08/09/2024
Ahoy Townspeople #001
Welcome to the first edition of Ahoy Townspeople! This is a bi-weekly newsletter where I share my random thoughts, found treasures, and other interesting things I come across.
Findings
Rory Sutherland
Self proclaimed “direct marketer” and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, Rory Sutherland is a fascinating character. Loved his ability to connect seemingly unrelated dots and his take on human behavior. Some of the gems of his or ones that he shared are:
- “The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea.”
- “Buy two dishwashers.”
- “Human beings don’t just use reason to make decisions, we use reason to justify decisions that we’ve already made.”
- “It’s easier to be fired for being illogical than it is for being unimaginative.”
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Curated collection of typefaces that are available under a variety of free licences somewhere on the interwebs.
Miscaellanea
- The guy who sold an imaginary nation to willing but gullible buyers was called Gregor MacGregor. I have no sympathy for the buyers, who would believe a man called Gregor MacGregor?
- Internet made race to the bottom the new norm for many industries, or at least turbocharged it.
- There’s an open source project that can lock pick your lock. For more, check out unlocked.
- Started on the carving of three lino blocks. One of them is a secret for know but the other two are:
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Books
A brief list of books that I’ve recently added to my to-read list:
- How to Have Impossible Conversations | Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay
- The Alignment Problem | Brian Christian
- Roadside Picnic | Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
- Algorithms to Live By | Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
- Social Acceleration | Hartmut Rosa
- The Long Earth | Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
- The War with the Newts | Karel Capek
- The Sellout | Paul Beatty
- Obvious Adams | Robert R. Updegraff