Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 187 // Week 23 // 2020

Hello!

Last week was difficult as violence irrupted in many states of the US in the wake of Geoge Floyd’s death while he was being arrested by police. Racism still exists in the world and things really need to change. The environment in the US and many of the western countries is changing and there is sort of a movement going on right now. It’s a historic moment. Black lives matter. This movement is showcasing that on a scale.

I’m trying to educate myself with the history of racism from online sources, blogs and books and following the threads on social media on this.

Past week in India, there was a cyclone which hit the western shoreline of India – Nisarga but fortunately, it was not as destructive as it was thought to be.

2020 is slowly becoming the year of the century when things are changing so rapidly. Every day new events.

Coming to the book reading/listening progress, I moved forward on below books –

1. Breaking Smart: Season One: How Software is Eating the World – 70% done (an amazing book recommended by David Perell) (Kindle)
2. “The Sign of the Four” of the Sherlock Holmes series – Finished (Audible) – on to the next one in the series – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
3. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand – 40% done only (Kindle)

No progress on below ones this week –

1. Becoming a Category of One by Joe Calloway – 20% done only (Audible)

That’s it for the personal updates.

Without further adieu, please enjoy this week’s Saturday-Pentacle.

Issue 187 // Week 23 // 2020

An artical I found useful —

The importance of red teams – This article was a great read from Dr Peter Attia. I found two ideas very intriguing from this article which I would like to share as a summary –

1. Importance of Red –
   
   In the early 19th century, the Prussian army adopted war games to train its officers. One group of officers developed a battle plan, and another group assumed the role of the opposition, trying to thwart it. Using a tabletop game called Kriegsspiel (literally “wargame” in German), resembling the popular board game Risk, blue game pieces stood in for the home team—the Prussian army—since most Prussian soldiers wore blue uniforms. Red blocks represented the enemy forces—the red team—and the name has stuck ever since.
   
   Idea – One Organization itself can have both the teams and play tactically, as their own red team can work as an enemy simulation and the blue team can, therefore, be trained better.
   
2. Differentiation b/w signal and noise – On the contrary to the point of the counter team or the counter idea (as mentioned in point 1), there is one more paragraph in the article which gives a great perspective –
   
   Generally, the more we can introduce and consider opposing views into our thinking, the more we can rely on the knowledge we’re trying to build. But—and this is a very, very big BUT—not all opposing views are equal. Recognizing the difference between scientific (worthy of debate, though often still incorrect over time) claims and pseudoscientific (not worthy of debate, as the very foundations on which they sit are not pulled from the disciple of science or the scientific method) claims is crucial and a failure to do so makes the following exercise futile.
   
   Idea – As we are constantly bombarded with information in these present times, so it because very difficult to identify the signal from noise, meaning – logical or scientific debate as compared to illogical or pseudoscientific debate. But as it is difficult at the same time it is as important to do this rightfully and diligently.

An ad which I really loved —

The Art of Music Production – This new Apple add shows the creative process of a Grammy-nominated music producer – Oak Felder.

I was just amazed by seeing the way things change when you become a producer and shift from working on the atomic piece to moving to the place where you can see the birds-eye view of a masterpiece.

That tells if you are a world-class producer (of any art) or no.

A brilliant ad which is centred on the customer –

A video which intrigued me —

How MDMA is being used to treat PTSD – As western scientists are opening up to experimental drugs in medicine. MDMA which is commonly known as ecstasy or molly, is a psychoactive drug primarily used for recreational purposes.

But as I follow Tim Ferriss and he’s very active in the support of research with these psychedelic drugs and keeps sharing about it through his blog and newsletter. It made me really curious that if it actually works than how deep the impact it can make on the lives of people living with a disorder like PTSD. It will be a paradigm shift.

This video shows exactly that with example.

P.S.: I don’t recommend any of the psychoactive drugs and this mention is just for research on the impact of MDMA on PTSD patients.

A Magnet scientist who blew my mind – Professor Eric Laithwaite (A British electrical engineer) who is known as the Father of Maglev and pioneer in the development of the linear induction motor and maglev rail system, shows in this 1975 video – how Magnetic Levitation can be achieved.

It was just mind-boggling. Check out the video –

Quote which I found meaningful –

It’s a helluva start, being able to recognise what makes you happy.

— Lucille Ball

Before saying “see you next week”

Here is the latest story from my story series – “Lifestyle Design in Action” which I published last week –

Until Next Saturday!

Thanks for reading.

Himanshu

About Author

I’m Himanshu Sachdeva, a technology professional working in Mumbai, India. I spend most of my spare time making Podcasts, YouTube videos and write on Lifestyle Design and sometimes stories.

Every Saturday, I send out an email newsletter called “Saturday Pentacle”, a list of the cool stuff I explored in the past week, including quotes, photos, books, articles, movies, documentaries and so on!

No spam, ever. Only great stuff.

Saturday-Pentacle // Issue 187 // Week 23 // 2020

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