29/03/2024

Ah, the poetic life...

What is poetic life exactly?

The idea is there, and it’s magnetic. But how to know in detail? I asked ChatGPT and it wrote down a quite good approach:

1. Have a perspective of life that focuses on beauty, reflection and creativity.
2. See and experience the world in a way that is inspired by poetry and seeks to convey that vision through art or writing.
3. Live with a special awareness and sensitivity to the details, nuances and emotions that manifest in the world.
4. Be willing to explore new ways of seeing and understanding the world, and to be guided by imagination and creative thinking.
5. Be open to changes and new experiences, and see life as an opportunity to create and learn.

After asking if ChatGPT had personally experienced a poetic life, it's clear that it cannot, as it’s a machine learning model. Discovering the path to a poetic life is a personal journey that requires practice and exploration. Additionally, the path may not always be clear.

To help navigate this journey, one can consider a new method of decision-making: when faced with a choice, ask yourself which option aligns more closely with the perspective of a poetic life. This can be an effective way to distinguish between good and bad decisions. Repeating this method can lead to improvement in decision-making and make it more effortless.

It is important to remember that the poetic life is not a rigid path, but rather a flexible and adaptable concept, like bamboo. It can be represented as a tentacle tail for now.



I miss Thailand a lot

Weird shape for travel route.

Leaning lesson from some accommodation experiments I did recently, testing some budget and also luxury places for a few days.

Best deal is seek happiness > comfort >> luxury, in this order. A minimum of comfort is desirable, but not a requirement at all if happiness is there. This method simplifies the decisions a lot. Luxury is ok (for no more than 2-3 days).





 

07/03/2024

Very Thai washi tape

What an amazing washi tape based on Wat Pho colors and patters, in Bangkok.

Thanks to nice people who give these kind of cute things.





23/02/2024

Ballpens candidates updated

In a recent post I talked about an ink/paper problem which happens to me often. Thanks for all the feedback! It was really interesting and productive.

Paper problem is more complex and I will dedicated another post soon. As for the ballpens, here are the candidates to be used. A clear winner recommended in your comments was Zebra Serasa and I finally have them in my hands. It’s great, feels very confortable and I can produce nice handwriting with it. By other hand I’m afraid the perfect bullpen doesn’t exist (or at least I’ve never seen it). I would like a ballpen that wrote full black, waterproof and stand after being erased. I added Zebra brush disposable pen and Pigma Micron for comparison.

Pilot G-3, my current pen up to know, is full black and can’t be erased. However it’s not 100% waterproof and also its ink tends to spread in the paper. This is related with paper problem. Both Zebra Serasa en Uniball inks are very similar: waterproof but they are not so black and don’t stand after erase. That makes sense since ink Pilot looks more liquid and it penetrates deeper in the paper. Zebra Serasa and Uniball Signo are more “gelatinous”, ink remains in the surface and therefore lines are clearer and it can be erased.

The conclusion is I quite like Zebra Serasa overall and I will give it a chance. Surprisingly Uniball Signo in green and blue colors are perfect in all points so for sure I will use them. Ballpens with “click” and spring are more useful but they could show a gap between nib and case instead of nail behaviour in a pen with a cap. This could produce bad handwriting specially if it’s tiny. It’s not the case with Zebra Serasa since it’s well made with accuracy and that gap is residual.

I hope this is useful for you and together can built a solid knowledge about writing issues.








Von Neumann’s probes update: Self destruct feature.

The big problem: A captured Von Neumann probe potentially being used by another civilization to suddenly improve their technology and attack back.

Solution: Implementation of a self destruct mode. This feature could be applied to a single probe, an entire hive, or a selected group of hives, and would allow for the destruction of the technology in the event that it falls into the wrong hands.

However, the question of how the decision to trigger the self destruct feature would be made must be addressed. A fix consensus method may not be sufficient, as it could potentially be discovered and hacked by external parties. Instead, it may be necessary to implement a dynamic consensus method that is more difficult to manipulate.

Another key consideration: What if technology is improving itself using different civilizations while traveling across the cosmos. This raises the question of whether we are simply acting as slaves working towards a superior project.



 

Maggie Cheung in 60s Hong Kong style