Different views

The Star Wars story is a classic Hero’s Journey, in which the protagonist, Luke Skywalker in a galaxy, far, far away, learns that he is able to harness a certain force. He eventually joins the rebellion against the Galactic Empire, and along with his allies, destroys the Death Star, uniting with his father, who had fallen on the dark side.

The original story and its continuation in the two sequels released in the 80s had limited computer graphics technology, which eventually became better in the 90s. The Director, George Lucas, then released three ‘prequels’ which had better technology and visual effects, though the story wasn’t in the same league.

The more information that is available to us, the more we are unable to retain it. Memory means association and most information we consume may be simply buried inside, lurking deep in, and surfacing when the right cue pops up.

Binge-watching or binge-reading serves no useful purpose as we are only holding the content in our working memories. That's why schools space out the chapters and review them, helping us retain the material.

The art and culture we engage our brains in turn into memories which can be unpredictable and fickle.

The books we read, the songs we hear and the movies we watch become interwoven and entangled with everything else in our lives.

“Money isn’t making that much difference in how you and I live. We’re both going down to the cafeteria for lunch and working every day and having a good time. So don’t worry about money, because it won’t make much difference in how you live.”

No one is going to engage in a serious debate with you when you look prepared for an academic beat down.

If someone attacks your work in a nasty way, don't get angry. Say instead something like:  “it’s interesting that you should say that because my research (cite some book or blog post) seems to suggest that the opposite is actually true. Is there some study or paper you can point me to that would validate your claim?”

Use the criticism of your past work to generate ideas for new projects. 

For example, researching a response to a critic may lead you to read about or experience something you never would have before, which can open the door for all sorts of new experiments in your professional or personal projects.

... is about showing up and being seen, about owning our vulnerability and understanding it as the birthplace of courage.

Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understanding the necessity of both.

• What’s keeping you out of the arena? Can you name the fear? Where do you want to be braver?
• Figure out how you’re currently protecting yourself from vulnerability:  Perfectionism, Cynicism, Control etc.

You can’t please everybody that you meet in life.

Critics are not all bad. You can learn things about yourself from them too. The solution is to learn from criticism, not be afraid of it.

See career challenges for what they are: an opportunity to try something different. 

If your career never got messed up, then you’d probably stay in your comfort-zone for your entire life and never try something different.

• There have been reports of a strange lung illness related to vaping, which caused over 50 deaths, leading to multiple media reports over the dangers of e-cigarettes, and several flavors of vaping being banned in the US.
• Further investigation of the vaping deaths showed that it involved people mixing harmful additives and drugs from the black market, making a lethal cocktail.
• In general, e-cigarettes which are legal and used to deliver nicotine aren't as dangerous as portrayed by many media reports.

When something is clearly not working, it makes sense to pivot, recreate and reinvent it. We need to keep our ego aside and internalize all the lessons you have learned due to failure. 

One should always take a hard, honest look at one’s life, not being afraid to change one’s course.

Showing your vulnerability, sincerity, and honesty isn’t comfortable, but is a sign of courage. Truthful and sincere people shine like the sun and can be spotted easily in this noisy world.

Being able to talk about failure and your weaknesses makes you human and also inspires the people around you. When you come across as relatable, warm and flawed, it acts as a silver foil over your skillsets.

Radiation is not contagious. Once someone has removed their clothes and been washed, the radioactivity is internalized.

After nuclear disasters, hospitals do isolate radiation victims behind plastic screens, but that's because their immune systems have been weakened and they are at risk of being exposed to something they can’t handle

Television gets nuclear wrong not only for dramatic effects, but for the same reason humankind as a whole has been getting it wrong for over 60 years, which is that we’ve displaced our fears of nuclear weapons onto nuclear power plants.

You find it in moments of action and novelty, connection and capability. When you create, learn, experience and share. 

It's the thrill and happiness that requires no reward, no validation to receive. 

This is your inner calm.

You can find it in nature, but you also nurture it yourself: by tidying up, taking care of your mind and your heart, saying thank you, forgiving others, accepting what has passed and who you are, staying genuinely true to yourself and aligning with your moral standards.