We are all stupid →

Published September 30, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 30  ·  

Meanwhile, privately, we all know that much of life consists of trying to hide the extent of our own stupid-aspect, while accentuating the smart stuff so that others might think we’re made of it through and through.

~ David Cain from, The Problem Is That We Are All Stupid

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Hey now! …if you’re going to call it like it is, that’s just not fair.

If only there was some way that I could… you know, apply self-awareness and self-assessment to work on my stupid-aspect. How cool would that be?

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Relationships →

Published September 29, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 29  ·  

They who wanted to do each other good are now handling one another in an imperious and intolerant manner, and in the struggle somehow to get out of their untenable and unbearable state of confusion, they commit the greatest fault that can happen to human relationships: they become impatient.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

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Small changes →

Published September 28, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 28  ·  

Watching TV, for example, or playing massively multiplayer online games, can feel relaxing and even stimulating at times. But those hours spent relaxing and stimulating yourself can really add up, and when you tally the eventual sum of the life benefits, it ends up awfully close to zero. Many other leisure pursuits (complaining, ATV riding, shopping) often end up the same way.

~ Peter Adeney from, The Surprising Effect of Small Efforts over Time

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I try not to get all preachy about how I think everyone should live their lives. After all, I’ve still plenty of room for improvement.

But just in case you are still wasting your life doing any of the above . . .

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Genius →

Published September 27, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 27  ·  

To see things in the seed, that is genius.

~ Lao Tzu

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What are the odds? →

Published September 26, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 26  ·  

What does such a statistic have to do with your personal chance of success? Nothing at all.

~ Steve Pavlina from, What Are the Odds of Becoming a Black Belt? – Steve Pavlina

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This has nothing to do with martial arts.

If you—you reading this right now—are NOT making mistakes, you are not learning.

Put another way: If you are always certain—or if you can’t take action until you are certain—then you are not doing the work you need to be doing.

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Triage →

Published September 25, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 25  ·  

The practice of triage is a challenge of consciousness. It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture when you’re staring at a project screaming for your attention. But you still need to muster the awareness to ask, “Is this the most important thing that must be done by me right now?” Whenever you fail to ask this question, you can bet there’s a more important project being stalked by the Grim Reaper.

~ Steve Pavlina from, Triage – Steve Pavlina

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There are many variations of this. My favorite is currently a large note above my desk which reads…

2018: “HELL YES!” or “no”

Regardless, Covey’s quadrants are an excellent way to triage things.

I’m adamant however, that one’s goal should be to do nothing in Covey’s quadrants 3 and 4—things which are “not important”, wether they are urgent or non-urgent. See also, Time management.

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Don’t turn on two-factor authentication →

Published September 24, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 24  ·  

Before you require a second factor to login to your accounts, you should understand the risks, have a recovery plan for when you lose your second factor(s), and know the tricks attackers may use to defeat two-factor authentication.

~ Stuart Schechter from, Before You Turn On Two-Factor Authentication… | by Stuart Schechter | Medium

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I repeat: Do not enable two-factor authentication until you understand how it works and what you are doing. You know who is usually locked out of your car, house, etc. right? You are!

This is a great article surveying a myriad of things you should consider before enabling two-factor security. Yes, it is more secure, but that means it is also more likely that you’ll lock yourself out, permanently.

So…

Are you currently really good at keeping track of passwords and security questions?
Do you use a unique password for every service and web site?
…are the answers to your security questions completely random things you made up and stored in your security system, or did you really use your easily-learned mother’s maiden name?
…and is your “security system” not post-it’s on your monitor, but rather a real, secure, system?

And how about…

Do you have a system in place to give your beneficiaries access to your stuff—and ways to permanently lock-and-destroy things you don’t want passed along?

…if not, then turning on two-factor is not a good idea. You’re about to make things even more complicated when you are currently not doing the basic things well. Instead of blindly enabling two-factor authentication, you should move off of the bell curve and stop being an easy traget.

Step one: Learn how to use a password manager like 1Password or LastPass, and start using unique passwords.

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Aerosols →

Published September 23, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 23

The annotated version of the visualization (shown above) highlights the GEOS FP model’s output for aerosols on August 23rd, 2018. On that day, wildfires caused huge plumes of smoke to drift over North America and Africa, three tropical cyclones took place in the Pacific Ocean, and high winds over the Sahara caused wind-borne dust particles to fill the sky. All of these produced aerosols which are represented in the visual by different colors.

~ Matt Williams from, Look at all the Aerosols Pushed into the Atmosphere, from Fires, Volcanoes and Pollution. Even Sea Salt Thrown into the Air from Hurricanes – Universe Today

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I’m not sure if I’m more impressed by the beautiful composite photo and the science that went into it, or if I now just want to never inhale again.

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Courage, part 1 →

Published September 22, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 22

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.

~ Anais Nin

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Constant optimization →

Published September 21, 2018  ·  All posts on Sep 21  ·  

An unexpected benefit of all this self-imposed change is that it helps protect you from forming bad habits, which are hard to change once you get them. In fact, change itself becomes the habit, which is a good one to carry with you through your life. The willingness to experience change brings opportunity, wealth, learning, and happiness for most of us who embrace it.

~ Peter Adeney from, The Principle of Constant Optimization

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Wait. Is he saying there are people who don’t optimize?

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