Beach Bi-Weekly #69
Elevators, the flavor bible, and cleaning my closet
This newsletter comes out every other Thursday and hopefully provides you with thought-provoking content about the mundane, wacky, and weird. I will be writing until the 75th edition. If you know someone who may enjoy the newsletter, share it with them here.
I was in New York this past week for a work trip. As I was walking the streets I marveled at the tall skyscrapers. New York City is the most dense city in America. The density has led to it becoming a beehive of activity. A buzzing hub of restaurants, musical performances, offices and human ingenuity. All of this is made possible because of elevators.
Before elevators took hold of the world in the late 19th century, buildings were capped at the number of stairs people would put up with climbing. For example, in Amsterdam most buildings top out at 5 or 6 floors.
Historically, the nicest floors were on the 1st and 2nd floor. The top floor was reserved for servants and the working class, because who wants to hoof it up 5 flights of stairs? Apparently, my colleague Bryan. He lives in an old apartment in Amsterdam without elevators. He saved money by getting the top floor, but said he will splurge next time on a ground floor apartment or a “new” apartment with elevators.
Now, elevators have reversed the trend. People want to zip up to the top floor to get a view of the area and be as far away from the hustle and bustle of the street below. After all, a kings throne and his castle is above his dominion. Why not do the same?
In the mid to late 19th century, steel and concrete unlocked our ability to build taller, but we lacked one key technology. The elevator.
In the mid-1800s, there were elevators, but they weren’t safe. They were an industrial invention and moved factory goods from floor to floor using a pulley system. Although, there were many attempts to make a better elevator, they were all too dangerous.
Elisha Graves Otis, didn’t invent the elevator. He invented the brake. His invention changed the modern world. However, it didn’t take off right away. People were skeptical and afraid. Previous iterations of transporting people between floors had not been successful. Otis was unfazed and pulled off one of the best PR stunts for his young fledgling company, “Otis Brothers & Co”.
In 1854, Otis dramatized his safety device at New York’s Crystal Palace Exposition. Every hour at the exposition, Otis stepped into his machine. He gave the order to an assistant who cut the rope. The crowd held its breath. The brake kicked in, the elevator stopped, and Otis announced “All safe, gentlemen. All safe.” The device made elevators practical and made the modern vertical city possible.
The Otis Elevator Company is still around today and is the world’s oldest and biggest elevator manufacturer. Otis claims, its products carry the equivalent of the world’s population every four days. As the world urbanizes, this number will only go up. For reference, New York City has about 70,000 elevators,
Elevator etiquette
There are a lot of taboos and unofficial rules of elevators. You must never face away from the door (unless you are a psychopath) and you should hold the door open for people to come in.
Unless you are Larry David, and you don’t want to share an elevator.
You also shouldn’t start a conversation in an elevator. A lot of people get nervous in elevators, which should be surprising since 5% of Americans have a form of claustrophobia.
Future of elevators
One of the earlier forms of artificial intelligence was applied to elevators in the 1990s. Elevator experts needed to know where the elevator should “wait” until being called. For example, at 5pm it makes sense for the elevator to wait closer to the top floors and at 9am closer to the lobby floor. The next big innovation, as you can see below, is elevators that not only go up and down, but also move horizontally.
Thyssenkrup, a German company (of course), is engineering an elevator that uses magnets to push and pull elevators in multiple directions. The first real-world example of it will premiere in a tower in East Berlin in 2023.
The world’s tallest planned building is the “Edison Tower” in NYC, to be completed by 2030, and rise to an astounding 4,300 feet. For comparison, the next tallest building, “One World Trade Center” stands at 1,776 feet. After about 2,000 feet, the cables in a standard elevator can’t support both the car and their own weight, so passengers must switch to a new one. The magnetic elevator will allow passengers to go all the way from ground level to the viewing tower above 4,000 feet up.
Elevators have had more or less the same technology for 150 years and I am excited to see how they will evolve in the next 150 years.
Quote I’m pondering
“The Devil is in the details, but so is salvation”.
Hyman G. Rickover
Ryan Holiday quotes this in his new book Discipline is Destiny. Instead of the negative he draws attention to all of the good that can be hidden in the details. The benefits of preparation and being thorough.
Cleaning out my closet trick
I took all of my clothes and reversed the way they were hanging. Then every time I use a shirt or jacket, I hang it back in the normal way. After 6 months, any items that I didn’t use, I will donate to Goodwill or to a friend.
Cookbook I’m enjoying
The Flavor Bible is unlike any cookbook I’ve used. With the advent of the global availability of ingredients, dishes are no longer defined by geography but on flavor.
It tells you what pairs best with any food you might be cooking. Cooking broccoli? Best paired with mustard, garlic, and onions. Brussel sprouts? Best cooked with bacon, parmesan cheese, and white wine vinegar. For most foods it also lists 20+ other herbs, spices, and pairings. After a few weeks, I already have a more intuitive sense of what to pair a food with.
Pic of the week
Being in NYC for a week was awesome, but I’m glad it was just a week. There was a lot happening that week and it was nice to escape the hubbub for an hour in Central Park.