Devon ☀️ @devonzuegel Twitter profile | Pikagi

Pikagi

Devon ☀️

@devonzuegel

51,944

Followers

1,291

Following

2,851

Media

16,856

Statuses

I've gone to look for myself. If I return before I get back, please ask me to wait. Prev @StanfordReview @Affirm @GitHub @NotionHQ . Building a modern Chautauqua

Miami Beach

https://t.co/TguW191lyL

Joined July 2012

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

Pinned Tweet

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 months

In June, I'm co-organizing a popup village called Edge Esmeralda! It will be a place for people who believe the future can be better & are actively working to make it happen It's also a prototype for a permanent new town I'm building — more on that in a future post 🙂

Tweet media one

40

46

624

Last Seen Profiles

@mweirsy

@Tsddim

@MeganFoley63694

@Jugger21000

@Transfers

@StevenONeill61

@SpringerMuse

@Kiara971445181

@Return0fTheMari

@hrhbali

@kkyukirby

@MaNNiNGGGGG_eLi

@FireSam2030

@Mirage_amuro

@littlesulaala

@USB2U

@mosaud08

@Kirstals_

@LeClaireBr78832

@Monster3DWorld

@julian_morot

@jtrebach

@markguim

@mr_werewolf_art

@TrentHerro36493

@againstwarvoice

@LoveCelticWoman

@drmona26473309

@phenixpotin

@logijca

@JustJaremi

@lawsofaurelius

@Dineo42664799

@marjory49050357

@jamesocromwell

@julissa_eu

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 month

Reminder: It is illegal to build storefronts with such a small footprint in most cities in America

@luusssso

lusso

1 month

Cozy little coffee shops are such a vibe

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

38

2K

13K

69

2K

25K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

Brutalist sandcastles

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

169

3K

16K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

A while back, I was talking with a friend who'd moved to the US a few years prior At some point, I said something like "we Americans..." and he froze with shock. He asked, "Wait, do you think of me as American?" Without much thought, I said "Of course!" He paused for a while…

264

1K

16K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

Removing query params before sharing a link is a basic sign of respect

126

1K

14K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

We've all been targeting 10k steps a day because some Japanese pedometer company thought the character for 10,000 (万) looks like a person walking...

@SteveStuWill

Steve Stewart-Williams

5 years

You don't need to walk 10,000 steps a day. "It turns out the original basis for this 10,000-step guideline was really a marketing strategy... [T]he actual health merits of that number have never been validated by research."

Tweet media one

76

748

2K

156

5K

11K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

11 months

DocuSign has how many employees??? Do they do more things than I realized?!

Tweet media one

202

228

9K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 months

The problem with learning Spanish from Argentinians is you pick up vocab about monetary policy before you learn basic survival words like food and water

70

732

8K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

Incredible "hybrid modernism" churches in Kerala

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

37

2K

7K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

I’m increasingly of the belief that incentive design is the most important problem to work on. Humans are good at overcoming obstacles when they have reason to do so — the worst problems tend to be ones of cooperation, not technological or scientific understanding.

250

1K

6K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

Why do we call them "open source developers" when we could call them "open sourcerers"???

105

826

6K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

"Good science fiction predicts not the automobile but the traffic jam."

37

885

5K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

Fun fact: SimCity was forced to pretend that all parking lots were underground, because the game would be “really boring if it was proportional in terms of parking lots”

Tweet media one

57

2K

5K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 months

I once heard Hans Zimmer say something like: "Every time I'm hired to write a movie score, I'll feel like I'm making no progress for weeks. I'll feel like I should go to the director and confess that I can't do it... but then all of the sudden it starts to come with me, bit by…

44

681

5K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 months

I have found heaven, and it turns out it's on earth after all. It's called Las Catalinas, a small town in Costa Rica The key design principle: cars are parked in a lot outside of the gorgeous hill town

Tweet media one

230

266

5K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

I know my brain is broken because my first thought was "how the heck did they get regulatory approval for that?!"

@the_transit_guy

Hayden Clarkin

@the_transit_guy

10 months

IM SCREAMING 💀

19

250

3K

42

222

5K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 month

It kills me when people critique walkable, human-scale places as "built for the rich" They're not inherently expensive, they're just expensive today because we don't build enough of them! In fact they're inherently more efficient in their resource use, which makes them cheaper…

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 year

We've come to treat places like West Village in NYC or Savannah's Historic District like a scarce resource This is maddening because they aren't that complicated – many of these buildings were originally built for the immigrant working class and are simple boxes of local brick!

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

8

78

1K

19

521

5K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

The saga of Israeli water management is one of the most inspiring stories of the last 75 years Israel went from having a serious water problem to being a net water exporter to neighboring countries. Meanwhile, the population grew from ~1 million to well over 9 million

Tweet media one

8

765

4K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

Cursed

Tweet media one

66

532

4K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 year

I've been collecting a list of recently-built places with good urban fabric. Here are some of my favorites: 1. Las Catalinas is a hill town overlooking an ocean cove in Costa Rica, built just over a decade ago with the bones of a classic Mediterranean hill town ( @LasCatalinas )

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

44

312

4K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

I've been impressed by Mexico City's street design One detail I particularly like: their streets narrow at many intersections, shortening the distance that pedestrians need to cross and encouraging cars to slow down:

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

43

467

4K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 months

First step when landing in Argentina: exchange USD for pesos Largest bill is 2,000 pesos, ~$2 USD per today's exchange rate. Each brick in the photos below is worth ~$1,000 USD You know the bills are fresh because they're still in the original packaging from the Central Bank!

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

60

192

4K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

"We build our computer systems the way we build our cities: over time, without a plan, on top of ruins." — Ellen Ullman

27

921

4K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 months

Some of the best marriage advice I've heard: Marry someone only if you'd be proud for your kids to turn out like them

40

248

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

7 months

As I get older, I realize it's a huge bummer that we collectively decided in our early 20s that Facebook was uncool It's the one place where I added everyone I knew in real life, and it would be a great way to stay in touch now I want to know when friends go through big moments…

200

106

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

I hope this trend catches on

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

25

324

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

9 months

Growing up, I read books where kids played in the forest or street or farm for hours without supervision, and I thought it was lovely fantasy but totally made up Over time I've realized that that's simply how things used to be! It's now that's the anomaly. Children used to roam,…

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

292

324

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

Broke: Most people are too sensitive to receive feedback. Woke: Most relationships don't have sufficient context, investment, or trust for feedback to be taken in good faith.

32

509

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

When using my cellphone, I tend to become a passive consumer of the internet. When using my laptop, I become an active creator of it. The difference is the input mechanisms. The friction and inefficiency of typing on a mobile device is high enough to discourage most production.

71

418

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

I only just realized that the Face ID icon is a riff on @SusanKare 's Happy Mac. Cute!

Tweet media one

15

397

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

I feel personally attacked

Tweet media one

14

498

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

architect: so what kind of house do you want? client: not sure how to describe it, just... i love windows! architect: stop right there, i know exactly what you mean

Tweet media one

35

370

3K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

Tinder's Gini coefficient is 0.58, meaning "it has higher inequality than 95% [of] the world's national economies"

Tweet media one

78

618

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 month

America: "We love small businesses!" Also America: "No nooo, not literally small, that was just a figure of speech"

5

44

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

Maeklong Railway Market, Bangkok

34

700

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 months

This is extremely inspiring

Tweet media one

11

144

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 month

@AskYatharth Typically because the city planner thinks they know what people want better than the market (which might be true sometimes, but imo is not worth risking unless it's a question of safety)

3

14

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

How people think Tokyo looks... and how most of Tokyo really looks

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

34

584

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

I built a little tool – it's called Small World, and it helps you make new friends and stay in touch with old ones: it's like a Marauder's Map, but for the people you follow on Twitter

114

275

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

30 people getting coffee

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

42

240

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

Trying out a new meme format...

Tweet media one

21

235

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

What is a book that was so good that after reading it, you went and bought everything published by the author?

1K

284

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

Notting Hill is one of my favorite neighborhoods in London because of its unique spatial layout Instead of large private backyards, the homes and apartments back up to large private communal gardens shared by the entire block

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

33

110

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

7 years

Paris is almost entirely ≤6 stories. If SF were built to that standard, we'd have 3x the housing supply.

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

97

540

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 year

Just discovered @googlemaps ' new isochrone feature, which shows how far you can get on foot or by car from a particular point on a map! So cool

Tweet media one

26

134

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

maybe one reason for low fertility among educated women is that health class in US high schools hammered it into us that having a baby will ruin your life

54

92

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

Thrilled to announce that I'm officially join GitHub today! I'll be working on—you guessed it—cooperation problems in open source. So excited to work with this talented team and to be part of building out @GitHub to its fullest potential.

65

34

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

the older I get and the more systems I see up close, the I'm amazed that anything works at all

34

138

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 months

One thing programming teaches you is to look for reasons why you're wrong, instead of looking for reasons why you're right If the computer is not doing what you expected, it's almost always because your mental model is incorrect, not because the computer is incorrect

49

198

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

the Disney board of directors initially couldn't stomach the risk to build Disneyland, so Walt started a new company to build the park he funded it by borrowing against his life insurance & selling his vacation home, & he transferred his home to his wife in case he went bankrupt

Tweet media one

35

186

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

Obsessed with these low-angle satellite images from @planetlabs 1: Doha, Qatar. November 11, 2017 2: Houston, Texas. March 14, 2018 3: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. March 10, 2018 4: Osaka, Japan. March 13, 2018

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

14

418

2K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 months

Sounds silly but one of the best tactics I've found for overcoming procrastination is chanting "less think, more do" on repeat under my breath

15

139

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

The Falkirk Wheel canal bridge in Scotland is ridiculously cool 😱

23

341

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

This still blows my mind

Tweet media one

33

353

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

11 months

No fucking way

Tweet media one

38

52

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

it bugs me that most utopian art is pictured from an aerial view rather than from a human perspective it elevates grandeur over what people would actually experience day-to-day if we were to build that future

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

43

111

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

Miami has the most solarpunk aesthetic of any American city I've seen ☀️🌴🌺

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

29

82

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

I'm starting a podcast with my favorite urban economists, Alain and Marie-Agnes Bertaud We've recorded the first two episodes already, and I'd love feedback! DM me if you'd like an early listen

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

31

108

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

Tweet media one

8

88

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

Since moving to Miami a few months ago, I've had a lot of fun exploring my new stomping grounds. I wanted to share what I've found, so I wrote some field notes to give you a peek into what life is like here: Questions/additions welcome!

Tweet card media

Field notes: Miami

Update 5-Dec-2021: Read the updated version of these notes here. These field notes are a bit different from previous cities I've explored, because unlike those, Miami is my home! So this post...

devonzuegel.com

101

128

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched…

Tweet media one

23

141

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

7 months

Mustard's ratio of flavor to calories is off the charts Name a better nutritional bang for your buck, I'll wait

Tweet media one

182

45

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

It's pronounced "JitHub", not " @GitHub "

74

159

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

California has one of the highest income tax rates in the country, but one of the lowest property tax rates (especially once you take Prop 13 into account) We're essentially punishing productivity while rewarding non-productive property ownership. C'monnnnnn 🤦🏽‍♀️

43

102

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 months

I am unstoppable now

Tweet media one

44

39

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

What are things that are getting dramatically cheaper right now? For example, the cost of genome sequencing is plummeting. (The graph below is log scale, so it's even more impressive than it looks!)

Tweet media one

39

197

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

7 months

Lots of people work from cafes, but hotel lobbies are often way better third spaces to work from The hotel business is not predicated on turning over tables, so they don't mind you sitting somewhere for hours – yet they often still have coffee/snacks for sale!

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

53

51

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

in discussions of declining fertility rates, the fact that many women are terrified of giving birth almost never comes up women are acutely aware that pregnancy can be extremely painful, cause lifelong physical damage, and even be life-threatening this seems... relevant...

87

58

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

How people think San Francisco looks... and how much of San Francisco really looks

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

45

246

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

8 months

Tweet media one

22

121

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 year

We've come to treat places like West Village in NYC or Savannah's Historic District like a scarce resource This is maddening because they aren't that complicated – many of these buildings were originally built for the immigrant working class and are simple boxes of local brick!

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

8

78

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

7 months

Simply doing what you say you're going to do puts you in the top decile of competence

13

79

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

A few months ago I overheard someone ask “How do you define your purpose in life?” Without missing a beat his friend answered “To spread my memes and my genes”. That answer has been ringing in my head ever since

35

151

996

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

I'm now at the point in life where I've seen enough proprietary software shut down that it's one of the biggest reasons I prefer open source In other words, I've become a digital prepper

27

115

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

I want a TV show about the Medici, but instead of focusing on the sex, scandal, and intrigue it would focus on the money exchange networks that funded the Italian Renaissance and the advances in financial technology that made it possible 💰💶💴

30

120

995

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

remote work has unlocked a new level of inter-national competition. the 2020s are going to be wild

@tomazstolfa

Tomaž Štolfa

3 years

How to attract high earning talent to a country 101. Source:

Tweet media one

403

3K

21K

14

113

1K

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 months

Someone once told me that the real dividing line between Millennials and Gen Z is that Millennials are careful to protect their phone from water, while Zoomers will jump into a pool with their phone in their pocket without batting an eye

43

39

977

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

11 months

America hasn't built many walkable places in the last few decades, but there are a few exceptions When collecting a list, I was shocked to discover that most of these special places are in the South! I wrote up some reflections on why that might be:

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

31

83

983

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

I'm sad to announce that I will have to shut off Small World soon, because Twitter changed its pricing such it would cost $42,000/month to keep the tool up and running 😢

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

I built a little tool – it's called Small World, and it helps you make new friends and stay in touch with old ones: it's like a Marauder's Map, but for the people you follow on Twitter

114

275

2K

44

100

957

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

8 months

Idea: a dating app, except instead of targeting single people, it's for people to introduce their single friends You'd merge lists of awesome single people you know with your friends' friends, & you could team up as a matchmaking squad to set up dates

74

35

946

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

"You cut, and I pick which half I prefer" is such an elegant solution to an incentives problem. Love to see it

30

47

950

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

Hong Kong’s Kowloon peninsula in 1964 and again in 2016

37

383

883

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

“Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations.” — Tim O’Reilly My natural instinct is to be incredibly stingy with money, to the point where I make myself and others unhappy for no good…

20

66

913

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

1/5 Hey @airbnb , a recent stay really hurt my trust in your platform, and your support team's answers to my questions about what the heck happened have been disappointingly evasive.

35

87

904

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 months

"In 1990, only 5% percent of Americans had a passport. Today, that number is 48%."

Tweet media one

24

107

896

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

1 year

Tweet media one

2

91

884

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 years

Broke: Having a favorite architectural style Woke: Loving any building that fits its context, residents, and local conditions

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

16

75

848

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

10 months

I recently heard the screenwriting trope "Villains Act, Heroes React" for the first time and it destroyed me While there are counterexamples, it does seem like the Good Guys are more likely to protect the status quo rather than try to change the world

79

63

843

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

All I want for Christmas is transit that comes so frequently that I don't have to plan around it

19

119

832

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

11 months

TIL private paternity tests are illegal in France Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité? More like Liberté, Egalité, Paternité!

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

21

78

833

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

Many cities that temporarily pedestrianized streets for COVID are making them permanent 🥳 Now that we don't have to serve future car traffic, which constrained design options, we can ask: how would we design the space from scratch? Here's Oxford's answer, before and after

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

14

120

829

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

This mobile parklet fits 8 bikes. With a license plate, it can be legally parked anywhere for the price of parking 1 car. Genius.

Tweet media one

22

181

819

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

What's a book you'd like to read but hasn't been written yet?

342

64

824

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

6 years

Tokyo is much more human-scale and "chill" than the hyper-dense neon metropolis I'd always imagined

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

12

195

773

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

remote work is creating a new economic niche, and countries that fill it finally have a chance to compete with the US for talent this is the once-in-a-generation opportunity for small, stable countries to grow, diversify, and up-skill their economy

21

148

778

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

9 months

Neo Aztec architecture

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

17

38

783

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

3 years

when planes were invented, our system of property rights had to be reinvented too common law had established if one owns land, "it is theirs all the way to Heaven and to Hell" so when planes began to fly, there were some interesting proposals for avoiding aerial trespass...

Tweet media one

14

103

776

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

2 years

gas stations in Rome are tiny! their teensy footprint made me realize I've never questioned how much land gas stations truly need normal-sized gas stations tend to spoil the whole streetscape, whereas these pint-sized stations are only a bit more intrusive than a bus stop

Tweet media one

Tweet media two

Tweet media three

Tweet media four

25

59

778

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

4 months

Here's how it looks to pay for a group dinner (and not a particularly expensive one, at that!) Paying the bill is a whole event! First the guest counts out the bills into piles of 10,000 pesos, then the waiter recounts to make sure it's right

Tweet media one

11

16

777

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

Hello to OSS maintainers and contributors! 👋 As @GitHub 's new OSS product manager, I want to hear about the challenges you face and how we could do more to support you. If you'd like to share your perspective, please fill out the form here:

Tweet card media

Let's talk about open source sustainability

Do you contribute to open source software (OSS)? We'd love to hear your perspective.

44

309

767

@devonzuegel

Devon ☀️

5 years

This is one of the most creative tax proposals I have ever seen:

Tweet media one

32

214

723