Issue 6

From Dilbert to Genesis and Lemmy...here is the 6th edition with 4 picks.



Book I finished: White Line Fever: Lemmy - The Autobiography by Lemmy Kilmister. There's no question that Lemmy is a rock/heavy metal legend. That status was achieved way before his unfortunate death in 2015. The book offers a sometimes hilarious, often outrageous, highly entertaining ride with the frontman of (what was) the loudest rock band in history. The language is very informal, it feels like you are chatting with him while having a drink. I read the book in one weekend as I couldn't put it down. A truly epic finale, and tribute, to Lemmy.










I absolutely love Dilbert. I mean, anyone who has ever worked in big corporations cannot avoid relating to this comic exploration of topics such as the inefficiency of meetings, the uselessness of management, and the absurdity of office politics. In this article the creator Scott Adams presents His 10 Favorite Strips and they are obviously hilarious. Look at this one!

I've been listening to a vinyl that is almost as old as I am. I found a vintage copy of A Trick of the Tail which is the seventh studio album from Genesis. It was released in February 1976 and was the first album to feature drummer Phil Collins as lead vocalist following the departure of Peter Gabriel. The album still shows the progressive side of the band that marked the first 6 albums, but it's a transitional album into a pop sound that the band would reach in the 80's.

I've been trying some diverse news source and I found the Daily Skimm to be a good one, specially if you live in the US. The Daily Skimm is the email newsletter that gives you everything you need to know to start your day (US timezones) . They break down what's going on in the world (but heavily US focused) with fresh editorial content.

Issue 5

Technology disruption, leadership and progressive rock...my picks of the week are out.

I was feeling that I was behind on the autonomous vehicles discussion. So I was happy to find this McKinsey Podcast that discusses what seems to be inevitable: autonomous vehicles. But what does that mean for car manufacturers, consumers, and safety? I believe it will take quite some years to get fully there. It was also interesting to hear very similar issues that are happening in the healthcare industry as well. Will be a Ford car powered by Google? or a Google car powered by Ford?

Now switching to healthcare but also talking about how new technologies can disrupt an incumbent. I've been doing a lot of research on Digital Health and this TED Talk gives a pretty basic but interesting overview from a doctor's perspective.

Book I am reading: Resonant Leadership by Richard E. Boyatzis and Annie McKee is an interesting book. But probably better to read their previous book with Daniel Goleman "Primal Leadership" first. The thesis is about how leaders--individuals manage their own and others' emotions in ways that drive success. It provides a guide to overcoming the vicious cycle of stress, sacrifice, and dissonance that afflicts many leaders. The book reveals that the path to resonance is through mindfulness, hope, and compassion and shows how intentionally employing these qualities creates effective and enduring leadership.

Single I've been listening to: “Let The Light Flood In” (Official Video below). My friend Michael gave me the tip to check those guys out and he was right. While clearly influrnced by Pink Floyd and Rush with some pop touches from the likes of U2 and MUSE; Dream The Electric Sleep excels at composing music that is novel, exploring new territories while somehow also evoking familiarity. Check it out.

Issue 4

The main topic this week are some of the tools I'm trying in order to improve/maintain my health. Additionally some educational and entertainment picks. Hope you enjoy!

Cursera is an educational technology company that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs). Coursera works with universities and other organizations to make some of their courses available online, offering courses in subjects, such as: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects. Ivy League schools and other top universities offer MOOCs here. I have taken about 3 courses there and it was a valuable experience.

UP is the app I use to track my steps and sleep. I got it for free, so it's a simple tracker but for me it does the job. I have much more clarity of how long I need to sleep per day and if I'm achieving my goal. It's impressive how much we overestimate how many calories we burn. You really need to get moving!

MyFitnessPal is a good app that works well to help you keep an eye on your diet. I haven't paid for the premium service, but even the free version is useful. The main feature to me is to calculate how many calories I consume in one day. I can search for the food I eat or scan the bar code. My key take-away is that it's unbelievable how much we underestimate how many calories we consume in one day. Add that to the already mention fact that we overestimate how many calories we burn and I'm not surprised anymore that it's difficult to loose weight.

I'm currently experimenting the 5:2 Diet. The 5:2 diet, or fast diet, is a diet which stipulates calorie restriction for two non-consecutive days a week and unconstrained eating the other five days. As far as I could find, there's actually no scientific proof that it  works. With that said, I am happy with the experience so far. The 2 fasting days are tough, but you start to get use to it and the next day I feel great and light. Now, the key is to maintain health and balanced eating on the other 5 days.

Last week I watched  Narcos season 2. It's a very good show and in some ways different than the first season. Season 1 covered a long period of Pablo Escobar's life, but season 2 is only a couple of years. Therefore, there's more character development and more complicated plots that also include other stakeholders.  Wagner Moura's performance as Escobar is just amazing, certainly the highlight of the two seasons. I know it's not a documentary, but using real images during the show is misleading. The only negative point, the story is filtered by american lens and that's certainly biased in their favor.

Issue 3

Keeping it up, here's week # 3 picks!

A website I was trying: Print Friendly. It's very basic but very useful tool for when you find an article and needs to print it. Many news websites are extremely print unfriendly and this tool will solve that!

I've read this interesting paper that collects evidence on how music can help us being productive. Intuitively, that's a strategy I've been using since high school. Almost always I had background music while studying, especially exact sciences. You can read it here.

Buenos Aires Grill Restaurant in Barcelona is by far my best Argentinean dining experience outside Argentina. The stakes were amazing and cooked as requested (sounds simple but very difficult in Europe). Also the wine selection, provoleta, dulce de leche...the whole package was perfect. Staff is friendly and professional (most, if not all, are Argentinian themselves ). It's not cheap, but in a city with overpriced tapas, this is a whole new level and worth it.

If you haven’t watched Stranger Things on Netflix yet, you really should.
I finished all the 8 episodes in less than 2 days and was completely addicted to the show by the end of it. The storytelling is perfect, there's an addictive mystery and the storylines are concise, inter-related and interesting. And above it all, the show is full of nostalgia as it takes place in 1983. Therefore there are hundreds  of 1980's pop culture references. To name a few:  Aliens (1986), Jaws (1975) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980). But mostly, the show is a mix of The Goonies (1985) with ET (1982) and Signs (2002). The directing and writing mix Stephen King and Steven Spielberg in an original and entertaining way. I can't imagine they can top it or even maintain it with season 2. But hope dies last...

New single I am listening is the mandatory new Metallica song:  Hardwired. The first track from their long-awaited 10th studio album, "Hardwired … to Self-Destruct", due in November. I don't care for anything they have put out in the last 25 years and I don't think I will be head over hills for this album. But, Metallica's recent attempts to bring new music have been so below average that this new song sounds quite OK (albeit badly mixed).