33: Notes To Self

Yo, it’s Luke!

Went to an awesome jazz jam sesh yesterday. Nothing like watching people improv art into existence. Highly recommend.

Here is your weekly dose of 5 noteworthy ideas & things I learned about last week. Click on each link to dive further on that topic.

1. The Benefits of Dancing

If someone were to ask you what the best treatment was for depression, what would you say?

It's not exercise. Not SSRIs. Not even therapy! The best treatment for depression is dancing!!

That's kind of beautiful.

2. Favorite Historical Date Comparisons (Reddit)

This is one of the better subreddits I’ve read in a long time. Here’s a laundry list of my favorite historical fun facts:

• Charles Darwin's pet tortoise Harriet died in 2006 yet Darwin died in 1882. The tortoise died in Steve Irwin’s zoo.

• J. R.R Tolkien, Otto Frank (The father of Anne Frank), and Adolf Hitler where all present as foot soldiers at the battle of the Somme.

• A well travelled man could have met Socrates, Confucius, and Buddha.

• The Ottoman Empire collapsed the same year that: Betty White & Stan Lee were born; the US commissioned its first aircraft carrier; and insulin was first used to control diabetes.

• The moon landing was only 66 years after the first manned aircraft flight. Within a lifetime, mankind went from not having flight technology to sending men 239,000 miles from the Earth.

• Cleopatra lived closer in time to the moon landing than the construction of the pyramids.

• At the height of the Aztec Empire, Oxford University was 300 years old.

• Harvard university didn’t offer classes in calculus until a decade after its founding because calculus had yet to be discovered.

• Leonardo da Vinci was painting the Last Supper in the same decade that Columbus was making his voyages to and from the Americas.

• The Cubs won a world series in 2016. But before that, they last won in 1908. Both World Wars had not been fought, horses were still viable transportation, New Mexico Arizona, Hawaii, and Alaska weren't states yet. That means in that time, Arizona became a state, formed a professional baseball team, and won a World Series.

3. US Expenses (Bruce Mehlman)

Starting in 2024 and for the foreseeable future, America will spend more paying off interest from past borrowing than national defense.

Not ideal.

4. How To Be Consistent (James Clear)

In theory, consistency is about being disciplined, determined, and unwavering. In practice, consistency is about being adaptable.

Don't have much time? Scale it down.

Don't have much energy? Do the easy version.

Find different ways to show up depending on the circumstances. Let your habits change shape to meet the demands of the day.

Adaptability is the way of consistency. And consistency is the way to a great life

5. A Nice Reminder (Naval Ravikant)

Timeless: Science, math, philosophy, rhetoric. First principles. Creating art & business. Family & lifelong friends. Habits to calm mind & body.

Temporary: Politics, news, entertainment. Memorizing facts. Hourly work. Transactional relationships. Drugs & doctors for mind & body.

Thanks for wanting to know more today than you did yesterday! If you liked this edition, send it over to a friend who would like it too 🤝 

Cheers,

Luke

PS: Have a topic you think I’d like learning about? Send it to me here.

PPS: Got questions you want me to answer? I made an anonymous form for that.

PPPS: you can find more rabbit holes here & my writing here.