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.

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.

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.

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

1. I went on a bit of a NPR Tiny Desk Concert binge last week, the highlight was this performance by Thundercat. He's a beast of a bass player!

2. So I've definitely been saying this wrong my whole life: If you’ve got ‘another thing coming’, you’ve got another think coming

3. “If the timeline of Earth were mapped onto the human arm, it would begin around the shoulder where the earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago. Animals originated within the palm, but the myriad forms alive today exploded onto the scene around the first knuckle...” And where does humanity make an appearance? The tip of the fingertip of the index finger! There's a great diagram of this near the top of the article.

4. I love Liz Climo's cartoons. This one is a new favourite. I love the accompanying quote from Martin Luther King Jr. too: “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”

5. A fun music fact for you: “according to MBW research, the average number of credited songwriters in the US market’s Top 10 streaming hits of 2018, per-track, was a surprisingly high 9.1” - and that's the average! 🤯

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

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

1. One of my goals for the year has been to read more and so far so good! 15 days in and I've finished reading my second book. The Courage To Be Disliked is a short book that explores the psychology of Alfred Alder through conversations between a philosopher and a youth. A lot of Alder's theories are a little counter intuitive but the conversation format used in the book made them easy to comprehend. It's one of those books that I wish my 16 year old self could have read!

2. Talking of new year's goals, if you have any habits (good or bad!) that you want to keep track of, check out Tally: The Anything Tracker. I've been using it to track various habits that I want to enforce, as well as how much coffee I've been consuming and have found it very motivating. The app is well designed and looks great which is a nice bonus too.

3. If you're willing to tolerate "strong bloody violence", I recommend you add Narcos Mexico to your watch list on Netflix. As per the original Narcos series it's very good! Can't wait for series 2.

4. "When starlings flock together, wheeling and darting through the sky in tight, fluid formations, we call it a murmuration" - This is a really beautiful collection of photos.

5. Without doubt our brains are amazing things. Which makes it all the more enjoyable when we catch them making mistakes. Read this tweet and watch the video... Be warned, the tweet definitely contains a rude word and depending on your interpretation the video might do too.

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