Jun 12, 2018
Food for Thought — Literally
The Mission Newsletter, 6/12/18
“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” –Henry David Thoreau
Food For Thought — Literally
Episode 32 of The Mission Daily
“Master your body, your mind, and your microbiome.”
In today’s episode, Chad and Ian discuss the myriad of theories about nutrition. But with all those fads and diet trends, what can you trust? The guys take you through getting the most out of the food you put into your body.
Listen to Episode 32 on iTunes or Google Play.
The Mission Daily is a podcast dedicated to accelerated learning and helping you become healthier, wealthier, and wiser. It is designed to help you learn — as fast as you possibly can.
A The Mission Book Club Announcement
Live Discussion Date Change
(For those of you that don’t already know, we host a book club that discusses a new book every two weeks. You can join here. Our current book is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.)
Happy Tuesday, Guys!
Here’s the bad news: We have to move The War of Art discussion to June 28th at 6:00 pm ET. Be sure to add this event to your Google Calendar, so that you don’t miss it!
Here’s the good news: It’s because things are booming at The Mission. We’re upgrading our studio, content, bringing on more team members, and generally hustling our faces off to create media and podcasts to better serve you!
In preparation to discuss The War of Art on June 28th:
Please write down a few questions, challenges, and anything you’d like to cover on the live stream and hangout. If you want to talk about some specific struggles you’re having with “Resistance” right now — write them down and get ready to post them in the live hangout comments. We’ll strategize on how to overcome them, and make sure we personalize the discussion as much as you would like. We’ll post a link to the hangout in the Facebook Group at 5:55pm ET on June 28th.
In the meantime, if you miss us, or are looking for strategies to help kick “Resistance” in the face, tune into The Mission Daily podcast. It’s available on Apple Podcasts and Google Play.
Happy reading! And don’t forget to add this event to your Google Calendar!
News That Matters
Health
A new type of blood test is in development that could predict a pregnant woman’s due date as well as identify the possibility of a woman giving birth prematurely.
Although further research is necessary, the test performed well in identifying patients at high risk of premature birth. This means that by using an RNA test, doctors can eventually prevent unnecessary C-section deliveries and cut the amount of premature briths — the leading cause of infant deaths in America.
“RNA is what’s happening in the cells at any given moment. We had this idea that we could make a molecular clock to see how these things change over time and it should allow you to measure gestational age and see where things are in pregnancy.” -Dr. Quake, co-president of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub
Learn more about the new testing and what future research looks like here.
Wealth
With their share at a five-year high, Twitter announced recently that they are preparing to offer $1 billion in convertible bonds — a type of investment that grants holders the right to exchange the bonds for equity in the company above a pre-established price, which in turn gives the company scope to reduce coupon payments on the debt.
The strategy of issuing bonds is thought to help keep the value of the company high.
“This is a popular strategy that other tech companies have used to offset dilution to very high share prices. For instance, financial payments processor Square (SQ.N) last month raised $862.5 million on the sale of a five-year convertible with a conversion premium of 42.5 percent.”
More on the new investment plan here.
Wisdom
You might think you don’t have time to get everything done, but according to author and work-life balance expert Laura Vanderkam, you do.
Vanderkam breaks a week into 168 hours and she says that when you list out everything you have to do and everything you want to do, you’ll always find out that there’s enough time to do all of it and maybe more.
“It’s about changing our story from ‘no time’ to ‘some time.’ The latter story is far more useful. You can do something with that. If you spend 15 minutes a day reading, you can read whole novels in a month.
Women in particular have stories of things they absolutely have to do on the homefront, but might realize that other people don’t care as much. ‘I have to pick up the toys before I can relax.’ No, you actually don’t.”
Read more from Vanderkam here.
Tech Trends
We’ve reached the summit. ⛰
At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the world’s fastest supercomputer was unveiled. Named Summit, the computer cost $200 million to build and with it’s insane computing abilities, scientists hope that it will be useful in continuing to advance technology in artificial intelligence, handle data that can aid in national defense (such as simulating nuclear tests), predict and assess climate change, and help with encryption and code breaking.
So how fast is Summit?
“It can do mathematical calculations at the rate of 200 quadrillion per second, or 200 petaflops. To put in human terms: A person doing one calculation a second would have to live for more than 6.3 billion years to match what the machine can do in a second.”
All the details on the computer here.
Marketing Trends
IHOP is now IHOb?!
Yep, but not for long! As part of a marketing campaign, IHOP is taking their “P” for pancakes 🥞 and making it a “B” for burgers 🍔 to celebrate a slew of new menu items being added, including the ‘ultimate Steakburgers’, seven Black Angus ground beef burgers.
The breakfast joint has long been an all-day restaurant, and the chain wants people to associate them with more than just pancakes.
On Twitter, the restaurant’s handle has been changed to IHOb, and their flagship location in Los Angeles, as well as a few other select locations, will have new IHOb signage as well.
More on the marketing campaign here.
Hilarious enough, this was Burger King’s response… 😂 😂
Education Trends
According to a study, students lose about a month’s worth of knowledge during the summer months off. This means that teachers spend time having to help students re-learn certain material when the school year begins again.
One way to combat learning loss is through summer activities such as camp or classes, but not everyone can afford these activities. That’s why some states are trying to use federal funds to keep school libraries and free lunch programs running in the summer so all children have the opportunity to keep their brains working all summer long.
Learn more about these programs here.
The Best of What We Are Reading
“I call our world Flatland, not because we call it so, but to make its nature clearer to you, my happy readers, who are privileged to live in Space.
Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows — only hard and with luminous edges — and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen…”
We are rereading one of our favorite novels, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. Flatland was originally published in 1884 and is a highly imaginative science fiction story about the 2D world — as told from the perspective of a Square. If you are looking for a mind-opening and humorous quick read, then this is the one for you.
You can find a digital copy for free here or purchase a physical one for just a couple bucks on Amazon.
Writer Spotlights
What Can This Five-Century-Old Drawing Teach You? Everything That Matters. by Ryan Holiday
What It’s Really Like to Be an Entrepreneur (Are You Sure You Want to Be One?) by Jeff Goins
The Power of Your Backstory in Knowing Who You Are and Who You’re About to Become by Sandy Peckinpah
Our Media
The Mission is a new kind of media company. We publish stories, videos, and podcasts to help smart people get smarter. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or learn more about us here. We’d love to connect!
Custom Podcasts
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We create custom podcast sponsorships for enterprise companies. To learn more about why companies like Salesforce trust us to produce results, connect with our team here.
