Cool Things I Found 8/5 to 8/11
Another week, another list of the top things I found during the week.
Let’s begin…
1. Mastering Slowly Changing Dimensions
If you’re not a data dork like me, move on to the next item. You won’t care about this.
But if you do like data—specifically data modeling—this one’s for you…
I’m building a data model at work that has slowly changing dimensions.
And I’m realizing how much they suck.
The example in the article is high-level.
It makes the topic easy to understand, which is nice. But in the real world, data models are never that simple.
I’m working with multiple slowly changing dimensions for the same parent record.
It complicates everything.
Luckily, I enjoy problems like this. So, I’m having fun. For now.
2. Nick Gray on Neville Medhora’s Podcast
I’ve always loved watching and reading Neville Medhora’s content.
He’s a great copywriter and storyteller.
He has a knack for two things:
- Engaging his audience
- Finding incredible people to interview
This week, he posted a podcast with the legendary Nick Gray.
Now, I didn’t know Nick before this. I’ve heard his name thrown around previously, but I never took the time to research the guy.
Until now…
Last week, I went down a Derek Sivers rabbit hole.
This week, I went down a Nick Gray rabbit hole.
And it all started with Neville’s podcast.
3. Nick Gray’s Tokyo Blind Date
There were two things Nick wanted to do in April 2024:
- Go on a blind date
- Go to Tokyo
So he did the most reasonable thing he could think of—combine them into one adventure.
Read this blog post and tell me you don’t look up to Nick (at least a little) for his fun and adventurous attitude.
4. Nick Gray - Call Me Anytime
Nick’s a friendly guy.
And he’s a master at throwing parties. This is probably why he wrote a book called The Two Hour Cocktail Party that teaches you how to throw kick-ass parties that create and strengthen your social relationships.
In this article, Nick talks about a habit he’s developed.
Rather than telling people to text or email him to schedule a time to talk, Nick gives his phone number to people and says, “Call me anytime.”
He believes talking on the phone is more personal, intimate, and effective than chatting through text or email.
And I like this idea.
We live in a time where everyone seemingly prefers to communicate through text.
But there’s a warm, fulfilling feeling to phone calls that I can’t explain right now.
So, I think I’ll take after Nick and make phone calls my preferred method of communication.
Let's see how it goes...
5. Nick Gray - How to Host a Dating Salon
When I hear the word salon, I immediately think of where women (or some men) go to get their hair done.
But this week, I learned the word has another meaning.
It turns out:
“A salon is a gathering of people held by an inspiring host. During the gathering, they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace’s definition of the aims of poetry, “either to please or to educate”
via Nick, via Wikipedia
Fascinating stuff here.
6. David Perell - How to Write Like Warren Buffet
Okay, here’s a non-Nick Gray piece of content.
David Perell hosts my favorite podcast, How I Write. Sadly, there was no episode this week.
But David at least posted this video on his YouTube channel.
Warren Buffet isn’t just an investing icon. He’s also one of the greatest business writers of our time.
I like the way David breaks down Buffet’s writing here.
The POP writing method especially resonates with me.