Fantastic essay by Paul Graham reflecting on whether life really is short and how to avoid the “bullshit” that creeps in. He writes: “Life is short, as everyone knows. When I was a kid I used to wonder about this. Is life actually short, or are we really complaining about its finiteness? Would we be just as likely to feel life was short if we lived 10 times as long?

Since there didn’t seem any way to answer this question, I stopped wondering about it. Then I had kids. That gave me a way to answer the question, and the answer is that life actually is short.”

Worth a read!

Continuing the theme of “bending time” through the joy of children, is another wonderfully written piece on how the arrival of a child can bend a parent’s perception of time. 

“I have never felt as close to anyone before. When I confessed this to my wife, she joked, “What about me?” Sorry, my wife is fantastic, but not even close ;-) With my daughter, it is a connection so deep, full of electricity that bends time around me, so profoundly indescribable, that every decision around how I spend my time provides me with a reward in the form of more time with her.”

An awesome read and a great reminder for us all: “Truly humble people are able to offer this kind of gift to us because they see and accept their own strengths and limitations without defensiveness or judgment—a core dimension, according to researchers, of humility, and one that cultivates a powerful compassion for humanity.”

Read on for some basic tips on reminding ourselves to humble. 

Research into the gut microbiome is at a frantic pace as scientists learn more about it’s tremendous impact on our bodies. Now we are learning it may impact our children.

Fantastic summary of why the science of nutrition is something of an art and most news articles about eating this or that isn’t so black and white. If you are interested in food science at all, this is a must read. 

What does alcohol have to do with weight gain? According to this infographic, everything.

Fantastic read into the human psychology of dieting, hunger, and will power. If you have ever had to “diet”, this is a must read.

Hunger isn’t in your stomach or your blood-sugar levels. It’s in your mind – and that’s where we need to shape up.

Doug Wilson writes: “You’ve likely spent time and effort defining your company’s long-term strategy, but what’s your time horizon when you think about the long term?  Maybe three to five years?  I would call that a medium term focus. Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia, was experiencing very fast revenue growth. The company had the opportunity to expand into multiple worldwide retail chains.  It would have launched the business on a major growth spurt.  Instead, Chouniard and his team stepped back and said, “Whoa - let’s take a look at who we are and what we want to accomplish in this world as a company - over the very long term.”

Stack fallacy has caused many companies to attempt to capture new markets and fail spectacularly. When you see a database company thinking apps are easy, or a VM company thinking big data is easy  — they are suffering from stack fallacy.

Many executives are getting tired of the “D” word. Yet, even longtime market leaders with a reputation for innovation-led growth are stumbling in the face of fast-changing customer expectations. Importantly, this is not a technology industry issue.  It’s a business issue that is cutting across industries and geographies. Here are a few examples.

When computers start doing the work of people, the need for people often increases.

Well written piece on the perception that some VCs and VC backed company CEOs have toward non-VC backed companies. The article writes: “Let’s call them Flippers and Builders instead.” In my opinion, both are fine, they are just different. (Thanks Scott R!)

“Flipper entrepreneurs want to build several companies in their career, try to do it quickly, and sell them. They’re more passionate about the process than the actual entity they’re building. … A builder entrepreneur doesn’t think about their business in the short-term. It’s a long-term venture and a legacy. They’re patient and persistent and want to build for the long-term. They’re not thinking about the next quarter–or the next round. They’re thinking about the long-term. Their business is their baby–and they won’t give it up easily.”

Transient electronics monitor pressure and temperature for five days and then disappear. Ars Technica covers this as well. 

UK researchers develop nanoscale robots that can potentially replicate the traditional factory assembly line, except on a nanoscale.

A human brain that speaks in binary? It could be a reality. DARPA is looking into creating an interface that can connect the human brain and modern tech.

This is the most detailed map of our universe. It spans more than 500 million light-years and contains more then 100,000 galaxies. AMAZING!