Trying to figure out why things work. Mixed results.
Dan Bond writes about the decisions, systems, and incentives that shape why things succeed or fail. Marketing, behavioural psychology, architecture, housing policy, and whatever else is interesting.
Category or tag:
history
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Housing and the arithmetic of counting backwards
There’s a story about a Soviet factory manager in the 1960s who got bonuses based on the tonnage of nails produced. He manufactured one enormous…
READ TIME:
4–6 minutes -
The 64k universe
There’s a specific moment from 1991 that I remember standing in my friend’s bedroom, watching a brown and beige computer boot up. I’d been using…
READ TIME:
3–5 minutes -
Gas tubes to good vibes
Georges Claude was trying to solve a lighting problem in 1910, not invent the aesthetic foundation of every trendy 21st century coffee shop. But there…
READ TIME:
4–6 minutes -
Buildings that grab attention: Googie
In 1949, architect John Lautner designed a coffee shop in West Hollywood that looked like it might blast off to Mars at any moment. Which,…
READ TIME:
6–9 minutes
