God, not another newsletter! #1

Hello, and welcome to my newsletter "God, Not Another Newsletter!" GNAN for short.

I spend a lot (too much) time reading stuff on internet and I thought why suffer alone from this addiction, let's spread the virus! (wrong metaphor for our times, I know.)

So bear with me and check if you find [interesting, amusing, inspiring, entertaining] -Cross out what does not apply- what I found [interesting, amusing, inspiring, entertaining]...

This week I liked:

1- This excellent post from Pedro Cerize (in portuguese sorry) comparing bitcoin frenzy to anchovies. This is funny, but you have to speak portuguese.

2- This amazing ted talk by Matt Crawford, a former phd philosophy teacher who quit his class to open a bike shop. It's about the happiness of working in craft, with your hands and fixing real stuff versus bullshiting your way in 9 to 5 office work. Very entertaining and profound. Also a good take on our education system.

3- An inspiring thread by Wes Kao on how to be better at giving feedback.

TLDR if the feedback serves to release your own emotional stock of frustration, you're doing it wrong, but if your aim is to maximize the chance of "selling" a behavioural change, you might get a chance to have impact. Easier said than done, I'd give you that.

Reminded me of the amazing book Creativity Inc about the story of Pixar and how their "candid" feedback culture was key at drafting so many creative stories.

4- And finally, a stat I was wrong about. I've always thought that historical improvement in life expectancy was essentially due to the end of child mortality, impacting the average but not expected lifetime of the ones who survived. I was wrong. Life expectancy has been improving for every single class of ages. How lucky are we? But remember, we still only live once.

Thank you and see you next [week, month, year] cross out blabla...

Mathieu.

"The only newsletter I read." Mathieu's mom.