Month: March 2022

How to deal with the relentless march of technology:

For example, how is it that my new iPhone SE ($429) is faster than my older MacBook Pro, which had a maxed out processor just a few years ago and cost over $2,000?

This is what brings us the most happiness and pleasure in life?

For example, the feeling that my body, muscles are growing and getting bigger and stronger.

For example the day or two after I have had an intense workout, and ate a bunch of meat the night prior, and had great sleep— the feeling that my back, traps and wings are growing bigger and expanding.

Don’t blame people for who they are — many of them are simply immature (not yet fully mentally or soulfully developed, lack of life experiences, discovering oneself, etc.).

I don’t desire the best, but perhaps the most innovative and clever solution?

The more kids, the more artwork you produce, share and publish, the better?

I don’t desire the ”best”, but the most lofty, the highest.

Which variable do you want to keep static, and which variable do you want to keep dynamic?

For example, raising a kid is insanely dynamic — everyday is always changing and different. Then best to keep the environment static?

What makes life great and worthwhile? Not the Every day normalcy, or the sustainable, but the small, infrequent, and sublime moments.

For example, better to have one insanely great day a week, then every day as a “good“ day.

Or better yet, better to have six miserable days in a week, and one insanely great day a week, than seven good days in a row.

Or broken down even further, better to have one insanely great hour in a day, than a full day of normalcy.

Also, I’m happy having deadlifted 475 pounds, once, even if the remaining 374 days in the year were absolutely miserable.

Even with kids, even though much of raising your kid is physiologically painful, the few sublime happy moments make it all worth it.

I have yet to watch the new Batman movie, yet the concept is great to me. I love the idea that Batman is darker, more melancholic, more cruel.

Even with aesthetics, cars, etc. I love the all black everything, “murdered out” look. Even though black cars are probably the most impractical car of all time, there is nothing more sublime to me than a debadged black on black on black Tesla model 3, with limo tint, and all black components.

The image of Spartan 300s doing their battle training in the direct sun, in the outdoors dusty gymnasium of Ancient Greece.

The desert with the powerful sun, solar panels as the ideal place for power, energy, innovation?

The privilege of being able to workout outdoors, topless, in short shorts while also getting a nice tan.

The ideal place to work is outdoors, in the direct sun, either with your phone, tablet, or laptop.

What would King Leonidas of the 300 spartans do?

Surprisingly another thing I really love about the iPhone SE is the curved design. It feels like a pebble, a stone, something natural in our hands. Whenever I use the iPhone Pro, or even the smaller iPhone mini, it feels unnatural and brutal in my hands. I don’t like it.

When an object is curved, it feels more natural and seamless in our hands. It feels more friendly, approachable, and easy to pick up and quickly use. Even when the iPhone SE is in my front pocket, it disappears. I forget I even have it on me. A sign of great design.

Also, an observation I’ve made is that after Steve Jobs has died, and after Jony Ive left Apple, from a design perspective, all the new Apple products are very bizarre, and seem to lack a vision. It seems that the nerds have taken over Apple, just creating more power for the sake of power, rather than thinking about subtle things, especially every day usability.

When searching for your photos, etc., it seems like a good idea to look at your photos as insanely small thumbnails. Why is that? The strongest photos are maximally simple. That is, even as an insanely small thumbnail, you can quickly spot them.

For example, I was looking for this photo of my eye. And even as small thumbnails, I could quickly spot them. This is the sign of an eye catching photo, pun intended.

One of the hidden benefits of the iPhone SE, is the ability to touch more of the screen with just one hand, or reach all the corners the phone with just one thumb, which makes the iPhone SE at least 1000 times better than even the iPhone pro.

The only competitor that iPhone SE has is the iPhone mini. However, the new benefit of the new iPhone SE is that it is actually newer than iPhone mini. Even newer than a iPhone pro. It seems on a superficial technological level, the best phone is the newest one. Or the best technology is the newest one which got released the most recently.

It seems nobody knows what they *really* want. The superficial desires, and low level desires include happiness, peace of mind, zen, etc. However, I think what we desire is more than that.

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Black simply as a means, not the end.

Currently my only goal in life is to have maximal physiological energy which means getting a good night rest (no coffee beyond 9am), and high energy and power during the day. Thus my realization — optimize your food for your maximal physiological energy. Grass fed beef burger patties frozen from Costco, organic eggs, and not eating out (you have no idea what they put in the food, if they put in sneaky oil, sneaky sugar, sneaky MSG, etc. Also, I’ve never got bad stomachaches or food poising from home cooking, often from eating out.

Also when I eat at home, I have access to homemade kimchi, made without any sugar, with love for my mom. Often even when I go to all you can eat Korean barbecue restaurants, much to my dismay and unknowingly to me, a lot of the restaurant kimchi served has tons of sugar added to it. Same goes with the salad, a lot of the salad dressings have a ton of sugar and canola oil and other strange things added to it.

As a life experiment, optimize your food, diet, sleep, and other physiological matters for maximal physiological energy.

A thought:

Is Tesla more valuable company than Apple?

Maybe so. Why is that? Technically, transportation and moving human beings from point A to point B is more important than our phones, our laptops, etc. Technically, android has a higher market share worldwide, and although Apple and iPhone is indeed superior to android, Apple is certainly more of a luxury item, than an essential necessity. Also, much of our Amazon packages are still shipped to with inefficient 18 wheelers, which guzzle gas. When the Tesla semi comes out, it will eat everybody’s lunch.

However, with insanely high gas prices, which theoretically might keep going up, certainly it seems that electric cars are the future. And it seems that Tesla’s supercharger network, their brand appeal, brand recognition, is at least 1000 times better than any of their competitors. In fact, Tesla has no competitors. They’re so ahead of the pack it is ridiculous.

For example, one electric car I find very cool is the Rivian electric truck. Yet, in the long term, it may fail. Why? Nobody has any idea who the founder is, and the Rivian logo is not recognizable, it kind of looks like the Renault logo. Currently, the Rivian electric truck is very cool, and turns heads, because it is so different and unique. Yet, when the cyber truck comes out, it will probably destroy Rivian sales.

There has been much talk about the Apple electric car, but while there may be some diehard fans who may purchase it, Apple is a phone, laptop, display, photography and camera, and financial company, not a car company. You must specialize in order to win. That is also consider that android was an iPhone copycat, an iPhone is still at least 1000 times better than any android or Samsung device.

99% of googles value is still in their information services, search engine, YouTube, and email.

For example, black cars in socal.

I know a lot of people who want to have kids, but they are afraid that if they have a kid, it will somehow cramp their “location independent“ lifestyle. But is this true, and is this the case? I think not.

For example, the last year or so with Seneca, Cindy and I have still been able to be semi nomadic, jumping around coasts, traveling, going on plane trips, going on road trips, etc. Something very useful is from the early days, sleeping Seneca in a travel crib, not a normal crib. Therefore it is easy to travel with him, as he always has the same crib. Yes, even when we’re at home, we sleep him in the travel crib.

Having your kid adapt to your lifestyle, rather than the other way around.

Your kid will be fine. Even though I had a traumatic childhood, I still turned out fine. I consider that Seneca will have a very loving upbringing, with the support of two parents, Cindy and I.

The best thing I’ve discovered is just take Seneca long for the ride. Cindy and I still continue to travel, go to coffee shops, go to restaurants, and bring along Seneca, and have Seneca learn to adapt to our lifestyle, rather than the other way around. You do not want to be a slave to the traditional notion of American child upbringing.

If you want to have kids, but you’re scared, I say just go for it. Having a kid will make you a more productive photographer, give you purpose in life, and although it will hurt you physiologically, it will make you happier, more powerful, and you will also have a legacy, an heir to your throne.

Why was I so productive in Vietnam? Maybe and perhaps I prefer hot and humid climates?

Especially in todays world, in which air conditioning is cheap and abundant, if you seek the maximally productive and healthy life, perhaps hot and humid climates are best.

Moisture in the air, is good for your body. Also hot and bright is good.

Therefore perhaps the ideal locations for digital nomads include Vietnam (Saigon and Hanoi), Cambodia (Phnom Penh), and Thailand (Bangkok).

When making life decisions, or figuring out where to live, etc … ask yourself — not what will make me ‘happier’, but what will make me healthier.

Where are there the most beautiful people? Los Angeles. Downtown Los Angeles. Why? Hollywood. The movie, film industry. Because it is always bright and sunny here, you can make entertainment anytime. Also, because it is always warm, and bright, more people could go to the beach more often, where they can share and show off their bare bodies.

Also, when it is always bright and sunny, better and easier to get a tan. Tanning is better for your health than being without sunlight.

Bitcoin is the future.

A simple path to success: open source everything. Better to figure out how to make money via other means, like education, teaching workshops, selling physical products, etc.

In the long term, open source will win. And will bring you success as well.

Or, just make money doing something else random. For example, how I probably made more money from cryptocurrency, and speculating in bitcoin than I ever did with my photography. Now that I am rich enough, I no longer need to optimize my life in my photography for money making.

One of the ideas that I got which was very useful from the Walter Isaacson biography on Steve Jobs was this: do not be afraid to self cannibalize yourself. If anything, that is a better road to success.

For example, props to Apple for making the iPhone SE, with the same processor power as the iPhone Pro. In theory, it seems like a self cannibalization strategy. But in actuality, it is an insanely smart move. People who really want to flex that they have the newest and greatest iPhone ignore the iPhone SE, and spend her money on the iPhone pro instead. Yet, people who have not yet made the jump to Apple, will ditch their android and Samsung phones to get an iPhone SE, at the great price. And the reason why this is wise is that they will eventually enter the Apple ecosystem, buying the Apple AirPods, Apple Watch, MacBook laptops, subscribe to the Apple services, etc. It is similar to Amazon, who either sell their Amazon products at a loss, or at a break even point, because they’re not seeking to make money from the products, but from the service. Maybe similar to how Facebook also sells the oculus virtual reality headset either at cost, or at a loss, to just get more people into virtual reality, and purchasing content on the oculus store.

Therefore, as a life strategy, do not fear self cannibalization. Let us consider, you’re rich enough, strong enough, and stout enough to handle it.

For example, giving away your stuff for free. Taking an open source strategy is a sign of strength, which superficially seems like self cannibalization, but that’s up for long-term success.

A thought on my mind: how important is climate, to aid oneself in achieving human greatness?

Something that I have discovered: spending time indoors, besides sleeping, is very depressing. I recommend instead to select, flag, and process edit your photos outdoors. In the direct sun.

Why? Ironically enough, when it is more difficult to see your photos outdoors in direct sun, it is a good test for your composition. If your photos and your compositions are still strong in unfavorable lighting conditions, it is a sign that the photo is strong.

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Some thoughts–

Optimizing your sleep is 10000x more important than optimizing your ‘productivity’ during the day.

Simple ideas:

1. Don’t drink coffee past 9am, no caffeine or stimulants. No caffeinated tea either.
2. If you’re tired during the day, just take a nap.
3. In the evening when coming home, insanely strict ‘no screen’ policy.
4. Don’t get suckered trying to do work and being ‘productive’ at night. Best to just take a nice ice cold shower, and jump into bed, put on your eye mask (for sleep) and putting in earplugs for sleep (I like the purple ones on Amazon).
5. No watching or consuming media in the evenings. If you want to watch Netflix, watch it first thing when waking up (a tip I heard from Cindy’s friend) — because media gets your adrenaline going. Watch action films in the morning or during the day.
6. During the day, maximal time outdoors (not indoors). Sun exposure, much walking (20,000 steps a day), and physical exercise (kettlebell is efficient).
7. Don’t forget– even the Gods sleep.
8. “It can wait until tomorrow.”

If you have the option, take your work outdoors. Use your phone, iPad, or laptop … in direct sun, or just outdoors exposed to the elements (if cold, put on a thick ass jacket).

Ideally, make a ghetto standing desk somewhere outdoors.

iPhone SE as a perfect phone.

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Can photography make you healthier? Yes!

The more time outdoors you spend, the better for your health.

The more time thus outdoors, shooting photos … the better your health.

Traveling as also superior for your health than staying home:

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True beauty is health. Buying “beauty products” won’t make you healthier.

When we see someone who is “beautiful”, what they really are is healthy.

Seek to become healthier, not more “beautiful”.

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Non interventionism. Only help if they ask for help. Otherwise just let them be, and leave them alone.