Siva Balan

Active listener, Tech enthusiast and a Proud dad

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

Early in his pro tennis career, Andre Agassi couldn’t beat a player named Boris Becker.

Agassi particularly struggled with Becker’s serve.

“His serve was something the game had never seen before,” Agassi explained.

Studying film of Becker, “I started to realize,” Agassi said,

“He had this weird tick with his tongue. I’m not kidding. He would go into his rocking motion, and just as he was about to toss the ball, he would stick his tongue out. It would either be right in the middle of his lip or to the left corner of his lip.”

If in the middle of his lip, Becker would serve the ball up the middle. If to the side, he would serve the ball to the side.

After he learned the way Becker revealed himself with a tongue tick, Agassi said,

“The hardest part wasn’t returning his serve. The hardest part was not letting him know that I knew this. I had to resist the temptation of reading his serve for the majority of the match, and instead, choose the moments when I was going to use that information on a given point to execute a shot that would allow me to break the match open.”

Agassi won 9 out of the next 11 matches against Becker.

After Becker retired in 1999, over a beer, Agassi said to Becker,

“By the way, did you know you used to do this with your serve?”

Agassi said, “He about fell off the chair. And then he said, ‘I used to go home all the time and tell my wife, it’s like he reads my mind! Little did I know you were just reading my tongue.’”

Takeaway 1:

In a collection of biographies of prominent Greeks and Romans, the ancient historian Plutarch writes,

“In the most glorious deeds there is not always an indication of virtue or vice…Indeed a small thing like a phrase or a jest often makes the greatest revelation.”

Similarly, in the Acknowledgments at the end of his book, “The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz,” Erik Larson writes that when he began his research for the book,

“I set out to hunt for the stories that often get left out of the massive biographies of Churchill [because] they seem too frivolous. But it is in frivolity, in the little moments, that Churchill often revealed himself.”

In the frivolity, in the little moments, in a small thing like a phrase, a jest, or a tongue tick—often, much is revealed.

Takeaway 2:

In his book, “Creativity, Inc.,” Pixar co-founder writes about one of the principles that guided him in life and in business:

“When faced with a challenge, get smarter.”

Agassi began to study Becker because, after yet another loss to him in the semifinals of the 1988 Indian Wells Open, Agassi writes, “I promise myself I won’t lose to him the next time we meet.”

To make good on that promise, he knew he didn't need to get better. He needed to get smarter. “Tennis is about problem-solving,” Agassi says after telling the Becker story. “And the more you understand...the more problems you can solve—in life and in business.”

In sports, in business, in life—when faced with a challenge, get smarter.

- - -

“Knowledge [is] like gold—a currency you will transform into something more valuable than you can imagine.” — Robert Greene

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Precisely

[James Lucas @JamesLucasIT]

Solar Eclipse 2024 - a thread 🧵

1. Cleveland by Gabe Wasylko

[Marc Benioff @Benioff]

On Friday March 8th, Salesforce turns 25 years old. Thank you to our co-founder @parkerharris, and our amazing Ohana, who without their dedication, persistence, and commitment this amazing milestone would not be possible. I am especially inspired by the success of our 1-1-1 pledge one percent model which has delivered over 10M hours of volunteerism, running 100K non profits on our service for free, and given away almost $100M in grants. Who would have thought almost 20,000 companies have joined 1-1-1. ❤️@PledgeOne
https://t.co/3ExJS5sqaE

[Historic Vids @historyinmemes]

Scientist Adelbert Ames created the mind boggling ‘Ames Window’ (1951)

[David Begnaud @DavidBegnaud]

I joined Costco today to buy one item. Just. One. Item.
I didn’t even make it past the first display on the other side of the welcome door. Toothpaste. The kind I like. $25 for five packs.
I left with $500 worth of items.

They sell gas. The line was so long it looked like what I see when I’m covering a hurricane and the storm is about to make landfall and people are scrambling to get the last bit of fuel. Is Costco giving it away for free? 😳

The shopping cart was so big I could’ve slept in it.

I pulled into the parking lot and thought there was a concert I wasn’t aware of.

I needed to get in and out. I was in there for an hour and 20 minutes.
This is not normal behavior. 🤣

[Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie]

Mike Pence should be forced to carry his Presidential campaign to term.

[National Eclipse @NationalEclipse]

Now that the 10/14 annular solar eclipse is over the full focus can be on the Super Bowl of eclipses: the 4/8 total solar eclipse. If you were impressed by the annular (or if you weren't) get ready to have your mind blown!

[Nahel Belgherze @WxNB_]

NOAA's GOES-East satellite is capturing the shadow of today's "ring of fire" solar eclipse as it traverses the Western United States.

Breathtaking imagery from space.

[nazir afzal @nazirafzal]

More than 100 passengers a year fly to Austria when they meant to fly to Australia
So Salzburg Airport has a special counter for them

[Occupy Democrats @OccupyDemocrats]

BREAKING: In a devastating speech, iconic actor Robert De Niro rips Donald Trump to shreds, declaring that Trump is “not a bad man,” but “an evil one” who is a “wanna be tough guy” and has “no morals or ethics.”

But Robert De Niro didn’t stop there…

De Niro continued:

“Trump has no sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself — not the people he was supposed to lead and protect, not the people he does business with, not the people who follow him, blindly and loyally, not even the people who consider themselves his “friends.” He has contempt for all of them.

The repercussions of his turbulent presidency divided America and rattled New York City beyond imagination.  Remember how we were jolted by crisis in early 2020, as a virus swept the world.

We lived with Donald Trump’s bombastic behavior every day on the national stage, and we suffered as we saw our neighbors piling up in body bags.

The man who was supposed to protect this country put it in peril, because of his recklessness and impulsiveness. It was like an abusive father ruling the family by fear and violent behavior.  That was the consequence of New York’s warning getting ignored. Next time, we know it will be worse.

Make no mistake: the twice-impeached, 4-time indicted Donald Trump is still a fool. But we can’t let our fellow Americans write him off like one. Evil thrives in the shadow of dismissive mockery, which is why we must take the danger of Donald Trump very seriously.

So, today I issue another warning.

From this place where Abraham Lincoln spoke — right here in the beating heart of New York — to the rest of America:

This is our last chance.

Democracy won’t survive the return of a wannabe dictator.

And it won’t overcome evil if we are divided.

So what do we do about it?  We have to take today into tomorrow – take it outside these walls.   We have to reach out to the half of our country who have ignored the hazards of Trump and, for whatever reason, support elevating him back into the White House.  They’re not stupid, and we must not condemn them for making a stupid choice.  Our future doesn’t just depend on us. It depends on them.

Let’s reach out to Trump’s followers with respect.  Let’s not talk about “democracy.” 

“Democracy” may be our holy grail, but to others it is just a word, a concept, and in their embrace of Trump, they’ve already turned their backs on it.  Let’s talk about right and wrong.  Let’s talk about humanity.  Let’s talk about kindness.  Security for our world.  Safety for our families.  Decency.  Let’s welcome them back.  We won’t get them all, but we can get enough to end the nightmare of Trump.”

Well said, Robert De Niro!

Please retweet and ❤️ to thank Robert De Niro for calling out Donald Trump — and consider joining the growing exodus to Tribel, a woke new Twitter competitor that banned Trump for life and is exploding in popularity because Elon Musk banned Tribel’s Twitter account — but he forgot to ban this link to download the new Tribel app: https://t.co/HnJzSKjCwX

[Brent Toderian @BrentToderian]

If you haven’t watched this before, you should. The brilliant Carl Sagan testifying before the United States Congress in 1985 on #ClimateChange.

We should have listened then. Will we now?

Climate change isn’t an on & off switch. It’s an exponential dial. https://t.co/jXyBMXbvr4

[Colby Kultgen @thecolbykultgen]

30 short habits with massive return on life:

1. Create a system for capturing thoughts—your brain is for having ideas, not holding them.

2. Swap your phone for a Kindle at bedtime (this fixed 90% of my sleep problems)

3. Read something every day. Even just 1 page.

4. Write something every day. Even just 1 paragraph.

5. Automate small decisions/tasks. Save your brain power for bigger things.

6. Write a 5 item to-do list each morning. Prioritize it by importance.

7. Learn to use body scan meditation to fall asleep quickly.

8. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier.

9. If you want something—ask for it. Closed mouths don't get fed.

10. Keep a swipe file of things that resonate with you.

11. Break down problems into the smallest possible action steps.

12. Write down 1 story-worthy moment each day. In a month, you'll have 30 stories to tell.

13. Double down on creative activities that make you lose track of time.

14. Put your phone out of reach while you're working.

15. Track every minute of your day for a week. See where your time is actually going.

16. Be bored more often. Give your brain space to be creative.

17. Listen more than you speak.

18. Create more than you consume.

19. Compliment more than you complain.

20. Delete apps you don’t need.

21. Donate clothes you don’t wear.

22. Make a habit of reaching out to old friends.

23. Never say “yes” out of obligation.

24. Take care of your information diet—Junk info hurts our brains like junk food hurts our bodies.

25. Never do an activity just so you can tell others about it.

26. Revisit things that have brought you joy in the past. They'll do it again.

27. Stop comparing your behind-the-scenes to every one else’s highlight reel.

28. "Read what you love, until you love to read" - Naval Ravikant

29. Take care of your body, you only get one.

30. Leave it better than you found it.

[National Park Service @NatlParkService]

Crouching bear, hidden salmon…

[AI Breakfast @AiBreakfast]

AI image recognition models are powering the world’s next agricultural workforce:

Watch as these drones use multispectral color grading to determine the ripeness + sugar content of apples, then gently pick them:

[michelle huang @michellehuang42]

some brilliant UX / design examples i've stumbled upon in japan:

[Todd Vaziri @tvaziri]

Shows like Friends, M*A*S*H and Seinfeld were shot on film and presented on TV in 4:3 aspect ratio.

For streaming, unused portions of the film negative are used to create a 16:9 widescreen image—if the reframe is sloppy, the audience sees more than was intended. "Friends" s10e01

[Tomas Pueyo @tomaspueyo]

Why is LA California's biggest city?
Why is the state's capital Sacramento, only the 7th biggest city?
Why is SF so important despite being on hills?
Why did San Jose pass it in population?
What's the role of the Central Valley?

How to understand California: