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52 Things I Learned in 2024

kenthendricks.com

5. Swearing improves grip strength by 9%, wall sit time by 22%, and plank time by 12%.

21. In 1985, a black bear in northern Georgia died from a cocaine overdose. It was stuffed and is now at the Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington, Kentucky. Because of a loophole in Kentucky marriage law, it is allowed to perform legally binding weddings.

40. Car seats are not required on planes because it would reduce seat supply and raise fares, causing more families to drive. Because driving is more dangerous than flying, for every child a required car seat would save on an airplane, 60 would die in car accidents.

101 Additional Advices

kk.org
  • Admitting that “I don’t know” at least once a day will make you a better person.
  • If you think someone is normal, you don’t know them very well. Normalcy is a fiction. Your job is to discover their weird genius.
  • There should be at least one thing in your life you enjoy despite being no good at it. This is your play time, which will keep you young. Never apologize for it.
  • Never accept a work meeting until you’ve seen the agenda and know what decisions need to be made. If no decisions need to be made, skip the meeting.

Things that don't work

dynomight.net

5. Tree-based knowledge organization.
6. Graph-based knowledge organization.
10. Expecting people to follow written instructions.
17. Arguing with people.
21. Wanting to be liked.
31. Waiting.
32. Quality over quantity.
35. Rewriting your code from scratch.

Fictional Brands Archive

fictionalbrandsarchive.com

Slow learning

itcilo.org

Much more in there, but the basics:

  1. Focus on direction, not destination
    Immerse yourself completely in the journey and you will reach your final goal gradually.
  2. Raise your hand
    Asking questions is a fundamental human right.
  3. Learn at your own pace
    Find your rhythm, find your flow. Don’t compare yourself to others.
  4. Unplug
    You have the right to disconnect and move your attention towards what’s essential. Learn unplugged, far away from digital distractions.
  5. Change your learning path (and mind)
    Don’t get too comfortable in the habit zone and start with changing the aversion to change. Think differently and learn new things.
  6. Take a break
    Micro-breaks, lunch breaks, and longer breaks will all improve your learning performance. You have the right to rest.
  7. Make mistakes
    Don’t fall into despair but Fail Forward.
  8. Leave it unfinished
    We live in a super busy, multi-tasking, results-oriented society. Step away from your long to-do list and enjoy once in a while the beauty of an unstructured day.
  9. Unlearn and forget
    Harness the power of unlearning. Reboot your mind, abandon old knowledge, actions and behaviours to create space.
  10. Slow down
    Sometimes slow and steady will win the learning race. Make haste slowly.

The Hundred Best Lists of All Time

newyorker.com
  1. The Apollo 11 surface checklist
  2. Warren Buffett’s “Investment Criteria Checklist”
  3. This grocery list
  4. Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation
  5. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
  6. The U.S. Declaration of Independence list of grievances
  7. The Fibonacci Sequence
  8. Santa’s List!

ongoing by Tim Bray — 5G Skeptic

tbray.org

When I was working at AWS, around 2017 we started getting excited pitches from companies who wanted to be part of the 5G build-out, saying that obviously there’d be lots of opportunities for public-cloud providers. But I never walked away convinced. Either I didn’t believe the supposed customers really needed what 5G offered, or I didn’t believe the opportunity was anywhere near big enough to justify the trillion-dollar build-out investment. Six years later, I still don’t. This is a report on a little online survey I ran, looking for actual real-world 5G impact to see if I was wrong.