Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — June 10, 2022

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of 5-Bullet Friday, a list of what I’m pondering and exploring.

Writing advice I’m enjoying

“Don’t just write words. Write music.” I think about this type of cadence, musicality, and readability a lot when writing.

Artist whose work I’m loving

​Rafael Grassetti (@rafagrassetti). Rafael, better known as Raf, has been described as “one of the best-known digital sculptors in the world” and is Art Director at Sony for the God of War franchise. You can get a taste of his incredible work on Twitter, Instagram, and his website. Thanks to everyone who recommended Raf’s work in response to my tweet about favorite 3D artists.

Preface to the next two bullets: I watched and read all of these prior to the related NASA news from yesterday, Thursday, June 9th (NYT: “NASA Plans to Join U.F.O. Research Efforts”). I’m fascinated by several aspects of the below, including verified government disinformation campaigns related to new warfare technologies, rampant forgeries and magical thinking, the susceptibility of Americans to conspiracy theories, and… just how hard it is to explain certain cases (e.g., the USS Nimitz, which is covered at length by the docuseries in the next bullet).

Series I’m watching

​UFO. I initially dismissed this. I then revisited the series when I noticed that J.J. Abrams was involved. Before you decide to skip it, consider watching the short trailer for pure fun. Here’s the official description: “A four-part docu-series from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot and Glen Zipper exploring our fascination with unidentified flying objects, and what clandestine influence the American government, lucrative private companies, and the military may have in shielding the truth behind [UFOs] to further their own agendas.” This series includes interviews with former senators, former military intelligence officers, New York Times reporters, Navy pilots, and many more. From coverage in Decider: “A big chunk of Episode 2 is dedicated to the former Nevada senator and former Senate Majority Leader’s interest in studying paranormal phenomena. I reiterate: this is wild. Usually these specials are populated with ufologists, small press authors, small town abductees, and people who become memes because how could they not become a meme?” I’ll warn you in advance that Episode 2 also features a detour into the bizarre history of Skinwalker Ranch. Lots of headscratchers in this docuseries, which is part of the appeal.

Articles I’m reading

“How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously” and “The Unexplained Phenomena of the U.F.O. Report,” both for The New Yorker by Gideon Lewis-Kraus. Related to the above, “Don’t Dismiss the Alien Hypothesis” by Christopher Mellon (@ChrisKMellon). Christopher Mellon spent nearly 20 years in the U.S. Intelligence Community, including serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and the Minority Staff Director of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Quote I’m pondering

“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.”
​— Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965
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And, as always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @tferriss and put #5BulletFriday at the end so I can find it.
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Have a wonderful weekend, all.
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Much love to you and yours,
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Tim

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