To soften our view of others

Jesus urged his followers to learn to look at other adults as they might at children. Few things can more quickly transform our sense of a person's character than picturing him or her as a child; from this perspective, we are better able to express the sympathy and generosity that we all but naturally display towards the young, whom we tend to describe as naughty rather than bad, cheeky rather than arrogant. This is the same sort of softening we may feel towards anyone whom we see sleeping: with eyes closed and features relaxed and defenceless, a sleeper invites a gentle regard that in itself is almost love—so much so, in fact, that it can be unsettling to gaze at length at a stranger asleep beside us on a train or plane. That unmasked face seems to prompt us towards an intimacy that calls into question the foundations of civilised indifference on which ordinary communal relations rest. But there is no such thing as a stranger, a Christian would say; there is only the impression of strangeness, born out of a failure to acknowledge that others share both our needs and our weaknesses.

--ALAIN DE BOTTON, in his book STATUS ANXIETY

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/to-soften-our-view-of-others

How to Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders

Neil’s new book, Emergency, teaches you how to become Jason Bourne.

Multiple passports, moving assets, lock-picking, escape and evasion, foraging, even how to cross borders without detection (one preferred location: McAllen, Texas, page 390)–it’s a veritable encyclopedia of for those who want to disappear or become lawsuit-proof global citizens…

via fourhourworkweek.com

This looks like it could be useful at some point in the future. *grin*

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/how-to-be-jason-bourne-multipl-0

I just read The Alchemist, which is an allegorical tale about a shepherd boy from the Andalusian fields of Spain who journeys to Egypt's pyramid in search of his life's treasure and finds enlightenment along the way. It's a great read -- short but one of the more impactful books I've read in a long while. Reminds me a lot of The Little Prince, actually.

Paul Coelho's also an incredibly visionary man as well. He actually encourages online distribution (aka piracy) of his books via BitTorrent. Regarding Pirate Bay, he recently said, "I am openly supporting their site. I even volunteered to travel to Sweden to discuss the case of open contents... I do think that when a reader has the possibility to read some chapters, he or she can always decide to buy the book later."

Anyway, it's a remarkable book and I heartily recommend it.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-alchemist

Was honored to be included in an interview series by the creator of search engine, Duck Duck Go, Gabriel Weinberg, which just got posted today. Check it out below, or click through to Gabriel's blog.

If you liked this, check out more videos over at Traction Book, or follow Gabriel at twitter and posterous

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/i-was-interviewed-for-on-getting-traction-by

In 1937, 268 well-adjusted Harvard sophomores were selected for a study by the Harvard Study of Adult Development. For the first time, the results have been published by the Atlantic and in a new book by the study's author, Dr. George Vaillant.

The takehome lesson: Enjoy where you are now. --Dr. George Vaillant

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/what-makes-us-happy-life-lessons-from-268-har

I've been studying other traditions in my spare time of late, particularly the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Bhagavad Gita. And I'm struck by the common chord between them. Life is a tremendous gift, and it is so short. So we must try to live it in service to those of our tribe, be it our friends and family, our nation, humanity, or all life in the Universe.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/how-does-an-all-powerful-god-allow-terrible-t

I've been studying other traditions in my spare time of late, particularly the Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Bhagavad Gita. And I'm struck by the common chord between them. Life is a tremendous gift, and it is so short. So we must try to live it in service to those of our tribe, be it our friends and family, our nation, humanity, or all life in the Universe.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/how-does-an-all-powerful-god-allow-terrible-t

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

This book was a part of The stack of knowledge

Just got the shipment of books I sent here from home. It is amazing how one can convert a pile of dead trees into something (hopefully) useful.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/the-stack-of-knowledge

Randy Pausch of "The Last Lecture" has died.

Rest in peace, Randy. Your lecture was an inspiration.

Ref: http://blog.garrytan.com/randy-pausch-of-the-last-lectu

Google makes it easier to see/share publishers' real URLs from AMP pages: Small improvement on a huge overreach IMHO

Cofounder equity splits done right

How to better predict the future: be more open minded, work in a team

“We Need to Go Deeper: A Practical Guide to Tensorflow and Inception” by @vincentchu

What's your dog really eating?

For the first time in history, Americans are spending more at restaurants ($54B) than they are on groceries ($52B)!

Learn how to be a better designer from GitHub and Stripe via @askwhale 🐳

You have to be idealistic enough to know why you’re doing what you’re doing, then ruthless enough to get it done.

How not to be boring

"You get so caught in the bubble of creating, unless you show it outside of the bubble—you don’t know it’s wrong"

What happens when self-driving happens

Cormac McCarthy Explains the Unconscious: Wants to give guidance to your life, doesn’t care what toothpaste you use

Ryan is one of the best SEO experts and now he has a scalable software-based service to let anyone get his help

This is some amazing financial reporting: Why a Chinese heavy industrial bought a gaming company for $1B

I'm so proud of my old chief of staff @svkpham for being a key part of YC's new Startup School Online 🙌