48: Notes To Self

Yo, it’s Luke!

Been dabbling back into drawing, forgot how nice it is!

That said, here is your weekly dose of 5 noteworthy ideas & things I learned about last week. Click on each link to dive further on that topic.

1. Cappadocis, Turkey

For thousands of years, Cappadocians lived in natural towers formed from hardened volcanic ash. They used these caves as sheltered homes, churches, even entire underground communities that offered protection from frequent raids. Crazy!

2. Revolutions / Inventions by Siblings (Neeraj)

Yo John, Paul, & Maureen — what are we revolutionizing? We could do something cool like these sibs:

• Film: Lumiere Brothers

• Flight: Wright Brothers

• Online Payment: Collison Brothers (Stripe)

• Adidas and Puma: Dassler Brothers

• Entertainment: Afaik Brothers (Disney) + Warner Brothers

Also, it’s pretty shitty to think about how many inventive women were restricted of the opportunity for no good reason.

3. Calley and Casey Means (JRE)

This is one of the most eye opening podcasts I’ve listed to in a while. Even got me to call my congressmen about a few bills! It’s all about how the incentives of our food and healthcare system screw over Americans’ metabolic health.

Some things I learned:

• 40% of high school students qualify as having a mental health disorder.

• 75% of Americans have diabetes or are pre-diabetic (vs 1% in 1950).

• 60% of Americans have a chronic disease.

• 90% of the largest killers of Americans are preventable conditions tied to lifestyle habits.

We are told lifestyle interventions are hard, but they are not incentivized. Our healthcare system is incentivized to profit from managing disease once we are sick.

• 90% of medical spending is on managing conditions.

• 80% of medical schools in the US don't require a single nutrition course.

• 95% of the USDA Food Guidelines for America Committee had a conflict of interest with the food industry.

• 8,000 major conflicts of interest were just reported at the National Institute of Health, with food and pharma.

This shocked me. I knew it was bad, but my lord!

The best action we can take is telling our congressmen to not let bills that perpetuate the issue (farm bill & Ozempic bill). Learn what to tell them here.

4. The Better Version of “Ignorance Is Bliss”

Clarity might just be the best north star out there (if you measure life by enjoyment, fulfillment, and impact).

So much power to recognizing and admitting “I don’t know”

5. Too Good

🤣

Thanks for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday! If you liked this edition, send it over to a friend who would like it too 🤝 

Cheers,

Luke

PS: you can find more rabbit holes here & my writing here.