Welcome to the weekend,
It’s been a very summery week over here; sweating, running, biking, and generally enjoying the warm weather and long days. To end the week, we’ll be indulging in this Cherry and Lemon Icebox cake, which is about as summery as a dessert can be.
This week’s links:
Tyler Cowen on how to ask better questions. The key to deeper thinking and deeper understanding is asking better questions. This short post answers that question.
Alex Haley interviews Muhammed Ali. Boxing, making headlines, money, race, religion; Haley covers it all in this 1964 interview. Three things stand out to me here. First, Ali understood media manipulation better than the media themselves. It wasn’t enough to be good; he had to create a good story in order to garner press attention, which is still the name of the game today. Two, nothing worth having just happens; thought, planning, and years of work go into every “overnight success.” Three, the real game – in media, in sport, in dealing with yourself or anyone else – is a mental game; making observations, contemplating a course of action, and taking the right action.
Towards a Unified Theory of Peloton. I love watching new fitness “cults” burst onto the scene; considering the examinations of what they signal about society’s trends and values, and finally, watch the next one take the former’s place. We’ve gone from jazzercise (though this is still a thing, apparently) to aerobic videos to globo-gyms to CrossFit to F45 and the aforementioned Peloton. Is society trending toward more time at home, less shared community space, and fewer shared interactions? How might that affect our ability to communicate, learn, and empathize with one another?
Dror Poleg’s Remote Worship. I’ve enjoyed Dror’s updates on how he imagines the future of remote work. This short piece draws a parallel between the destruction of the Jewish temple and how the pandemic has uprooted businesses. Both events took a community from being location-based to text based, and de-centralized the community environment. It’s a fascinating parallel to explore.
Message to a Young Songwriter, “Strive to be Prolific.” My favorite piece of advice? “Deliberate practice is the smart, lazy thing to do.”
Currently reading: The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Photo: “Sunset At Grace, Orange And Violet Sky,” Félix Vallotton. French. 1918.
Have a great weekend.
