Here is a digest of the best links I found each week for anyone who might be interested.
Pandemic and Protests: the reality we live in
If you are like me having a hard time making sense of all happening, here is one very insightful piece, Systemic racism and coronavirus are killing people of color. Protesting isn’t enough, from National Geographic.
And, How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change, by Barack Obama.
Also, How the protests have changed the pandemic, from the New Yorker.
Besides, The pandemic is still gathering pace in most of the world, from Economist.
Among them, Corona Daily highlighted the worrying situation in Brazil, Mexico, India, and Russia, using the chart from FT.
Disruptions: how it might be different
On Sat (5/30), two astronauts soared skyward into the orbit using a commercially designed capsule flown on a reusable rocket built by SpaceX. This opens a new era of human spaceflight, which is to send all kinds of people to space.
The big topic for the world today: Why science matters in a tough time? As the editor notes:
“we can use the continued progress of science both as inspiration during troubled times, and as a reminder of what we should be striving for: equality.”
After Dragon, several more American spaceships are coming.
Behind Dragon, the Falcon 9 rocket is the secret sauce of SpaceX’s success. The stories remind me a lot of memories on fixing my first car.
Btw, the landing video is freaking awesome.
Many are curious to learn how the software is built internally. The team has an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit. Here is a short summary from one fan.
While it’s inspiring to see the liberation of orbit, or even space travel, former NASA director raises concerns on ‘planetary quarantine’. Should we worry about another potential virus brought back from space?
Tips: raise the bar for myself
Speed as a habit from Dave Girouard, CEO of Upstart, reminds me this old saying in the Kungfu novels, that nothing beats speed. To establish a culture, it really just needs a group of members embracing that value, and exhibits those habits. As the author writes, for companies it really comes down to be fast on two things: making decisions, and executing on decisions. There are several great tips in the essay on how to achieve that.
But, once you run fast, another important goal is to run forward. I have seen teams and organizations that are simply running around in circles with urgencies. This might be a topic to write about a separate time.
Sam Altman wrote about idea generation. My take is that the chance of getting great ideas comes down to meet the right group of people, who are open-minded, supportive, and forward looking.
When I grew up in a small city in China in the 90s, I read books and magazines in the school library to open my mind. Those authors are my friends that gave me a lot of ideas about my life. It’s a friendship the author might expect but never be notified.
Management: the ideas for better collaboration
Some of my own essays recently: