5-Bullet Friday — Decluttering, Happy Disasters, The Internet’s Final Boss, Feel-Good Vibes, and More

Hi All!

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

This edition is brought to you by AG1. Be sure to see their offer in the P.S.

Thread I’m reading and putting into action

​Decluttering books. Even folks like Mark Manson make cameos answering the following questions I posted on Twitter/X: “The topic is decluttering books -- Anyone out there have advice for donating, getting rid of, or organizing an excess of books? What mental tricks or systems do you use to thin books out of your house?”

Song I’m loving

“My Friend” (YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify) by Groove Armada (@GrooveArmada).

Expression I’m enjoying

​Felix culpa. “Felix culpa is a Latin phrase that comes from the words felix, meaning ‘happy,’ ‘lucky,’ or ‘blessed,’ and culpa, meaning ‘fault’ or ‘fall.’ In the Catholic tradition, the phrase is most often translated ‘happy fault,’ as in the Catholic Exsultet. Other translations include ‘blessed fall’ or ‘fortunate fall.’” More broadly and put another way in Oxford Languages: “an apparent error or disaster with happy consequences.”

Short article I’m reading

“A stealth attack came close to compromising the world’s computers.” Alternate link. From the article: “On March 29th Andres Freund, an engineer at Microsoft, published a short detective story. In recent weeks he had noticed that SSH—a system to log on securely to another device over the internet—was running about 500 milliseconds more slowly than expected.” As one tweet put it, “The xz backdoor was initially caught by a software engineer at Microsoft. He noticed 500ms lag and thought something was suspicious. This is the Silver Back Gorilla of nerds. The internet final boss.” Or as The New York Times asked, “Did One Guy Just Stop a Huge Cyberattack?”

Quote I’m pondering

“I sometimes wonder whether conspiracy theories are an attempt to re-enchant the world in a distorted way. It’s like religion knocking on the door and trying to come back in a strange and distorted form. A sense of mystery beyond our own understanding of the world. If you ever talk to conspiracy theorists, that’s the sense you get from them. A sort of almost romantic sense of awe that there is this dark mysterious thing that a rational thing could never penetrate.”
​— Adam Curtis​
(Click here to share on Twitter.)

You can complement this edition of 5-Bullet Friday with my brand-new interview with Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, my conversation with The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck author Mark Manson, and my recent episode featuring legendary actor Scott Glenn.
​
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.
​
Have a wonderful weekend, all.
​
Much love to you and yours,
​
Tim

P.S. Deal of the Week — AG1!

I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and didn’t get paid to do so. I focus on nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers the nutritional gaps in my diet. With AG1, you get a high-quality multivitamin and multimineral, pre- and probiotics, adaptogens, greens, and more, providing you a cost-efficient way to consolidate your supplement stack into one product for less than $3.00 per day. Rather than taking multiple pills or products to cover your mental clarity, gut health, immune health, energy, etc., you can support these areas through one daily scoop of AG1, which tastes great, even with water. AG1 in single-serve travel packs also makes for the perfect travel companion.
​
After consuming this product for 12 years, I chose to invest in AG1 in 2021, as I trust their no-compromise approach to ingredient sourcing and appreciate their focus on continuously improving one formula.
​
There is no better time than today to start a new, healthy habit, so take advantage of this exclusive offer for 5-Bullet Friday readers: a free 1-year supply of liquid vitamin D + 5 travel packs with your subscription.