As we get the weekend started, here are some interesting articles from around the web:

The End of Handshakes: Seth Godin points out that traditional handshakes reward the strong but put others at a disadvantage. I for one am down with using the Vulcan salute without irony or nerdiness.

Creating Even Passagework: Melanie Spanswick’s advice requires some keen observation, and is something that I’ll be putting to work in the studio right away.

Why Failure is a Musician’s Best Friend: Rhonda Rizzo writes about knowing our limits, living with failure, and realizing that these moments might be the ones that teach you the direction you need to go in order to discover a better path.

Achieving balance between reading and writing: Hrvoje Šimić on finding a balance between what you read, and how to put it together through writing. In an age of media over saturation, nearly all of us could afford to write more in some form or another:

Writing is a great facilitator for learning and coming up with ideas. It reveals holes in your thinking because you can't write in your own words if you don't understand the material.

Finally, watch this YouTube video of the recent 1.8 billion pixel panorama of Mars with the sound muted and the playback speed set to 0.75:

Then play the video below with the sound turned on. There is no better music for contemplating the vastness of the unknown than the Adagio from Khatchaturian’s Gayane Ballet Suite.

(Image courtesy of Damir on Unsplash)