Interesting times or what 💎 Issue #4
Plus: Lots of free advice, weird walls and an app to save all these links
Hello there,
What’s up? 😉
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” - Vladimir Lenin
Are there too many things happening at the same time or is it just me? I would like my times to be organized in such a way where people leaving the planet, in some guy’s rocket, would be the only news that week.
Could you imagine if men’s first landing on the moon was this week? It would get a tweet and three likes! Maybe.
People have been saying these are “interesting times” for a while, but I was never really convinced. I mean, are they interesting compared to what? A brief period of our lives compared to all brief periods of all human history? Or just our own brief periods?
What does “interesting” really mean? And I guess I’ll let these two walls answer that.
I found this picture on Reddit, and what’s really interesting is how adding more bricks to a wall doesn’t have to be the only solution to make it harder to topple. These are called Crinkle crankle walls.
Could it be more British than that?
Anyway, by employing this serpentine design, you are expanding the footprint of the wall + you have those curves that tunnels and bridges seem to like for not falling. So, in the end, roughly half the bricks needed for the same purpose with all that entails for your wallet. Ok, a straight wall might be faster to put up, but what do I know.
New to me 💡
I wrote a SaaS product because the internet made me believe it'd make me rich | 6 min read
I’m more or less guilty of having the same mindset. I like to think I have the skills. I see everyday examples of simple products being very lucrative for its makers. You don’t need a prodigious imagination to believe the whole “become rich” would be kind of easy but, of course, it’s not like that at all. Perhaps it’s a matter of perspective and to where we are aiming at from the beginning. The lessons Stetson Blake shares here are a head start for everyone thinking about a journey like this.
The days are long but the decades are short | 6 min read
(The way the Lenin quote and the title of this article are playing of each other is making me warm inside)
I love these articles, where the author tries to compact as much of his wisdom in as little space as possible. This one, in particular, written by a 30y old Sam Altman, gets special attention because as 33y old I feel challenged by it. What principles, formulas, ideas, or advice do I have to give that could take anyone, anywhere, and leave it more prepared for what life would throw at them? We all have something tricks up our sleeves and we are wrong to assume everybody else already knows about them.
68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice | 8 min read
Ok, if you hated the last article, my friend, do I have bad news for you. This is the 68y old version! Kevin Kelly, the founder of Wired magazine, wrote something special here. It made almost every newsletter that I subscribe to in the past weeks and mine is no different. I had to share it here or otherwise, he wouldn’t leave me alone. If you prefer the video format, here’s the author himself reciting the same advice for your viewing pleasure.
From the archive 🗂️
Ideas That Changed My Life | 4 min read
Morgan Housel is back on This Week’s Worth with an article about ideas. Not advice, I swear. Don’t hit the unsubscribe button just yet. Here’s a teaser: “Everyone belongs to a tribe and underestimates how influential that tribe is on their thinking.”. And here comes the kicker: “Psychologist Geoffrey Cohen once showed Democratic voters supported Republican proposals when they were attributed to fellow Democrats more than they supported Democratic proposals attributed to Republicans (and the opposite for Republican voters)”
A most sharp tweet 🗡️
These apps I discovered 🔎
PageMarker | This app solves the problem created by newsletters like this. We have lots of links we would like to go back to when we have time and there are many things we try to help with that. PageMarker helps you organize those links (tags, folders), write notes about them, and the most awesome thing: sends you reminders to your email so you don’t forget to read those awesome links from This Week’s Worth.
Habbit | Let’s admit, productivity and self-improvement are fashion. Forming habits are one of the key components to reaching those graals and there’s help for that. This app has two things I look for on habit trackers: awesome design and a layer of gamification to keep you on track.
Virus Cafe | Discuss a deep question with a random stranger for 2 minutes.
This week in a gif 🤯
High note ⚡
Last week’s most clicked link was Machine Learning is Fun!. Consider me surprised.
I hope you enjoyed these last minutes as much as me putting this together. If so, I’d love if you shared it with some friends.
You can also show some love by clicking that tiny ❤️ at the top of the email. It would help spread the word.
If you are one of those friends and someone shared this with you, you are in luck, buy them a beer next time you are together, and meanwhile, you can subscribe to This Week’s Worth here:
Until next week,
Filipe