Stuff #110 - My name is bunny...

Hey from Dublin,

I spent the week mostly travelling, by air (see above) and by uber as I whizzed across to some meetings near San Francisco for my day job.  I find travel like this tiring, but also a good source of inspiration as I see things through a different lens for a week.

Today is a holiday here in Dublin, as we celebrate Halloween - I'm grateful to see many houses decorated for the festival and I have a bag of treats on standby in case of trick or treaters in our little square tonight!

I also want to say massive thank you and welcome to new readers from Handpicked, it's lovely to have you here!

If you're enjoying Stuff, I'd ♥️  if you would hit 'forward' and share this with a friend, if not hit 'reply' and tell me how I can make Stuff better for you.  

As always - thanks for being here - it's great to have you join me each week! If you received this from an amazing friend, get your own copy here.

1. Monday Motivation:   Let this week be the one where you move towards being an expert.  This practical guide will help you map out where you are on your journey to mastery.   Of course, there is more than one way to get there, and remember, if you are learning - the 85% rule will serve you well.
2. Your new superpower:  Learning to write a great problem statement is an essential skill in today's workplace.  Fortunately, there are some great guides that will guide you through writing an excellent problem statement.  If your challenge is a more personal one, then the technique still stands, and this guide is the one that you want.
3. Essential Reading: Why you need core values.   Most of us will have been through this exercise before, but core values can evolve over time and it's worth checking in.  This very detailed guide will take you through the steps to define your own value set.  
4. Take care: The importance of not being a jerk to yourself (13 mins - YouTube).  Dan Harris suffered a panic attack whilst working as news anchor on ABC, his experience led him to seek out some help, including a 360-feedback process.   The information he received led to loving-kindness meditation, a process that resonates with meditation sceptics like me.
5. TWIL:  Last week I reported a list of the happiest countries, this week I learned that The Good Country index has defined some more ways to rank the places we live.
6. Win or Learn:  Every bad experience we have has given us the gift of silver-lining experiences, this excellent article describes ten things we can learn from navigating our troubles.
7. My name is bunny, Gold Bunny:  How the Lindt Gold Bunny is made. Three minutes of joy, narrated by the actual bunny and featuring a tiny bit of unexpected violence at the end.
8. This wallpaper does not exist: I really like these sites that use some sort of AI to magically generate interesting pictures.  This site will produce a genuinely unique wallpaper for your phone.
9. Freeform - fun:  The 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography competition is a lot of fun, check the 40 finalists out and vote for your favourite.   This one is mine.
10. Finally:  Slow Roads. A very Zen, endless driving experience with AI generated roads, that even has a 'self-drive' mode.

My aural treat this week has been on constant rotation, suiting the mood of air travel and sounding like the future.

Bolts by Hagop Tchaparian is filled with sounds from a long journey across multiple lands, woven into a dancefloor ready tapestry of electronica.   Many of the tracks are based on field recordings, infused with snippets of sounds recorded over many years and then tweaked into 'on the money' readiness.  I particularly love the sound of 'GL', with its Armenian zurna mixed with fearsome beats.   The whole album has the colour and texture that only a multi-cultural composer and instrumentalist can bring to life.

This is the first album from 'Text' the label of a Stuff favourite, Four Tet and a fantastic start.

🍿 I watched a bunch of movies on planes recently, and my absolute favourite was Brian and Charles.    

Brian (Gittins) is played by comedian David Earl, and lives an isolated life in a remote part of the British countryside, passing his time building Heath Robinson style 'inventions'.  

After a particularly cold winter, Brian decides to address his loneliness by inventing a robot, which he names Charles Petrescu. In between the relationship of Brian and Charles alongside a friend from the village called Hazel, we watch life adjust to the arrival of Brians new friend.

I'm giving no spoilers, but this is a beautifully told story, at turns hilarious and touching, and I highly recommend it.