Eleven Gems on the Net #3

Hi readers,

Welcome back to another episode of Eleven Gems on the Net (EGN, for friends), where i share few interesting links I’ve found on the web. More information about the series can be found in the first post.

It’s been quite a long time since last episode, but I have been busier with writing and traveling and I’ve been slightly behind with reading. My feed reader is about to explode.

I was wandering what’s the future of EGN. Would it make sense to make thematic episodes? Would it make sense to move the series on facebook? Would it make sense to try to avoid repeating same sources? In the end I’d like to share things I liked and hopefully make you aware of pieces of the internet you weren’t aware of. Like blogs, video channel, tools, websites, books,…

Anyway, not for now. I like the format as it is, i.e. formatless.

enjoy!

1) Income Thinking vs Expense Thinking by BNL.

We all know the basic math behind money-time conversion right? We know, as FIRE wannabe, that each recurrent yearly/monthly cost can be translated into a delta Nest Egg roughly 25x yearly cost or 300x monthly cost (assuming 4% WR), right? We all then measure in how many extra years of work we need to force ourselves into to accumulate the extra ‘stash. In this mindset, a richer person will always say “ok, sure, it’s an extra 3 months of work to allow myself that latte every day… let’s do it!”. I’ve always felt that something was wrong in this philosophy but I couldn’t find the right words. Well, in this article BNL puts on paper what I wasn’t able to articulate. What matters is not your actual hourly wage, but your actual hourly cost!

2) How to Eradicate Malaria by Kurzgesagt.

Yes, I know, I kind of signed off on having at most a single video on each EGN edition… wait… I never said that, did I? Ok cool! I love Kurzgesagt and their videos! I watched all of them, several times each. The one before this last one was really game changing but I just realized it now. We have genetic engineering capabilities to kill the top causes to human death. What else should we be discussing about, Brad & Angelina?? Take your time to watch this video (and at least the previous one)

3) Risks of Retiring Early by 1500days.

On their deathbed, has anyone ever uttered these words?

I wish I spent more time in a cube.

Enough said.

4) Normal Sucks by 1500days.

Yes, I know, I know, I know. I kind of signed off on not having more than a single link to the same source on each EGN edition too… wait… I never said that too, did I?

What? who claims this is just a way to be forgiven by Mr.1500 for the interview thing? You’re wrong!

I’m not like that, I’m a normal person.

Wait, did I say normal? Ouch, that’s exactly what the linked post is all about: how to NOT be normal.

5) Poker Odds by Datagenetics.

Love Datagenetics. If you love math and puzzles (and deeply/nerdy investigations of useless fields) that’s the blog you should follow.

This post is about poker odds and it starts as “ok, normal stuff”. Then, as usual, they drift into weird generalizations like different number of suits or numbers and get generic formulas. Don’t lose the followup post: poker odds with wild cards.

It’s a brain work-out.

6) Elon Musk on Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species.

Oops another video 😛

Should I say something about it? Is everyone booking their spot on the first ship? Isn’t it what FU Money are good for? 🙂

Btw, how much would you need to be FI on Mars? Food for thought 🙂

P.S. don’t miss WBW followup post, WBW dinner table about “how should we govern Mars?” and the amazing WBW prequel: “how and why SpaceX will colonize Mars“.

Did I tell you I’m a space exploration enthusiast?

7) Animated Book Review: The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey – Animated by FightMediocrity.

I’ve recently found this Youtube Channel that’s great!

I love the topics Stephen touches, I love the way he draws the stories associated to each topic, I like the pace he speaks and finally I like his humour!

The book review list is amazing and I’ve found them to be the best tl;dr version of my favourite books available on the net.

8) The choice is ours by Venus Project.

Ok, you got it. This is a video edition 🙂

The Venus Project is a kind of utopian community, a spinoff of the Zeitgeist movement, that revolves around resource-based economy. Their ideas (mainly the idea of his founder, Jacque Fresco) are fascinating and are based on “sending robots to work for us” and around the fact that we already have technology advanced enough that could allow us to not work or work very little.

Yeah, Utopia as I said, but still fascinating.

9) Pete Adeney (MrMoneyMustache) at World Domination Summit 2016.

If you didn’t watch it before this recommendation, please unsubscribe from this blog and don’t come back never ever.

Still here? Ok, see you in 28 minutes.

How was it? The part I loved the most is the part 3: “work is better when you don’t need money”. Best way to explain the concept of Retirement for those who aim at early retirement. Enlightening.

10) Zuckerberg Virtual reality video

I’m not a fan of Virtual Reality.

I’ve been on top of things so far, following latest news and development (but almost never purchasing) in the tech world. I start loosing terrain though. No smartwatches, no VR, no Google Glasses.

VR is something that makes me feel old. It’s the first thing I will never understand and I know I’ll grow old using good old 2D screens while everyone around me has a visor. I’ll be seen like I see my grandpa today: “look, that guy never had an email address, how could he be alive??”. Is this the first step to become an old fart?

Few days ago a friend told me to watch this video. “hey, look. VR is for kids. It’s useless. Yes, I loved Ready Player One, but that’s another thing. Our VR sucks and makes me sick. I tried a cardboard and a visor and I don’t like them. I really hope that VR will die like 3D films.

Then I watched the video.

11) [Special] Generation of spoiled idiots by Louis CK.

A nice reminder, by one of the best stand up comedians of all time, of how this is the best time ever to be alive but nobody seems happy.

i love the passage starting at 4’16”. Internet on a plane. It doesn’t work and the passenger complained. Lois says “how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only 10 seconds ago?”. Love it!