Did someone forward this to you? Sign up for my newsletter here!​

Friends news: My favorite stuff 💈

Hello Reader from your birthday friend Nick Gray in Texas.

In this issue: the BEST new Sharpie markers, a good lemon squeezer, the true size of Africa, a sleep supplement I'm taking, nice investment graphics, HRV, self-tenured people who have $10m, two good quotes, my favorite moisturizer, and more.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT-- Today is my 40th birthday! Holy cow.

I love doing this newsletter and sharing my favorite stuff.

As a 40th birthday gift to me: Will you please forward this email to 2 of your friends who might want to subscribe? (They can subscribe for free right here on my website.)

Getting a few dozen new subscribers would make me SO HAPPY, for real!! I love making new friends online.

Think about any people you know who like technology, gadgets, travel, business stuff, college students, recent grads, cool seniors, business owners, etc. They can read about me here: About Nick Gray.

Will you please forward this to two different friends? To help me get a few more subscribers and make new friends. Or Tweet out a link to my website and say something nice, like Andrew did:

It would mean a lot to me if you help me get a few new subscribers!

I do this for fun, for free, for my internet friends... no sponsors, no ads, and I only email you when I have something cool to share.

Why you’re getting this: I'm Nick Gray and this is my Friends Newsletter. I send this to people I’ve met recently, my contacts on LinkedIn, and friends I want to keep in touch with. You can un-subscríbe and I won’t be offended.

---

Random Links

💪 Heart rate variability: How it might indicate well-being​

This is the one number that I'm regularly watching in all of my bio-tracking stuff. via Mollie McGlocklin: "If you don't know about or aren't currently tracking your HRV, read this Harvard Medical School article. HRV is an incredibly interesting biometric and is quickly becoming an important moving barometer for assessing general health."

🚀 Sam Lessin: The Crypto Self-Tenured Class​

I'm not into crypto, but I really liked this idea from Sam Lessin about people who have made $10M+ and are now "tenured" in that they have enough money to work on whatever they want. via Katelyn Donnelly

🔈 Living Outside Your Comfort Zone​

My very good friend Tynan was recently interviewed on the Tropical MBA podcast. They talk about: What it means to be a "Pickup Artist," why Tynan sold ALL of his belongings to travel the world, blogging, museums, and lots more.

💰 Lessons from Bessembinder: Focus on Growth​

I like how they used illustrations here! "Long-term investors in top-performing companies must have the stomach for large peak-to-trough share price declines, known as ‘drawdowns’."

📰 Up all night with a Twitch millionaire: The loneliness and rage of the Internet’s new rock stars​

🚌 Why I’m Backing Charter Schools by Mike Bloomberg

😴 Toolkit for Sleep by Andrew Huberman

Good Quotes

"Cars should have a second, friendlier horn to say thank you, or if you want to let people know you drove past a cool animal."
-- @figgled on Twitter

“Google, Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, Palo Alto Networks, and now Twitter run by CEOs who grew up in India. Wonderful to watch the amazing success of Indians in the technology world and a good reminder of the opportunity America offers to immigrants.”
-- Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe, on Twitter

---

Africa's Perception War

Check out the true size of Africa:

And look at actual country sizes versus map sizes:

This happens due to Mercator projection. This almost perfectly-proportioned AuthaGraph Map won Japan's biggest design award. All via this Twitter thread.

---

My Favorite Recent Amazon Purchases

Here are some things I bought recently on Amazon:

🖊️ Sharpie Retractable Permanent Markers ​

STOP THE PRESS!! This is my new favorite Sharpie. The button-click to retract it works really well. I love these. Will be using for name tags at parties going forward.

💧 CamelBak Chute Mag BPA Free Water Bottle with Tritan Renew​

It’s fine. Better than what I had before, easy open / close. When I work out, I add in 1 teaspoon of creatine, squeeze 1/2 lemon, plus some salts or electrolytes (right now I like the LMNT salts but they are expensive but still really good).

🍋 Lemon Squeezer $5.99

This is the lemon squeezer I use. It is great. DID YOU KNOW: the lemon or lime should face DOWN, not up? To better squeeze out the juice.

💊 Magnesium L-Theonate, Magtein by NOW Supplements ​

This is supposed to be the best magnesium to take. If you’re taking magnesium citrate (like that “Calm” powder), it is pointless- that magnesium supposedly doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier. (But it is a good laxative) I used to take it. Now I take this before bed. Not sure if it helps me sleep better, but a lot of smart people I know take magnesium before bed.

📘 Write Useful Books: A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction​

My friend Clay Hebert told me about this book. It is VERY GOOD. If you are thinking about writing a non-fiction book, read this.

😁 Hada Labo Tokyo Skin Plumping Gel Cream $16

I recently got a facial (first time ever!) and they told me I need to moisturize. But the stuff they gave me… I broke out. It wasn’t good. This one is way better. I read about it on a Malassezia website, which is a skin condition I think I have. This makes my face feel really lush and nice.

The End

Thanks for reading my Friends Newsletter.

I'm going to meet some friends for fajitas tonight.

Until next time... I'll be rooting for you and cheering for your success!

🤠 Nick Gray

​p.s. Here's the About Me on my website if you forgot who I am or where we met.

​Did someone forward you this? Subscribe to my Friends Newsletter here!!​

​