μblog

# 2024-04-28T10:32:56+02:00
The priority-inversion effect: You want to answer to your best friends, but they deserve a good and mindful answer and this requires a clear mind. Sadly, this moment never arrives and, if you ever get to answer them, it is not with the quality you wanted. That is how the highest priority becomes lowest. Its solution looks simple: don't expect future moments to be of better quality than right now. Corollary 1: the same effect can be applied to your best friend = you. Corollary 2: avoiding this effect does not equal surrendering to the culture of immediacy.

# 2024-02-28T06:20:44+01:00
Computer firewalls work in both ways, in and out, although their incoming face frequently blinds its no less important, outgoing counterpart.  The same can be said about bare and simple walls (no fire is required). Architecture is usually thought as the solution to protect us from Nature: walls, roofs and floors to keep comfortable conditions, to prevent wild beasts from eating us and other people from spying on us. But how naive is to stop there. Yes, architecture can protect people from external danger, but, alas, there are no worse beasts than men, and we took advantage of walls to conceal our violence from the world. Architecture provides abusers with a cloak: Women, children and many other innocent animals have always suffered behind walls, where rapists, husbands, slaughterers, butchers and scientists still exert their violence with impunity. Frankly, I prefer open, wet and cold nights surrounded by leopards and spiders, where you still have a chance to escape.

# 2024-02-24T13:14:56+01:00
Privative social networks are essentially powers trying (very successfully) to hack our minds. Many freedom-based social networks attempt to improve many aspects, but they miserably fail at avoiding the biggest issue: being psychological traps. So they basically replicate the trap but with a gentler face. Don't let anyone hack your mind. Keep the shields up. If we trust anagram wisdom, social networks = colonist wreaks.

# 2024-02-13T08:20:01+01:00
My university, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), has decided to build an app as the *only* way to carry your university ID. This app is *only* available through Apple Store and Google Play. I asked for an alternative medium and they initially refused. After insisting I was redirected to fill a generic complaint form. You can see their page here (and notice how they even offer you sharing buttons for X, Facebook, and WhatsApp!: (https://www.upc.edu/identitatdigital/ca/carnetupc). UPC is a *public* university, but somehow acts as a private corporation. UPDATE: They agreed to hand me a physical ID card.

# 2024-02-13T07:57:27+01:00
It is outrageous that so many public services use X/Twitter to post official announcements that are only available there, beyond the reach of those who don't have an account. Signing up would require us to agree with more-than-questionable Terms of Service. Even our (Spanish) president publishes his messages there, with no alternative source that I know of. Since he has a web form where you can send him messages, I have sent him a petition to make this content free for all.

# 2024-02-10T23:58:50+01:00
Every cell is extremely industrious and hard working, and each one of them features a biochemical network of astounding complexity. At the multicellular level, the coordination between trillions of them is simply jaw dropping. But somehow, in most cases, the result is a lazy and dumb individual who hasn't the slightest idea of anything, and whose population is blatantly incapable of avoiding self-destruction. And what is beyond bananas: we happily claim that all these disciplined and flexible cells are mere automata whereas the dull and mindless individual is awarded a free will, a soul and a consciousness, when we have no idea of what these things are (if real at all!).

# 2024-02-04T11:20:08+01:00
It's not just about 'learning to say no'. A 'no' can mutate into a 'yes' if you are hurried into a decision, or if you are insistently asked. In those cases, we should automatically say 'no'. A 'no' is always subject to change. A 'yes' is a commitment and can last years, if not forever. Such asymmetry, combined with the difficulty of keeping our judgement when we are tired or stressed, becomes a real danger. That is why, instead of playing nice and fair, we should aggressively default to 'no', and only consider a 'yes' when asked once, politely, convincingly, and with plenty of time to answer.

# 2024-01-05T10:55:32+01:00
"Happiness is simple" (Avatar: the Way of Water) Worth remembering this every day, when seeking complications.

# 2023-11-22T19:24:48+01:00
A scholar is devoted to a subject, pushing the barriers of knowledge. Academics are devoted to paperwork and status. In the classroom, a master tries to transmit knowledge and love for this knowledge, whereas teachers just offer the syllabus. There we also find a disciple, who seeks understanding, and students, who just want to pass the exams. Two completely different worlds under the same institution: one is there for the truth, the other for the power.

# 2023-11-22T19:16:50+01:00
Gentle reminder that nations and religions are constructs of the mind, while the ecosystem's breakdown is very real. Could we please stop this tribal nonsense and focus on non-fictitious problems?

# 2023-11-22T19:13:01+01:00
What is more depressing, a newspaper accurately reporting on climate emergency or another that, focused on other things, barely mentions it?

# 2023-11-05T10:18:29+01:00
In today's entertainment, filler material is what prevents the plot from moving forward. In baroque and classical operas, the filler material, the recitative, was what allowed the plot to move forward.

# 2023-10-25T10:02:41+02:00
Telling the difference between the urgent and the important requires sight focus. Telling the difference between what is important and what is not requires sight amplitude. Both require a distant point of view.

# 2023-10-25T09:55:27+02:00
Urgent means needing immediate attention *and* being important. If the latter condition does not hold, it is just priority myopia.

# 2023-10-21T09:28:02+02:00
The more I know my dog, the more I love my stuffed dog.

# 2023-10-20T22:08:51+02:00
"Only the disciplined are free in life. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave of your moods and passions." (Haruki Murakami ) 

# 2023-10-16T18:59:36+02:00
The real power of fiction...

# 2023-10-16T18:35:55+02:00
Now, you choose between now or later, and you choose later because it is easier and it does not seem consequential. After all, later is the next now. And thus, later becomes the new now, and you again choose between now or later, and choosing later still feels inconsequential. This is the proof, by induction, of how, between now or never, you choose never. Even if you never had the feeling you actually chose it. It never looked like never!

# 2023-10-16T17:34:20+02:00
Anatomy of the trap: 1/5) ghostliness [the trap not looking as such, even disguising itself as a power]; 2/5) reversibility  [making you think that once aware of it, you'll always remain aware, while becoming unaware again in the background]; 3/5) stagnation [the delusion of thinking that by being aware you are already or almost free from it, so that perfecting awareness becomes the main and futile goal]; 4/5) the stair of Zeno [where you think jumping is forbidden, and that you need to use all the steps of the stair, while it silently subdivides itself without end]; 5/5) reality [when you manage to see its true face, and the actual struggle to escape from it just begins]. 

# 2023-10-09T17:25:06+02:00
Beware of the disillusioned. Every field is full of them and they will use their knowledge and experience as proof of their disenchantment. But they are dangerous dementors, so, if you smell lack of passion, just run away. I have learned this especially well in the world of music, which is plagued with people who actually hate it. They will argue they like music, only not the one you are listening, and will favour some niche styles that are no yet barren to them (but soon will be). My physics degree was another significant example: most of my teachers hated what they were supposed to teach, and taught boredom and emptiness instead, because what you have in your heart is what you actually transmit. If you love something, you already have more than most experts will ever dream. Don't allow anyone to take that from you. And if you lose that love for something, please do us a favour and get out of it immediately, not teaching or even talking about it again.

# 2023-10-01T12:14:47+02:00
All this Internet silliness is what separates you from your potential greatness.

# 2023-10-01T11:56:05+02:00
To be permanently connected to the world is to be sucked by the world. Ironically, this is the epitome of sucking, and perhaps the epitome of disconnection as well.

# 2023-10-01T11:46:24+02:00
Chance, the physical world and Darwinian evolution: these are the true pillars of art. Every human calling themself an artist should be humbled by them and acknowledge their art to be, in the best of cases, just beautiful tinkering.

# 2023-09-27T20:27:18+02:00
A very important question of physics has been answered today: antimatter is gravitationally attracted to matter. This is one of those things that could be thought as already settled, but it wasn't until now. And it is not clear yet if the magnitude of the attraction, the acceleration experienced by antimatter, has the same value as matter. (More experiments are needed.) Matter attracts matter, matter attracts antimatter... Does this imply that antimatter attracts antimatter? This would be incredibly difficult to measure. Directly, at least.

# 2023-09-27T18:12:20+02:00
Maturity Game: level 1 = discover your irrelevance; level 2 = accept your irrelevance; level 3 = celebrate your irrelevance; final stage = die, dissolve into nothingness and be forgotten by everyone, or in other words, prove your irrelevance.

# 2023-09-26T11:31:56+02:00
How easy is to confuse causes and triggers! If, for example, we place a fragile vase at some height, near the edge of its rest surface, we already build the cause. Then, perhaps months later, an accidental push will bring the vase to the ground, breaking it into pieces. This event is not the cause, but the trigger, which is a cause in itself, but not the one that moved the object from a robust to a fragile configuration. As I see it, it is the first agent who should carry the blame, and by confusing cause and trigger we can also misdirect our sense of justice. Reintegration programs in the judicial system seem to take this into account. Do you make this cause/trigger separation in your daily issues? Interestingly, this also applies to positive outcomes.

# 2023-09-25T18:19:17+02:00
Sunday... and after that, a holiday Monday... I am doing nothing... but wait, when said like that, "nothing" sounds like something actually being done! Perhaps "I am not doing anything" better depicts my feeling... but surprisingly, it would not depict reality better, because the brain actually does something when I rest. In fact, it *only* makes good things when I shut myself off and allow it to work in peace. My empty slots are its windows of opportunity and creative growth, and my horror-vacui addiction to information and entertainment is its overwatered drought.

# 2023-09-24T10:52:58+02:00
"The martial arts are not about winning. They are to keep you from losing to yourself." (Muten Roshi)

# 2023-09-23T14:30:14+02:00
After rawtext.club removed gitea support I decided to upload my little contributions to codeberg.org. Mainly 'odyssey', a space-based time tracker; 'numbrain', a training for the mind through numbers; and 'periodic_table', a game to learn the periodic table from memory.

# 2023-09-20T11:49:53+02:00
If you are not sure about writing something, don't do it. If you are sure, don't be. If talking, since there is no time for slow thinking or chance to delete your words, just don't say anything. Surprisingly, it is usually the best choice. The higher the stakes, the better silence is.

# 2023-09-16T15:15:03+02:00
Cases to consider when subtracting XY - ZS, from easier to harder:
0) if there is some evident symmetry. Example: 15 - 15, or 70 - 35.
1) if last digits are equal, Y=S. Example: 15 - 75. Only think the decades!
2) if the two numbers are close, within 15 units or so. Example: -74 + 66. Go for direct mental picture.
3) if X﹥Z and Y﹥S or if X﹤Z and Y﹤S. Examples: 16 - 27 or 74 - 32. You can independently do X - Z and Y - S.
4) if X﹥Z and Y﹤S or if X﹤Z and Y﹥S. Examples: 16 - 24 or 74 - 38. Think X - Z, then Y - S to correct the previous.

# 2023-09-16T11:30:39+02:00
If you read this μblog with w3m browser, lines may not be wrapped. While lynx perfectly deals with txt files, w3m doesn't. Two choices are: 1) ﹤ and ﹥ to horizontally navigate the page. Not very convenient. 2) 'escape + e' will open the page in your text editor, where you can read it as you prefer.

# 2023-09-15T11:27:15+02:00
When doing the housework, I would never dare to imagine the house remaining clean and ordered by the end (or middle) of next week. The 2nd law is expected to kick in and rapidly degrade my housework into a mess. Still, I do the Sisyphean drudgery because, imagine if I didn't! My point here is: isn't the same with the planning of next week? Expect the unexpected from minute 0, and mayhem after day 2. Then, Sisyphically replan each weekend, because... imagine if you didn't! It is still housework. In fact, more house-like even!

# 2023-09-14T19:13:41+02:00
One of the saddest articles I've read in a long time. It is depressing at so many levels: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/14/france-pushes-for-more-factory-farming-in-food-u-turn

# 2023-09-13T17:03:45+02:00
Motivation is always a social thing and comes in two forms: to seek recognition from others and to avoid ridicule in front of them. So avoid all self-motivation crap and put yourself into social danger. It's the only way.

# 2023-09-11T21:55:16+02:00
Watched 'Barbie' and liked it a lot. However, she is still a doll made of plastic targeted to female children. If you want to buy a gift to a little girl and you think a chess-player-Barbie is going to empower her, why not purchasing a chess board, a chess book and a club subscription instead? In other words, what you would do if she were a boy. If the Barbie is given on top of all that, complementing but not substituting the real thing, then I am OK with that (pollution aside, surely there is a second-hand market).

# 2023-09-09T13:57:40+02:00
If someone recommends you a book/film/series/whatever without arguing why you should invest time in it, just drop the 're': it is just a commendation, a nice thing to share, but nothing else.

# 2023-09-05T16:04:04+02:00
Public universities posting content on social media can be understood as a practical way to reach many students and staff. What I find unacceptable is to *only* post it on questionable-to-say-the-least sites like X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. What if someone doesn't have the means to join them or simply doesn't want to accept their disgusting Terms and Conditions? I would like to be able to reach such content on a simple *and accessible* web page, or at least on freedom-supporting media, i.e. the fediverse. You can even automate this process.

# 2023-09-04T22:22:34+02:00
The fundamental principle of planning: the exception is the norm. Or why you cannot follow a plan unless you fiercely defend it, and even so... But this is probably another way of stating the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

# 2023-09-04T22:04:43+02:00
The fundamental principle of engineering: everything is a trade-off. I love this idea by Michael Gebis, explained at ivymike.dev, although here I have changed 'theorem' to 'principle', so that it does not need a proof.

# 2023-09-03T12:24:50+02:00
The Turtle Hermit Way is usually known as "work hard, study well and eat and sleep plenty" (from dragonball.fandom.com). In chapter 18, Master Roshi literally says

よく動き よく学び よく食べて よく休む｡ これが亀仙流の修行じゃ｡ (Yoku ugoki yoku manabi yoku tabete yoku yasumu. Kore ga kamesenryū no shugyōja.)

which DeepL  translates as "Move well, learn well, eat well and rest well. This is the training of the Kame-Sen style."

Interestingly, when Roshi dies after attempting the 魔封波 Mafūba technique and Goku remembers the good times with him (chapter 114), the Master says 

よく働き よく学び よく食べて よく休む｡ そして よく遊ぶ｡ これが 我が亀仙流の修行じゃ｡ (Yoku hataraki yoku manabi yoku tabete yoku yasumu. Soshite yoku asobu. Kore ga waga kamesenryū no shugyōja.)

which DeepL translates as "Work hard, learn well, eat well, rest well, and play well. This is the training of our Kame-Sen style."

Notice how the concept of "asobu" (play) is added here. Without it, the Hermit Way would probably be unattainable. 

# 2023-09-03T12:05:55+02:00
"Work hard, study hard, eat well, rest well, and have plenty of fun. This is the Turtle Hermit training."

# 2023-09-02T16:53:15+02:00
Just watched "The Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3" and what a delightful surprise: the film strongly advocates against animal testing and in favour of every animal's freedom. No matter how much some scientists try to rationalise it, animal experimentation is wrong and evil, and is at the core of the anthropocentric mindset that is killing us all. No matter how supposedly valuable the knowledge they extract, vivisectors, those coward abusers inflicting violence on innocent creatures, are on the wrong side of history.

# 2023-09-01T20:58:36+02:00
The "mu" symbol (μ) can be written in vim with control-v + u + 3bc

# 2023-09-01T20:47:47+02:00
In order to write these posts I just use vim, beginning with the command :r!date -Is

# 2023-09-01T20:45:03+02:00
This is my first μpost. I don't like Twitter/X and neither Mastodon. For almost all purposes, except to provide media, a simple text file is enough. You can subscribe via RSS at https://fluents.xyz/rss/ublog.xml