• WOWOW: The Motion Mountain Edition [Links of the Week]

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Renaissance, polymath questions of the week, music lessons, free content, and free links.

    How do objects and images move? How can animals move? What is motion? How does a rainbow form? Is levitation possible? Do time machines exist? What does 'quantum' mean? What is the maximum force value found in nature? Is 'empty space' really empty? Is the universe a set? Which problems in physics are still unsolved?

    A free physics textbook that tells the story of how it became possible, after 2500 years of exploration, to answer such questions. The book is written for the curious: it is entertaining, surprising and challenging on every page. With little mathematics, starting from observations of everyday life, the text explores the most fascinating parts of mechanics, thermodynamics, special and general relativity, electrodynamics, quantum theory and modern attempts at unification. The essence of these fields is summarized in the most simple terms. For example, the text presents modern physics as consequence of the notions of minimum entropy, maximum speed, maximum force, minimum change of charge and minimum action.

    Speaking of renaissance men --

    Ten Things I Learned from Einstein

    6. Where you are now doesn't predict where you will be in the future.

    plus ...

    10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein

    9. You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

    Learn the rules of your game and start playing it best. Keep competing like your life depended on it. And after a while you will have no one else but you to compete against. At that point, better your best.

    ... gives us 20 Einstein nuggets to take note of.

    WOW is about being extraordinary, or in Seth's words, remarkable. I'm still not ignoring the music industry --

    Seth's Music Lessons

    People pay a premium for a story, every time.

    This isn't about having a great idea (it almost never is). The great ideas are out there, for free, on your neighborhood blog. Nope, this is about taking initiative and making things happen.

    While we're here, it is the permission model again --

    Free Without Exploitation

    While your business model might depend on and benefit from giving away free information and ideas, it should never be free at the expense of your business. Your advice has value but only to the level you allow it.

    Oh yeah... one more thing. The most stunning thing you can do these days is posting a link to some book on Amazon and omit your referer id. Yes. Linking to a book solely for the content.

    The 48 Laws of Power. Choose one --

    Law 3

    Conceal your Intentions

    Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

    Law 17

    Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

    Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people's actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

    Press on. Happy weekend and do everything you can, whatever it takes.

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  • Question: What's the Difference between iTunes and Life?

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Playlists. To be more specific, the human interface that makes playlists so easily usable. In iTunes. Let's take a look at real life's playlists.

    There is this software -- iTunes -- that let's us create playlists, our own mix du jour, we listen to what we want and when we want, we schedule our music.

    Enter the shuffle mode. Random playlists and random sequences. There is no such thing as random, there are no misunderstandings either.

    We have the option to control every second of our listening experience, yet we, you, most of us, consciously opt for the delivery of a surprise.

    You could, but you prefer the random playlist. You could control everything but you don't. Why?

    Now, how does this relate to life? Is iTunes somehow related to real life? Isn't iTunes even modeled after real life? Is it not possible to create your own playlists and plans and set up everything in great detail?

    You say it is not? What if it was?

    Say it is possible to not live at random. Would you choose the party-jukebox anyway? Would you consciously choose the random mode just because it's possible?

    What if life is too easy and you need the excitement of the unknown?

    Is true mastery the balancing of preset playlists and the jukebox?

    (...)

    And then you find yourself on shuffle, only to be crazily hitting next, next, next, to get the one you want, the one you hope to recognize by the time it is presented to you. You're asking for more options when in reality, even in your reality, the same options, presented in ever changing contexts are more than sufficient.

    How would the shuffle function know what you want, when you yourself do not know it in the first place?

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