Andrew Coy
husband & father; cyclist; former senior advisor in obama white house;
senior strategists for csforall; nomcon lead; owner of initial velocity...
Behind Schedule
On-the-Fly Decision Making
Apparently, walking on the moon is pretty breathtaking. It also appears to have been pretty unpredictable as well. Or rather, the teams of engineers who had to meticulously plan every detail (to make sure the astronauts had enough things like oxygen, water, and power, among other things) could only rarely predict how long any given task . . .
Shutdown
2018
While the government has shut down in the past, this is the first time there has been a shutdown when a single party controls both the White House and Congress – ever.
It costs a lot of money to shut things down, and even more in lost productivity.
There will be plenty of a blame-game to go around now, but there are no two ways . . .
$306 Billion in Damage
16 Natural Disasters in 2017
2017 was a bad year for damage-causing disasters. On average, according to data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, there are 6 billion-dollar disasters a year in the United States. Last year, however, there were 16, costing more than $306 billion dollars in damage.
The other day I heard someone ask, if climate . . .
Least Productive Month
Research Shows
Apparently, research shows that January is statistically the least productive month of the year.
That doesn't mean stuff doesn't still get done this month – it just means it's not as robust a month as others. Spending the first two weeks sick with the flu definitely put the month behind for me in terms of getting things done. I'm . . .
When a Map Isn't Really A Map
History of Civilization
I have often found myself wanting metro maps to be geographically accurate – to line up more precisely with what is above ground. I wonder if I had grown up with more confusing but accurate maps, would I have wanted them to be more geometric?
I wonder how many things in life we simplify in order to comprehend, all without a second . . .
Directly Disturb
Living Systems
Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela observe in the Tree of Knowledge, as quoted in The Power of Onlyness by Nilofer Merchant (which I began reading today):
“You can never direct another living system. You can only disturb it.” (page 142)
Said another way, while it is possible to feel like you are controlling another . . .
Prepared Against
Given Weaknesses
Although getting sick for the first two weeks of 2018 was not part of my plan or goals, despite this I have been making some progress on my New Years Resolutions. Today, I finished my first book of the year, The Book of Mormon. As I was reading it today, one passage, in particular, stood out.
Towards the end of the book, there is an insert . . .