Prescriptions for Ozempic are up nearly 600% over six years. It works. People are losing weight.

But that's not the whole story.

We see unexpected changes with reduced pleasure-seeking and risk-taking behaviors.

It modifies your personality

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/the-hidden-r… These drugs are being tested at a massive scale right now. Turns out people have lost interest in their previous interests, like gambling or drinking alcohol or sex drive.

We don't really know what's going on. These were unexpected side effects

The Art of Not Getting Fired

If you are useful, it doesn't mean you are valued.

Useful employees are susceptible to being fired depending on company health.

That's an entirely different set of metrics for determining value.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/the-art-of-n… The useful vs value frame belongs in the classic workplace text library alongside Parkinsons law, peter principle, the gervais principle and the 4HL

Today, we’re often advised that true health requires intense self-reflection and therapy, with an emphasis on looking back. But this perspective is actually quite modern.

Ancient literature warns against looking back.

You don't have to look back

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/you-don-t-ha… A forward focused approach is what usually comes up in ancient literature.

How did humans conquer the world? People mention fire, bigger brains, and tools, but no one talks about the real reason—our evolved shoulders.

Our Shoulders are the most unique in the animal kingdom, they’re the reason we survived and thrived.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/in-praise-of… Our shoulders tend to get injured frequently if we're not careful.

That's become we sacrificed stability for mobility

our shoulders evolved to throw. Not to swing from branches

Relationships Have Changed A Lot Recently

1) Marriage is now the final step instead of the first step in life

2) Men and women increasingly pair within similar socio-economic and intellectual backgrounds.

But one thing hasn't changed. The Charming Man

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/relationship… Marriage rates have dropped but that's because it's not the same thing as it once was. It's the final step, not the first step. So of course it's going to be less people doing it.

We still don't know the consequences of assortative mating yet

"our hostages"

There is a big attempt at merging America and Israel into one country. It suits the Israelis since it gives them an empire with unlimited money and military arms.

Does it suit the USA? I'm not sure. But it's really weird. I've never seen anything like this before. This is the logical endpoint to a situation that started decades ago

It just seems to be accelerating toward an explicit union after the Gaza war.

The World is Divided into Nations with Thin Cultures and Thick Cultures.

Moving from a Thick Culture to a Thin Culture was ultimately what the Sopranos was about.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/thick-thin-c… America is a thin culture nation. What binds us together is not much.

If you speak another language or have been immersed in another country it is obvious.

But if you grew up here you would think this is what the entire world is like

People say this quote a lot but what it misses is that the environment has changed.

1999 was very similar to 1982.

But 2024 is not similar to 2002.

https://twitter.com/morganhousel/status/1794944533874225663

What are the differences between then and now?

there are a lot

Let's go over them

1) Stuck Culture

Decades aren't changing anymore. Clothes, haircuts dont change.

Movies are all sequels

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/culture-stuck

Today on the Lindy Newsletter

Doing Hard Things is Fun When You Have a Safety Net

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/safety-nets-… When you don't grow up with money you wonder why people who do have a lot of family money tend to do hard things. Like becoming a doctor. Or grinding in various other jobs

It's because the safety transforms your brain

Today on the Lindy Newsletter

The Goal is Not the Goal.

The Side-Effect is The Goal.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/goal-not-goa… Have you seen that Rick Rubin video?

He says that his creative process is about making art that he likes. That’s the objective. Then, as a by-product (or side-effect), the art that he likes could be something that an audience likes too.

https://x.com/ApprCulture/status/1758815302303830497

Vulgar Wave supermodels put on some great fashion shows.

https://twitter.com/Sargon_of_Akkad/status/1761584136328716706

Today on the Lindy Newsletter

Are you looking for a high trust society? Are you looking for low crime rates? Are you looking for happy, healthy people who smile and wave to you?

There's no need to move abroad.

Just become a morning person

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/world-8 A lot of content on twitter is going viral lately decrying the state of certain areas of America.

But a funny thing happens if you just get up at 5am every day. it's an entirely different world

I have a theory that most major sports leagues have been figured out. NFL, Tennis, NHL, etc. They are optimized now. Most fans don't see it. But the game has been solved. Take the NBA for example. It is mostly played at the perimeter or up close.

The same thing happened with Baseball. The game began just being all about strikeouts and home-runs. So the game spiraled into 3-4 hour play time and fans started to hate it.

So they introduced a pitching clock. And it worked. the game finishes quicker. But that doesn't mean the gameplay is not optimized.

If we look at the stats, it is the same game as last year or the year before with the same amount of strikeouts, home runs and hits. It's still optimized. But the game finishes faster.

Take a look at Strike outs, Home Runs and Batting Average this year. It is exactly the same as last year.

Once a game is optimized. Once it is "figured out" it becomes very, very difficult to change the style of play

You're going to have to introduce new rules.

It's going to be this way forever unless you change the game.

There is this notion that passports or travel documents are a recent thing. That isn't true. They've been around for over a thousand years

He mentions Lord Byron here. Byron had a passport and even complained about passports in his poetry

https://twitter.com/corncommunist/status/1709849546778722705

In Rome only citizens were allowed to roam freely. How did they know you were a citizen? Travel passports

Today on the Lindy Newsletter

I'm worried about the future of Chicago

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/im-worried-c… Chicago has participated in the great American Urbanism revival of the last 20 years. I was born in the city and grew up there. I can see the positive changes

It is truly a great American city with New York City as it's only peer. Even though coastal elites disrespect it

Vulgar Wave.

A period of 17 years(1990-2007) when pop culture catered exclusively to men 18-30.

https://twitter.com/PEARLFOUNTAlN/status/1700120896680140984

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/vulgar-wave

Today on the Lindy Newsletter

We do not know how to stop population decline

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/will-world-l… One of the defining features of our current age is declining fertility rates. Once society achieves a certain threshold of economic well-being the society than begins to have a lot less children.

Large swathes of the planet is under replacement including China, The US, Europe,… https://t.co/H8CJkZvcKOtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Today on the Lindy Newsletter

Why do we even need politicians?

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/people-afrai… Last week we see one 90 year old Senator not know what they were voting on. Another 81 year old Senator had a stroke in public but everyone treated it as normal.

We're increasingly becoming a gerontocracy with no end in sight. the age of congress just keeps going up.

It's a rational strategy. The longer you're in congress the more power you have. That means more favors to your citizens.

But at a certain point someone gets so old that their entire staff runs their office. Who is their staff? I have no idea. You have no idea.

People enjoy Art Deco because it was part of an evolution. A continuity from what came before it. It's slightly different but in the same tradition. It includes dimensions, color, finishes, ornamental, motif, details, etc.

What came after Art Deco was not an evolution. It was a… https://t.co/gK9cZMaaqxtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…

https://twitter.com/Culture_Crit/status/1666923272464658434

If we want to make Architecture good again. We have to start back in Art Deco and evolve from there.

Today on the Lindy Newsletter

Hollywood has been mediocre for awhile now and it doesn't look like it's going to turn around anytime soon.

It may be finally time to say goodbye for now.

lindynewsletter.beehiiv.com/p/saying-goodb… It's been years now where the big box office films have been rehashed intellectual property, sequels, or teenager genre that pretends to be adult.

I think that's enough for me.

The good news is we have 80 years of good films to view when we want to peek into good cinema

Weird.

They don't have data before the industrial revolution You had to be at least 60 years old to be a senator in the Roman Republic