Posts tagged five things
Five Things #49

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

  1. Last week SpaceX made history by successfully reusing a rocket which had already been up into to space. Here's a video explaining the significance of the launch.
     
  2. An interesting read on the potential impacts of electric cars and self-driving cars on our lives and on the places we live. Towns and cities are going to look quite different when people shift from owning cars to just hiring one when they need a ride. It just wouldn't make financial sense to own one when it's capable of driving itself. You could book one when you need it, and once you've reached your destination the car could then move on to the next customer. Any cars that aren't in use could then park in less congested areas outside of towns or cities where the land is cheaper. That would then result in the freeing up of a lot of land in cities that's currently used for parking cars... As you can probably tell, I find all of this rather fascinating!
     
  3. These are pretty cool... Crushed cans in the style of Ming Dynasty ceramics by the Chinese sculptor Lei Xue. 
     
  4. Food for thought from Seth Godin, how are you using your attention?
     
  5. In honour of Piano Day (which was last Wednesday), this week's musical recommendation is a piece called Hammers by one of my favourite pianists, Nils Frahm.

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and you'll get the next Five Things delivered straight to your inbox. You can check out previous Five Things posts here

Five Things #48

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

  1. There are a ton of benefits that come with learning a foreign language. Unfortunately though, it's just not very easy. Here are 7 tips from TED translators to help you on your way. If you fancy learning a language and don't know where to start, I recommend checking out Duolingo — It's free and pretty fun too.
     
  2. And on the topic of learning. Here's an interesting conversation on How to Learn New Things as an Adult. — "You want to learn the systems, or the analogies, of the relationships between things in a certain field, and how they interact with each other. Then ultimately you gain that knowledge so that you can shift your own thinking, so when you see a new problem you’re better able to solve it."
     
  3. A super-short video on speed reading. It's pretty incredible how quickly our brains can process information.
     
  4. A fascinating article from Tim Harford on The Problem with Facts. — "When people are seeking the truth, facts help. But when people are selectively reasoning about their political identity, the facts can backfire."
     
  5. This week's musical recommendation is Dave Pepper's Utrecht Suite. The album was recorded during a soundcheck, two days after the Paris attacks in November 2015. It's beautiful and reflective, consisting of just a solo guitar and a loop pedal.

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and you'll get the next Five Things delivered straight to your inbox. You can check out previous Five Things posts here.

Five Things #36

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

  1. We all have those days when we struggle to get out of bed in the morning. The Roman emperor and Stoic philsopher Marcus Aurelius has some words of motivation for you.
     
  2. Katy Ann Gilmore might just be my new favourite artist — Where Math and Nature Meet Art
     
  3. A fun, animated video by The School of Life on Ludwig Wittgenstein and how to avoid some of the muddles we get into with words.
     
  4. Musician Ólafur Arnalds on five things he learnt in his twenties. I particularly relate to his thoughts on live performance, which I embellished on in a blog post titled "The Beauty of Live Performance".
     
  5. You might have heard of the acronym "FOMO" (the Fear Of Missing Out). It's a problem for many people that's exacerbated by our constant exposure to everyone else's "perfect lives" via social media. There might be a solution, JOMO, the Joy Of Missing Out. The excellent Note to Self podcast did an episode on this that they rebroadcast last week.

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, sign up to receive future posts or check out my previous Five Things posts.

Five Things #35

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

  1. In case you didn't know this already. Our brains are weird. Exhibit A: The movie that doesn’t exist and the Redditors who think it does.
     
  2. ... Weird, and incredible. Exhibit B: Brain's party noise filter revealed by recordings.
     
  3. A great interview with Brian Eno. His thoughts on the importance of creativity in education really struck a chord with me.
     
  4. As 2017 rapidly approaches, it's a good time to pause and reflect on the last year. This Wait But Why post might make you think a little differently about how you spend your time next year.
     
  5. "We grow out of a lot as we grow up. One of the most unfortunate things we leave behind is a regular dose of change." I love this quote from Jason Fried and his ideas in this article. — Be More Productive. Take Time Off.

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, sign up to receive future posts or check out my previous Five Things posts.

Five Things #31

Every Wednesday I share five things I liked and think you might like too. Here are this week’s Five Things…

  1. OK GO do it again — Another incredible music video. Shot in just 4.2 seconds, I imagine the preparation included a lot of maths.
     
  2. I have no idea where I found this site, but I'm glad I found it. LightNote is packed with interactive lessons on music theory. It explains tricky concepts in a clear and concise way. It looks great too, which is always a bonus.
     
  3. Another cool interactive site — Google's A.I Experiments is a place to explore machine learning through a series of simple and entertaining experiments. Quick Draw (which I'm TERRIBLE at) and The Infinite Drum Machine are my favourites.
     
  4. "The best way that we can grow our intelligence is to embrace tasks where we might struggle and fail." Sal Khan of Khan Academy on the growth vs fixed mindset, including an important reminder "You can learn anything".
     
  5. It's not often that an advert gets me feeling Christmassy. However, Wes Anderson's very Wes Anderson H&M advert did just that. It's put a smile on my face each time I've watched it. 

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, sign up to receive future posts or check out my previous Five Things posts.