Thursday Thoughts - 05/11/2023
Here are my Thursday Thoughts, a short list of the most interesting things that I’ve read, heard, and/or watched over the past week.
subway by Stable Diffusion Dream Studio
What I Read:
Hong Kong and Macau Wikipedia Entries
During my time off, I traveled to Hong Kong and Macau. Although, I’ve been to both places before, I wasn’t quite tuned in to their histories. I turned to Wikipedia to fill in the gaps.
I found the entries for both countries helpful. I gained a better understanding of Hong Kong’s geography and how it came to be. I was surprised by the length of Portugal’s control of Macau.
Many turn to smiling lessons as society begins to go maskless
Someone teaching the elderly how to smile? This seems like such a weird service. But it’s a wanted service according to the numbers in the article. Maybe Japan’s collective culture is driving this. I can’t imagine this sort of thing being popular in America.
Hat tip to Tyler Cowan and his excellent blog for linking this article.
What I Heard:
The Tim Ferriss Show #668 - Derek Sivers
This episode was a delight. I’ve been a fan of Derek Sivers since his first appearance on Tim Ferriss’ podcast. I read all of his books. I also browsed through many of his blog posts and book notes. I always find new insights reading Derek Sivers.
Two main takeaways for me from the conversion:
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Experiment with hosting private servers. This breaks the dependence on the big tech companies and their cloud services.
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Abandon the need to optimize every decision. Some things can just be good enough. The time saved by skipping the additional research can be better spent on other aspects of life.