5 Links for the weekend (19Jul19)
#5onFriday - 19Jul19 Edition
Hello, ladies and gents.
Yet another Friday. Yet another work week comes to an end. And that means that over the next 2 days you can recuperate, relax, recreate, recharge, rethis, and rethat!
I do have a few things lined up for tomorrow and day after but then I've been like that. I heard this talk by Dr. Peterson and he said that some men so love the idea of working that if you give them an ax and leave them in a forest, they will not stop unless they've chopped the whole forest down. I think I am like that. No, I am not expecting you to be like that. Just saying I am like that. So even if its the weekend, I am not on a break. And can be found typing furiously on my keyboard.
Ok, before I drift into meaningless prose, here is the curated list of 5 things that you MUST read over the weekend.
1. Let's start with a deep breath
On and off, I have been practicing meditation for a few weeks now. I am not sure if it adds value to me but I do know that I feel calm and composed after a session. I can also, sort of, focus better on tasks after I've had a session. And a large part of meditation is breathing. This piece talks about breathing and various techniques that you could use to reap benefits. Before I read this article, I did not even know that there were so many different kinds of breathing. I just thought it was long and short. Of course, I did learn a new thing :)
2. Hoarders anyone?
Most of the people I know are hoarders. What it means is that these people gather things and hoard them. Hoping that someday they will find some use of that at some point in time in life. And you know, that point does not come ever. Now, imagine some shit happens and they die. No, I mean no harm. Just that its a fascinating idea. Death.
Have you ever wondered what happens to all the things that you've hoarded all your life? These guys take care of it. Read about em here.
3. Newsletters are officially the new Podcast!
What is a newsletter, you may ask?. This very thing that you are reading. And apparently, these newsletters are the new Podcast. What do I mean by that? Well, there is this company, SubStack that allows people like me to send newsletters to readers like you. Just that it adds the ability for me to charge you money for that. I can choose the price I want my readers to pay. You can choose if reading these give you enough gratification to pay me. And voila. There is a market.
This is almost similar to what Patreon does. Allows creators to monetize what they do. And since in the last few weeks and months, tons of people have started sending out newsletters, the market has just exploded. Substack was at the right place at the right time! And of course, had a great product!
Read this blogpost from the Substack team to understand more about the phenomenon. Also, read these media pieces if you are curious about the space. I definitely am!
4. Robots are coming!
You know that 2048 game? That has kept you hooked for so long? Well, I somehow found out this week that they've been able to create multiple ML engines to train itself and achieve the highest score possible in the game - 37268!
I think my maximum has been 4096 and of course ML algos have got the better of me already. See this video here (well, don't. It is about 2 hours long. Just that its mesmerizing to see a machine beat us).
In the same beat, the most important piece of the week gone by, that has largely flown under the radar is Elon's announcement on Neuralink. Do read it. And while you gape at it in wonder, imagine how does a dude do all those things that Elon does!
AI / ML has been one of those things that I am very keen on learning about (apart from crypto, longevity, automation, singularity, futurism, etc.). I don't know much about any of these but I can see the writing on the wall clearly. If you come across pieces that are worth reading, please do send those to me.
5. SaurabhGarg.com
The last link of the day is, ta-dang, saurabhgarg.com! My website. It is still under development
***
So, that's it for the day!
And if you are still reading, you can help me with a few things.
A. How do I get more readers?
B. How do I get ideas to write?
C. How do I become better at expressing myself better that you are forced to spread it more?
You can use this anonymous form to respond to these in case you want to keep your identity hidden.
That's it!
Hope you have a great weekend and even better next week. See you then!
Thank you for your time!
With gratitude,
@saurabh
2005, Red Brick Offices, Mumbai. SoGv2-42
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