Japan’s Oil Bunker
Japan spent the first decades of the twentieth century becoming extraordinarily good at carrying bunkers. The country that entered the twentieth century was dramatically different from the Japan […]
Category: Economics
America Is a Pacific Power — You Just Need the Right Map
Americans don’t usually think of the United States as a Pacific country. California is where the country seems to stop, Hawaii floats in a little box somewhere off […]
Putin Goes to the Kurils
On August 13, 2026, Vladimir Putin traveled to Iturup, called Etorofu by Japan, becoming the first Russian president to visit the disputed Kuril Islands. He toured a school, […]
How the Washington Naval Conference Turned Into a Poker Game
In November 1921, representatives of the world’s major naval powers arrived in Washington to negotiate what amounted to one of the most expensive games on Earth. The United […]
John Daly and the Bunker Problem
Robin Williams famously made one of the funniest observations about the game of golf by reducing it down to it’s absurd fundamentals. Someone took a perfectly good landscape […]
Why Third Places Matter More Than Ever
We often treat loneliness as if it’s an individual problem. Maybe someone isn’t particularly likable. Maybe they lack social skills and come across as awkward. Maybe they’re rude […]
The Incentives We Create
After I began paying closer attention to incentives, I noticed something unexpected. The idea was no longer limited to economics. It gradually became a way of observing almost […]
Why Incentives Matter More Than Intentions
When something goes wrong, our first instinct is usually to look for someone to blame. We ask why a company made a particular decision, why a politician voted […]
What Great Magazines Understood About Beauty
Spend a few minutes with a magazine from the 1930s through the 1960s and you’ll notice something different almost immediately. The illustrations invite you to pause before you […]
Why Trust Will Decide the Future of AI
After using ChatGPT for less than two weeks, I’ve already come to a conclusion that differs from both the fear and the hype surrounding artificial intelligence. Before I […]