The other was this headline from the Washington Post: Climate change could swamp this island. Home sales are surging; Maryland’s iconic Smith Island faces one of the nation’s most dire forecasts for rising seas, but real estate is booming.

https://wapo.st/46EuZbm

The first article has to do with people in Oregon being upset about their property being designated a wildfire risk: https://www.eenews.net/articles/people-exploded-can-oregons-wildfire-plans-survive-the-public/

Read two completely unrelated articles today that highlight people’s irrational, emotional attachment to the status quo and the lengths they’ll go to protect it, even when evidence strongly suggests a need to change.

Brings two quotes to mind: “People don’t resist change; they resist being changed.” –Peter Senge

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” –Leo Tolstoy

But instead of passing the savings from those efficiencies along to customers, USAP actually raised prices at roughly double the rate of similar practices. Why? Because the market allowed it! Scarce resources + high demand = higher prices. They did what a rational economic actor would do… raised rates until they got pushback (from United Insurance) and then backed off slightly once they found their ceiling. Law firms do this all the time — it doesn’t matter who owns them. /

I’m still digesting the full article, but I’m not sure that the whole thing isn’t just “capitalists gonna capitalize.” There is an even higher barrier to entry for anesthesiologists than there is for lawyers, but in both markets there are extreme supply shortages. Part of what the PE-backed firm, U.S. Anesthesia Partners, claims to have done is increase efficiencies by consolidating back office systems and tasks. That’s not a bad thing… /

As many of you know, I’m generally in favor of legal regulatory reform to allow outside investment as a way to fund innovation and increase access to justice. But stories like this are good reminders that we can’t be blind to the potential for abuse. Regulatory reform is not the same thing as deregulation. https://wapo.st/3O03HEZ #lawfedi

I know I'm a broken record, but I'm going to keep on saying it - your campfire and fireworks this weekend are not worth the chance of starting a fire in these conditions. It's hot, it's dry, it's windy, and the gorge is already burning.

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/02/tunnel-5-fire-underwood-washington-evacuations/

#Oregon #Washington #fire #wildfire #PNW

@Aminorjourney @pyoor Fred’s Sound of Music on Hawthorne maybe? Or Mississippi Records?

Trying to me more active on here with another redeath of twitter and the first major death (I think) of reddit…

Not much to announce today except that I totally loved seeing Cory Wong & his amazing band at the #pdx Waterfront Blues Fest over the weekend.

His Meditations album with Jon Batiste is my new favorite chill out record. Reminds me of 1980s Wyndam Hill. https://tidal.com/album/142396234

Tips/Tricks/Hacks/Programs For Tracking Time https://www.agileattorney.com/tips-tricks-hacks-programs-for-tracking-time/

Close the Closable https://www.agileattorney.com/close-the-closable/

Kanban Adoption is Exploding https://www.agileattorney.com/kanban-adoption-is-exploding/

What Should My Law Firm Overhead Costs Be? https://www.agileattorney.com/what-should-my-law-firm-overhead-costs-be/

Save Free TV - Let's Stop ATSC 3.0 DRM ! Broadcasters are Encrypting Over the Air TV Channels! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkQdDZYYeQA

What Should My Law Firm Overhead Costs Be? https://www.agileattorney.com/what-should-my-law-firm-overhead-costs-be/

Great article that uses a discussion of Hulu’s The Bear (which I L-O-V-E) to fuel a deeper discussion about how the restaurant industry is making (slow) progress towards healthier, less toxic workplaces.

Much of the same could be said of the legal industry (but we don’t currently have a hit show about it).

If you liked Ted Lasso, S2 of The Bear has some similar vibes.

Article here (contains mild spoilers): https://wapo.st/3CVSKhD

Maybe the solution to AI isn't letting some other AI decide what is and isn't made by AI

@damienriehl My other hang up — and this one is probably not engineerable — is that I use my writing as a tool to improve my own understanding of things. (See William Zinnser’s amazing book, Writing to Learn). I'm not trying to scale my writing; I’m trying to improve the quality of both my writing and my thinking. For my subject matter (applying Agile to law), there isn’t a lot of material for GPT to draw from, and a lot of it is mine to begin with.

@damienriehl Thanks for those. Both are interesting, and simultaneously seem like a giant PITA to do and get right (especially while I’m in a busy stretch). I’'ve had creeping doubts lately around whether we are in 2023’s version of NFT hype. I feel like this is different, but I'm not convinced yet. I've been underwhelmed by the results of my attempts to use GPT in my actual workflows (as opposed to playing around with it). I’ll try to find time to train it on my style…