5-Bullet Friday — Healing Plants, Boxing Coaches and 60-Second Motivation, Unveiling Fashion’s Desert Graveyard, and More

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of 5-Bullet Friday, a list of what I’m pondering and exploring. Feel free to forward along if the spirit moves you.

This edition is brought to you by Momentous, my go-to source for creatine and whey protein. Be sure to see their offer in the P.S.

What I’m listening to

​“Genesis” (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music) by Justice.

Short video I’m watching

​Fight-corner motivation by Teddy Atlas, renowned boxing coach. The most relevant part is linked directly, it lasts less than a minute, and Bradley ended up winning the fight with a 9th-round TKO.

Plant I’m studying

​Croton lechleri. From Wikipedia:
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​Croton lechleri is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, that is native to northwestern South America. It is commonly known as sangre de grado (Peruvian Spanish), sangre de drago (Ecuadorian Spanish) or sangre de grada (Bolivian Spanish). They refer to this tree’s (and several related species’) thick red latex.
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The latex has medicinal properties and is used by local peoples as a liquid bandage applied to seal wounds, as it dries quickly to form a protective skin-like barrier. Its use by Native people has led to scientific study and observation of its in vitro antioxidant activity as well as both mutagenic and antimutagenic behavior.

Article I’m reading

“Fashion’s Desert Graveyard” by John Bartlett for National Geographic. From the article:
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​Between 2000 and 2014, clothing production doubled and consumers began buying 60 percent more clothes and wearing them for half as long as they once did.
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…
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Duty-free ports encourage economic activity, as goods are imported and often reexported without the usual taxes and fees. The duty-free port was established in Iquique in 1975 to help generate jobs and improve an ailing local economy. Chile became one of the world’s largest importers of used clothes, which transformed Iquique. As fast fashion exploded, so did imports.

Quote I’m pondering

“It is the nature of man to build the most complicated cage of rules and regulations in which to trap himself, and then, with equal ingenuity and zest, to bend his brain to the problem of wriggling triumphantly out again. Lent was a challenge; the game was to ferret out the loopholes.”
​— Bridget Ann Henisch in Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society​
​(Kudos to author Steve Hendricks, as I found this quote in The Oldest Cure in the World: Adventures in the Art and Science of Fasting.)

You can complement this edition of 5-Bullet Friday with my conversation with UFC Hall of Famer Bas Rutten, my thoughts on the ethical harvesting of medicinal plants, and my brand-new interview with Matt Pottinger, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor.
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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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