Reasons for Hope
You're here for a reason. Find the reason. And do your bit. (#545)
This is David, your human web crawler just doing his bit. You're reading the Weekly Filet, the newsletter for curious minds who are here for a reason. As every Friday, I'm here to help you make sense of what’s happening, and imagine what could be. It's great to have you.
1. Jane Goodall - Reasons For Hope
The world has lost one of its finest. Jane Goodall has died aged 91. The ethologist best known for her work on and with primates had dedicated her life to inspiring a more harmonious, sustainable relationship between people, animals and the natural world. In her own words: «Every day you live, you make a difference. You matter. You're here for a reason. Find the reason. And do your bit. Then, we can save the world.» Might be a good moment to watch this 2023 film about her life and work.
2. Rivers are now battlefields
A fascinating piece on the geopolitical role of river dams. You might have heard the recent news of the huge dam Ethiopia inaugurated – a dam that is of immense value to Ethiopia, but also gives them control over a significant portion of the water that flows down the Nile through Sudan and Egypt. Interestingly, when a dam is placed on an international river, there is no governing body tasked with protecting the interests of countries downstream.
wip-admin
3. 700 hours of career coaching in 17 minutes
With the subtle background music and the great recording quality, it's almost career advice ASMR. That's not to say you shouldn't pay attention. I have worked with Adam over the past couple months and his coaching has been tremendously valuable to me. In this video, he distills everything into an elixir of career advice – especially for generalists, but even if you're more the specialist type, I'm sure you'll find something insightful for yourself, too.
4. Tim Berners-Lee Invented the World Wide Web. Now He Wants to Save It
«Young people don’t understand what it took to make the web. It took companies giving up their patent rights, it took individuals giving up their time and energy, it took bright people giving up their ideas for the sake of a common idea.» If you're one of these young people and/or love the web, you should read this profile.
Julian Lucas
5. Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines
How should we think of Charlie Kirk as a political actor? How can the left win back the people they need to get back in power? When is it time to bridge gaps and when to draw lines? Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ezra Klein go into this conversation with very different views, but do a great job of listening to one another and trying to use their differences to find more clarity.
Pocket Casts
What else?
Instant-gratification links that make you go wow! or aha! the moment you click.
- Good, only slightly exaggerated parody: Unsubscribe Hell. (Unsubscribing from the Weekly Filet, on the other hand, is easy: Just click here)
- Spectacularly Tiny Worlds
- You will play around with this website for 10 minutes.
- You shouldn't laugh, but laugh you will.
- Chartle is a fun daily data-driven quiz, similar to but also very different from my own Dataguessr.
- «Find out who you are and do it on purpose.» – Dolly Parton
Books for curious minds
Some new ones as I read them, some older ones that continue to inform how I look at the world and myself.
A helpful new book by data scientist Hannah Ritchie, deputy editor of Our World in Data. She tackles 50 common questions and misconceptions about how we can address climate change – with 50 answers that are just long enough to be clear, but without going into too much detail. Having finished it will leave you quite a bit more hopeful about our future. Buy it here.
A gem from the archive
David Bauer
The Weekly Filet archive offers more than 2500 hand-picked links since 2011, like this one. You can search by interests, explore collections or shuffle for a gem.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. I wish you a nice weekend and hope to see you again next Friday!
— David
More ways to learn and take inspiration from
Check my 📚 digital bookshelf, with sections of 🌡️ books that help you make sense of the climate crisis, ⛵ books that make you a better product manager, 🪄 books that help you make sense of AI, and 🧒 books that help you as a parent. And from collecting the best links on the web for close to 15 years, my thematic collections: The Art of Thinking (Differently), The Stuff Our Modern World Runs On, Bingeworthy Podcasts, and more.
Little useful apps from me, for you
📊 Dataguessr, a playful way to update your knowledge of the world. 🌍 You Don't Know Africa, a simple game that has already humbled millions of people. 💯 Choose Impact, an online tool to compare job opportunities. 🧭 Priority Compass, a tool for individuals, teams and organisations to focus your energy on what really matters. 🪄 How I Use AI, a collection of use cases, ready to use and adapt. 💬 Climate Questions, a playful conversation starter. And ⏱️ One Minute Challenge, a little meaningful distraction to refocus.