# ESSAYS - THE SHEEP CODE Canonical page: https://thejasonsamuel.com/essays [Home](https://thejasonsamuel.com/) # ESSAYS - THE SHEEP CODE Why Sheep Code? it's rumored that the mafia, more accurately - the sicilian mafia is known for using the sheep code for communication. police said many of the messages were used to alert fellow criminals that a new "pizzini" was ready referred to as sheep. among the lines used were: "the sheep need shearing.. the shears need sharpening" or "the hay is ready." the italian police said they did not belive the madia members were discussing argicultural matters. another phrase used was "i've put the ricotta cheese aside for you, will you come by later? likewise, i write about things that are usually kept behind closed veils. i talk about tech, design, science and life. my essays and random thoughts will forever remain the 'the sheep code'. 29 August 2026 - [Startups need customers, not condescension](https://thejasonsamuel.com/startups-need-customers-not-condescension) 24 August 2026 - [A filter for long-term trust](https://thejasonsamuel.com/a-filter-for-long-term-trust) 16 August 2026 - [LLMs, hallucinations and claims that do not add up](https://thejasonsamuel.com/llm-hallucinations) 2 August 2026 - [Learning history through Rome](https://thejasonsamuel.com/learning-history-through-rome) 26 July 2026 - [What does it mean to be AI-native?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-ai-native) 1 July 2026 - [Food abundance and the invention of unhealthy eating](https://thejasonsamuel.com/food-abundance) 29 June 2026 - [Relationships are choices, not ownership](https://thejasonsamuel.com/relationships-are-choices-not-ownership) 24 June 2026 - [The freedom to choose what you wear](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-freedom-to-choose-what-you-wear) 13 June 2026 - [India cannot outsource its technological future](https://thejasonsamuel.com/indias-technological-future) 10 June 2026 - [Indian startups need not copy Silicon Valley](https://thejasonsamuel.com/indian-startup-originality) 31 May 2026 - [Cities, capital and the freedom to earn](https://thejasonsamuel.com/cities-capital-and-the-freedom-to-earn) 16 May 2026 - [Encryption, engineering priorities and wasted talent](https://thejasonsamuel.com/engineering-priorities) 14 May 2026 - [If You Replace Every Part of Yourself, Are You Still You?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/are-you-still-you) 13 May 2026 - [What does a government white paper actually tell us?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/government-white-papers) 5 May 2026 - [Democracy does not require voters to agree with you](https://thejasonsamuel.com/democracy-and-disagreement) 29 April 2026 - [Natural is not a moral standard](https://thejasonsamuel.com/natural-is-not-a-moral-standard) 27 April 2026 - [Is Fraud a Tax on Ambition?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/fraud-is-a-tax-on-ambition) 23 April 2026 - [An election is not a fan club](https://thejasonsamuel.com/an-election-is-not-a-fan-club) 20 April 2026 - [Capitalism and the politics of activism](https://thejasonsamuel.com/capitalism-and-the-politics-of-activism) 15 April 2026 - [Professional associations and the power they protect](https://thejasonsamuel.com/professional-associations) 12 April 2026 - [Why I criticise the religion I was born into](https://thejasonsamuel.com/criticising-my-religion) 8 April 2026 - [Was Agriculture Ever Natural?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/was-agriculture-ever-natural) 29 March 2026 - [“All men” sounds different when it is your daughter](https://thejasonsamuel.com/all-men-and-your-daughter) 24 March 2026 - [Should Adults Be Free to Ruin Themselves?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/freedom-to-ruin-yourself) 22 March 2026 - [What films teach us without saying it](https://thejasonsamuel.com/what-films-teach-us-without-saying-it) 27 February 2026 - [Trust, secrets and divided loyalties](https://thejasonsamuel.com/trust-secrets-and-divided-loyalties) 27 February 2026 - [Data centres, water and the costs of progress](https://thejasonsamuel.com/data-centres-and-water) 27 February 2026 - [AI, layoffs and the jobs that existed in between](https://thejasonsamuel.com/ai-and-in-between-jobs) 22 February 2026 - [Entertainers, patrons and the illusion of independence](https://thejasonsamuel.com/entertainers-and-patrons) 12 February 2026 - [Why Should Every Manufacturer Buy the Same Tools?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/shared-design-consortium) 29 January 2026 - [Cinema and the policing of women’s clothes](https://thejasonsamuel.com/cinema-and-the-policing-of-womens-clothes) 18 January 2026 - [Exploitation, gig work and the comfortable middle](https://thejasonsamuel.com/gig-work-and-exploitation) 16 January 2026 - [What Happens When the Social Contract Breaks?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-social-contract) 20 October 2025 - [Must everyone pick a side?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/must-everyone-pick-a-side) 19 October 2025 - [Abortion and the frameworks behind our disagreements](https://thejasonsamuel.com/abortion-and-disagreement) 18 October 2025 - [Learning to love](https://thejasonsamuel.com/learning-to-love) 11 September 2025 - [Political disagreement and the limits of tolerance](https://thejasonsamuel.com/political-tolerance) 17 August 2025 - [A school, its alumni and misplaced priorities](https://thejasonsamuel.com/school-alumni-priorities) 26 July 2025 - [Food abundance and nostalgia](https://thejasonsamuel.com/food-abundance-and-nostalgia) 22 July 2025 - [There is only medicine](https://thejasonsamuel.com/there-is-only-medicine) 1 June 2025 - [Paid promotion and disclosure](https://thejasonsamuel.com/paid-promotion-and-disclosure) 27 April 2025 - [What a society owes its own citizens](https://thejasonsamuel.com/what-a-society-owes-its-own-citizens) 20 April 2025 - [Raising curious children](https://thejasonsamuel.com/raising-curious-children) 16 March 2025 - [Personal assistants should not be a luxury](https://thejasonsamuel.com/personal-assistants-should-not-be-a-luxury) 16 February 2025 - [Software piracy and the Robin Hood defence](https://thejasonsamuel.com/software-piracy-and-the-robin-hood-defence) 3 February 2025 - [Borrowing, inflation and the questions a budget should answer](https://thejasonsamuel.com/borrowing-inflation-budgets) 21 January 2025 - [The economics of a successful creator](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-economics-of-a-successful-creator) 19 January 2025 - [Two ways to judge a company](https://thejasonsamuel.com/two-ways-to-judge-a-company) 7 January 2025 - [A political alternative needs a plan](https://thejasonsamuel.com/political-alternatives) 2 January 2025 - [Quick commerce and the bargaining power of workers](https://thejasonsamuel.com/quick-commerce-workers) 25 December 2024 - [Should you have a Christmas Star?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/starofbethlehem) 1 November 2024 - [Hating Apple is not a technical achievement](https://thejasonsamuel.com/hating-apple-is-not-a-technical-achievement) 10 October 2024 - [Workers’ rights, unions and political power](https://thejasonsamuel.com/workers-rights-unions-and-political-power) 20 September 2024 - [The laddu controversy: evidence and political incentives](https://thejasonsamuel.com/laddu-controversy) 15 September 2024 - [Hiring for a culture people understand](https://thejasonsamuel.com/hiring-for-a-culture-people-understand) 13 September 2024 - [Are you in the Friendzone?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/friendzone_part1) 1 September 2024 - [A boycott needs economic power](https://thejasonsamuel.com/a-boycott-needs-economic-power) 21 August 2024 - [Making creative work sustainable](https://thejasonsamuel.com/making-creative-work-sustainable) 13 August 2024 - [Priors, uncertainty and Bayesian reasoning](https://thejasonsamuel.com/priors-uncertainty-and-bayesian-reasoning) 8 July 2024 - [France’s left and the cost of an electoral alliance](https://thejasonsamuel.com/frances-electoral-alliance) 24 June 2024 - [Immigration, public trust and the rise of the right](https://thejasonsamuel.com/immigration-and-the-right) 9 June 2024 - [An engineer should have something to show](https://thejasonsamuel.com/an-engineer-should-have-something-to-show) 8 June 2024 - [Political loyalty is no excuse for violence](https://thejasonsamuel.com/political-loyalty-is-no-excuse-for-violence) 4 June 2024 - [The best self-defence is getting home](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-best-self-defence-is-getting-home) 3 June 2024 - [Give the film back to the filmmaker](https://thejasonsamuel.com/give-the-film-back-to-the-filmmaker) 2 June 2024 - [Commitment is a practice, not a trophy](https://thejasonsamuel.com/commitment-is-a-practice-not-a-trophy) 29 May 2024 - [Virtue signalling and the difference between attention and impact](https://thejasonsamuel.com/virtue-signalling) 28 April 2024 - [Religious extremism and the people who pay for the backlash](https://thejasonsamuel.com/extremism-and-backlash) 9 February 2024 - [A uniform civil code, seen from different sides](https://thejasonsamuel.com/uniform-civil-code) 8 February 2024 - [Credentials do not buy an audience](https://thejasonsamuel.com/credentials-do-not-buy-an-audience) 4 February 2024 - [The value of a real conversation](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-value-of-a-real-conversation) 25 January 2024 - [Employees are not bonded labour](https://thejasonsamuel.com/employees-are-not-bonded-labour) 4 January 2024 - [Skills, fitness and the comparison trap](https://thejasonsamuel.com/fitness-and-comparison) 3 January 2024 - [Falling fertility and the cost of raising a child](https://thejasonsamuel.com/fertility-and-family-costs) 17 December 2023 - [Why would anyone buy a loss-making news agency?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/loss-making-news-agencies) 10 December 2023 - [Diversity is more than a hiring quota](https://thejasonsamuel.com/diversity-is-more-than-a-hiring-quota) 8 December 2023 - [Dowry and the contradiction of masculine pride](https://thejasonsamuel.com/dowry-and-masculine-pride) 8 December 2023 - [BluSmart: The Warning Signs Behind an Investment Promise](https://thejasonsamuel.com/blusmart-warning) 29 November 2023 - [Learning AI starts with taking notes](https://thejasonsamuel.com/learning-ai) 24 November 2023 - [The small business economy we underestimate](https://thejasonsamuel.com/small-business-economy) 28 October 2023 - [When a small transaction freezes an entire bank account](https://thejasonsamuel.com/bank-account-freezes) 9 October 2023 - [The AfD and Europe’s political backlash](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-afd-and-europes-political-backlash) 2 October 2023 - [Knowing where your food comes from](https://thejasonsamuel.com/knowing-where-your-food-comes-from) 29 September 2023 - [How an industry manufactures a talent pipeline](https://thejasonsamuel.com/industry-talent-pipelines) 28 September 2023 - [Pondy’s traffic conundrum](https://thejasonsamuel.com/pondys-traffic-conundrum) 25 September 2023 - [Viral fame and the machinery of outrage](https://thejasonsamuel.com/viral-fame-and-outrage) 24 September 2023 - [Waste management needs incentives, not virtue signalling](https://thejasonsamuel.com/waste-management-incentives) 14 September 2023 - [Why an agency’s profit disappears before the invoice is paid](https://thejasonsamuel.com/agency-profits-and-payments) 7 September 2023 - [Learning engineering beyond the service-company job](https://thejasonsamuel.com/learning-real-engineering) 31 August 2023 - [The environmental cost of replacing a plastic bag](https://thejasonsamuel.com/plastic-bag-trade-offs) 26 August 2023 - [Social media and the way we treat each other](https://thejasonsamuel.com/social-media-behaviour) 23 August 2023 - [The platform that farms your creativity](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-platform-that-farms-your-creativity) 22 August 2023 - [Reading research beyond the headline](https://thejasonsamuel.com/reading-research) 21 August 2023 - [Hiring through conversations instead of job boards](https://thejasonsamuel.com/hiring-through-conversations) 20 August 2023 - [A patent is not a substitute for execution](https://thejasonsamuel.com/a-patent-is-not-a-substitute-for-execution) 18 August 2023 - [Why a country needs ports](https://thejasonsamuel.com/why-a-country-needs-ports) 18 August 2023 - [When activism alienates the people it needs to persuade](https://thejasonsamuel.com/activism-and-persuasion) 16 August 2023 - [When outrage becomes a media business](https://thejasonsamuel.com/outrage-as-a-business) 14 August 2023 - [The wedding photography problem that starts after the wedding](https://thejasonsamuel.com/wedding-photography) 11 August 2023 - [A founder's publicity is not a business result](https://thejasonsamuel.com/founder-publicity) 29 July 2023 - [The dating app that needs you to stay single](https://thejasonsamuel.com/dating-app-incentives) 27 July 2023 - [Go back to basics and take notes](https://thejasonsamuel.com/back-to-basics) 26 July 2023 - [Why a superconductor would change the world](https://thejasonsamuel.com/why-a-superconductor-would-change-the-world) 23 July 2023 - [What if every child could take a different path through education?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/personalised-education) 14 July 2023 - [The operations behind an ecommerce business](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-operations-behind-an-ecommerce-business) 8 July 2023 - [Whiteboards, calendars and a two-phone experiment](https://thejasonsamuel.com/whiteboards-and-two-phones) 5 July 2023 - [Why I say no to college invitations](https://thejasonsamuel.com/why-i-say-no-to-college-invitations) 2 July 2023 - [Read aloud with your children](https://thejasonsamuel.com/reading-with-children) 1 July 2023 - [What the gym changes beyond your body](https://thejasonsamuel.com/what-the-gym-changes) 29 June 2023 - [Teaching children to solve problems and think ahead](https://thejasonsamuel.com/teaching-children-to-think) 25 June 2023 - [India’s AI ambitions and the talent question](https://thejasonsamuel.com/indias-ai-ambitions-and-the-talent-question) 24 June 2023 - [Opening the film industry to independent creators](https://thejasonsamuel.com/independent-film-creators) 19 June 2023 - [The financial conversation every couple needs](https://thejasonsamuel.com/couples-and-finances) 15 June 2023 - [Women, work and the trade-offs behind policy](https://thejasonsamuel.com/women-work-and-the-trade-offs-behind-policy) 5 June 2023 - [The productivity tool is not the work](https://thejasonsamuel.com/productivity-tools) 3 June 2023 - [The industry that pushed internet technology forward](https://thejasonsamuel.com/adult-industry-and-tech) 1 June 2023 - [Human progress is a continuing transformation](https://thejasonsamuel.com/human-progress) 21 May 2023 - [The limits of the onsite dream](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-limits-of-the-onsite-dream) 15 May 2023 - [What women go through during a groom search](https://thejasonsamuel.com/what-women-go-through-during-a-groom-search) 13 May 2023 - [Playing the hand you were given](https://thejasonsamuel.com/playing-the-hand-you-were-given) 12 May 2023 - [Crime, punishment and the people we romanticise](https://thejasonsamuel.com/crime-and-punishment) 5 May 2023 - [Layoffs begin with management decisions](https://thejasonsamuel.com/layoffs-begin-with-management-decisions) 3 May 2023 - [What real customer feedback taught us](https://thejasonsamuel.com/what-real-customer-feedback-taught-us) 30 April 2023 - [The trade-offs behind paper straws](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-trade-offs-behind-paper-straws) 28 April 2023 - [How engineering education manufactures resources](https://thejasonsamuel.com/engineering-education) 25 April 2023 - [Know your company’s burn rate and runway](https://thejasonsamuel.com/know-your-companys-burn-rate-and-runway) 24 April 2023 - [The professional–managerial class and political power](https://thejasonsamuel.com/professional-managerial-class) 7 April 2023 - [The appeal of the men who sell masculinity](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-appeal-of-the-men-who-sell-masculinity) 10 March 2023 - [Encryption, privacy and the demand for access](https://thejasonsamuel.com/encryption-and-privacy) 9 March 2023 - [A startup’s first job is to build](https://thejasonsamuel.com/a-startups-first-job-is-to-build) 17 February 2023 - [The reality behind the service-industry engineering job](https://thejasonsamuel.com/service-industry-engineering) 14 February 2023 - [Re-Examining the License Raj](https://thejasonsamuel.com/re-examining-the-license-raj) 18 January 2023 - [Cheap capital, overhiring and the layoff cycle](https://thejasonsamuel.com/cheap-capital-and-layoffs) 8 January 2023 - [Moonlighting, contracts and the work you own](https://thejasonsamuel.com/moonlighting-contracts-and-the-work-you-own) 25 December 2022 - [The Dangerous Dance](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-dangerous-dance) 28 October 2022 - [A democracy needs credible opposing media](https://thejasonsamuel.com/a-democracy-needs-credible-opposing-media) 28 October 2022 - [Science survives by being challenged](https://thejasonsamuel.com/science-survives-by-being-challenged) 26 September 2022 - [Why Europe is turning to the right](https://thejasonsamuel.com/why-europe-is-turning-to-the-right) 13 August 2022 - [Who benefits from the degree you are told to choose?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/choosing-a-degree) 9 August 2022 - [Strangulation with Compliances](https://thejasonsamuel.com/strangulation-with-compliances) 26 June 2022 - [Abortion, state power and the missing middle](https://thejasonsamuel.com/abortion-state-power-and-the-missing-middle) 8 June 2022 - [What if we treated a college education like a service we bought?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/college-as-a-service) 21 May 2022 - [Can you start a Startup?](https://thejasonsamuel.com/canyoustartastartup) 20 May 2022 - [A billion people are not a billion paying customers](https://thejasonsamuel.com/indias-paying-market) 9 May 2022 - [What screens take away from a child’s imagination](https://thejasonsamuel.com/screens-and-imagination) 29 April 2022 - [Political organising happens on the ground](https://thejasonsamuel.com/political-organising-happens-on-the-ground) 24 October 2021 - [The television and the child’s imagination](https://thejasonsamuel.com/the-television-and-the-childs-imagination) 2 October 2021 - [The social psychology behind a political message](https://thejasonsamuel.com/political-message-psychology) All rights reserved. Copyright © 2026 Jason Samuel