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The adventures of being a curiously ambitious teenager through the lenses of optimism, science, and entrepreneurship.

Juan David's Newsletter - October 18, 2020

Don't Take Advice from Loved Ones, Equation of Life, Measuring the Speed of Light with 🍫.

Juan David Campolargo

Oct 18, 2020

Hi,

The most random thing happened to me this week. Let me tell you.

So back in 2016, I was a freshman in high school who had just moved to the U.S. and didn’t know any English. Understanding my classes and simply trying to figure out how everything worked was such a pain.

My math class was fully in English and I understood absolutely nothing.

I remember my teacher and classmates would try to get words out of my mouth but I looked at them and just weirdly nodded. Not everyone was nice but there are always people who go out of their ways to give you a hand.

One of these people was Noelle who was always nice and would even try to explain the material in Spanish. A kind gesture that I never forgot.

Well, last Tuesday I was walking with a friend and I see this girl who looks familiar looking at me. Then she goes, “Do I know you?”

And I was like, “I think I know you. We were in the same math class freshman year of high school.”

We couldn’t believe we met each other again after four years and she couldn’t grasp her head around how different I had become (for better or for worse).

After that encounter, I spent that evening reflecting on how much you can change in less than four years. Not only that but to see how malleable we are.

Don’t try to find yourself. That version doesn’t exist.

Ask who you want to become and make a plan to create yourself.

I said, “Bye.” And we should be getting lunch or something over the next few weeks. Can’t wait to ask her how odd I was and what she thought of this kid who couldn’t express himself. I’ll let you know!

—————

Let’s get into this week’s essay where I talk about why we shouldn’t get advice from our loved ones (e.g. parents, counselors, advisors, etc).

And as always, scroll down to find out the Curiosities 🎵🧬🍫 for this week.

Who (and Who Not) to Get Advice From?

If you prefer, read this essay on my website.

I don’t take advice from family, teachers, nor counselors. Why would I?

They only want what is best for me.

Find Out Why

Curiosities 🎵🧬🍫

1. Progress in Science & Art

I was talking with this cool dude from down the hall, and he was just too good so I asked him if we could record what we were talking about (I know I’m that weird).

We talked about what it means to make progress in science and art. And how to break the rules.

This guy is just too cool, like literally.

Watch our conversation.

2. Concentration Music

I’m not a fan of listening to music while I’m doing stuff but sometimes you just need that one melody to get you going.

This playlist is a compilation of theme songs from movies such as Interstellar, Inception, The Lion King, Tenet, Gladiator, and racing sports like Formula 1.

3. Equation of Life

Via Cliff Pickover.

4. What Should You Work On?

Having trouble deciding where to find ideas? Here’s an idea from Simon Sarris:

Make the world better for average people. The lowest hanging fruit in the progress of many endeavors is forgotten because the average person is often forgotten.
It's worth starting to explore the area by simply asking ourselves, what products, apps, etc, have improved the lives of the average person (barely online, barely tech literate) the most in the past 10 years? How? How are they different from the ones that have improved our (presumably tech-literate) lives?

Read this insightful article to get ideas about what you can work on.

5. Measuring The Speed of Light with Chocolate

You can measure the speed of light at home using a microwave and a bar of chocolate!

Find out to see how this guy on Twitter figured this out.

Leisure stopped being leisure for the sake of being leisure.

Leisure became a way to recharge our batteries to start working again.

Have some leisure time for the sake of having leisure time!

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Please give me feedback on Twitter. Did you like the essay? Which Curiosity was your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Just send a tweet at @jdcampolargo!