Five things on Friday #150

Things of note for the week ending Friday November 13th, 2015.

It’s me! There I am! Writing Five Things!

Holy bananas, it’s Five things on Friday issue #150.

That’s 150 times I’ve pulled together five of the most interesting things I’ve seen/found online (and off )over the past few years. Every week (not always on a Friday), but every week nonetheless.

Not bad!

Hurrah for arbitrary numbers and celebrations therein.

Enough silliness, shall we dive in?

BUMPER 150th EDITION SPECIAL!

1. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO CONTEST
No edition of Five things on Friday (which, by the way, go through a minor change/facelift in the New Year – I’ve literally just decided so, y’know, expect more on that… next year) would be complete without a link to a fairly awesome/substantial photo album now would it?

Which is handy, because National Geographic is currently underway (entries must be in by Monday, in case you’re considering entering) and the submissions thus far are, of course, outstanding.

Have a squizz at these few…

And then please do go and check out the rest, they are stunning – all of them.

2. A HUG MACHINE – WHAT?
Thanks to Sizemore for this late entry in at Thing Number Two this week. Some bright spark in Finland has made this wooden hug machine:

According to my very poor Finnish:

“The viewer must trust the construction and lean on it, then he/she is able to reach the handles. The viewer can turn these handles as if he/she would be hugging someone. The mechanism will in turn hug the viewer in the same way with the mechanical arms which have three turning points. Instructional video is included. In the video people try the work for the first time.”

Suitably bonkers.

More.

3. NO, YOU’RE A FALL STREAK HOLE
I had no idea these things existed.

This, ladies and gents, is a fall streak hole.

Check it:

Right?!

This one appeared over Australia just last week.

Wanna know how?

Of course you do.

4. MOBILES ARE PCS
The super smart Ben Evans is back again, this time talking about how mobiles and ecosystems have effectively ‘killed’ the era of the PC.

This chart is somewhat meaningless without the context (you can read Ben’s post here) and one could argue (as my podcasting colleague Stefan Constantinescu did on last week’s episode) that Ben is just trundling out the same old ‘mobile is eating the universe’ stuff as per, however, whatever your opinion aside, it is utterly compelling and expertly written.

This is my recommended read of the week.

5. THE IMPORTANCE OF [PRACTICING] HEARTBREAK
This is a beautiful read.

Carsie Blanton, author of the weblog ‘thoughts on love, sex, music and ferocity’ (love that), put together some words on the importance of practicing heartbreak.

And I adore it.

The whole thing is endlessly quotable but…

This:

When we love somebody, even casually or briefly, we give them the power to hurt us. Falling in love with someone means looking them in the eye, handing over your guileless, muffiny heart, and saying, “do your worst”. We do this because some part of us, despite our best attempts at logic, trusts them. I’d argue that we don’t trust our beloved notto hurt us; we trust them to hurt us in a way that we need to be hurt. Our hearts may strike us as foolish, illogical, and idiotic (heck, I dedicated a whole album to the subject), but they are geniuses at one thing: they know exactly what will make us grow, and they have no qualms about yanking us towards it.

And this?

When we practice heartbreak, we get better at it. We gain confidence in our own ability to hurt and heal, which gives us the courage to stride into the world, with all its disappointment and cruelty and unsavory characters, and embrace it joyfully. We broaden our emotional horizons – venturing a little further into the dark, cobwebby corners of our souls, feeling things we’ve never felt before, expanding our understanding of ourselves and other people. When our hearts break, they break us open.

All utterly mesmerising.

I doubt there are many of you out there who have gone without some form of heartbreak in your lives. I myself have been through the gut-wrenching heart-smashing, soul-crumpling numbness of heartbreak more times than I care to mention.

It is everything.

It is endless.

But you grow.

And above all, at the end, you realise it was worth it.

Shalom.

_______________

Bonuses this week are many:

• The best ‘overheard on a plane’ story this week.
• Do you [secretly] like porn on Instagram? Yeah, we can see (I mean, there’s no problem with that just, y’know, be aware that people can you see you doing it).
• #SquadGoals? No thanks.  
• Phone dead on your commute? Try this.
• Interesting (but not really legal – yet).

AND FINALLY…

I know I bang on about Shaken Cocktails from time to time (transparency: I am a minor investor) but I thought it’d be worth pointing out to you lovely lot that, if you missed out the first time, there is another investment round open right now.

Not heard of Shaken Cocktails?

Go read!

(also: £5 off your first box thanks to yours truly)

Anyway, now you’re all read up: with an abundance of success stories already behind them (and many more ahead) this investment round is definitely something to check out.

AND [actually] FINALLY.

 

Thank you all so much for reading.

150 editions is pretty darn awesome.

Which means, by association, you are too.

I love you, all of you.

James, x

 

Last updated by James Whatley at November 13, 2015.