Engineering a Throw, General Relativity for Babies, Following Your Weird Ideas, and More
Friday, July 21, 2023
Happy Friday everyone!
Here are 10 things I found interesting from the last week or so.
Engineering a Throw
To kick off this week’s newsletter, I’d like to give a shout-out to my older brother, Quinn. He works as a Data Scientist at SumerSports, a startup that utilizes quantitative analysis to help NFL teams build their optimal roster (yeah, I know, pretty cool). Quinn wrote an article this week titled, Engineering a Throw. Go check it out!
Happy Birthday Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson’s birthday was on July 18 (he would have been 86!). Here are three of my favorite quotes from the founder of gonzo journalism:
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”
“Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.”
“A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.”
Free Yourself from “Should”
It’s a bit of an older article, but it continues to pop up again and again—and I think for good reason. I feel many of us imprison ourselves by doing what we feel we “should” be doing compared to what we are actually interested in. Conformity and compliance can hold anyone back. Andy Molinsky, a professor at Brandeis University's International Business School and regular writer at Harvard Business Review, wrote a great article, Free Yourself from What You “Should” Be Doing, a few years back and the lessons continue to ring true today.
Slow Meals Equal Life
Tim Ferris tweeted a few days ago on the idea of how slow meals equal life—dare I say, food for thought?
General Relativity for Babies
Albert Einstein famously said, “If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, then you don't understand it yourself.” I came across the perfect book that I think encapsulates this idea: Chris Ferrie’s General Relativity for Babies. Even better — here’s a two-minute video reading it aloud.
Animation vs Math
This is one of the coolest videos I’ve ever seen. It’s 14 minutes long. It starts simple and then really gets going about halfway through. YouTuber Alan Becker, the creator of the video, has been making these videos for years and even has a Stick Figure Animation course.
Follow Your Weird Ideas
Photographer Erin Sullivan shared a post on Instagram talking about her three and half year journey of making miniatures. She shares how her work changed due to the pandemic (ex. being unable to travel for work) and what she chose to do to stay creative and inspired. The big lesson: “Follow your weird ideas. The decision to do so could change everything.”
The Raw Material of Drastic Change
A quote I came across from William S. Burroughs this week worth pondering:
"Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.”
Escaping and letting go are synonymous. To escape is to let go.
Extremely Unsexy and Extremely Uninteresting
Some wisdom from the great YouTuber Casey Neistat:
“It’s extremely unsexy, it’s extremely uninteresting and no one wants to hear that it takes time, but it takes time. You have all the agency in the world. You don’t need anything from anyone. But if you’re not willing to commit the time to it, you’re never gonna find that success.”
Find the Torture You’re Comfortable With
Finally, I came across a video this week featuring Jerry Seinfeld on the Howard Stern Show. Seinfeld explains to Stern how he’s been doing the same thing since 1975: sitting and playing with ideas and never not working on material. Stern called this a “tortured life” which Seinfeld couldn’t help but agree with. But, the takeaway of the video that I think was worth sharing is how Seinfeld responded. He said, “Your blessing in life is when you find the torture you’re comfortable with,” which, in turn, was something Stern couldn’t argue with either.
This idea of always working and always being “on” can be tortuous for many. However, maybe it’s not that simple. Perhaps it’s the only doing what you feel you “should” be doing, the never following your weird ideas, the procrastinating by looking for sexier and more interesting advice instead of using the raw material already at your disposal which leads you to live a tortured life you’re not comfortable with. Maybe we ought to slow down a bit and toast to the “good life whatever it is and wherever it happens to be," as Thompson said, because whether it’s engineering a throw or trying to explain general relativity to a baby, things take time. So, relax and take your time.
Enjoy the weekend and see you next Friday.
-Garrett