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Some writing challenges:

I have written a dozen or two introductions to my book. Never do I consider any of them practice. Each feels perfect as I conceive of it before writing. I take care to write each one as best I can. As I write, I think…

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?

Browse the Archive

2026

August

16: This week’s selected media, August 16, 2023: The Gates of Fire, Nuremberg, the Eternal Jew
15: 858: Beth Bailey, the great-grandmother influencer leading the cleaning of Mérida, Mexico
14: Environmentalists promote education, especially of children, distracting from effectiveness, part 2
13: Environmentalists promote education, especially of children, but it mostly delays action
12: Some writing challenges:
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), The Nazi And The Psychiatrist, 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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