Action Figure Daniel

Author: Daniel

  • “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez

    • Whenever we do not collect gendered data, it is inherently biased
    • Male is the default while female needs to be called out
    • Women’s contributions over time have often been erased because it was improper or because that could not afford to maintain their legacy
    • Men are unmarked and women need to be
    • “There is no such thing as a women who doesn’t work. Just women who do unpaid work.”
    • 25% of Americans return to work within 2 weeks of giving birth
    • Men and women have different measurement and we design for women
    • Phones and wearables (including contraceptives) are designed for men
    • Most drugs are only tested on men
    • Many drugs that work for men literally have no effect on women
    • GDP excludes unpaid household work

  • “Bomber Mafia” by Malcom Gladwell

    • The realization:
      • The bomber always gets through
      • This means we can bomb during the day
      • So we can pick our targets
      • With a bomb sight, we can keep altitude
    • Transaction memory
    • England bombed indiscriminately: they thought they could break the Germans will even though Germany had not broken their will
    • The Bomber Mafia was trying to save lives
    • Japan surrendering when it did, saved it from being carved up like Germany and kept them from starving in the winter
    • “The cleaner the bomber gets the more likely you are to use the bomber. “

  • “Mind Over Money” by Claudia Hammond

    • Money represents what can be
    • Money allows us to quantify and exchange trust
    • The promise of money does not trigger the same places in the brain as something exchangeable for money
    • “Shekels” used to be a measure of barley that workers would get for a day’s labor
    • We loath signing our future-self up for work
    • We are usually willing to pay a premium to avoid the chance of regret
    • Often, buying a more expensive something lets you feel better about the medication and food
    • The “Compromise” premise (showing a high price to start thing inclines us to buy something between the most and least expensive item) disappears when we complete the transaction
      • It is only around when we have something to compare
      • To avoid the premise: While shopping, imagine the thing in the context of its final placement
    • Financial incentives teach us to only work when there is an incentive
    • “Yes, money does have motivational power but only as long as it is getting paid.”
    • Financial rewards represent a “physical” manifestation of our work
    • Praise should be honest and succinct
    • “Pay enough or don’t pay at all”
      • (Don’t go cheap with friends)
      • A small gift is better than paying a friend
    • Help people to understand they have some control
    • We view poor people with disgust and as non-human
    • Ask rich people for a donation not a deal
    • We want things people we like have but only if it is achievable
    • We are okay with people doing immoral things if it is for “enough” money
    • Gamblers tend to see “near misses” rather than “losses”
    • We like to think we hate taxes but we actually like to pay them
    • “Thrive” and “Thrift” come from the same word

  • “Range” by David Epstein

    • Diversity tends to teach nuance that focused study cannot
    • Where patterns do not clearly repeat, experience does not bring insight
    • “Chunking” lets us group things into known patterns that can more easily be recalled and acted on
    • Do not reward people for a singular solution as it will reduce exploration
    • Modernity changes how we make sense of the world
    • Improvising turns off the self-critique part of the brain
    • Showing shortcuts bypasses learning and only teaches the rules
    • Retrieval is all about the journey
    • Repetition is less important than struggle
    • Look to other disciplines to solve tough problems
    • Use analogies to other projects before estimating a current project
    • Instead of trying to predict “what you like”, try to predict “who you are like”
    • “A problem well-put is half-solved.”
    • Sometimes people drop out simply because they realize they are not good fits (rather than lacking grit)
    • Before starting, we should determine when we should quit
    • The question is not “whether” we are gritty but “when” we are gritty
    • We tend to use “local search” to find solutions in “known pools”
    • We need both birds for their vision and frogs for their depth
    • Hedgehogs tend to get worse over time
    • Ask for the missing data!
    • Focus on “making sense” not “making decisions”
      • This lets you change direction later if the facts change
    • Send “mixed messages” to help stir up a stale mate
    • We have a really hard time letting go of familiar tools

  • “Rising Strong” by Brene Brown

    • Do not gold plate grit
      • If your story is gritty, talk about it. Talk about how hard and painful it was. Make people listening do not think they are broken or bad because they cannot push through as easily as you seem to have.
    • Stop “living” the emotion; instead, feel it
    • Hurts and pains cannot be compared
    • Whining is fine but realize your standing in life
    • Recognize you are feeling something
      • “Offloading” is dealing with emotions without engaging with them
    • Be curious about why
      • We have to know something to be curious about it