Tim Ferriss - 5-Bullet Friday — December 31, 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 while traveling —
GigSky. This app is a game-changer, and huge thanks to Matt Mullenweg (@photomatt) for saving my ass abroad with the recommendation. It allows you to use cellular data nearly anywhere in the world without changing your domestic plan (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) in any way. From their website: “The GigSky app lets you grab a single data plan where and when you want – at home or in any of our 190+ destinations. Select a plan from the app, download an eSIM, and you’ll connect on the spot, no physical SIM card required.” My first trial run of this app/eSIM was with my iPhone in Chile, and it came through flawlessly. I don’t fully understand how eSIMs work, but I fully appreciate that it worked like a charm. I’ll be using it again, as I opted for the global plan as opposed to paying for bandwidth limited to Chile. Be forewarned that the setup process on iPhone wasn’t super intuitive, but I imagine you can find a YouTube video to guide you. If not, GigSky, please create one!

Short video I’m enjoying —
“My friend Richard Feynman” by Leonard Susskind. Who is Leonard? This short paragraph from an interview in the Los Angeles Times gives you a feel:

“I was going to engineering school but fell in love with physics. When I told my father I wanted to be a physicist, he said, ‘Hell no, you ain’t going to work in a drug store.’ I said, ‘No, not a pharmacist.’ I said, ‘Like Einstein.’ He poked me in the chest with a piece of plumbing pipe. ‘You ain’t going to be no engineer,’ he said. ‘You’re going to be Einstein.’”

What I’m reading —
“An Infamous Psilocybin Patent Has Just Been Challenged” by Shayla Love. The outcome of this particular situation will affect the entire psychedelic ecosystem. Whether you’re anti-capitalist or die-hard capitalist, the implications described in this article are important to understand. Highly recommended.

On a related note, here is one of the latest developments in a separate journal, and I’ve excerpted a key snippet: “Furthermore, revision is recommended on characterizations in recently granted patents that include descriptions of crystalline psilocybin inappropriately reported as a single-phase ‘isostructural variant.’ … In this article, we show conclusively that all published data can be explained in terms of three well-defined forms of psilocybin and that no additional forms are needed to explain the diffraction patterns.”

What I’m listening to —
“Last Chance” (YouTube, Spotify) by Thornato (@thornato) feat. The Spy from Cairo. But lest you think I’m all bossa nova and new-agey flutes and dolphins, I’m also listening to this during workouts: “Before I Forget” (YouTube, Spotify) by Slipknot (@slipknot).

Poem I’m pondering —

The Laughing Heart

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

— Charles Bukowski
(Find a video of Tom Waits reading this poem here.)

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

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