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Volunteer Discipline

The rule on volunteering with the group I volunteer with is that when you sign up for a shift, you’re responsible to clear all the food the place is donating that day. You might recall I pick up overstock food from stores that would otherwise…

How I read books I disagree with

I read a lot of books I disagree with or am skeptical of. How else would I expect to learn? How else can I expect to develop compassion or empathy?

857: Kim Stanley Robinson: Science fiction writing and leadership

I met Stan in person at an event in Brooklyn. I had read Ministry for the Future a few years ago. He pointed out something I hadn’t noticed since most people identify him as a science fiction writer. Ministry for the Future isn’t exactly science fiction. He…

Syringes on a Sunday afternoon, following doof on a Sunday morning

I haven’t posted about finding syringes and people shooting up in a while. Last fall or winter the city decided to increase the police coverage of Washington Square Park and the neighborhood. Nobody thinks it decreases the use of fentanyl and other drugs of despair,…

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2026

August

11: Volunteer Discipline
10: Heartbreaking: A seventh grade teacher on parents supporting students cheating with artificial intelligence
9: This week’s selected resources, August 9, 2026: Superabundance (again), Locke and property papers, Quaker history
8: Do we want diverse groups dominating and oppressing other diverse groups or to stop domination and oppression?
7: How I read books I disagree with
6: A surprisingly effective trick to use my phone less
5: If we want an energy transition we don’t need more so-called “renewable”. We need less fossil fuels, which we aren’t doing.
4: 857: Kim Stanley Robinson: Science fiction writing and leadership
3: Syringes on a Sunday afternoon, following doof on a Sunday morning
2: This week’s selected media, August 2, 2026: Ultimate Resource 2, Melania
1: Submedia coverage from a quarter century ago

July

31: They say “Writing is rewriting.” I sure am writing a lot.
30: My favorite phone app that saves the battery and connects me with people and community
29: 856: David Jenkins, President of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
28: Sunday’s donations reveal how much stuff people throw away, often brand new
27: “There is no place that I’d rather be,” I thought, until the ATV and used diaper
26: This week’s selected media, July 26, 2026: Goliath’s Curse
25: People call cities noisy and dirty, but suburbanites create the noise and mess
24: Why environmentalists lose and how they can win
23: America’s largest release of radioactive waste wasn’t Three Mile Island. It was Church Rock, mainly affecting the Navajo Nation
22: Elon Musk says “Those without children lack a stake in the future” but lives the opposite.
21: Slippery double standards about harming people
20: How we view the suffering we cause others today versus 200 years ago
19: This week’s selected media, July 19, 2026: Washington: A Life, The Real Dawn of Everything videos, The Odyssey
18: Doof: when you bought it you consumed it
17: Women-Founded Garbage
16: Environmentalists: Are you proud that to get back at BP, you don’t stop buying their products?
15: More conservatives promoting socialism
14: Secret video of Beth picking up litter goes viral in Mexico
13: I found a paper I coauthored on Wikipedia
12: This week’s selected media, July 12, 2026: New York 2140, George Washington documentaries
11: Documentaries about George Washington: I am embarrassed as an American to have learned so little so far about him, but am rectifying the gaffe.
10: Can the Constitution Save the Planet?: A professor of environmental law’s view, part 1
10: 855: Peter DeCarlo PhD: Shocking Cancer Alley research from the scientist who did it
8: Last week’s heat wave, air conditioning, and fragile, entitled people
7: The replication crisis in science and religion
6: Recent peer-reviewed research that when people live as I do, they prefer it and don’t want to go back
5: This week’s selected media, July 5, 2026: Four Horsemen, Daredevil: Born Again, Young Washington, Jackass: Best and Last
4: Some notes on 1776
3: 854: John Perkins, part 2: New Book Preview: The Art of the Steal (and restoring American ideals)
2: Why I avoid polluting and depleting
1: Beyond no electric bill: Money returned from allegedly fraudulent overbilling

June

30: Environmentalists fund pollution and depletion
29: Lifting: not always progress
28: This week’s selected media, June 28, 2026: Plastic Inc., Free to Be You and Me, Psychedelics, Friedemann
27: Do you still believe in an “energy transition”? Learn Alice Friedemann’s research
26: Letter to the World, version 2
25: A curse of mastering personal leadership
24: Do you believe Exxon and peers were wrong to sell and burn fossil fuels when they knew the results?
23: A tragic comment the dean said about artificial intelligence at my 20 year business school reunion
22: Reflections on my business school 20 year reunion
21: This week’s selected media, June 14, 2026: The Machinery of Freedom, Twilo
20: First we pave more land nearby and it’s no big deal…
19: When did you last prepare a meal from scratch?
18: Finally, a critic of Limits to Growth who may have actually read the book
17: What do we do about past choices that ended up violating our values? Do we just give up? Wouldn’t you rather win?
16: Letter to the World, version 1
15: How to Win: OG Anunoby, Game 4 Knicks
14: This week’s selected media, June 14, 2026: Progress, History of the World (semester 1)
13: The 5 greatest flaws I see in environmentalism
12: A silly post I couldn’t help posting
11: 853: Kate Williams: CEO, 1% for the Planet
10: “Are we running out of land for landfills?”: A Richard Feynman view from the 1986 Space Shuttle disaster
9: Some of my favorite solo podcast episodes
8: “Could Switzerland Become the First Country to Cap Its Population?” asks the New Yorker, and I comment.
7: This week’s selected media, June 7, 2026: The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, Slavery–Summary on a Map,
6: NYU’s president breaks NYU’s rules, to pollute and deplete of course
5: More roots: an ancestor who worked with George Washington and on the Continental Congress
4: What I love about expensive gyms
3: More Personal Bests: floor press, single-arm row, Turkish get-up
2: The Timeline for Pollution and Depletion’s Effects on People
1: The Scale and Pollution and Depletion’s Effects on People: Here, now, not future projections

May

31: This week’s selected media, May 31, 2026: Gulag, American Citizenship and Its Decline, Live Avant Garde music
30: The Hanford Nuclear Site
29: 852: Steven Pressfield, conversation 2: His new book, The Arcadian (and A Man at Arms)
28: About the comments to yesterday’s NY Post article about not using air conditioning
27: Read about me in today’s NY Post: “No AC? No sweat! Meet the New Yorkers sweltering through summer — by choice”
26: There are many ways to meditate
25: Did you know Stalin was Asian? As were other historic figures including Jesus, Abraham, and Muhammad.
24: This week’s selected media, May 24, 2026: The Gulag Archipelago volume 3, All the Vermeers in New York, Fetishized
23: This Sustainable Life again named one of the top environmental leadership podcasts
22: Year 5, Day 1 with my apartment disconnected from the electric grid
21: What artificial intelligence does to our minds
20: Most people don’t realize how much stupid stuff they do every day that they consider critical
19: Should I fear posting concerns about artificial intelligence?
18: 851: J. Eric Oliver: How to Know Yourself
17: This week’s selected media, May 17, 2026: Thoughts on Government, Winning the Story Wars
16: Do you want to deprive others of free speech?
15: If you can’t walk away, you aren’t free. Freedom requires not depleting nonrenewable resources.
14: Why the government not enforcing the Constitution and Declaration makes avoiding polluting and depleting hard
13: Parents just don’t understand
12: Wounded warriors, by Clint Eastwood, and us
11: Wounded Warriors, by Steven Pressfield, and Ourselves
10: This week’s selected media, May 10, 2026: The Arcadian
9: RIP Edith Eger, Survivor of Auschwitz, Author of The Choice
8: More Julian Simon confusion, considering homelessness
7: Do people talking about AI understand exponential growth?
6: Artificial Intelligence isn’t improving people’s lives. It’s helping them fulfill their roles, which rarely improves their lives.
5: John Adams nailed the US today
4: So corrupt, integrity looks extreme
3: This week’s selected media, May 3, 2026: Changing views of extinction in history
2: May Day / No Kings Garbage.
1: Artificial Intelligence and atrophy of mental ability like intelligence, self-awareness, emotional regulation, and expression

April

30: More Americans died in the Civil War than all other wars combined
29: Volunteering as meditation
28: More of what you gain from stopping polluting and depleting
27: Clarifying what people get when they pollute and deplete less
26: This week’s selected media, April 26, 2026: The Great Divorce and How to Know Your Self
25: Donated blood for the first time in a while, courtesy Sebastian Junger’s post
24: 850: AJ Harper, part 1: Write to change lives, including yours
23: A new insight on beliefs
22: 849: Josh Bandoch, part 3: How to Get What You Want: Mastering the Art and Science of Persuasion
21: Environmentalists rarely try to solve the problem
20: Why do we fund our enemies by air conditioning the outdoors?
20: The Constitution has no extraneous protections.
19: This week’s selected media, April 19, 2026: Heirs of the Founders, Led Zeppelin’s catalog
18: The ability to empathize with or speak for the oppressed isn’t what we think
17: What we can learn from jarring images from the Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA
16: Nonfood things I’ve bought this year
15: Discipline Equals Freedom: Two years no hot showers
14: The futures that futurists imagine are what I envision: Yet more evidence living without polluting or depleting isn’t regression
13: 848: Peter Simek, part 1: EarthX’s CEO
12: This week’s selected media, April 12, 2026: How to Get What You Want, Climate Capital, This Is Spinal Tap, Circle Game Online Course
11: First plogging and barefoot run of 2026
10: How are government incentives for larger families not socialist, New Deal-type programs?
9: Democrat Garbage: When Democrats Say They Value Sustainability, They Mean When It’s Convenient For Themselves (Republicans Probably No Different)
8: Colonized doesn’t mean Indigenous. Being there when colonizers arrived doesn’t mean there first.
7: How I watch videos I find online: not online
6: I Challenge You to Find an Environmentalist Who Doesn’t Argue Against Sustainability
5: This week’s selected media, April 5, 2026: Caste, Margaret
4: Every group claims Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Douglass. Every group says the other produced Calhoun and eugenics.
3: What’s with toothpaste globs in sinks and pointless hot water use?
2: Rediscovering “The bigger your achievement, the more it’s a beginning” through Turkish Get-Ups
1: Unearned Power

March

31: Two recent videos I recommend: “Every Reasons to Hate Cars” and “What I DON’T Buy Anymore (Because of the 1940s)”
30: Reader responses from “Help restore my shaken confidence in people from Christmas Eve day”
29: This week’s selected media, March 29, 2026: Born Equal and The Princess Bride
28: Did America wrongfully denigrate “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”
28: I’m not looking for them, but hours after my last post: more trashed Christmas Pagan Trees
27: The last Christmas Pagan Trees of the Season?
26: More on Eric Williams’s “Slavery was not born of racism: rather, racism was the consequence of slavery”
25: Did Paul Ehrlich Help or Hurt His Cause?
24: See me in the Washington Post’s Climate Coach again
24: Year 11, day 1 no flying
23: Are we pseudoscientists?
22: This week’s selected media, March 22, 2026: Two documentaries: Ulysses S. Grant and Eugenics
21: Would you have acted in the gravest historical times?
20: Environmentalists argue against sustainability with me
19: Something important missing in my life
18: TYMCALM: Common and Advanced Legitimizing Myths around polluting and depleting
17: That’s Your Mind Creating A Legitimizing Myth (TYMCALM)
16: Another walk in the park with family Spodek Method commitment
15: This week’s selected media, March 15, 2026: The Gulag Archipelago volume 2, The Battle Over Citizen Kane, Totalitarian Novels (course)
14: Denial like ours
13: Unnecessary words that distract and detract
12: Started a new razor today, my first in almost a year
11: Leslie Jones and the Daily Show getting votes for Trump
10: The last Christmas Pagan Tree of the season?
10: The first warm day of the year means overflowing doof garbage, of course
9: The United States situation regarding pollution and depletion
8: This week’s selected media, March 8, 2026: Gulag documentaries
7: Why consistency? Self-awareness and integrity
6: The last Christmas Pagan Trees of the season?
5: More wealth or stuff doesn’t mean freedom: Distinguishing freedom from abundance and prosperity
4: “All it is is pain”: Skier Jessie Diggins on discovering her potential
3: Heritage Foundation promoting socialism, as usual. Charlie Kirk did too.
2: The importance of doing and talking about unimportant things
1: This week’s selected media, March 1, 2026: Citizen Kane

February

28: We celebrate in garbage: Chinese New Year version
27: 847: Tzeporah Berman: Ending Fossil Fuels by Treaty
26: Podcasts and blogs I follow
25: More heartbreaking garbage
24: Another Spodek Method commitment: a walk in the park with family
23: Today’s blizzard, February 2026
22: This week’s selected media, February 22, 2026: The Gulag Archipelago volume 1
21: If you wait to solve all the challenges of zero pollution and depletion before starting, we’ll never start. If we start, we’ll solve the problems.
20: How cute and adorable the garbage from doof dealers
19: Does every group think they’re the best?
18: Silly bathroom question: Am I missing something here?
17: 846: Gail Eisnitz: The Inside Story of a Life Investigating Factory Farms
16: Why don’t the left and right look at themselves the way the other does? Or do they, but I can’t find it?
15: This week’s selected media, February 15, 2026: Cinefiles
14: Visiting the Jackie Robinson Museum
13: 845: Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon: The War on Cars and Life After Cars
12: Civil war results: obligation to kill old friends
11: A rat and plastic in Washington Square Park, of the many due to garbage and litter
10: See me on Korean TV!
9: Volunteering is like a holiday
8: This week’s selected media, February 8, 2026: The Abolition of Man, Scarface, Aristotle’s Ethics
7: On open email on Scott Galloway’s “Resist and Unsubscribe” initiative
6: Two months of Christmas pagan trees, hundreds of trees, thrown away
5: Another personal best: (floor/bench press)
4: Did Thomas Jefferson start scientific racism?
3: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and living more sustainably in a culture that rewards polluting and depleting
2: The redlined neighborhood I grew up in
1: This week’s selected media, February 1, 2026: 8 Billion Angels, Is Atheism Dead?, I Feel Love

January

31: My Spodek Method commitment to make water ice from snow: A photo essay
30: Jobs don’t just mean working in a dominance hierarchy. They mean working for the whims of people with rank.
29: Criticism of Lomborg: The Lomborg Deception and other challenges
28: I’m endlessly amazed at how the body acclimatizes to cold
27: Another time garbage nearly brought me to tears
26: Meditation thoughts: What is meditation?
25: My first time since starting not finding litter in Washington Square Park, because over six inches of snow covered it.
25: This week’s selected media, January 25, 2026: In the Mood for Love, Cool It
25: The Coldest Day of the Year
24: Heating the outdoors, pure deadweight loss
23: Year 16, day 1: posting here daily
22: The joy and satisfaction of a hand cart falling apart from so much use
21: Wow, some hard work volunteering in the cold yesterday and today.
20: There will always be something just beyond our grasp we crave. Or we can learn to stop craving.
19: Where the problems with social media come from and the big result, part 1
18: This week’s selected media, January 18, 2026: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Myth America, Blow Out
17: Another big, passionate writing day
16: I searched “comprehensive list of environmental solutions.” No wonder everyone feels hopeless and gives up.
15: My neighbors leave their windows wide open in temperatures below freezing, presumably blasting their heaters
14: What I wonder when people ask how I get by
13: The Atlantic Magazine ads
12: 844: Maya Lilly, part 1: Effective Storytelling and Producing The Years Project
11: This week’s selected media, January 11, 2026: Common Sense (my first draft), The Female Brain, Wise Guys, Never Split the Difference
10: Finished the first draft of my next book
9: Can you help me understand how liberals and progressives view leadership?
8: Some of the most thrilling words I’ve read in literature
7: Limited government advocates and big government intrusion. What am I missing?
6: 843: Judith Enck, part 2: The Problem with Plastic (the Book)
5: What Makes Things Meaningful in Life
4: This week’s selected media, January 4, 2026: False Alarm, Eve’s Bayou, This America
3: My favorite books and movies of 2025
2: A sidcha and self-awareness update
1: If you want to travel, the opposite of what you should do is to fly
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