Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (Solve for Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) and I decided that every week the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person “must see.”

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another: 

• Earth Restored – Toby Ord. “Amazing photos of our planet from space. The other day I was listening to music on a Bluetooth speaker. I thought about what made that happen: Sunlight, warming water to power hydroelectrics, or trigger a reaction in a solar panel, or creating a plant that wound up as a complex hydrocarbon, turning into electricity, coursing through miles of cable and transformer, powering the speaker, which ultimately turned energy into motion. Or the fingers of a musician, on mouse and instrument, atop a software stack, sent to Spotify. Or the speaker itself, hewn from extracted minerals and delivered through a global supply chain. All for my eardrums to hear a series of vibrations I found pleasing. Look at these photos of our small, finite bubble of life, its only real external power the fusion of the sun. We have built incredibly complex systems to basically consume our planet, and these restored photos are a testament to how finite that is.” (Alistair for Hugh).
• I Made A Water Computer And It Actually Works – Steve Mould – YouTube. “Steve Mould and Matt Parker are amazing science communicators. In this video, they show how computers—basically a series of switches that add, subtract, and combine things—can be made from physical components. Like pipes and water. Watch this, and then think about how that’s happening, trillions of times a second, to deliver the pixels you’re seeing on your screen.” (Alistair for Mitch). 
• Argentinian buys Google’s domain name for £2 – The Guardian. “Whoops, someone let their domain registration expire!” (Hugh for Alistair).
• The beauty of the ampersand and other keyboard symbols – The Spectator. “Oh, to have a world where the only thing that matters is typography!” (Hugh for Mitch).
• A Song For You – The Austin City Limits Story. “This week I am sharing two documentaries. Both are available on Kanopy (which is an amazing streaming service that I get free through my local library membership. Maybe you can as well?). I’m a music nerd (no news there). A huge part of what makes up my very diverse and quirky taste in music comes from my family. I never really cared much for Austin City Limits, but I have recollections of my dad watching it (and when this doc played a clip from B.B. King’s appearance, it brought back a flood of memories). As I grew up, my love and passion for that show (and that city) knows no bounds. I had no idea that this documentary existed, and it had me smiling the entire way through. If you love music, you can trust that you do not love music as much as the people who put on Austin City Limits. What a treat this was.” (Mitch for Alistair).
• Creem – America’s Only Rock N’ Roll Magazine – The Movie. “As promised, I have two amazing documentaries to share this week. Here’s the second one. Creem Magazine was part of my monthly reading when I was younger (and much more impressionable). Did I want to be a rock star? After reading Creem, Circus, Hit Parader, Metal Edge, and others? You bet that I did. It’s also what inspired me to become a writer, journalist, publisher, and someone very passionate about the media and culture. The true chaos that was Creem Magazine? I had no idea. This is a crazy documentary from a different time, and it’s proof that every generation finds its art and culture in different ways (but, it’s usually comes from the street and disenfranchised).” (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook, in the comments below or wherever you play.

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;):