Weekend Link List

This is my orchid cactus plant. It only blooms once a year for a single night! My bedroom smelled amazing that day 🙂

I’m still alive and kickin’! Since it’s been crazy busy at work lately (why do I feel like I’m always saying that?), in lieu of writing a proper post, I’ll just link to some articles/documentaries that I’ve been enjoying recently.

• The foundations of productivity (I Will Teach You To Be Rich): I know some people find his writing style abrasive, but I like Ramit Sethi and his blog. In particular, I can’t agree more with his main message: the foundations of productivity aren’t special apps or “tricks” or “hacks”, but a solid night of sleep and reducing the number of choices you need to make every day. I have to say I’m pretty bad at the sleep part (started having insomnia in the last few years due to stress), but I’ve been trying to improve this by cutting down on screen time. I moved my phone charger out of the bedroom, which helped, but I somehow just switched over to the iPad instead 😦
• Theranos book (Amazon): What is it about “fall from grace” type stories that are so alluring? This is the book version of the original WSJ article, which I simply devoured. While the Theranos parts were good, what I found particularly interesting was the investigative reporter’s side of the story: how he heard about the story, worked to find and keep sources, the (understandable) squeamishness of the sources, etc. The bravery of the people who helped expose the fraud, especially Tyler Shultz and the potential litigation and other financial repercussions he faced, is amazing.
• Academic #metoo (Huffington Post): Another fall from grace type story. Different from the #metoo stories you see in major news outlets, this is a smaller-scale, academic #metoo complete with text messages and email exchanges. As far as I could find out, the prof is currently on administrative leave and not teaching any courses. My friends and I have discussed this one quite a bit, with most people on the stern condemnation side.
• Wild Wild Country (Netflix): This is a documentary on the Rajneesh spiritual movement, and what happened when they moved to the US to try and establish a city in a remote part of Oregon. I’m still in the middle of it (it’s a 6-part series), but I’m creepily enjoying it so far. What I like is that the filmmakers try to present a nuanced view of things, not just a black and white “cult is bad” message. The interviews with the 2nd in command, Sheela, almost makes you believe her message, until you learn about her actions.