Category: Mindset

The Crucial Difference Between “Honoree” and “Gonorrhea” | August 13 2025, 00:46

There is a big difference between “honoree is coming” and “gonorrhea is coming”

The main thing is not to confuse them

Unexpected Repair Success at a Premium Bike Shop | August 07 2025, 02:41

Today, I had a little odyssey trying to find a place to tune up my bike. It’s a few years old, tired, and in need of attention. I visited three shops, each told me it would take at least a week or two and would cost about 200 dollars. Everyone said there were thirty people ahead of me. Eventually, I took a chance and went to the last shop which I initially thought was too premium and expensive to consider at all: their main inventory includes triathlon Cervelo and Factor bikes with five-digit price tags. But here’s the surprise: they took the bike right away, told me to wait for a call today, and if anything serious—a decision from me would be required. In the evening, they called and told me it was all done, and the cost… just 32 dollars! I’m very glad that I did not have to overpay or wait for weeks.

This goes to show that sometimes, to achieve something, you just need to act contrary to standard patterns of behavior.

Unlocking Smartwatches with Unique Heart Rhythms: A Missed Opportunity? | August 06 2025, 16:43

Why has no one made it so that smartwatches only unlock on the wrist of their owner, reading their unique heartbeat or other biometric data? This is in addition to having the owner’s phone nearby.

Officially, you can’t disable this in the settings of an Apple Watch — Apple intentionally made it such that when you put on the watch for the first time each day, it always requires a code, even if the iPhone is nearby. This is due to security policy: the watch may end up on someone else’s wrist, and the phone may just be nearby.

Moreover, every person has unique heart rhythm patterns, which include, for example, slight variations in the intervals between heartbeats, characteristics of the heart signal shape, and how the heart responds to different stresses. These microscopic differences create a unique picture” of heart rhythm that is difficult to fake or replicate. Watches have quite a lot of time, after being worn and before they are needed unlocked, to collect, process, and decide whether to unlock or not.

Journeys and Challenges: From Washington to Mount Rainier | July 20 2025, 20:31

From Washington to Washington. Moments

From Washington to Washington. Moments. #mountrainier

I shoot three times a year, and it’s quite engaging. I wanted to say that carrying a heavy camera for 15 km (with an elevation >100 floors) while hopping on rocks in the mountains is not easy, until we met a girl there who walked the whole way barefoot.

The Paradox of Symmetry: Beauty, Boredom, and the Brain | July 06 2025, 23:13

Probably not just for me a contradictory perception of symmetry exists. On one hand, symmetry is perceived as a sign of harmony and stability because the brain processes and recognizes organized forms more quickly, which historically could have aided survival. Logically, it should be associated with beauty, health, and predictability, giving a sense of security.

It’s written that with one or two alcoholic drinks, symmetrical objects become even more attractive. “In a pilot study (Elena Karakashevska) involving 13 social drinkers, researchers were surprised to find that alcohol apparently enhances the brain’s response to symmetry.” The study also concluded that people look better after consuming alcohol 🙂 This reminds me of a joke about two friends, when one says, “Now we’ll go to the girls, one is alright – for me, and the other one is a bit ugly, but you drink some vodka — and she will be fine,” and when they arrive, they ring the doorbell, two women are on the doorstep, and the second says: “Oh, I can’t drink that much!”

On the other hand, excessive symmetry and monotony can cause boredom and irritation as the brain seeks stimulation and novelty. For example, imagine a symmetrical tattoo on someone. Can you picture one that you aesthetically prefer over an asymmetrical one?

Personally, I like small deviations and asymmetry, which make images lively and interesting. A certain balance of order and chaos. Pure symmetry seems very boring to me.

Started googling on the topic. “Japanese don’t like symmetry. If a vase on the table is in the middle, they will automatically move it to the edge of the table. Why? Symmetry as completion, as finitude, as repetition is uninteresting. For instance, the dishes on a Japanese table (dinnerware) will definitely have different patterns, different colors.”

Do you like symmetry?

Risks of High-Pressure Activities on Eye Health and Hearing | June 28 2025, 23:52

Interesting. I learned, for example, that the human retina is not really attached to the vascular tunic, but is held in place only mechanically by intraocular pressure. Because of this, those who jump from heights or engage in diving, and generally anything that increases intraocular pressure, are at risk of retinal detachment.

(By the way, about pressure, I had a slight barotrauma in my left ear today during airplane landing: after landing there was a lingering feeling of stuffiness and muffled sounds, and while in the air it even hurt a bit. That is, some traces of sensation remained several hours later, but probably, by tomorrow morning I will recover fully).

https://youtu.be/QmX60IgWCGk?si=GrWzDtuZTpFeig-X

Switching to Pencil: Mastering the Art of Drawing with Three and a Half Rules | June 20 2025, 12:53

In the studio, we decided to switch from oil to pencil, which I hadn’t touched for years (and, frankly, never really knew how to use properly). But with practice, I understood just three and a half rules of good drawing.

1. Draw what you see, not what you think you should see if you look at the reference. This is the most difficult part because it involves fighting your own brain, which is convinced it knows what things look like.

2. Judgment of proportions. If something occupies a fifth on the reference, you need to distinguish it from a sixth or a fourth, and of course, see exact halves and thirds clearly. It’s like having a musical ear. If an imaginary line ends at a point on the ear, you need to see this imaginary line. It’s not hard, but requires practice, and it seems you need to practice it all your life. Interestingly, you are initially surprised at how wrong you are about proportions. There are many small optical illusions that one must get used to.

2.5. Angles. A continuation of judging proportions. You need to see the difference between, say, 45 and 40 degrees at least. And see where to turn the wrong line and by how much.

3. Ability to simplify. Any complex shape needs to be simplified in the mind to straight lines and shapes and draw those first, and also to reduce reality to spots of a maximum of a few shades (with white and black at the edges).

That’s all. If you master just these three and a half points, you won’t need anything else for a long time. No knowledge of anatomy, understanding of materials, or laws of perspective (all this is important, but comes later).