Five Things: Israel, Play, Dog Poop, Art Fraudster, Dark Matter
If the five topics chosen for this newsletter seem a bit random to you, there's only one way to find out: you should read this email.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things! My name is Nico Lumma and I read a lot of stuff on the interwebs. Every Sunday I share five interesting articles in this newsletter. If you subscribed to this newsletter, you hopefully did it because you like to read what I share. If you havent subscribed yet, please do so now! Also, you could get a paid subscription, which gives you a special edition of Five Things every month. Also it would make me totally happy. So don’t hesitate, subscribe and go paid if you haven’t already!
This week our son turned 18 and my wife spent some time going through photos of these 18 years to put together a photo book for him as a gift. I’m immensely proud of him as he overcame a bunch of obstacles in the last few years and now is an amazing young adult with a bright future ahead of him. One of the things I told him when he turned 18 is that he can now just buy the booze he wants to buy and when he did just that to get some stuff for his party, he was a bit annoyed that they didn’t even want to see his ID.
And in two months he’ll get to vote for this first time. They grow up so fast.
On a side-note: I really had some not so flattering hair-dos and too much weight on a lot of photos my wife went trough. And those glasses without a rim, what a stupid idea!
Anyhow, here are the Five Things for you to read and enjoy!
Israel on the Front Lines
Six months ago today Hamas attacked Israel, killed more than 1100 people and took 250 hostages. We should not forget this. And we should also remember what is at stake for Western liberal societies right now.
The achievement society is burning us out, we need more play
“The problem is, as achievement-subjects, not only do we burn ourselves out, but the meaning and value of our lives is always deferred. Once we have our dream job, the perfect home, a perfectly optimised life – once we are productive enough, efficient enough, successful enough – only then will we arrive at meaning. But just like the fruit that eludes Tanatalus’ grasp in Tartarus, meaning remains just outside our reach.” - think about it.
Dog duty
I always pick up after my dog and I’m appalled that many people don’t do this. And then there’s somebody on our block who puts the dog poop in a bag, ties the bag and then neatly puts it next to a tree. No idea what this is supposed to signal.
The Confessions of Inigo Philbrick, Art Fraudster Extraordinaire
I used to watch the tv-show “White Collar” with my wife and this story reminds me a lot of this show. I don’t understand the art business at all, but I find it interesting how people try to game it.
Dark Matter
I just love the internet for allowing people to be creative. Let’s not forget that even thought there is so much crap on the net and so many disturbed people harassing others, there is so much beautiful stuff out there.
That’s it. Have a great Sunday! If you missed last Sunday’s edition of Five Things, have a look here:
— Nico