Posts in five things
Five Things #140

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

  1. A compelling account of the benefits of breaking up with your phone.

  2. This guy has some serious finger drumming skills, not sure about the weird arm folding thing though!

  3. Apple has announced the winners of its Shot on iPhone Challenge and they've selected some great photos. It's quite incredible how good the tiny little cameras on phones are getting and how far they've come in the last 10 years.

  4. A cool visualisation showing how the US population grew and expanded from 1790 up to 2010.

  5. I hadn't thought about this song, You're Out by Dead Disco, in years until it randomly popped into my head yesterday. The singer of Dead Disco went on to become Little Boots, a fact I'd also forgotten until about 5 minutes ago!

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

Five Things #139

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

  1. This is fun: The British-Irish Dialect Quiz — I was delighted to find my results showed no trace of my early years in Lincolnshire!

  2. A great interview with Patrick Collison on the Tim Ferriss Show. Patrick is a fascinating and very smart chap.

  3. So, you mean to say cats aren’t psychopaths?

  4. A long read on how augmented reality will lead to the next big technology platform, an online world that precisely mirrors the world around us. Like Google Earth but for everywhere and everything in ultra high definition.

  5. This is pretty cool. Bees can learn how to play an insect version of football simply by watching another bee play it. Those are some clever bees!

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

Five Things #138

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

  1. An interesting video on how Somalia's Pirates make money. I'll stick to the drum tuition (I'd make a very poor pirate).

  2. I think "buy the cheap thing first" holds up as pretty good advice. The quality version will probably win out in the end, but you definitely come to appreciate what makes something good quality by owning something bad quality first. Plus, buying the cheap version first allows you to try your hand at more things. Sure some hobbies won't work out but at least you aren't lumped with an expensive object you have no use for once the initial enthusiasm has died down, you can just move on to the next hobby with some money still in your wallet.

  3. Since getting what seems like a life time supply of coffee for Christmas, I've started drinking a lot of tea! Fear not, no coffee will be going to waste. This video on the history of tea has given me a new appreciation for a Tea, it has quite a heritage!

  4. Agreed, we all need Eyerollers.

  5. Without doubt one of the funniest things I've seen on Twitter. And a sharp analysis from Stephen Fry.

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

ps. There will be no Five Things next week but normal service will resume the following week.

Five Things #137

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

  1. A great post on imagination from Austin Kleon's excellent blog — "To create a future, we need better imaginations, and for better imaginations, we need to feed them better ideas and better images."

  2. I've found tracking the habits I want to develop nearly always has a positive impact on my behaviour. I end up reading more and drinking coffee less knowing I get to tick off the box that records the habit. The flip side of this is that tracking can reduce the intrinsic desire to perform the desired behaviour — if your step counter is broken, why take the walk if the steps won't be recorded? This article takes at the science behind habit tracking.

  3. According to a recent study by Youth Music there has been a 39% increase in the number of 7-17 year olds making music. This is obviously great news but it's such a shame that whilst this is happening, music education in schools is disappearing, despite all the good we know music can do.

  4. I love these — “Closeness Lines”: Lovely Visualizations of Relationships Over Time

  5. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Masayoshi Fujita play at Butley Priory in Woodridge on Thursday. His album Book of Life is great.

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

Five Things #136

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

  1. I really enjoyed this conversation between Malcolm Gladwell and legendary producer, Rick Rubin. I learned that Rick Rubin produced my favourite Johnny Cash song, Hurt. I also learned that it's actually a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song — I much prefer Johnny Cash's version. As Malcolm Gladwell says in the podcast, it's amazing how a song can take on a whole new life and personality when performed by another person.

  2. A brie-lliant (sorry) look at the history of cheese.

  3. I read this post by Derek Sivers this morning. I love his idea of keeping a "thoughts on" journal, which is like a daily journal but on a specific topic. Such a great way of recording your thoughts on a subject and seeing how they evolve over time. I'm definitely borrowing this!

  4. An interesting piece reviewing The Birth Of Loud. I haven't read the book yet but the review itself is worth reading. It has a great title too: The Feud That Birthed the Electric Guitar

  5. It's been a good week for new music. Nils Frahm has released a new EP, Encores 2. And Josin has released a new album, In The Blank Space. Both have got a lot of play this week!

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