split mind

 

relax

 

conflict

 

swali

 

"How come we aren't sending volunteers to *your* country?"

blessing and curse

 

research

 

time

 

blessed are the peacemakers

 

elite

 

school's out

 

back to the grind

 

an introvert "survival" guide

There is a military concept called the survivability onion. It has the following layers:

don't be in range of enemy weapons

if in range, know where they are to avoid detection

if detected, take cover to avoid being fired upon

if fired upon, have armor and a weapon for protection

I think something similar can help introverts in a world designed for extroverts. 

1. Realize that provocations, insults, etc. are inevitable no matter how much you avoid them. 

2. Avoid irritating people and circumstances

3. If there is an annoying stimulus, ignore it if possible

4. If the provocation continues, leave the vicinity if possible

5. If you must respond, use humor or sarcasm first

6. Be prepared to defend yourself physically before they touch you

Smaller people, especially men, are perceived as easier targets. The best self-defense weapon for most people is a quick-opening knife. They're cheap, portable, and very few people will press an attack against someone holding a knife.

If you're quiet and keep to yourself, realize that some people will provoke you because they want to "break you out of your shell". 

If you don't like to yell, swear, or use insults. a hard stare can deter aggression. 

It's best to conceal your intelligence. Showing it arouses resentment and makes others eager to humiliate you. 

If you look crazy or dangerous (unusual hair or clothes), people will leave you alone. There are pros and cons to this. 

Mere honesty is often perceived as the most insulting. 

If you're Christian, it's best to interpret "turn the other cheek" as "don't retaliate immediately". 

In any group of people. your basic options are conform, suffer, or leave. Be average if you want lots of friends. 

education, jobs, and personality

One of the biggest flaws in US education is that promotion is automatic. That is, so long as you make the minimum effort, you continue to advance until you graduate and are finished with school. Careers don't work that way. Continuous improvement is expected, but it rarely happens. People often start out in one field and end up in another. 

The usual career advice is to look for something you like and are good at. I think it's better to look at that question from the opposite direction: find out what you don't like and are bad at and then do something else. It's easier to eliminate unsuitable jobs than it is to search for the right one. In a similar way, just because you do well in school does not mean you should continue to get more diplomas. 

In my case, it took me a long time to figure out that I really hate jumping through hoops (such as filling out complicated paperwork), so in spite of the fact that I did well in school, the best job for me should be a simple one with a short training cycle and minimal bureaucracy. This is why I am now working towards my CDL so I can be a truck driver. Although I did well in school, I didn't enjoy it, which is why I no longer have any interests in jobs that have a long certification process. 

The social and personality aspects of working are at least as important as the technical ones. If you can't get along with your coworkers or bosses or have a strong preference for working alone, it doesn't matter if you have the right skills. That was a hard lesson for me to learn. 

If you're an introvert, you need to consider that when searching for a job. The same is true if you're very independent and like to do things your own way, or if you get frustrated with complicated rules and procedures. I value simplicity and efficiency, but many people do not. That rules out many kinds of work. 

It takes time to figure out these things and mistakes are inevitable. I'm glad I finally have it figured out. Life should be enjoyed, so don't waste your time with jobs and other things you dislike. I still have a toy truck from when I was a boy. The fact that I've kept it for so long should have been a clue. 

the useful things you learn in school

I knew from the beginning school was preparation for adulthood, but it took me awhile to figure out exactly how. Here are some of the useful things I learned in school: show up on time, follow instructions, keep track of important papers, fill out forms, communicate clearly, and other skills directly useful in daily life. All that stuff about vocabulary and geometry was just there to keep my brain busy, not because I was going to need it later. Even so, keeping your brain busy (with anything) is a good habit. 

Of course, learning can also be fun, and the word school itself is garbled Greek for leisure or free time. In the ancient world, only rich people were free to study things like poetry and music. Everyone else was too busy learning and doing practical work to study. In a similar way, reading for pleasure only became common when advances in technology made books cheap enough for average people to afford. The free time most people enjoy today was also made possible through better technology, particularly mechanized agriculture. 

You don't need to read a lot of books to be wise, but it certainly helps. The longer I live, the more I think that intelligence is less a list of things to know and more a set of habits to practice. Most knowledge is not particularly useful, but good habits always make life easier. 

As far as social skills, I learned that people mainly get judged on how they look, what they sound like, and how much money they have. High academic achievement or intelligence doesn't get much respect. If I was a smarter man, I would have figured that out sooner. However, I don't regret my education because it's enriched my life in unexpected ways. That's the real lesson.  

 

YouTube caption glitches

YouTube has good language recognition software, so I'm not sure how these errors happened.

my magical mystery tour, illustrated

These two clips give a taste of what I went through: 

The Simpsons - Homer gets high at Chilli Cook off

"OPEN YOUR EYE" - Doctor Strange Meets the Ancient One - Doctor Strange (2016) Movie Clip

I have journeyed across time and space, both in my dreams and in real life. 

Gormenghast vs Mont St Michel

 

Don't get conned by Shell's immersion cooling oil for computers

Regular mineral oil works just fine and is much cheaper and safer. Don't be a sucker and fall for a fancy label. I used it on my experimental computer. If I remember right, I overclocked it to 5 GHz. 

Two FBI agents came to my apartment in 2023 to ask about this picture. Not sure how they got it, but they did say they were acting on a tip from a concerned citizen. I told them that computers are about as small and cheap as they're ever going to be. Software improvements are rare, so the only way to increase computer performance is with better heat transfer. 

In 2021, I was handcuffed and interrogated by NSA special agents. But that was for something else. 

I'd love to make a Beowulf cluster like this and see what it could do:

cheapest super computer

The RPiCluster

A primer on Chinese military thought

guanxi = closed system (you scratch my back, I scratch yours, acceptable corruption).

cha bu duo = difference not much (close enough for government work)

face = reputation 

Eastern Philosophers vs Western Philosophers. Epic Rap Battles of History

Thirty-Six Stratagems - Wikipedia

Chengyu - Wikipedia

Seven Military Classics - Wikipedia

Derpetology: Excerpts from a WW2-era US military manual about China

The Good Earth

Dao de Jing

I Ching

Analects of Confucius

I touched the hero stone on the Great Wall of China: 

extra strength hole puncher

Keep your booger hooks off the bang switch until you're ready to rock and roll.