Five Things #61

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

  1. I know you've been thinking this too... Where are all the aliens?
     
  2. Do you want to be more creative? Try pretending you're someone else"Creativity is not an individual trait, but a 'malleable product of context and perspective.' Everyone can be creative, as long as they feel like creative people".
     
  3. Self-healing clothes? Self- healing electronics? How about a self-healing Wolverine-like artificial skin? Researchers at the University of California, Riverside might have a fabric to make just the thing.
     
  4. I really like this advice from Charlie Munger: "I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you." Are you a learning machine?
     
  5. In the past week I've booked tickets to see two of my favourite musicians play shows in London. So this week's musical recommendation is a track by each of them. St Vincent performing Black Rainbows and Nils Frahm performing Toilet Brushes - More. Can't wait to see them both live again!

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

Five Things #60

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

  1. A fun video exploring a question with a potentially scary answer... "How long do you think it will take before machines do your job better than you do?"
     
  2. Radiohead's Creep performed on the Gayageum (a traditional Korean stringed instrument dating back to the 6th Century.)
     
  3. Habits or Goals? A great article exploring why you should focus on building positive habits rather than setting goals: "While goals rely on extrinsic motivation, habits are automatic. They literally rewire our brain."
     
  4. A cool video that uses the Schlieren Imaging method in slow motion to reveal the invisible.
     
  5. The week's musical recommendation is Love Is To Die by Warpaint. I really love this song but it's Stella Mozgawa's drumming on this track is that makes it for me.

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

Five Things #59

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

  1. On the 3rd June, the rock climber Alex Honnold became the first person to climb El Capitan (3,000 ft!) without a rope. It's an insane and remarkable achievement, and surely one of the greatest human accomplishments of all time.
     
  2. Not your average cover, Orkestra Obsolete perform New Order's Blue Monday using 1930s instruments.
     
  3. Get 5% Better. A great read from the Farnam Street blog (one of my favourites) on the power of incremental progress — "[I]f I can get 5% wiser and better every year, then I will be about twice as wise as I am now in less than 15 years." 
     
  4. Changing Time, a documentary on the legendary drummer Jojo Mayer and his band Nerve is currently streaming for free on Youtube. He's a fascinating and inspiring guy, and the documentary gives a good insight into what it takes to be a performer at his level. Recommended viewing for musicians and music fans.
     
  5. This week's musical recommendation is Tame Impala's Let It Happen. It's in essence a pop song, but unlike the vast majority of pop songs, it clocks in at just under 8 minutes long! 

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

Five Things #58

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

  1. Fun fact: zebra jumping spiders have a "thing" for green laser pointers and can see the moon.
     
  2. The School Of Life asks "are you getting enough sleep?"
     
  3. Beethoven and the difference between genius and talent: "Genius has to be founded on major talent, but it adds a freshness and wildness of imagination, a raging ambition, an unusual gift for learning and growing, a depth and breadth of thought and spirit, an ability to make use of not only your strengths but also your weaknesses, an ability to astonish not only your audience but yourself."
     
  4. Bill Gates ponders "What If People Run Out of Things to Do?" in his review of Yuval Noah Harari's new book Homo Deus. His last book Sapiens is excellent so I'm looking forward to reading his newest one.
     
  5. This week's musical recommendation is Gaunt by Kiasmos. I just booked tickets to see them play Erased Tapes' ten year anniversary show later in the year and I can't wait!

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