# On bullshit.

[It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left
you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnNkaO1EMyQ) without a dope
newsletter to step to.\*\
\
Doesn't quite do it.\
\
Anyway, it's been a few days longer than usual between newsletters.
There's no writing from me this week, I've been busy prepping for the
launch of 2015 99U Conference ticket sales. As a result, this one is
extra full of awesome readings. There's been a bunch of great stuff
circling the web, it's almost like summer ended or something.

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There's a different between knowing something and knowing how to do
something. This is why UFC fighters can kick a black belt's ass. "But
fighting is chaotic. It's often unpredictable. It doesn't systemize well
and it's difficult to pass on as a body of knowledge." [On martial arts
and
bullshit](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/09/martial-arts-and-the-cycle-of-.html).\
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"There are lots of ladies around me, everywhere I go, who hesitate to
say what they're thinking and feeling. They go with the flow, they never
make waves. And eventually, they don't even seem to know what makes them
who they are. They live to serve. They read the books that other people
are reading. They say the pleasant things that other people are saying.
They never put their needs first, unless it indirectly serves someone
else — a manicure, some highlights. They make sure everyone around them
is 100 percent satisfied. Like grocery-store managers. Like customer
service reps. Like masseuses who also give free happy endings." A
bracing response from Ask Polly [on having agency in your
life](http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/09/ask-polly-why-dont-men-i-date-ever-love-me.html).
Its written with women in mind, but that didn't stop me from wanting to
tape this article to my bathroom mirror. \
\
**The Economist raises a prescient** **question**: if we're funding news
sites like tech companies, [can we expect tech company
exits](http://www.economist.com/news/business/21615595-investors-are-taking-interest-journalism-now-news-read-all-about-it)?
My guess? I hope so, but probably not. \
\
**The U.S. is burnt out on war after the last decade**. Is this fatigue
[actually sabotaging our long-term
interests](http://online.wsj.com/articles/robert-kagan-why-the-u-s-wants-to-avoid-conflict-1409942201)?
Related: the best primer on Iraq and ISIS [comes from Wait But
Why](http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/09/muhammad-isis-iraqs-full-story.html)'s
visit to a refugee camp. Choice excerpt: "Whatever I was holding, it was
something bad, and I didn’t want to ask what it was. I asked. He pointed
across the tent to a little boy and explained that I was holding part of
his skull." \
\
**You've heard your grandparents say "when I was young I played outside
all day!"** Maybe that's because, um, [they were allowed
to](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-lost-right-roam-generations.html).\
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**When employers say they cant find** any qualified workers [it's
because the companies are cheap and
lazy](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2014/09/05/what-employers-really-want-workers-they-dont-have-to-train/).
This is just further proof that taking responsibility for your own
career means doing a lot of learning. And increasingly that learning
needs to be on your own time and dime. This is why my favorite interview
question is: what are your side projects?\
\
**We spend a lot of time trying to fill our schedules**, our minds, and
our wallets. But sometimes, [a little nothingness is in
order](http://nautil.us/issue/16/nothingness/my-own-personal-nothingness).\
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**A third of all divorce filings in 2011** [contained the word
"Facebook."](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-relationship-status/story?id=16406245) \
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**Giga OM: White guys aren't the only ones who start media companies**.
Mostly. [You just have to
look](http://om.co/2014/09/11/irony-of-takes-and-rushed-laziness/).\
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**Goldman Sachs had warehouses full of aluminum.** It took that aluminum
out, drove it around the block, and [somehow made a boatload of
money](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/business/a-shuffle-of-aluminum-but-to-banks-pure-gold.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).
I hate Goldman Sachs. Related, [this is everything you ever wanted to
know about the
current ](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-03/the-goldman-sachs-aluminum-conspiracy-lawsuit-is-over)[aluminum markets](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-03/the-goldman-sachs-aluminum-conspiracy-lawsuit-is-over).\
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**Some cultures have linear** **concepts of time.** Others are cyclic.
[Different cultures think about the clock
differently](http://www.businessinsider.com/how-different-cultures-understand-time-2014-5).
So that means, yes, there is such thing as "Italian time." My personal
policy: everyone gets to be 10 minutes late, no questions asked. Temple
coach Fran Dunphy's policy is "If you're early, you're on time. If
you're on time, you're late. And if you're late, you're only thinking
about yourself."\
\
There are two irrefutable trends afoot: SF is expensive thanks to a
booming tech sector. And that booming tech sector is increasingly
designed-focused (designer founders are a real thing). The result: [top
designers get
paaaaiiiddd](http://www.gv.com/lib/how-top-startups-pay-designers). Side
note: That linked article is by Daniel Burka, a fantastic designer,
early Digg employee, an early Milk employee (bought by Google), and now
he's a design partner at Google Ventures. He writes about the ways
startup founders can get away with paying designers less to increase
runway. I have mixed feelings on artificially repressing wages of
startup employees. And, after all, [the tech world has been through this
before](http://pando.com/2014/03/22/revealed-apple-and-googles-wage-fixing-cartel-involved-dozens-more-companies-over-one-million-employees/).\
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Startups Anonymous is an organization with one goal: to help depressed
and lonely entrepreneurs. This is a bigger issue [than we
realize](http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/09/tech-has-a-depression-problem/380004/).
I've spoken with more than one founder or early tech employee that
suffered from panic attacks and anxiety due to the stress. Be kind to
each other out there.\
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Why did Amazon raise VC money way back when? Because they were part of a
massive land grab and were defining a market. A 2000 blog post by Joel
Spolsky asks: [when should you
bootstrap](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000056.html)?\
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**Last week I wrote about how we should kill the job title**, and why
our job title affects our small talk. My friend Alex Hillman pointed me
to his essay on [conversation starters that actually facilitate a
connection](http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2014/08/conversation-therapy/).\
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**You know what's fun? Watching Darren Sproles**. You know what's really
fun? Watching Darren Sproles [set to Mario
music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OINLdK90udE).\
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Time's up. Sorry I kept you.\
\
Sean\
\
*\*Listen to the entire Paid in Full album
[here](https://play.spotify.com/track/53eSPiEnq4XkQSxczX7iKA?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com).
Thank me later.*