One major contributor to this sort of thing has to be the way that Google Maps displays maps by default. Instead of showing the user a map with north at the top of the page, it shows a map with YOU at the center, like a video game. This produces a sort of geographical myopia in the user. I might even dare to say that this "You-centered" cartography also subtly contributes to a kind of narcissism. Whole decades pass in the minds of millions of G-Map users in which they never once stop to consider that the world is larger than their personal "left" or "right." For them, the world's shape is only a boring chore and not a humbling wonder -- a network of tedious asphalt turns and destinations and nothing else. Stopping to ponder its enormity or the marvels of its objective shape would only result in the smartphone commanding you to "PROCEED TO THE ROUTE." The result is this: painful levels of geographical illiteracy and a weird, self-involved kind of parochialism. Many say "I don't care which way is north or south, I only care that Siri takes me where I need to go." As if Siri was some sort of Sherpa underling, and the G-Map user was some kind of airheaded Brahmin of such high stature that they consider knowledge about the world to be dismally boring and utterly irrelevant. If you MUST use Google Maps, for the love of God, please adjust your settings to show the map properly, with north at the top of the page. This small change could increase your geographical "sense" considerably, and perhaps even induce you to look at the world with a heightened sense of awe. Hell, it might even get you to open up a paper map once in a while simply for the joy of it.

In September 2011, ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Barack Obama sent a personal letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper thanking Canada and Canadians for their help during Operation Yellow Ribbon. He wrote: “In one of the darkest moments of our history, Canada stood by our side and showed itself to be a true friend.” “We remember with gratitude and affection how the people of Canada offered us the comfort of friendship and extraordinary assistance that day and in the following days by opening their airports, homes and hearts to us.” “On this anniversary, we recognize all the gestures of friendship and solidarity shown to us by Canada and its people and give thanks for our continuing special relationship.” Under Operation Yellow Ribbon, more than 33,000 passengers on 224 diverted flights were rerouted to 17 Canadian airports, including Vancouver, Gander, Halifax, Goose Bay, Whitehorse, Edmonton and Calgary.

NEW: Since taking office, Karen Bass has solicited more than $38M to charities from corporations, unions, other foundations & wealthy backers, including $2M from Lineage after the Boyle Heights fire. More on “behested payments” and how Calif. officials use this form of power: lamaterial.com/p/la-karen-ba…

One unusual thing I noticed about Copenhagen: their bike bridges are stunning. Apparently, most of the public infrastructure isn't designed by engineers alone, but by architects and world-famous artists too. Some bridges intentionally curve instead of taking the shortest possible route. The curves slow cyclists down, make the ride safer, and give riders better views over the water. And they discovered something else too: building beautiful bike infrastructure can actually create cyclists. When Bryggebroen opened in 2006, planners expected around 3,300 cyclists a day. Within months, more than 9,000 were crossing it.

Took my wife and our 3 kids to see it on Sunday during previews. Sold out show, and the kids loved it. These parents loved it too.

‘COYOTE VS ACME’ includes a message in the film’s end credits thanking the audience for saving the film. “Dedicated to everyone who posted, shared, held up signs and spoke out when it counted. This film made it to the big screen because of you.”

Coyote vs. ACME is only in theaters this Friday.

NEW: I reached out repeatedly last week to Median Strategies, asking to speak with their head of polling. After reaching out repeatedly, they told me they were discontinuing their polling operation, then they admitted their poll was fake. latimes.com/california/story…

We just published our internal 37signals Manager Playbook. basecamp.com/managers Inside we share what’s expected of managers, team leadership philosophies of 37signals, our "Hell Yeah" standard, how to navigate difficult conversations, and how to balance management duties with core individual contributor work. Plus a whole lot more. There are no "just managers" at 37signals, so the individual contributor bit is key. Questions? Comments? Post 'em here and I'll do my best to make sense.

Totally! You listen to old songs, and they used to reference all kinds of cities. Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Cleveland, Tulsa, Fargo, Denver. Depressing how economically hollowed out much of the country has become. Imagine how much more extreme it'd be if SF/NYC liberalized zoning.

Mayor @ZohranKMamdani: Anyone who has stood on a subway platform in August knows that our stations do not just get hot. They turn into underground saunas. This new thermal energy study will explore the possibility of using the heat that accumulates in this station over the summer to heat the municipal campus above us come winter. We would capture heat in boreholes underground and install a system of circulating pipes that use the heat to warm our municipal offices. This would be the first thermal energy system of its kind in any American transit system, a historic feat that would not only help the city to save money and limit steam consumption, but help us mitigate the extreme level of heat in our subway stations.

Grocery margins are low is a frequently rehashed point to argue against Mamdani’s public grocery stores. Grocery is indeed a low margin business. But its median return on invested capital is above that for all firms, so it is NOT a low profitability business. Let me explain. 🧵

You people were paying $200 a MONTH? Have you no self respect?