Greetings from down South! We moved last weekend on short notice, so I missed a few posts, but I’m back to share a few things I’ve been especially intrigued by.

Read

Article: IT’S TIME TO BUILD by Marc Andreesen

I really enjoyed this article on reevaluating America in response to the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. It’s a futuristic and imaginative approach to rebuilding. The article invokes the disaster response philosophy of “build back better.”

A favorite excerpt:

I expect this essay to be the target of criticism. Here’s a modest proposal to my critics. Instead of attacking my ideas of what to build, conceive your own! What do you think we should build? There’s an excellent chance I’ll agree with you.

Watch

Video: Woodturning – A Coffee Mug

This is a fun woodworking video on using a bunch of different methods to create a coffee mug. It’s also very therapeutic watching something so intricate being crafted from start to finish.

Video: Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly: Be passionate. Be courageous. Be your best.

A mix of politics, astronaut, and inspirational. I loved hearing Gabby and Mark lead us through their experience.

Listen

I’ve been passively interested in urban planning and architecture for quite some time. I started to dig up some podcasts on how we think about cities. Here are some interesting listens, and please share some resources with me if you have any favorites!

Podcast: American Cities in the Age of COVID-19, with Dr. Edward Glaeser | Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw (Apple Podcasts)

An intellectual discussion on the politics of cities and COVID-19 cash handouts.

Disclaimer—There are plenty of things I don’t agree with Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) on, but his opinions are well thought out, and I appreciate the discussions and guests on his podcasts even if they just better define my stance on issues.

Podcast: Alex Danco: Amazon, Cities, and Disruption | North Star Podcast (Apple Podcasts)

I love this discussion on how data giants like Amazon, Google, and Apple fit into cities and what that looks like from a privacy standpoint.

Podcast: Ryan Singer: Design and Consciousness | North Star Podcast (Apple Podcasts)

As the head of Project Strategy at Basecamp, Ryan has no formal training. He discusses how software as a field is so new that he draws from architecture for great design and aesthetics.

Act

I need some work on John Lee Dumas’s “LBNI—learning but never implementing” concept. I consume so much content (specifically audio), but do I ever act on it? Well, sometimes.

Generally speaking, I pull nuggets from everything I consume, and at the very least, it helps me form and refine opinions about the world, but there are so many things that fall by the wayside and never get implemented.

Granted, sometimes that’s deliberate. Meditation and cold showers are two things I have said no to after giving them a shot. I’m sure I’ll revisit them down the road sometime, but for now, I’m not interested in incorporating them.

Learn

Partnerships: NASA announces return-to-moon contract winners (LinkedIn)

NASA’s long-awaited contracts for missions to get us back to the moon have finally arrived! This is a big win for the future of space. As a Lockheed Employee, I am thrilled at the National Team partnership and excited to cheer on peers in the aerospace industry.

Ponder

Idea: Is a degree the only way to be “qualified”?

We consider doctors someone who goes through medical school and residency and is formally trained on how to perform their profession. Does the same apply to every career field? Certainly not, but what about those where formal training is mandated by society, government, etc.?

Can you be an economist without formal training? Can you be an engineer without an engineering license? Can you be an accountant without your CPA?

I tend to frown on those that consider themselves engineers when they don’t have a degree in engineering, but then you get people like Adam Savage or Elon Musk who have so much institutional knowledge and on-the-job training and self-taught skills that does it really matter that they don’t have a degree?

I definitely want a surgeon or someone overseeing the construction of a bridge to have a degree, but then again, if safety is the concern, should Elon Musk be running companies that create autopilot vehicles or rocketships?

So then is it just that they need to be surrounded by the right people? I wouldn’t call the CEO of Microsoft—a company known for its software—a software engineer, but I would call the President of the United States—a political entity—a politician. On the flip side, I would call them both executives. So then it can’t just be the position that they hold.

I’ll probably expand this idea into a short essay to elaborate more. I’d love feedback on my line of thought.

Quote: Henry van Dyke

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

As I am slowly refining this newsletter, I’d love feedback on the format and content. I am particularly interested in how to share this newsletter with you regularly. I post it to Twitter and LinkedIn. Would you rather receive it as an email? Do I need to set up an RSS subscription? Reach out in the comments or via Twitter (@JonnyMHenderson).