Multi-Purpose Military Sneakernets
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
If I’ve got a video on my phone that I want to share with my friends, there are two basic ways I can go about it. One is to send them the video. The other is to put my sneakers on, walk over to their homes, and hand them my phone. That second method is sometimes called the “sneakernet”. It refers to using physical modes of transportation to move digital files, whether that be on foot, or by using a train, plane, ship, or truck (etc.), or even by using a carrier pigeon. The sneaker in sneakernet refers to shoes, but also, in some cases, to sneaking. Within North Korea, for example, there is So ..read more
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How to stop me from changing the channel during regular season hockey games
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
Like many Canadians, hockey and basketball are the two sports I watch most. Though I enjoy both equally – and in the playoffs, probably even prefer hockey a bit – I generally watch a lot more regular season basketball than hockey. I suspect this is true for many hockey+basketball fans, especially in the United States, and perhaps also among younger generations of fans in Toronto. With this in mind, here are a few regular season rule changes that would prevent me from changing the channel during hockey games. I’m not saying the NHL should make any of these changes. (Except for the first one, wh ..read more
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NBA-style Hockey
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
NBA teams score about 40 field goals per game on average, not counting free throws. NHL teams score about 3 goals per game on average. Per minute of play, the number of field goals in an NBA game is about 16.5 times higher than the number of goals in an NHL game. An NHL team would need to score about 50 goals in a game to equalize those figures. The basketball-inspired alternative version of hockey I’m about to describe probably won’t have 50 goals per team per game, but it will have a lot more than 3. Its purpose however is not just to maximize scoring opportunities. Even more than that, it i ..read more
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Six Alternative 2nd Overtime Ideas for NHL Regular Season Games
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
Everyone who watches hockey knows that a second overtime period would be much better than the shootout. But the NHL hasn’t gone for this yet, perhaps because it worries that fans still like the shootout, or perhaps because the players don’t want additional overtime periods that would increase their workload and risk of injury. If either of these are the reason why we still have shootouts instead of second overtimes, then here are some alternative forms of second overtime that might overcome these objections: No players who played in 1st OT are allowed to play in the 2nd OT The top-line playe ..read more
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Game On: Road Traffic as Enemy #1 During Covid
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
One of the ironies of the truck protests in Ottawa is that they helped show that socially vibrant outdoor gatherings and activities can take place, even in very cold weather, so long as streets are at least partially shut off from car traffic. The protests also provided yet another illustration of the reality that large, loud vehicles and frustrated drivers tend to make city life worse than it needs to be, especially for people who are elderly, disabled, sick, or poor. In many cases, these are the same people who have been hurt most by Covid-19. It is an interesting thought experiment to wonde ..read more
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The Warmly Behatted Bike-in-a-Box, for Winter Outdoors
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
The bike-in-a-box is a way to stay warm, fit, and social in cold outdoor weather, in a way that doesn’t waste energy. It’s a little bit like a one-person portable sauna (see ridiculous pictures below), except that it’s not actually a sauna, and it can be used by more than one person at a time. The idea is this: you put one or more stationary recumbent bikes inside an insulated box, with a hole on top of the box for your head (your warmly behatted head) to peep out of. Ideally the bikes also have heated seats, so that you’ll be warm when you first sit down, before you’ve had a chance to heat up ..read more
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Archway Bikeways (with low-ceiling outer lanes)
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
For every 10 men over 65 years old in Canada, there are nearly 12 women over 65 years old. For every 10 men over 85 years old, there are roughly 20 women over 85 years old. This is true of most countries, more or less. Combined with the fact that older people tend to get shorter as they age, this means (among other things) that senior citizens, and especially older senior citizens, are on average much shorter than younger adults are. Seniors, and children, also tend to be much more vulnerable to traffic than adults in general are. This includes not just auto traffic, but, in cities smart enoug ..read more
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Introducing Youber and Twober
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
Uber is bad, for the most part. It has tended to cause an increase in road traffic and pollution. It has also been far from profitable (though it might have turned a small profit last year), despite not paying its drivers or food-couriers well. So, here are two half-baked alternatives, Youber and Twober. They would, perhaps, create less traffic or pollution than Uber, and be more efficient and sustainable for drivers or investors as well. I don’t expect they will actually ever happen, or that they would be successful if they did, but hey, you never know: Youber – a combination of ride-sharing ..read more
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Game On: Road Traffic as Enemy #1 During Covid
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
One of the ironies of the truck protests in Ottawa is that they helped to show that socially vibrant outdoor gatherings and activities can easily take place, even in very cold weather, so long as streets are at least partially shut off from car traffic. They also provided yet another example of the well-known fact that large, loud vehicles and frustrated drivers tend to make city life worse than it needs to be, especially for people who are elderly, disabled, or poor. It is an interesting thought experiment to wonder what the pandemic would have been like if we had focused on making our street ..read more
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Anduin Prime: Middle Earth in the Second Age of Amazon
Future Economics
by Joseph Shupac
2y ago
Amazon has entered its Second Age. Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO last year, a generation after founding the company in 1994. Amazon’s market value has become second only to Apple and Microsoft, its revenues and number of employees are both second only to Walmart, and its profitability – after being famously unprofitable or profit-neutral until about 2017 – now ranks near the world’s highest. Middle Earth, meanwhile, is entering its Third Age. Christopher Tolkien, the good steward and workhorse of his father JRR’s writings, passed away in 2020 at 95 years old. His editing and publishing occupi ..read more
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