Hello friends,

welcome to a new edition of powernotes ! May your morning coffee help you make it to your mid-morning coffee. Speaking of coffee, here is a website by coffee fans, for coffee fans : I Need Coffee.

Good, now that we have our coffee, let’s start:

Ready for this week’s technology, culture and philosophy notes? Here they are:

TECH 👨‍💻

1. No-code is the future. Check out The Ultimate No-Code Tool Guide in 2021.

2. Xiaomi is launching Cyberdog. Woof-woof.

3. One of the future plans for Facebook : to create metaverse, a virtual reality world. Read more, if you’re interested.

4. Try this mental health app : MindEase. IOS version and Android version.

5. The audio streaming platform Audius was launched three years ago, and has 5 million users. It connects fans with artists. It’s definitely worth checking out, it’s a fresh take on the audio streaming world.

CULTURE 🧬

1. A look into the hidden power of the mind and the secrets of the brain, yet to be unveiled by science. The true story of Jason Padgett. Meet the Accidental Genius.

2. Why Can’t we sleep? How work schedules wreck our biological clocks.

3. Check out Literature Map. Just search for your favourite author, and it finds other similar authors. Very nice.

4. Two germans invented a beer with proteins. Basically, a non-alcoholic beer, which provides vitamins,minerals and proteins for your muscles. It tastes just like normal beer. Read more about it. Or visit the official JoyBrau Site.

5. Here’s a multimedia timeline of the Oscars. Explore the History of the Oscars.

PHILOSOPHY 📜

1. Here’s some philosophy pages to scroll through. 20 Major Philosophers & Their Big Ideas.

2. Here are The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

3. A thought-provoking article. How a young musician turned the pain of cancer into her power.

4. Confucianism is one of the most influential religious philosophies in the history of China, and it has existed for over 2,500 years. Read more.

5. We know that the moon has a certain effect on people. Some of us feel it, others not that much. Here is a nice article about The Spiritual Meaning and Symbolism of the Moon.

   Each week, we have two books for you to discover. In bite-sized fashion.

   The first book this week, is The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

Here are five notes from the book:

1. If I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are.

2. Love. It was the beginning and end of everything, the foundation and the ceiling and the air in between.

3. I know that grief, like regret, settles into our DNA and remains forever a part of us.

4. It is easy to disappear when no one is looking at you.

5. It is not biology that determines fatherhood. It is love.

The second book this week is: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson.

Here are five notes from the book:

1. The willingness of the individual to stand up for him or herself protects everyone from the corruption of society.

2. It is much better for any relationship when both partners are strong.

3. You must keep the promises you make to yourself, and reward yourself, so that you can trust and motivate yourself.

4. Not everyone who is failing is a victim. Not everyone at the bottom wishes to rise.

5. Parents must reward those attitudes and actions that will bring their child success in the world outside the family, and use threat and punishment when necessary to eliminate behaviours that will lead to misery and failure.

Each week, we present three quotes from great thinkers, great minds, and great people that live or have lived in this world. We all have something to learn from each other.

Author and poet Maya Angelou on how hard it is to make it look easy:

I try to pull the language into such a sharpness that it jumps off the page. It must look easy, but it takes me forever to get it to look so easy. Of course, there are those critics — New York critics as a rule — who say, Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer. Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

Writer Jeanette Winterson on the connection between art and an open mind:

Most of us spend a lot of time censoring everything that we see and hear. Does it fit with our world picture? And if it doesn't, how can we shut it out, how can we ignore it, how can we challenge it? We are continually threatened in life, it's true. But once you are alone with a book, and it's also true with a picture or with music, all those defenses drop and you can enter into a quite different space where you will learn to think differently about yourself.

Former President of the United States Barack Obama on inspiration:

I'm inspired by the people I meet in my travels — hearing their stories, seeing the hardships they overcome, their fundamental optimism and decency. I'm inspired by the love people have for their children. And I'm inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.

Each week, we have two portraits of nature for you. Great images from our beautiful world. Because we all need a fresh breath of nature in our lives.

We read a lot of stuff from all over the web. Every week, we have three interesting articles and stories for you. Here are this week’s reads :

🟪 Existential Comfort Without God. Can natural explanations to life’s big questions be as consoling as religious ones?

🟩 How Gaming Will Change Humanity as We Know It. Gaming is profoundly transforming two central aspects of the modern world: culture and regulation.

🟨 How To Make Friends As An Adult. These three strategies can help if you’re looking to make new and meaningful connections.

Each week, we have three interesting finds for you, from all over the web. Just interesting stuff we stumble upon and that we love to share with you.

🟣 Watch cyclist Danny MacAskill testing the limits of mountain biking, descending the Dubh Slabs on the Isle of Skye. Are you afraid of heights? It doesn't matter, just watch.

🟢 The Rijskmuseum from Netherlands has digitalized it's works of art. And they did it in a smart way. Explore more than 700 thousand works of art.

🟡 Have some fun with Nestflix.

If you want to help, you can buy me a coffee here. It is my fuel, and any coffee is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

That was all for this week. The next edition, next monday. Thanks a bunch! And please share powernotes. Have a nice autumn week🍇

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