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

1. Netflix's documentary thriller Icarus (available on Netflix) is one of the most gripping documentaries I've seen. Filmmaker and cyclist Bryan Fogel set out to make a documentary on doping in cycling and ends up uncovering the biggest doping scandal of all time. I highly recommend you watch it!

2. Following on from Five Things #68, another mind blowing optical illusion!

3. You make solid, rational decisions... right? 20 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Your Decisions

4. Brighten someone's day: Waves are free.

5. This week's music recommendation is Haunt by Rival Consoles. If you like it, check out his album Howl (it's one of my favourite albums).

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and you'll get the next one delivered to your inbox.

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

1. Prepare to have your mind blown! I love a good optical illusion and this is one of the best I've seen.

2. An interesting and thought provoking article on The War on Reason.

3. If you spend much time on the internet, you'll have probably noticed that on huge swathes of it civil debate appears to be a thing of the past. This Brain Pickings article on How to Criticize with Kindness might come in handy. — "let your aim be to come at truth, not to conquer your opponent. So you never shall be at a loss in losing the argument, and gaining a new discovery.”

4. Socrates would like a quick word: Philosophy Infomercial.

5. This week's music recommendation is actually a podcast about a piece of music. In this week's episode of Song Exploder, Annie Clark (aka St.Vincent) breaks down her song New York. (A warning, it contains some explicit language!) 

That's all for this week. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and you'll get the next one delivered to your inbox.

ps. I'm taking a week off next week as I'll be on holiday. But fear not, Five Things will return the following week!

Cromer

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

1. A great comic by The Oatmeal on changing your mind and the "backfire effect". 
    
2. Today is a great day to learn something new, so why not check out Khan Academy. There are short, well explained video lessons on pretty much everything.... and it's completely free!
    
3. Prepare to be amazed... The Mysterious Glass. 
    
4. An interesting series of videos on how Japanese Samurai swords are made. The craftsmanship and time that goes into making each sword is mind-blowing. 
    
5. This week's musical recommendation is Ólafur Arnalds' Living Room Songs. The link goes to the film that accompanied the album, which includes behind the scenes footage about the project (as well as the music). The album was recorded over one week, with each song being recorded, filmed and edited in one day, and then released online the following morning. An amazing project and great music.

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. 

Dreaming of 15°C

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

1. Good news seems to be something of a rarity these days but last week's announcement that astronomers have discovered a record seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star is a nice break from that! If all goes to hell here on Earth (and someone can find a suitable spacecraft capable of making the 39 light-year journey) perhaps we can all just move there? — Star's seven Earth-sized worlds set record
    
2. Do you know good music? This quiz will let you know. I thought I'd done pretty well getting 234 (the average score is 158 apparently) but that was before several friends managed to get over 240!
    
3. If you've been paying attention to previous Five Things posts, you've probably worked out that I listen to a lot of podcasts. My latest recommendation is this excellent interview with Naval Ravikant (the CEO and co-founder of AngelList). He's a fascinating and incredibly smart guy. It's a long listen but, in my humble opinion, a worthy use of your time.
    
4. These are the coolest business cards I've ever seen... and "cool" isn't a word I often use to describe something as *yawn* as business cards! Drew Tetz uses the phenakistoscope animation technique to create the illusion of a moving image. The magic happens when his cards are played on a turntable under a bright light and viewed through a camera. It's pretty clever. Here's an article explaining how it works and how, if you are feeling creative, you can make your own.
    
5. This week's musical recommendation is Kettering by The Antlers. It's a pretty intense, haunting song. The transition at 2:39 is fantastic.

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