32 Learnings, How to Build Muscle, Nuke Map & Whale Carbon
32 Learnings, How to Build Muscle, Nuke Map & Whale Carbon
#44 of 10+1 Things|📍Delhi | 32° C
⚡ Welcome to #44 of 10+1 Things!
I hope you still remember me!
After a short hiatus, I'm glad to be back, and I missed curating this newsletter in the last couple of months. If everything goes well as planned, I hope to continue publishing as usual. Thanks a lot to everyone who wrote to me inquiring about my well-being because of not publishing!
Without further ado, here are 10+1 Things that I thought were worth sharing this week:
💡 32 Learnings
Peter Dufy from 'How Curious!' has compiled a short life learning list that is dense in knowledge yet effective to digest on his 32nd birthday. From health to learning, decision-making, and life, the list is quite interesting. He publishes these lists as a way of reflecting on his learnings throughout the years. Some of my favourites from the list are:
Introduce friends to friends and be the matchmaker.
Fish where there is plenty of fish and not many fishermen.
The plate method: Fill 1/2 of your plate with vegetables & fruit, 1/4 proteins and 1/4 grains & starches.
🐳 Whale Carbon Project
Whales play a crucial role in the ocean's ability to capture carbon from the atmosphere and can lock up as much carbon as that of 1,000 trees. When whales die, their bodies sink to the ocean floor, transferring the carbon stored in their enormous bodies from surface waters to the deep sea, where it remains for centuries or more. The Whale Carbon Plus initiative recognizes the valuable contribution of whales in carbon sequestration and ecosystem resilience. By assigning a financial value to whales and their carbon storage abilities, the project aims to incentivize companies to protect these majestic creatures. It offers a carbon credit program where investors can purchase rights to whales' carbon sequestration, receiving carbon credits as interest. These credits can be used for carbon offsetting or sold to others. Although still in its early stages, the project is interesting and has great potential if done right without greenwashing!
💪 How to Build Muscle
If you're looking to build muscle, or interested in strength training as a beginner, this guide by Julian is one of the most comprehensive guides you will find on the internet that is free. The guide covers various aspects of muscle building, including nutrition, effective exercise routines, measuring weekly muscle gains, and overcoming plateaus. It emphasizes the importance of diligent commitment to proper eating, exercising, and sleeping for optimal results. The beginner plan for absolute beginners lasts for 8 weeks with just 3 workouts/week with no complex exercises. I personally do not follow his workout, but I have adopted key insights from this guide into my fitness regime such as measuring progress, meal timings and other facts.
🚀 Nuke Map
Nuke Map, created by historian Alex Wellerstein in 2012, is an interactive tool for visualizing the effects of nuclear detonations on maps. Users can select a target location and choose from a variety of weapons with different yields to simulate the impact of nuclear explosions. The options range from small weapons tested by North Korea to the massive Russian Tsar Bomba, the largest weapon ever created but never used. For example, if a nuclear bomb like Fat Man (used in Nagasaki) were to detonate in Delhi, it would result in approximately 242,000 deaths and over 600,000 injuries. Based on my location, I would be within the heavy blast damage radius!
🧱️ Things you don't need
I love going through interesting discussions on communities like Reddit or HN and found this interesting post titled 'A comprehensive list of items you DON'T NEED' in the r/minimalism community. The rules were simple: just post one item as a comment that you don't need to keep around. As a certified hoarder and a wannabe minimalist in 50 years, I found the discussion quite interesting. Some of the interesting items that caught my eye were user manuals of products, old batteries, old cellphones, leftover containers, computer parts, and more!
💁♂️ Most Important Career Advice
I came across an excellent article by Carl Newport, which is more than a decade old, on the most important career advice you can receive. According to Carl, the best career advice is to "Fix the lifestyle you want. Then work backwards from there." Rather than solely focusing on conventional wisdom like not taking oneself too seriously or following passion over money, Carl suggests constructing a detailed image of the ideal future, considering factors such as schedule control, job intensity, importance and prestige, location, social life, work-life balance, and family. By visualizing and aligning early career decisions with this ideal lifestyle, individuals can explore a wider range of creative opportunities and increase their chances of achieving personal fulfilment. This article truly stands as a gem even after all these years!
🌳 Tree of Life
The Tree of Life, created by Muhammad Azhar, is an interesting data visualization that showcases global life expectancy trends based on data from 2021. Life expectancy refers to the average number of years a newborn is expected to live in a particular country or area, reflecting the current mortality patterns. It serves as a vital indicator of a country's quality of life and the overall health and well-being of its population. According to the data, the global average life expectancy in 2021 stands at 72.3 years, although there are significant variations across continents. The visualization takes the form of a tree, with bubbles representing different countries or regions. The size of each bubble corresponds to the life expectancy at birth, whereas larger bubbles represent higher life expectancy. Notably, Monaco in Europe boasts the highest life expectancy at 85.9 years, while Chad in Africa has the lowest at 52.5 years attributed to factors such as natural disasters and inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
In the past, this newsletter section focused on Twitter Threads. However, I have noticed an abundance of unnecessary threads on Twitter lately, lacking meaningful content and appearing more like content marketing strategies. As a result, I personally find myself discovering and reading fewer meaningful threads these days. In light of this, I have decided to shift the focus of this section towards data visualization, as I believe it brings greater value to my readers.
📚 Lying by Sam Harris
Last week I completed a short(<100p), yet eye-opening long-form essay book by Sam Harris called 'Lying'. It's a thought-provoking book that explores the complex topics of lying and being dishonest. In the book, Sam looks at various forms of lying, ranging from small everyday lies to more significant falsehoods. He examines the motivations behind lying, such as the desire to protect oneself, gain personal advantage, or avoid uncomfortable situations. According to him, honesty is not only a virtue but also a crucial foundation for healthy relationships and a flourishing society. Overall a great short book to read and reflect upon our relationship with dishonesty and the role of lying in our lives.
My favourite quote from the book is:
“By lying, we deny others a view of the world as it is. Our dishonesty not only influences the choices they make, it often determines the choices they can make—and in ways we cannot always predict. Every lie is a direct assault upon the autonomy of those we lie to.”
~ Resurfaced using Readwise, a FREE service for book highlights.
Previous Read: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
📸 General Pencil
This week I'm exploring a photography project called 'General Pencil' by American photographer Chris Payne. The project explores the world of the General Pencil Company, one of the last remaining pencil manufacturers in the United States. Payne's photographs offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the intricate processes involved in pencil production, capturing the essence of craftsmanship and industrial nostalgia. By showcasing the General Pencil Company's operations, Payne sheds light on the craftsmanship and dedication required to produce a simple yet essential tool like a pencil.
“The pencil is so simple and ubiquitous that we take it for granted, but making one is a surprisingly complex process, and when I saw all the steps involved, many of which are done by hand, I knew it would make for a compelling visual narrative.”
🎬 Invisible Barrier
This week I've enjoyed watching the video on an invisible barrier between the islands of Indonesia, a meeting point of two regions of biodiversity that are quite distinct from each other. This imaginary line is called the 'Wallace Line' and on its west side Asiatic species are present whereas in the east, species of Australian origins are present. Many years ago, the islands on each side of the line were connected, allowing species to move freely between them. But over time, the Earth's plates shifted, causing the islands to separate. As a result, species on one side couldn't easily reach the other side, leading to separate evolutionary paths. This isolation allowed unique species to evolve independently on each side, leading to different plants and animals on either side of the line.
🗿 Seeing Faces
This last section of the newsletter explores a thought I had, an idea I'm exploring, a dream I experienced or something interesting that I observed:
Pareidolia is a fascinating phenomenon that occurs when our brains perceive meaningful patterns or faces in random stimuli, such as clouds, rock formations, or even toast. This tendency to assign significance to ambiguous stimuli is believed to have evolutionary significance. Our ancestors who were quick to recognize potential dangers and threats in their environment had a survival advantage. Pareidolia likely played a role in helping early humans identify potential threats and find resources, enhancing their chances of survival and passing on their genes to future generations. I'm fascinated by our brain's ability to stitch up these faces out of ordinary objects. The one above, I noticed while I was using the cross-trainer at the gym!
📣 Shoutouts
Unbiased news without any motives in a single email.
A fictional narrative sales letter about an anonymous salesperson on the run from dangerous people as they fall deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of the strangest, most absurd parts of America.
A data-centric substack about culture, sports, tech, economics, and more.
That’s 10+1 Things for the week.
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See you next week!
With Love,
Rishi
“The genius of the Wright brothers wasn’t to invent every necessary component from flight from scratch, it was to recognize that we were only a stepping stone away from flight given past innovations.”
—Joel Lehman