has a new report on the dangers of climate change to national security (e.g., food shortages, refugees, flooded bases). At least SOMEONE is taking it seriously!
  8. Watch: Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, on how climate activists might start a revolution for change. I hope they succeed!
  9. Read (in Dutch): Dutch water boards are not that “democratic” and that’s leading to some serious financial stress.
  10. Watch: Public transport, not dangerous, hackable self driving cars, is the future

H/Ts to IT and PB

Dutch snowflakes

The Dutch like to say they are a “direct” people, in the same way (I assumed) that Americans and Israelis are “direct”

I don’t think so. In some circumstances (e.g., splitting the bill, commenting on your timeliness, or in “getting to the point”), they are direct — and I like that.

But when it comes to criticism (no matter how objective and/or useful it might be), they are less happy with direct.

I was told once that it was fine to be direct, face to face, but not in a public (e.g., meeting) setting.

You can see elements of this one-thing-in-public, another-in-private perspective in Dutch culture:

  • Gedoogdheden (“tolerances” — read my post on Dutch vs California “tolerance” — but here meaning “not being too strict, for the general good”) are when something is illegal but allowed. In this category, you get the ongoing practice of the [formally forbidden] Catholic faith in the 17th century, a willingness to host various blasphemers, the open trade in soft drugs (and not-soft drugs), and various tax dodges.
  • Variations on racism (from Zwarte Piet to the kindertoeslagaffaire), hypocrisy (anything where agriculture/industry meets sustainability), and corruption (there are many “interesting” relations between companies and politicians; the Royal Family).
  • Intense internal debates, discussions and fights that are not shown in public.

Now let me be clear that the Dutch are not really that bad (the NL is in the top of 10% of countries, IMO), but the problem here is perceptions, i.e., that the Dutch as direct when they are not… always (or consistently).

It’s a good time to note that my background combines Silicon Valley, academics,  economics, the port of San Francisco, and years of independent travel. So I am pretty direct.

… and most people are not, which means they are probably “fine” with the ways of the Dutch. OTOH, some people are not OK, because they get a different experience than they expect (the bullets above will help you guess what’s surprised and upset people).


Aside: Why are the Dutch (and many other cultures) this way? One factor is that people who are “stuck with each other” tend to put a lot of weight on giving and saving face, as they need to get along, and it doesn’t always help to criticise someone who you may later need for help. In “not-stuck-with-you” cultures (where there’s a lot of migration and change, such as “settler countries“, the academic world, ports, the places frequented by travellers), it’s much easier to say what you think, because the worst outcome is going away, which most people there often do. So, when it comes to “exit, voice, loyalty,” The Dutch (and others who can’t exit) stay silent rather than speaking up (voice) or obeying laws (loyalty). I’m sure this factor deserves more thought (please comment on any part of this post!), but it’s a start.


My one-handed conclusion is that you should be careful in accepting or understanding the Dutch when they claim they are “direct.” You don’t need to ask for examples; you only need to speak in ways that are direct without threatening “face.” In other words, don’t melt the snowflakes.

Interesting stuff

  1. Read: The rise of the unregulated “lifecoach” industry
  2. Read: Smart: “Housing activists, officials and researchers are deploying new tools to empower tenants, spotlight negligent property owners and curb evictions in U.S. cities.
  3. Read: It’s Time to Stop Talking About “Generations”“So who were these silent conformists? Gloria Steinem, Muhammad Ali, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Noam Chomsky, Philip Roth, Susan Sontag, Martin Luther King, Jr., Billie Jean King, Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez, Berry Gordy, Amiri Baraka, Ken Kesey, Huey Newton, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Andy Warhol . . . Sorry, am I boring you? It was people like these, along with even older folks, like Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, and Pauli Murray, who were active in the culture and the politics of the nineteen-sixties. Apart from a few musicians, it is hard to name a single major figure in that decade who was a baby boomer. But the boomers, most of whom were too young then even to know what was going on, get the credit (or, just as unfairly, the blame).”
  4. Read: Inflation is back: The US hit 5.9% (annualised)
  5. Read: The thorny truth about socially responsible investing (it’s not)
  6. Watch: Container homes are a terrible idea
  7. Watch: The story of oil (and how we got climate change, 50 years after we saw it coming)
  8. Read: “Time millionaires” are enjoying life more than pursuing money. Related: The 9.9% (upper middle class) who are simultaneously harming themselves and destroying the world in their quest to “stay on top.”
  9. Read: Is the Democratic Party’s tail (woke college elites) wagging the dog (the median voter)? That would explain how they barely beat T**p. Related (and very interesting) read: Hungary’s anti-gay laws are not nearly as dangerous as the EU’s attempt to force the country to wokeness.
  10. Listen: Energy, capital and commodity markets are disrupting each other

Help improve my book, part last!

Last week, I asked for your comments and suggestions for chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 of The Little Book of the Commons.

This week, I am back with the rest of the book (6 chapters), which total 21 pages 🙂

As before… If you have time, then please read, comment and suggest ways to improve chapters 8-13 [a pdf on google drive].

Here’s the whole PDF to read/comment on until 15 Dec 2021. After then, I will make final edits before I publish the book in Jan 2022.

My goal is to have a clear, easy-to-read book, so I am trying (often failing) to minimise footnotes and academic quibbles, so please do say if I am too far in the weeds or losing you.

I will be teaching with this book in November, so your early and helpful comments will be very welcome!

Interesting stuff

  1. Read: Natural gas prices spike due to an “unbalanced energy mix (good analysis).
  2. Listen: An excellent perspective on the CCP’s use of markets to leverage themselves to a socialist (centrally controlled) paradise.
  3. Read: John Carreyou, the reporter who broke the Theranos scam, on Elizabeth Holmes’s trial
  4. Watch: Why city design matters (and I live in Amsterdam)
  5. Read: Insider trading is the norm in US stock markets
  6. Read: It’s time to switch from cloth to N95 masks
  7. Listen: The whistleblower behind the Facebook files explains how the company is putting far too few resources into fighting disinformation, often because it doesn’t want to lose “engagement” (ad revenue). Extremely related, read how Zuckerberg’s empire of 2.9 billion is a “hostile state” to democracy. Related: MIT on FB’s “dangerous algorithms”
  8. Read: The best way to transition from fossil fuels to renewables is to raise the price of fossil fuels. What does the Dutch government do when natural gas prices spike? Rush to spend (taxpayer) money on subsidizing gas prices. This is a total fail. (A partial fail would be to send more INCOME to poorer households, which coild then decide to spend more on gas… or food or clothes…)
  9. Why is US media so negative (and why that poisons public discourse)
  10. Listen: The Sunday Debate: The Battle Over Free Speech: Are Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces and No-Platforming Harming Young Minds?

Help improve my book, part 2 (of 3)

Last week, I asked for your comments and suggestions for Part I (Preface plus 3 chapters) of The Little Book of the Commons.

This week, I am back with chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7, which total 13 pages 🙂

As before… If you have time, then please read, comment and suggest ways to improve chapters 4-7 [a pdf on google drive].

Here’s the whole PDF to read/comment on until 15 Dec 2021. After then, I will make final edits before I publish the book in Jan 2022.

My goal is to have a clear, easy-to-read book, so I am trying (often failing) to minimise footnotes and academic quibbles, so please do say if I am too far in the weeds or losing you.

Next Monday, the last 6 chapters!

Interesting stuff

  1. Read: Rebooting one’s career as a teacher at 50 years old
  2. Read: A real generational gap in mental models has emerged: Kids (“these days”) don’t understand files and folders on computers.
  3. Read: Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com
  4. Read: More climate change, more rain, more mosquitoes, more disease
  5. Read: Three tales of “up by your bootstraps-style” American Dreaming: The collapse of the LuLaRoe MLM cultan influencer who’s succeeding by telling it like it is and Gig-workers organise (world wide) for their right… to know what they will earn.
  6. Read: The problem with the internet is not that everyone can talk but that everyone can listen. The resulting cacophony undermines our social relations.
  7. Read: Americans have no idea what the supply chain really is
  8. Read: How medieval monks reduced (non-phone) distractions. Related: Our brains evolved for habits not uncertainty.
  9. Watch: Greta Thunberg is amazingly smart (put her in charge!)
  10. Watch: Want affordable homes? Your best move is to change the zoning laws to allow more density.

 

Can you help improve my book?

Late last year, I announced that I was writing a new book — The Little Book of the Commons — and that I was looking for people to read, review, comment and improve it.

In February, I got some useful feedback. Then I got distracted (teaching, boats, Covid, you know the drill) and slowed down.

Now I’m back!

I’ve revised Part I (25 pages) and finished a draft of Part II (around 40 pages), and I am looking for your help!

If you have time, then please read, comment and suggest ways to improve this draft of Part I [a pdf on google drive].

Here’s the whole PDF to read/comment on until 15 Dec 2021. After then, I will make final edits before I publish the book in Jan 2022.

My goal is to have a clear, easy-to-read book, so I am trying (often failing) to minimise footnotes and academic quibbles, so please do say if I am too far in the weeds or losing you.

I hope plan promise to have Part II up in the next two weeks, so start soon if you can 🙂

Interesting stuff

  1. Read: So Mailchimp deleted ALL my subscribers for new posts because I didn’t “log in” — that’s a pretty shit move (and widely criticized) when I was using service and had no reason to log in (it was working!) Anyways, I am now using a new service (Mailpoet), and you can sign up with the popup on my blog (please tell me if it doesn’t work!).
  2. Read: Why myths about (racial) superiority endure, in the face of science
  3. Read: South Africa struggles to “get respect” for its COVID policies from richer (but more dangerous) countries.
  4. Read: Private law in Iceland worked between 1000 and 1300 (before the King asserted monopoly authority). Reminds me of the successful “pirate constitutions” of the early 18th c.
  5. Read: How police manufactured and sold “secure” phones to criminals and then used their incriminating messages to arrest hundreds 
  6. Read: Using local residues to track the origins of raw materials in supply chains (and reduce fraud)
  7. Listen: How Xi is using the state to take over the economy (again)
  8. Listen: Some insights on the (good/bad) potential futures of AI
  9. Watch: John Oliver on ransomware
  10. Read: Food is getting more expensive hunting is getting harder in the Arctic as the ice melts and water warms. Related read: Americans living in flood zones are (slowly) facing the real cost of insuring their risks — and they are not happy

H/Ts to MM and TJ