Happy April! Spring is in full force here in Austin. The birds sing their songs for hours each morning and I love every second of it. Many of the trees around my work turned green overnight, or so it seemed. Here are some of the goodies I’ve discovered recently, in no particular order:

• I recently discovered this creative wiki that is entirely dedicated to explaining in detail different “aesthetics”. If you are an older human who wants to know why your niece told you she is into “Lo-Fi” music. Well, now you can learn everything you want to know about it.
• This one is for any map lovers out there, I can promise that you are not alone. This website displays the United States “where city names are replaced by their most Wikipedia’ed resident: people born in, live in, or connected to a place.” A lot of fun learns in this one.
• I just started reading the first trilogy of the Foundation (series) by Isaac Asimov. I read his Wikipedia page and found the history of his life to be quite intriguing. After reading it, I was also excited to learn that the film Bicentennial Man (1998) was an adaptation of his original short story by the same name. Anyway, the first book in the series is extremely captivating and so far, a great sci-fi novel.
• Stumbled upon an artist that I hadn’t heard of before named, Billie Marten. She has an incredible voice and I love the sound of her music. She has been making music for years, and I’m glad I discovered her right before her new album comes out next month. A great singer/songwriter from the UK.
• Lastly, as many of you know… I am a total sucker for silent hiking videos. I have a new favorite, and it is a 14-minute video of a hiker, Jesper Bach, hiking from Munich (Bad Tölz) to Venice. If you need a good wind down and/or want to see some of the most beautiful shots of Europe, watch this video. The very end made me tear up.
  

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I am told this is a great tool for finding a vaccine near you. In just a few days every state will have the opportunity for everyone 16 and up to sign-up but of course the hard part is going to be availability. I am hoping that link can help some of you. I got my first dose a couple of days ago and couldn’t be more excited about when I get to go again for the final dose. So grateful to live in the time that we do.

Good morning everyone! It has been another two weeks and I can hardly believe March is almost over. I know the joke last year was that “March never ended”, well I certainly feel as though this time it flew by. Here are some of the gems I have discovered recently:

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One of my favorite films from the last few years has been, Little Women (2019). The dialogue is delightful and the story is told so well. Anyway, I recently stumbled upon a photographer that was commissioned to do a set of “tintype portraits” for the cast during the making of the film. There is something so mesmerizing about the final product of these shots. The process looks like so much fun and I would love to try something like that someday.

It has been a few issues since I shared a fun design post. I have always been fascinated with how different countries choose to print their money. Today, England announced a new £50 banknote that features the scientist Alan Turing. For those of you that don’t know who that is, Turing was a brilliant scientist who was also a codebreaker that helped end World War II. He is credited by many for paving the way for the creation of computers we use today. He was also gay and wrongfully persecuted by his community and government. The news of this new banknote brought me joy because it is honoring an incredible human being and also shows a country’s willingness to own their mistakes and make anew. This banknote is special and also very well designed, in my opinion.

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I recently watched a newer documentary called, Persona (HBO). It is very bold and takes on one of the most popular topics as of late, personality tests (Myers-Briggs & Big 5). They provide a very convincing claim that they are destroying our society by putting us in boxes and even worse, being implemented throughout nearly every work environment as a form of control and manipulation. Highly recommend this one.
People > Algorithms, always.

I haven’t started this recommendation yet but I am sure I would… I am very excited to watch the newest season of Drive to Survive. As of right now, I have plans for later in the year to go to my first ever Grand Prix and I couldn’t be more excited for it.

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“The last days of the glacial winter are not yet passed, so young is our world. I used to envy the Father of our race, dwelling as he did in contact with the new-made fields and plants of Eden; but I do so no more, because I have discovered that I also live in ‘creation’s dawn.’ The morning stars still sing together, & the world, not yet half made, becomes more beautiful every day.” – John Muir

I love the idea that “creation is not over” and that there are still so many species that have yet to be created and we are living in just the smallest of moment in the grand timeline of this planet.

Good morning my fellow readers! Happy Friday and I wish you all a great weekend of relaxation and reflection, even if just for a small moment. I have seen many people reflecting this week as we are now one-year into the after-math of the pandemic. Oh, how time flys… In many ways, the last 12 months will surely be something we all carry with us the rest of our lives. I look forward to continuing to grow and learn from this experience and use those lessons to teach future generations how to be the best humans they can become.

For this issue, I have a wide variety of content to consume:

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Last issue, I shared the fun Easter egg/puzzle that can be found on NASA’s Perseverance rover. Well, this week I discovered a website that lets you create your own secret message using the same parachute design! Brilliant. Save this for when you want a fun puzzle to give to someone.

Since I last published a piece I finished a book called, How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking, by Sönke Ahrens. I am excited to talk about this book again soon as it helped fill so many of the cracks in my brain regarding note-taking and thinking. If you are at all interested in learning how to think more about the content you consume, than this book will undoubtedly help you on that journey. You will hear me talk about this book again, don’t worry.

I recently finished reading a piece by one of my favorite writers, Ryan Holiday. He focuses a lot on stoicism, which I find great solace in and connection to. This post was about daily practices and how they improve our life. He emphasizes in this article that daily practices are much more important than daily routines.

Watch 👀

Recently watched a short-film/documentary on YouTube called, Summer of Wonder. It immediately made me miss home and the mountains… It is an inspiring doc about two trail runners that both complete incredible feats in the trail running world.

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See you in two weeks. Keep doing your part. We are so close.