Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — October 1, 2021

5-Bullet Friday

Hi All!

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

What I’m using —
Reusable cup pods for Keurig 2.0 & 1.0 Brewers. Using Keurig coffee machines normally hurts my soul. Plastic garbage up the wazoo. To my delight, I came across these reusable cup pods at a friend’s house. Just pop open, pack with ground coffee (I typically drink Four Sigmatic), and you’re ready for the next cup. If you own a Keurig, there’s no need to toss that beautiful machine. These inexpensive, refillable cups will dramatically reduce waste and improve karma.

What I’m reading —
“It Is Obscene: A True Reflection in Three Parts” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (@chimamandareal), the award-winning Nigerian author of books including We Should All Be Feminists. She is one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People” (2015) and a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant” recipient. This was sent to me by Ryan Holiday, who found it tucked away in Anne Applebaum’s piece on “The New Puritans,” which is also excellent.

Everyone should read this essay. It’s a taste of things to come on a much larger scale. Social media will breed more of this, and few people are immune.

Twitter threads I’m studying —

The first two get decently technical. The last is a good overall primer.

1) “6529 ~1 month old 🥳 Some of you know me from somewhere else 👀 My views on NFTs in the thread below” by 6529

2) “1/ Tokens are a new digital primitive, analogous to the website 🧵” by Chris Dixon

3) “Had a call w a very smart investor who dismissed NFTs, trading cards, collectibles as Beanie Babies + I nearly fell out of my chair, but I get it, if you’re not tuned into the power of culture (esp internet culture) this all looks like a fad, a blip. I need to do a video on this.” by Alexis Ohanian

What I’m celebrating —
“It’s official. I just received a U01 grant from NIDA to study psilocybin for tobacco addiction. To my knowledge it’s the 1st grant from the US government in over a half century to directly study therapeutics of a classic psychedelic. New era in legitimacy of psychedelic science.” This is a tweet from Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. It is a HUGE deal and decades in the making. This has also been a primary hope/target of mine for the last several years. Congratulations, Matthew and team!

Additional coverage: Breaking News: US Gov to Fund Psychedelic Research For First Time Since 1970s.

And don’t miss the cover of the new issue of Newsweek:
“Magic Mushrooms May Be the Biggest Advance in Treating Depression Since Prozac.” This brand-new October 1st cover story includes the depression study originally sponsored by my 2016 CrowdRise campaign, which many of you contributed to. I put my own separate funding in as well, and it was my first-ever bet on a scientific study involving psychedelics. The article features the positive stories of research participants, as well as mentions of Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research team members Dr. Matthew W. Johnson (Associate Center Director) and Mary Cosimano (Director of Guide/Facilitator Services). Much has changed in a few short years!

Quote I’m pondering —
“However convinced you were of the justice of your cause and the truth of your convictions, you ought not to have made a public attack upon any man’s [or person’s] character until you had examined the evidence on both sides with the utmost patience and care.”
— William Kingdon Clifford

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 — UCAN. When I have a full day ahead—which was, unexpectedly, most days this week—UCAN is one of my go-to solutions for lasting energy and focus. I use UCAN’s low-calorie bars to stay sharp throughout the day and their powders to power my workouts. UCAN’s patented ingredient, SuperStarch, has the remarkable ability to provide a steady release of energy without spiking blood sugar levels. It sustains my output while keeping my hunger in check. UCAN has a variety of different products to help balance blood sugar, including their Edge on-the-go training fuel, energy powders, bars, grain-free granola, and almond butter at UCAN.co/Tim. If you’re looking for a place to start, I love their energy bars and lemon energy powder. Click here to save 30% on your first order, or use code TIMUCAN at checkout. Offer valid until October 31st, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. PST.

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