📚 Airbus story, Construction physics, Arguing with a toddler, Sam Altman on productivity, Rethinking money
Behind the scene at neal.fun, Costco in France, Trunks & travelling & more
Hello, this is post #208.
I’m settled back after the vacation and trying to find a routine. Work was manageable, but the interior work was in full swing this week, keeping me on my toes. We’re almost there—within a couple of weeks, our dream home should be ready to move in. Can’t wait!
Another thing that’s kept me busy and glued to the screen is Shonda Rhimes’ new show “The Residence.” There’s something about her storytelling—punchy, weird at times, but always keeps you hooked. If you’re into murder mysteries, give this one a shot.
Last week’s post got an unexpected response—low open rates and engagement. Not sure what went wrong. If you have any thoughts, feel free to share. If you missed it, the link’s at the bottom of this post.
For now, here’s a quick look at what I found exciting this week.
Before we dive in; a quick favour …
If this piece sparks even a tiny ‘hmm’ or ‘aha!’ along the way, do me a kindness: tap the ❤️ or drop a thought in the comments. Curiosity thrives when we trade reflections, not just clicks.
And with that out of the way, let’s get to our main features.
✈️ The Airbus Story
Europe is a graveyard of failed national champions. They span from the glamorous Concorde to obscure ventures like pan-European computer consortium Unidata or notorious Franco-German search engine Quaero.
Airbus is the rare success story. European governments pooled resources and subsidised their champion aggressively to face down a titan of American capitalism in a strategically vital sector. Why did Airbus succeed when so many similar initiatives crashed and burned?
If this question intrigues you, Alex Chalmers’ “How Airbus took off” is a good crash course on Airbus history & what made it successful. There are plenty of surprising insights, but two stood out for me:
How English as the official language helped a truly collaborative effort across different European (and non-English-speaking) nations.
How assigning clear focus areas to each party let them go deep without creating overlap.
This post reads like a recommendation letter for the most collaborative project of the century. If you care about such things, you should give it a read.
🏗️ Construction Physics
Brian Potter lists 50 things he learnt writing Construction Physics over the last four and half years.
If you haven’t heard of it, here’s how he describes the newsletter: “Construction Physics is about the technology and economics of building construction, with a focus on improving productivity and reducing costs.”
I discovered it just last year and found the posts surprisingly deep and interesting. It’s not the flashiest topic, but pieces like why skyscrapers became glass boxes and how to build 300,000 airplanes in 5 years were fascinating. I had shared them in earlier editions too.
Here are two surprising and counterintuitive takeaways from his list. They remind us how little we actually know about the big industries that make our comfortable lives possible.
Prefab construction is typically not any cheaper than conventional, on-site construction, either in the US or around the world. When it is cheaper, it’s often because it takes advantage of low-cost labor, rather than for efficiency reasons.
Bricks haven’t gotten cheaper since the mid-19th century, despite massive improvements in brickmaking technology.
🤷 Argument with a Toddler
Seth Godin talks about how to win an argument with a toddler. And his two cents is that you cannot.
And here’s why.
That’s because toddlers don’t understand what an argument is and aren’t interesting in having one.
Toddlers (which includes defensive bureaucrats, bullies, flat earthers, folks committed to a specific agenda and radio talk show hosts) may indicate that they’d like to have an argument, but they’re actually engaging in connection, noise, play acting or a chance to earn status. It can be fun to be in opposition, to harangue or even to use power to change someone’s position.
A short post packed with sharp insight on human interactions. Seth Godin has a real gift for writing like this. His blog is full of such gems, and it’s well worth subscribing to.
💯 Sam Altman on Productivity
Sam Altman has an interesting blog on productivity. Here’re a couple of snippets that stand out.
About what you work on:
It doesn’t matter how fast you move if it’s in a worthless direction. Picking the right thing to work on is the most important element of productivity and usually almost ignored. So think about it more! Independent thought is hard but it’s something you can get better at with practice.
About meetings:
I generally try to avoid meetings and conferences as I find the time cost to be huge—I get the most value out of time in my office. However, it is critical that you keep enough space in your schedule to allow for chance encounters and exposure to new people and ideas. Having an open network is valuable; though probably 90% of the random meetings I take are a waste of time, the other 10% really make up for it.
I find most meetings are best scheduled for 15-20 minutes, or 2 hours. The default of 1 hour is usually wrong, and leads to a lot of wasted time.
It’s fascinating the way he has described his approach to productivity. Worth a read. His writing has found place in the past editions as well. In case you’re interested you can check out: how to be successful, the days are long but the decades are short and what I wish someone had told me.
(via Readwise)
👾 Behind the Scene at Neal.Fun
Anu Atluru sits down with Neal Agarwal. The name might not ring a bell, but mention neal.fun and you’ll probably remember something weird, delightful, or wildly viral he created. As Anu puts it, he’s the indie game artisan behind a cult-favorite corner of the internet.
I’ve been a big fan of his work. Even my kids love visiting the site whenever they get a chance. So I was excited to read this interview — and it definitely gives a good peek into what makes neal.fun so special.
One thing that surprised me: Neal’s first (and only) job was with MSCHF. He worked as a programmer, building websites for their wild monthly drops. Sometimes, the website itself was the drop. Makes sense now, right? A place like MSCHF is a perfect playground for someone like Neal. He shares more:
It was never boring, every month you were working on something different and completely insane. You would get a slack DM like, hey we’re gonna make a gun buyback program where we take your gun and melt it down to a sword, can you make a website for that. I loved how MSCHF saw the web like a creative medium like I did.
The right environment can spark real growth. Neal found that at MSCHF, even if just for a while. He later left to chase his dreams with neal.fun — and the rest is history. It was a joyful conversation that left me smiling and inspired.
🧳 Trunks and Travelling
Trunks and travelling takes us back to the world of 19th-century ship journeys. Travelers faced real challenges: packing smartly to balance weight limits and protect their belongings, preparing for both the sea voyage and the destination, and then dealing with long customs inspections, often in front of nosy officials and curious onlookers eager to peek into the lives of the rich and well-traveled.
Magazines of that era were filled with detailed articles, reviews, and stories about trunks and travel. This fascinating post just scratches the surface and makes for a super interesting read. Here's a sample:
The assorted labels and markings visible on travellers' trunks acted to ease the baggage handling and reclaim process. Several labels here feature a large 'G' for Grigsby as upon arrival at port, luggage would be offloaded and deposited in zones under the initial of the owner's surname. In much the same way as travellers today affix eye-catching ribbons or stickers to their luggage, ocean-faring travellers were also encouraged to "have trunks marked with full name and some striking sign – a red star, or white cross – for ready identification" (Ladies' Home Journal, New York, May 1905).
(via Lila Krishna’s The India House List)
🛒 A Visit to Costco in France
David Lebovitz visits a Costco in France. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be excited to see what he discovers and how he describes it. And let me tell you, he does a great job. Sharp observations, good visuals, and witty commentary bring his experience to life. I loved it!
Some tidbits:
I am a professional shopper. Actually, I truly am. In France, you have to declare your status as to what you do.
Kind of funny that Mac & cheese has come full circle and is coming back to France. James Hemings, the slave and chef of Thomas Jefferson brought it to America from France, after Jefferson sent him to Paris to learn about French cooking and he learned about gratin de pâtes, which became Mac & cheese. The one at Costco didn’t look very promising, so I took a pass.
As for pancakes, they’re sold pre-made, in bags, in France. And when I say bags, that’s plural. If you look closely, you can see they’re wrapped inside the bag, in bags of 2. And here I am, rinsing and drying all my plastic bags to reuse as many times as possible to save the planet.
Pecans and zip-lock bags — those are the two things we always ask Siddhant to send from Costco. I was happy to see David mention them in his post too.
It also reminded me of my first trip to Singapore. Visiting IKEA was at the top of my to-do list — in fact, it was the first thing we did after landing, before heading to the Night Safari. I felt like a kid in a candy store, wide-eyed, wishing to buy everything, and actually buying way more than I needed. David’s post brought all those memories rushing back.
(via MR Blog)
✨ Everything else
The Elementary School Disciplinary Record of Jesus Christ. McSweeney’s has outdone themselves in this one. Hilarious!
“Failing history. Insists on listing all dates as ‘Before Me’ and ‘After Me.’ Guidance counselor says that he is ‘unusually egocentric for a child of his age.’”
Rethinking Money: Seedbills is a design project that pushes you to rethink our economic system and imagine new possibilities, all while learning about some of the most important seeds for humanity. I love the concept and the way they’ve told the stories. It’s a visual delight too! (via Dense Discovery)
Agostino lacurci vibrantly reimagines urban facades through his Monumental Murals. Stunning work!
ICYMI…
Last week’s post was a quick visit to the “Stay Curious” archive to find interesting nuggets on two themes: Travel & Singapore. If you’ve not read it yet, you can find it here:
That's all for this week, folks!
I hope I've earned the privilege of your time.
If this piece sparked something for you, I’d love to hear what stood out—leave a comment and let’s keep the conversation alive. And if you know someone who’s always asking "why?" or "how come?", pass this along to them. The world gets more interesting every time a curious mind shares what they’ve found.
Nice curation of stuff :)
Loved the Airbus story, it's always fascinating to see and it's a simple proof right minds anywhere can put up a great show together.