This week: what actually makes a note-taking system worth keeping, why network effects keep Wall Street in New York while Hollywood scatters, and how a nationwide camera network built to fight crime got turned into a stalking tool.

1. 🌲 Takeaways on efficiency, passive learning, & optimization

Eleanor Konik
Published: 10/11/2023

Konik’s 4 productivity takeaways – efficiency is lazy, notes are for hard-to-find info, and learn passively before you need it
When I read things in the knowledge management community, discussing how they’re using a new method or an app, it’s easy to get FOMO. Should I use PARA or Zettelkasten? (I settled on Johnny Decimal). Konik argues notes matter most for things you can’t easily re-google. Just find something that works for you. The real value isn’t the system itself, it’s cross-linking ideas and front-loading learning for when you need that idea later.

Filed Under: #opinion #productivity #noteTaking #knowledgeManagement

2. New York and the Power of the Network

Andrew Sharp
Published: 08/14/2026

Why Citadel stays in New York despite Mamdani’s tax-the-rich feud – the power and limits of network effects
Citadel is reaffirming a multi-billion-dollar New York office project despite Ken Griffin’s public feud with Mayor Mamdani over the city’s pied-à-terre tax (on secondary homes owned but not lived in full-time). The more talent clusters in one place, the more painful it gets for any single firm to leave because of specialized infrastructure and optionality in the jobs market employees don’t want to lose, which is why New York holds onto Wall Street the way Silicon Valley holds onto tech.

Los Angeles shows the limits of that pull: productions have scattered to New Mexico, Georgia, and overseas chasing better tax credits. Relocation threats aren’t always serious in the short term, many times they’re just leverage, but cost pressure can compound into long-term decline once businesses start looking for cost savings on future projects.

Filed Under: #analysis #networkEffects #filmIndustry #urbanEconomics #financeIndustry

3. How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking

Drew Harwell, Douglas MacMillan, Aaron Schaffer
Published: 08/02/2026

Washington Post finds 50+ police officers charged or accused of misusing Flock license-plate cameras to stalk women, including exes and girlfriends
A Washington Post investigation found at least 50 law-enforcement officers charged with or accused of misusing Flock’s license-plate cameras, with 26 cases involving officers surveilling wives, girlfriends, or exes. Flock leaves access controls up to each police agency, and most exercise little oversight, so vague one-word search justifications go unquestioned.

I’m surprised it took this long for a backlash to build. Residents are defacing cameras and communities are rethinking their contracts, and Flock has since announced changes, requiring case numbers on every search and cutting default data retention from 30 days to 7.

Filed Under: #surveillance #policeAccountability #privacy #licensePlateReaders