Hi again, I’m Steve Makofsky and this is a semi-whenever list of interesting articles, podcasts and videos that I come across during the week. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it, have something new to think about, and share it with your friends. In case you forgot, this is in your inbox because you asked me to send it to you. You can unsubscribe by clicking the link at the bottom of this email.

The 2005 film, V for Vendetta, is based on a graphic novel written by Alan More back in 1982. The story is of a post-apocalyptic version of the United Kingdom where the rule of the country is under a police state. V, our main character (Hugo Weaving), is an anarchist who has a campaign to bring down his former captors and the fascist state while inspiring a young protégée, Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman).

In an odd way this film rings a familiar bell to the state of the world in 2020, our reality is creeping closer to this dystopian future daily. This film centers on how difficult defending democracy can be, and how far ideas can bring you. Although Moore has criticized the film (if you haven't read the original work you should), it does feel like that this crazy place is closer than one could have imagined.

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This weeks “Deep Links”

In any other year, this sentence would be absurd but Egypt has invited Elon Musk to visit the country to see for himself that the pyramids were in fact, not built by aliens - More

An incredible look at the stories behind 14 different album covers of Van Halen. Each one tells a story of the personal and professional struggles of the band throughout their long career - More

About a year ago, I started sleeping with a "gravity blanket"; a 25-pound blanket that promised to increase serotonin and melatonin levels and put you into deeper sleep. Today, I can't sleep without the damn thing (which made travel pre-covid a bit of a nightmare) - it's like you're getting a hug every night, and I've found that I can't sleep now without it - More

What better place for a Dark-Web empire to be established than the inside of a cold-war bunker. The story of CyberBunker and their existence inside of Traben-Trarbach - More

Ben & Jerry’s has made it part of its culture to "use ice cream to talk about difficult issues". A look at the company, it's founders, and the talk of what a Trump-flavored ice cream would be - More

"Wisdom is earned, not given" - in the art of "Thinking For Oneself" - More

The landline telephone had a place within fiction that enabled surprise, suspense and uncertainty - "it is a cherished and endangered device, one full of possibility." In 2020, is that replaced by the cellphone? A great read on "An Elegy for the Landline in Literature" - More

Several years ago, an Israeli lunar lander that crashed into the moon spilled "Tardigrades" all over the moon. A fascinating look at if they're alive - More

A consistent theme of my weekly reading is to try to find topics that help promote thinking on what I can do better. Here's "12 Questions That Will Change Your Life" - More

The newest way to cure Zoom-burnout: video games. More and more meetings are starting to take place within games, such as Grand Theft Auto. "Hey boss, let's go rob a bank and talk about TPS reports" - More

A linked system between notes, known as Zettelkasten, could be a key in increasing your productivity - More

End Thoughts

Beneath this mask there is more than flesh, Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.