The Moth

This week we saw the passing of Norm Macdonald to cancer at the age of 61.

Fuck cancer. It just keeps taking - Alex Trebek, Eddie Van Halen, Chadwick Boseman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and on and on.

One of my favorite memories is this clip of Norm Macdonald is when he was on Conan telling a "moth" joke.

We're all victims in getting wrapped up in the day-to-day BS; sometimes, it is super helpful to ask yourself, "how much of it really matters" and "am I happy"? It's (once again) a reminder of how important every day should be (memento Mori).

"I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." - Steve Jobs

It shouldn't take a health incident, some scare, or someone you admire passing to wake up to the things we actually accept every day. What's stopping you from making a change? The first step, is always the hardest one.

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Forward Thinking

I've always enjoyed Mark Manson's books and blog; this week he tackles "How to Build Confidence", and the relationship between confidence and failure.

Thought(s) of the week

This weeks "Deep Links"

Here are a few of the articles and videos that resonated with me over the last week:

• Some wild advancements with sensors and wellness. This one comes from a National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University team, which developed a "Foot pressure sensors detect Parkinson's disease." The primary tech for this was a $25 Raspberry Pi along with a bunch of FlexiForce sensors to measure gait - More
• Several leaked reports this week in the Wall Street Journal on Facebook. 'Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls', 'Facebook Employees Flag Drug Cartels and Human Traffickers' and 'Facebook Tried to Make Its Platform a Healthier Place. It Got Angrier Instead.'. A good summary is in "Facebook keeps researching its own harms — and burying the findings." - More
• I had never heard of ultradian rhythms before reading this article on "Avoid Burnout and Increase Awareness Using Ultradian Rhythms." From the text, "circadian rhythms have lesser known cousins that can help us optimize our internal body clocks for maximum efficiency and well being. These are ultradian rhythms, or rhythms that play out in increments shorter than a day" - fascinating stuff - More
• If you're in the security field, a great read about "Thoughts on the OWASP Top 10 2021". The problem lies in that the issues presented don't have a "clear identity" - More
• "Why Convictional Shuns Slack" is an interesting read on the rise of asynchronous communication at companies - More
• Edward Snowden has another great read (which is an excerpt from his book Permanent Record). "9/12" explores his decision making process on why he joined the army and how it was "born not only in the executive branch and the intelligence agencies, but also in the hearts and minds of all Americans, myself included" - More
• "HR Answers Your Questions About Returning to the Office" is McSweeney's at its finest - More
• I've had the fortune of eating at Club 33 twice; here's an "Inside Disneyland's VIP Club 33, the Holy Grail of Luxury for Disney Fans" (which now looks to have several pictures removed) - More
• "How Work Became an Inescapable Hellhole" explores how 'technology has created a nonstop barrage of notifications and interactions.' My simple advice for anyone: create boundaries - More
• I didn't know the history here, but "How Ice Cream Became the Ultimate American Comfort Food" is a fun read on the role that Ice Cream has played throughout the years - More
• "Remember the creepy house from 'The Silence of the Lambs'? Now it's a vacation rental.". No thank you, I'll pass - More
• I love this post: "Unlearning." Simplification comes "you start crystallizing knowledge into those simple core principles from which everything else stems" - More

Fin

Closing out this week with additional memories of Norm this week from Howard Stern.

Be well.