17 excellent articles this week. This includes well-being – a cool new meditation technique, learn your muscle groups easily and the risks around even light drinking. On tech, clothes that generate electricity and robots that look after your pets. And for fun, the best TV shows, best Japanese photos of 2019 and quirky lessons of the year.
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(total reading time: 4 mins)
Some great personal tips this week from time tracking your tasks, the benefits of group singing to how food ages you. Then on the innovation side, we feature an article on the first fully electric commercial flight and the most important innovations of 2019.
On a lighter note, what your favourite Stars Wars movies tells about you, Kung Fu nuns and the best restaurants in NY.
Lastly, given the year is almost over, it’s time to send my list of favourites for the year: books, TV, and movies.
Enjoy!
Bilal
6 Steps for Dealing With a Boss Who Doesn’t Understand What You Do (The Muse, 9 mins) If your boss seems clueless then amongst other things understand how your work fits with company goals and be your own cheerleader.
How Time Tracking Can Help You Prioritize (Lesswrong, 4 mins) We tend to underestimate a tasks’ hidden challenges and overestimate our ability to perform at our best. As a result, we miss deadlines. So use apps like Toggl to actually track your time. I did and it made a big difference.
The Lost Pleasures of Group Singing (Art of Manliness, 3 mins) Despite our digital connectedness, we are increasingly feeling more isolated. An antidote would be group singing!
5 Yoga Poses Every Athlete Should Master (Outsideonline) In this 3-minute video clip Alyx Walkinshaw, a yoga and fitness instructor – takes us through five best yoga moves for athletes to prevent injury and increase strength and flexibility. Love the warrior III pose.
Does Calorie Restriction Slow Aging (Slate Star Codex, 25 mins) After analyzing human and animal studies it’s found that calorie restriction (CR) increases longevity but only marginally. The author believes that engaging in 20-30% CR (versus a normal diet) one may enjoy a 10%-20% increase in life span.
Are You Army Fit? Take This Fitness Test to Find Out (Outside, 3 mins) The new Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) is brutal. It requires you to deadlift 180 pounds thrice, run two-mile s under 18 minutes, do 30 hand release push up and much more. Let me know what score (or injury) you get?
‘World’s First’ Fully-Electric Commercial Flight (Cool Hunting, 1 min) An all-electric powered seaplane has taken flight in Vancouver, Canada – the first step towards building the world’s first all-electric commercial fleet. This can potentially help slash carbon emissions in the aviation sector – one of the largest polluters of our ozone.
Important Innovations From 2019 (Cool Hunting, 50 mins) From improved portable heart monitoring devices to automobile technology that brings to the driver’s attention road information from 2600 feet away.
No More Snake Oil: Science Has Finally Uncovered Legitimate Ways to Boost Our Life Span (Robb Report, 3 mins) Scientists now have a more accurate way to measure aging -. It’s called the epigenetic clock. In exchange for $300 and a blood test, one can discover their DNA age. Through this one can track which greens, diet, exercise regime or sleep routine work for them to wind back the aging.
The Kung Fu Nuns of the Drukpa Order (KOTTKE, 1 min) Traditionally, Buddhist nuns have not been allowed to exercise, sing, lead prayers or be ordained. Drukpa Order, frustrated by the inequality for the women in the region, changed that and – Kung Fu Nuns were born. Check out the video of them practicing kung-fu and break patriarchy!
The Best Optical Illusion of the Year for 2019 (KOTTKE, 1 min) Either a remarkable visual innovation or an ingenious scam, the dynamics of this creative developer shapes will likely make you accept that an object can move both clockwise and anti-clockwise at the same time.
Spellbinding Super Slow Motion Macro Footage of Bubbling Hydrogen (PetaPixel, 1 min) Apart from knowledge and scientific amazement, in this short movie compiled by Beauty of Science and Chinese Chemical Society you may also find an unexpected source of calmness and destress.
Bill Gates Recommends Books for the Holidays (Open Culture, 1 min) For the holiday season, Bill Gates has selected five book titles you can enjoy. The topics of the books range from the entire history of the United States to how you can prepare your kids for life after high school.
What Your Favorite Star Wars Movie (or Obscure TV Show) Says About You (GQ, 10 mins) James Grebey from GQ claims he has a good grasp of Star Wars fans’ personalities, depending on what particular episode they favour. Check out yours!
100 Books That Defined The Decade (Lithub, 50 mins) Although it is still early to encompass all the marvellous writings that shaped the last 10 years, the recommendations of the Literary Hub certainly won’t fail to impress you, especially if you caught the reading virus.
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