The goal isn’t to eat more, but, eat more nutritious, higher density food. My theory is food with higher cholesterol, and higher saturated fat is better. Or perhaps this is why organ meat is superior than flesh meat, beef liver as having one of the highest cholesterol levels, which is essentially a steroid and testosterone booster (cholesterol is a steroid).

With eggs, pasture raised eggs, eggs with deeper amber yolks, as having higher nutritional density.

Also with meat, grass fed beef as having a higher nutritional density and quality than standard beef.

More features, or fewer features?

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Doing more does not achieve more.

Don’t stress more than one benefit.

One benefit is enough to make an argument.

What is willpower? Will power is via negativa, that is, you build your willpower via abstinence, or what you abstain from doing. Will power is not forcing yourself to do positive action.

Don’t “work out” unless you are prepared to attempt a new personal record, in terms of overall weight, or repetitions.

This means, for any given movement, do not do it more than once a week. For example, if I attempt a new one rep max for my squat, and whether I succeed or fail, I will not do it at least for another week.

Even with bodyweight exercises, let us say it comes to chin ups. I will not do any chin ups, unless I do it as an attempt to attempt to break my previous personal record for the number of total chin-ups I can do.

Even with kettlebell exercises, don’t just do it every day or every day as a form of discipline training. Rather, better to attempt a new personal record in any of your kettlebell swings once a week, than to do it every day with regularity.

Dear friends, something I’ve been thinking a lot about is creativity. That creativity is probably our apex value, yet, the word is used so imprecisely. When we talk about creativity, people mean to talk about artistic ingenuity, being unique and one-of-a-kind. However, I think originality and uniqueness in art is not the goal.

For example, let’s say that your kid starts drawing smiley faces. Would you discourage your kid from drawing :-) faces on the account that it has “already been done before “? Or, would you discourage a kid from doing anything, or eating anything, because “other kids have done it before, and perhaps better than you?“ Of course not.

This is our biggest threat in photography, that there are lots of snobby and pretentious photographers who feed their own low self-esteem by putting down other newbie photographers. Originality and photography is not so important. What is more important is enthusiasm, curiosity, and passion.

Creatism

I coined this new word, which I call Creatism. The idea is that we have the greatest joy in creating. That we create in order to learn, and we also create in order to have fun.

Let me give you an example: the best way I was able to learn about cars was to build and modify my car. And also when something broke, or needed to do an oil change, and I did it myself, I understood it through doing.

Also, I am very grateful to my high school friend eric moon who taught me how to build computers. After building your own computer, it teaches you that computers are not as complex as we think they are. If I never built a computer, I may be more intimidated by technology.

Photography is the same way: I actually think that when you’re starting off as a beginner, taking photography classes, or getting a photography teacher is not good. Why? You become indoctrinated far too quickly. Better to self experiment by yourself, and figure it out long as you go, and maybe seek a teacher or some sort of mentor leader, when you have hit some sort of dead end. Maybe take a photography workshop or class when you feel like you have hit a plateau. But if you’re progressing along by yourself in photography just fine by yourself, stay solo.

Create more photos

Give yourself permission to make lots of “bad,” or “cliché” photos. also, do not trap yourself in the reductive category. Become an all encompassing star for, in which you literally photograph everything. Photograph all parts of your life in existence, from the food you eat, to the clothes you wear, to your selfie, to your friends and family members, to your receipts, to your shoes and feet, with the products you use, or strangers, or nature, or urban city life. Photography to me is one of the most interesting art forms, because we must walk and be outdoors and interact with embodied reality in order to make photos. Therefore, it is one of the most active forms of art. Compare this with the depressing nature of the painter, who must sit down, indoors, in front of an easel in a cramped studio, in order to paint. I think this is also why a lot of the impressionist painters love to pick up doors in the open, standing, with fresh air and sunlight like Claude Monet

Create

In order for an optimal existence, optimize your life to create. For example, on your phone, you could write with the iA Writer app, use voice dictation to write, download the anchor app on your phone to record your own voice podcast, use your iPhone selfie video camera to shoot blogs, use Zen Brush 2 app to make calligraphy, or use procreate on the iPhone to make illustrations. Also, of course your phone and your camera can take pictures.

Also, curating your photos is also an act of creation. By rearranging, re-editing, and laying something out in another way, you also create something new. Curation is a form of creation.

Processing your photos, or glitching or modifying your photos is also an act of creation

Something that I’ve been having a lot of fun doing is using the procreate app to add color gradients on top of my photos, glitch them, add chromatic aberration, add noise and grain, etc. When you apply a filter on top of your photos, it is also an act of creation. Remixing is also creation.

There is no such thing as cheating in creativity

It is good for us to progress by becoming more open and accepting towards all forms of creativity. For example, there is snobbery when it comes to some sorts of creativity, like adult coloring books etc. But for myself, whenever I hear that anyone is doing anything active, creatively artistically, in any sort of way, I am very happy for them. It is unbecoming of us to judge the artwork of others as less than us, rather, it is best for us to think that all of humanity can artistically thrive together.

Create your own fun, create your own play

For me, walking around and taking photos very fun and interesting and entertaining to me. The act of choosing your exposure competition framing, and selecting what is in and outside of the frame is like a game to me.

Instead of playing call of duty or any other first person shooter, street photography is also much more fun and interesting, as it takes real social risk, as well as quick footing, and sharpshooter accuracy.

Have fun with it

Ultimately my take away for you is this: just have more fun creating, playing and doing artistic things. We are all in this together!

ERIC

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When you curate your photos, or curate your artwork, or even curate the work of others, it is an act of creation.

To my knowledge, nobody has written about the Philosophy of food, in a manner which I find rigorous. Also, talking about food in a more practical and empirical way, rather than thinking about politics, global warming, “animal rights”, etc.

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I do not believe in pre-determinism, nor do I believe in fate from a mystic perspective. However, I do like the notion of fate as a general one, in which random happenings in life events often occur to your personal benefit, but you never know the hidden benefit until the future.

For example, one of the best things has ever happened to me was getting made redundant from my old job. It was always my dream to pursue my photography and blogging full-time, yet I didn’t think I had enough money in my savings, and also, I liked the courage to just quit my job. But after my company I peeled, and then the stock plummeted, I lost my job along with alcohol, including even my boss. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Currently being in the blazing hot, ruthless Southern California sun, this is what I have realized about white cars: they are an eyesore. That means, they have too much contrast, and they are too bright. Also when the light reflects on the white car, it blinds you.

Black is a good option in terms of being more low-key. In fact, I think it was Henry Ford who said of the original model T: you can have any color, as long as it is black.

But the downside of black cars is that they are notoriously hard to keep clean, and also the attract so much dirt and dust, and also it makes scratches and swirl marks and other imperfections more easily visible. I think this is where matte black is an interesting option, as it is even more stealth and more low-key than shiny or gloss black. In fact, the best iPhone color or a laptop color or Apple device color is probably some sort of matte black. Even on the iPhone 7, there was an option for either a gloss black or a flat matte black. And I considered the matte black flat black option much more beautiful, and much more Zen.

Matte White?

Something I’ve also seen was this matte white color. In some ways, this makes sense because it better reflects heat, especially if you live in a hot place. And I suppose the benefit is because it is matte, it is not as annoyingly shiny.

I even recall on the earlier Apple monitors, there was an option to have a matte screen, instead of the shiny reflective one. I prefer the matte because it was less reflective.

Why I do not like the new design of the new iPhone Pro

I find the new iPhone pro design to be very bizarre. The sides are the very shiny stainless steel, which blinds you, and is far too shiny. Why could they not just opt for a matte stainless steel instead? I feel that because of that design flaw, it is the dealbreaker for getting a new iPhone Pro.

When is White good?

For homes, I like all white interiors. Why? It reflects the maximum amount of natural light, and typically I love interiors with more natural light. More natural light gives me more physiological energy and power and also improves my mood.

But with almost everything else, I still prefer all black. If you wear white clothes, or light colored clothes, it to easily shows coffee spills. This is where having all black clothing has high utility.

The best car paint I have seen

The best car paint I have ever seen in person is the matte black satin option for the Mercedes G wagon AMG edition. It is very stoic, calm, Zen, and self-assured. It doesn’t need to be flash or stand out, and it is elegant on its own.

What is the purpose of paint anyways?

Regardless of what people say, the color of something is very important. The color of your phone, the color of your shoes, the color of your outfit, the color of your car, etc. Why? Color is simply an external manifestation of what you believe in, and what you desire to convey to the outside world.

For example, if you go to a party and you see somebody wearing an all red tuxedo, they certainly want to be seen, and they want their outfit to be loud. The same thing goes with the gym goer who is wearing all bright fluorescent yellow Nike fitness clothing.

So I suppose with color, just ask yourself:

Do I desire to become more hidden, or more seen? And why? Towards what ends?

For myself, I already see my personality as being very extroverted. Therefore, the color palette of my own personal wardrobe is all black, the color is much more stoic and hidden. I do not want my clothes to be seen, and actually I like my privacy as well.

I’ve always liked the idea of having bright red sneakers, but whenever I wear it, it is a huge distraction to me. I spend more time looking at my feet and walking.

Also, assuming that I want to be more low-key, and not attract attention to myself, perhaps the best car for me is some sort of obscure, all matte black vehicle. Ideally I would want the card to be all debadged, and as stealth as possible. I do not want anyone else to know the brand, model or make up my car. Also, it would be advantageous to my pride to know that there are no other cars of this kind on the road.

Also, this is why none of my clothing has any brand imprints on it. This is why I love Uniqlo and Muji so much, no annoying and obtrusive branding. Also OUTLIER.nyc is great because there is no annoying logo on the outside.

This is also why with all HAPTIC products, there is no annoying logo on the outside. I want the product become yours, with maximal beauty and utility, with minimal annoyance or loudness.

It seems in today’s world, we are obsessed about upgrading. For example we want to upgrade our clothes, our phones, our laptops, our cars, our homes, etc. But when we desire upgrades, what is it that we really seek?

The first part is maybe we desire more higher power and ammunition, thinking of our tools like our modern day weapons. For example, you could make the analogy that your iPhone is like your modern day sword, and your car is almost like your modern day attack or defense vehicle. Consider that a lot of people with big trucks, SUVs, they almost look like military vehicles.

Second, a sense of progress. It seems that we humans like having a feeling that we are progressing. But what is progress? Accumulation. Accumulation of more power, influence, and space.

Third, getting rid of the old, getting the new. It seems that the typical biases that we prefer the new and young over the old and withered. For example, nobody seeks old age, everyone wants to be young forever. Therefore, if we have an old car that is falling apart, maybe it feels like we are falling apart. That your car becomes an externalization of your ego, and when you see your car in ill repair, you feel like yourself and your ego is in ill repair.

Perhaps this is the proper task: to have the will to create. But the question is, why the will to create, and where does the will to create come from?

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What is ultimate privilege? The privilege to create. The privilege to procreate and create children, the privilege of having abundant leisure and mindspace in order to create, and having via negativa mind space in order to come up with creative thoughts.

In fact, I think the reason why a lot of people desire to become financially independent, or desire a life in which they no longer need to work is in order to free up time and mindspace in order to create.

Also, the goal isn’t to stop working necessarily. The goal is to no longer work on things that you don’t care for. The privilege is having the opportunity, time and resources in order to create and work on that what you love and care for.

A random thought: would you desire a life in which everything were beautiful? That you were only surrounded by beautiful people, beautiful objects, beautiful architecture, beautiful landscapes, beautiful things, and beautiful thoughts? Maybe not. Why is this? Perhaps we need the ugly in order to appreciate the beautiful, and vice versa.

And also maybe the task of the artist is to transform the ugly, and elevate and make it beautiful. Or to take what is pre-existing ugly, and to beautify it. This is the joy we have and restoration of old homes, and old cars. Also perhaps the joy we have in TV shows in which you turn a nerdy person into a stylish and beautiful person, or where you turn an overfat person into a fit and muscular person.

I’ve also discovered that my joy in hiking and natural landscapes is that because I’m so accustomed to the ugly suburbs, I can actually appreciate the beauty of nature. If we never had ugly things to compare and contrast with, we would never deem other things as beautiful. Or we would never appreciate the beautiful, because it is our norm.

Therefore my take away is this: do not desire an existence that is 100% devoid of the ugly. Rather, be grateful of the ugly, and it is your task as an artist to transform things and create the beautiful.

Also, a paradise, a utopia is not desirable. Also, pain and suffering and injustice is a necessity for thriving and beautiful life.

One thing I’ve discovered is that I am insanely picky. And even the best things aren’t good enough for me. therefore, what I either do is buy nothing, or keep looking for something I consider perfect.

For example, I love cars and car design, yet, I have never seen or experienced a car which I consider perfect. Every car seems to be some sort of compromise, irregardless of how expensive it is. The only car that I really loved in my whole life was my 1991 Sentra SER, five speed coupe, with the SR 20 DE engine. Therefore, if I ever want a car as simply a toy, I’ll just try to find another one. And as a kid, one of my dreams was to have a Sentra SER, and turbo charge it. Therefore, if I ever have the desire, I’ll just find another Sentra SER and turbo charge it.

Also, I love shoes, yet I can never find a perfect shoe which fits all of my aesthetic preferences, as well as my functional preferences. The same thing with clothes, I’ve never discovered a perfect clothing item, besides the Outlier.nyc black merino wool T-shirt that was gifted to me from my friend Kevin and Justin.

With devices, I consider the MacBook Air perfect, as well as the Ricoh GR 3 digital camera perfect. Yet, my ideal Ricoh GR camera would still have a flash.

Therefore, when it comes to material or consumer things, never buy anything unless you discover that it is absolutely perfect in your own eyes. Whenever in doubt, even an ounce of doubt, just don’t buy it.

Now that I have a kid, my son Seneca, I think a lot about how I desire to raise him. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot about is schooling, particularly modern day schooling.

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How do we cure, or overcome our creative impotency?

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I have a concept called meta-editing — in which you publish a bunch of photos in a blog post, and then you review the blog post and you re-save the photos which pop out in your eye. Then you re-upload and re-publish it. It is like a recursive form of editing and filtering, and republishing.

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One thing I’ve discovered is that the notion of creativity is not a good one. Why? When people talk about creativity, what they really mean to say is creative ingenuity. Or another words, originality. When we call somebody creative, we mean to say that they are able to formulate novel ideas, and novel ways of saying the world.

I have actually discovered that for myself, I Best learn through the act of creation. And for me, my greatest joy in life is creating.

Therefore, I think we need a new word or a term: I call it creatorism. The general gist is the purpose and tell us of our life is to create. That a life focused on creation is the supreme life.

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One of the thoughts I had after reading the book Ready Player Two is this: what if there will be no earth death? What if in theory, humans can continue to inhabit planet earth for another billion years?

It seems nowadays the focus on life is wealth accumulation, novelty searching, purchasing and consumerism, fashion, or watching entertainment, traveling, etc.

But, ultimately I think what we really desire is to create. To create things, to create products, to create ideas, etc.

When you create, you take your soul energy force, and you impute it into an external manifestation of something else. And the more you create, the more you become.

This is the magic of photography : every time you click the shutter, you create something.

After over a decade of being addicted to coffee, some quick thoughts:

First of all, how much coffee should one drink? I say as much as you can tolerate, as long as it is before 12 o’clock noon. Absolutely in every condition, no coffee after 12 o’clock noon. Even if you’re tired, just take a nap. And even if you’re tired and something needs attending to, figure a way how to attend to it safely, while still taking a nap.

Second, is life better with or without coffee? I can firmly say yes, it is better with coffee. Yet, coffee is only bad when you drink it when you’re tired. Ironically enough, it seems that the best time to drink coffee is when you actually feel good.

When should you abstain from coffee, or at least detox from coffee? For me, I do my detox at randomly. I do not set a schedule. When my body does not feel well, I detox it for at least 24 hours. And during that detox, I make it a personal rule not to try to be productive at all, and the simple focus of my day is just to recover. And once again, do not forget: absolutely under no conditions, no coffee or caffeine intake or stimulants after 12 o’clock noon. This includes green tea, and cacao powder.

I just finished the book ready player two. Some quick thoughts:

1. First of all, I found the imagination of Ernest cline to be great, extending the metaphor of virtual reality, by being able to completely use one’s mind with the.ONI files.
2. To me, reading the book was good because it was very philosophical in nature. Being able to meander deeper into matrix analogies to real life.
3. I found my personal favorite part of the book was the beginning half, with the world building. To be able to imagine and dream of what life would look like if you were a multi billionaire, and if you were in fact, the sole God like ruler of a digital universe. Very interesting to think, what happens when the underdog becomes the top dog? Or to quote the book itself, to think like two face and Batman: what do you do when you live long enough when you see the hero turned into the villain?
4. The book also stimulated some of my own personal thinking, thinking about the philosophy of existence, the philosophy of experience, and the philosophy of the self.
5. The parts of the book that I personally found very boring were the quests in order to achieve the seven shards. Honestly, if you skipped all of those parts, and only read the first half the book and the conclusion, I think you would be solid.
6. New questions that the book has inspired me to think about: what is the purpose of embodied reality? What is the future of virtual reality? Also, what would you do in life if you had unlimited resources, money, power and influence?

Despite some of my boredom of the book, I still think it is a two thumbs up from me. If you’re interested in the virtual reality philosophy the things, or digital things, my highly recommend a read.

A life experiment thought: in the evening, shut off your iPhone, and also, shut down your laptop. With iPhone, you have to do the strange sequence: up volume down volume and side button and literally shut your iPhone totally off. This will prevent you from having the temptation to check it or use it.

With your laptop, do not just close the screen and put it into sleep mode. Instead, shut it down and power it off completely.

In terms of timing, some ideas: turn off your phone in your laptop before dinner time, or after dinner time. Or assuming if you go to work and have to commute, the second you come home turn off your phone and your laptop. or, turn off your phone and laptop after you take your evening shower.

But what if someone needs to contact you? C’est la vie.

Why do this? At least for myself, I found that when I use any devices in the evening, whether it be my phone or my laptop, I get a headache. Also, I am quite certain that if my goal is to have an earlier bedtime, using any type of screen, no matter whether it is in night mode or not, is inimical to my goal.

Also, in terms of my physiological well-being, I found the greatest predictor whether I’m going to have a good day or not is this: how early I slept. Or how early I got into bed.

Now that we started sleep training baby Seneca, the earliest I’ve been successfully able to jump in to bed is around 9:30 PM. It probably took me an hour to of lying in bed before I actually fell asleep, but, this is better than me jumping in bed at 11 PM or midnight, not sleeping until one or 2 AM.

I am very convinced: if your goal is to have maximal productivity in life, be insanely rigid and disciplined about not using any device in the evening. This will allow you to power down sooner, sleep better at night, and therefore have more power to conquer the next day. With almost 99% of things in life, it could wait until tomorrow.

One of the things I am the most grateful for is having the opportunity for me to shape the culture of street photography, and photography in general. Also notions of Minimalism, zen, taoism, stoicism, and philosophy and photography.

Therefore what I suggest to you is this: do not be a slave or a follower of the mainstream culture, but, you as an independent agent is the active one creating a new culture, or reshaping and reconfiguring the pre-existing culture.

Something I realized: in our basic human minds, we love the idea of a buffets. But in reality, buffets are not good. Why? For example, we like the idea of having unlimited options, but the downside of buffets are that most of the options are very mediocre.

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This is how and where philosophical thinking is very useful. Rather than how to do it, consider the deeper question —

What should it do?

What should social media or photography social media do? Or what should a car, clothes do?

How should a parent raise their kids, and what should a child become?

What should photographs or a blog do?

Optimize for you.

I must move! What is it that we biological human organisms desire? To move!

What is my passion in life? To move. To move myself, to move weight, to move ideas, to move products, and to move people.

In fact, when I think about it, the reason I hated my 95 job so much is that it restricted my movement. Being stuck in a cubicle preventing me from being out and about, walking. In fact, what I love the most about living in the city is my ability to walk around freely. To me the worst existence is to be stuck at home all day, regardless of how huge or nice my house might be. Or similarly speaking, to be forced to be stuck at the office all day.

To bet on crypto, Bitcoin etc is actually to bet for the demise of fiat currency. Thus when the traditional stock market is tanking, it is a very good sign for cryptocurrency.

A thought —

While everyone wants to create a billion dollar company, or a billion dollar brand, etc … perhaps we should go back to some old-school notions.

The original notion of this nomadic, world-witnessing photographer. A photographer whose life task is to witness as much of the world (planet earth), and photograph as much of human existence possible.

Beware who owns the platform. Even if he become the number one person in virtual reality, or the number one person on the oculus/meta-platform, you still don’t have full control. In theory, Facebook can just strip away all of your items, equipment, points, and virtual money. Who holds the keys?

Also another unrelated note: even if you’re the richest person in China, because there is no notion of individual freedom and liberty, it doesn’t really matter. Overnight the government could just take all of your stuff, belongings, wealth and money without you having any say.

Even though there are a lot of bad things about America, to me, the notion of individual liberty seems apex.

Many individuals think that the purpose of life is to maximize one’s pleasure. For example, maximizing your sexual pleasure, maximizing your aesthetic pleasure, maximizing your pleasure from possessions, things, food, and lifestyle.

But, pleasure for the sake of pleasure isn’t the goal. One of the very interesting ideas I got from the book Ready Player Two is thinking —

If you could indeed record your physiological state, and your pleasure, and have somebody else experience it, what is the purpose of pleasure in the first place?

I think pleasure is best described as a feeling of ascending power. For example, when you make money, get more money, or see your investments go up, there is a certain feeling of pleasure, which is good because it feels as if we are becoming more strong and powerful.

For myself, some of the greatest pleasure that I get is when I attempt a new one rep max, and I achieve a new personal record. And the funny thing is even if I fail my one reo max attempt, there is also a certain pleasure associated with me having the courage to attempt it in the first place. Also a sense of relief that after attempting a one rep max and even though I failed, I did not injure or hurt myself.

Also, there’s a certain pleasure from thinking, or obtaining interesting ideas. Perhaps the ideas themselves are totems of power, knowledge, and ascendance.

Ironically enough there is also a sense of pleasure associated with restraint, or abstinence. For example, when I see everybody else around me eating cake, and I decide to abstain, there is a certain pleasure that I have in knowing that I have this restraint, and self willpower, and also self knowledge knowing what food is bad for me. Also perhaps the feeling of pleasure from feeling superior.

What we desire is not pleasure in itself, but, the feeling of ascendancy, growth, and becoming stronger and more powerful.

Therefore, it is good that we humans can feel pleasure, but avoid getting suckered by the notion of pleasure for pleasure sake.

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If you have the option in life, do not opt for steady.

Photos from the life of Seneca, ERIC, and Cindy:

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It is man which sets values on things, and all beauty goes back to man. Ultimately, all value is deeped in the social, in relationship to one another, with man being the judge.

Therefore, the more that we could optimize and design around human beings, the better.

If you want motivation to make photos, just go on a hike. Or make photos at home, or go on a walk around your neighborhood.

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Anything you could invest in, which allows you to walk more in a given day is good.

Minimalist shoes, hiking, mobile lifestyle. Living in a downtown city area. The luxury of not owning a car, and being able to walk everywhere, and even walk to buy groceries.

In life, the best optimization to do is optimizing your lifestyle to walk more. The truly privileged person is the individual who can walk the most. Also, maybe it is better to brag about your daily step count, than your bank account or your possessions.

What is a Luxury, and what is not? Simple: everything is relative to another. What seems like a luxury today is because what we compared to the past. For example, fast and free Wi-Fi and high-speed Internet is a luxury, but we no longer consider it a luxury because it is so wide spread and ubiquitous.

Having clean tapwater is a luxury, especially after spending a lot of time in Mexico City. Yet nowadays, we take it for granted. Same goes with stable electricity and power, as I observed in Beirut Lebanon also, the luxury of having trash pickups.

One man’s luxury is another man’s normal.

Are you truly unique, or just a subtly different iteration of others around you?

The best way to become more unique is creative isolation. turning a blind eye to social media, current events, news, and the concerns and desires of others. Also, caring less for the well-being of others. Also, not wasting your breath to criticize or critique others, but also, not wasting your breath to praise or admire others. “Nihil admirari” (admire no one). Only admire yourself.

In life, vanity is good, but only if the vanity is deep. Shallow and superficial vanity is a detractor and a distraction.

For example, pride in one’s possessions is a very superficial form of vanity. A better source of vanity is the vanity you get from your artworks, your character, or your own personal innovations.

Pride in your physical strength is a good thing. Also pride in your personal courage.

Make it easy and simple. Why? Things which are more easy to use or do will be used more. Easy things have greater utility.

How do you make things easier? Make it simpler. Fewer options, make it more intuitive, and make it more automatic.

Also, better interoperability. The reason why I really like Coinbase as a platform for buying, selling and trading crypto is because it is so easy. It automatically linked to my bank accounts super easy, buying and selling is easy, albeit there is a fee. I see Coinbase as the new PayPal but for cryptocurrency.

Same goes with PayPal. The reason why I like to use PayPal for my workshops is it is so easy. Easy to accept payments, and send them. I think this is why people are like Venmo so much — it is the easiest way to send money to friends and family.

So when it comes to design matters, strive to make it easier and simpler. The easier the better.

For example, the best shoes are the ones easiest to take on and off.

With cameras, the best cameras are the ones in which it is super easy to take pictures.

No appliances. The best appliances are the ones that make it very easy to use. For example, the Nespresso machine is very easy. Or, the Ronco rotisserie chicken maker is just “set it and forget it.” Also nowadays, air fryers are becoming very popular because they are so easy to operate. I also like the ease of use of the instant pot, as well as the crockpot slow cooker.

In terms of food, I found the easiest to cook and eat are eggs. Why? They are relatively cheap, stay fresh in the fridge for a very long time, and are very easy to cook and clean up. More recently, I really like frozen burger patties, as they are very easy to cook, eat, and clean up. I don’t even need to defrost the frozen burger patties, I can throw them straight on the grill and cook them until they defrost. or you could just air fry the frozen burger patties, set it for about 12 minutes, and just return later and eat it. Set it and forget it is great for cooking.

With camera settings, P program mode is the easiest. And just use autofocus and auto ISO to keep things simple and easy.

The cult of “hard”

One thing I find very strange nowadays is this obsession with doing things which are hard and difficult. It seems that for a lot of people, they only pursue things which are hard, as a form of self flagellation. That their self worthiness is only dependent on how much pain they experience, and how much they suffer.

Also, people who pride themselves too much on doing things manually is also a shallow form of vanity. For example, a lot of photographers like to brag or show off that they do everything manually, but, what is the most important is the image you create. The technical settings do not matter.

There are also certain photographers like to brag how they process and develop their film and scan it all by themselves, as if using somebody else to do it is a form of “cheating” or less legitimate, or less worthy. Doing things which are easy is not cheating, it is smart.

Also avoid things which seem more “optimal“, or things which are more “minimal“, but less easy to use. Some of the worst design compromises are when people create new products which are smaller, more minimal, and seem more advanced, but which are actually much more difficult to use.

For example, the new iPhones. Are they easier to use, or more confusing and difficulties? I stay there are far more difficult to you, and therefore inferior.

Also, a lot of more expensive or luxury products are just simply easier to use. For example, the Uppababy baby car seat and stroller is seen as more expensive and luxury, but in fact, I think it is worth it because it is just so easy to use.

A Camera which lures a lot of photographers is the Leica M rangefinder camera. But it is not a good camera, as it is not easy to use. However, when you do set it to zone focus at f8-f16, use ISO 800-1600, and you could set it and forget it, it becomes very easy to use. Therefore, whenever possible, strive to use the simplest technique, approach, and settings possible.

Avoid complicated for the sake of complicated, and avoid complex for the sake of seeming more intelligent. Simpler and stronger words, and simpler and stronger arguments.

Once you got perfect, then what?

Our goal is we must go beyond perfection.

Then focus on just play? Having fun!

“Just have fun with it”

Also just don’t take things too seriously.

No more need or desire to optimize things. Rather, “unoptimal” is better and our new luxury.

Also, art. Art does not need to have a functional purpose, nor should it. The notion of perfect art is a non-concept. Thus, creating any art which delights us is our new luxury. also, the notion of perfect art is a non-concept. Thus, creating any art which delights us is our new luxury. Nonperfect art.

Also in praise of fashion. There is no such thing as a perfect person and it always goes in waves.

Not hunger but the desire to consume more is the motivator.

Once you’re perfectly satisfied, then what?

Or once you got everything perfect, then what?

Not “does the world need it”, but “do you need it”, or do I need it?

And if you care badly enough, be the one to make and create it.

Something that I am actually very personally curious about, in which I do really care for, is figuring out how that we could maximally thrive.

What does it mean to thrive? For us to have the maximum peak health and motivation, the maximum strength, the maximum uplifted mood, and energy, and the best gratitude towards life. And hopefully channel this great healthiness for your artistic, philosophical, and personal ends.

Some quick thoughts:

(more…)

What actually interests you, and why?

(more…)

A thought on my mind:

When it comes to finances, time, design, etc … how much buffer is enough buffer?

For example, with liquid cash (USD in your checking or savings account) — how much is enough?

For example, it seems wise to get to the airport early. People say get to the airport at least an hour early for domestic flights, at least 2 hours for international flights. But for myself, I add at least an hour of buffer for each — 2 hours early for domestic flights (even though I got TSA pre-check), and at least 3 hours for international flights (also, we don’t check in luggage or baggage — only carry on). And the upside is that I actually like hanging out at airports — so I am able to get the upside of both. But a big lesson:

When in doubt, spend extra money to *NOT* have to go on that early-morning flight.

I prefer flights in the afternoon, so I don’t need to sacrifice my sleep in order to get to the airport early.

Back to the financial buffer thing

A simple thought:

If you don’t think you got enough financial buffer, you probably don’t.

And also with finances, when in doubt, add more buffer. Because having additional cash lying around can be a very good thing, for example, when Bitcoin dips you can buy more at a discount.

Because black is so impractical.

We are always in motion, even when sleeping, resting or napping. Why? Our bodily chemicals are always moving. And our body actively is rebuilding while we sleep and rest. To sleep much is also a virtue in body building, muscle building, strength building.

What is death? When our bodies no longer move — either internally or externally. No more breathing.

Source—

Plato, Theaeet. 160d .
Homer, and Herakleitos, and the whole company which say that all things are in motion and in a state of flux. Cf. 152 D. H.
Plato Kratylos, 401d.According to Herakleitos all things are in motion and nothing abides.Cf. 402a, and frag. 41; also 412d, 440c.

1. For camera, RICOH GR III.
2. For laptop, maxed out MacBook Air space grey
3. For phone, the newest iPhone Mini
4. For mirrorless strap, HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV in PHANTOM BLACK. For Ricoh GR, ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II.
5. For wallet, ERIC KIM WALLET

After much experimentation, I think I’ve discovered the perfect outfit:

1. For T-shirt, black merino wool Outlier.nyc shirt model 1.
2. For shoes, all black Nike free 5.0. No socks.
3. For leggings, black Uniqlo heattech leggings. For shorts, black Uniqlo ultra stretch athletic shorts.
4. For boxers, ex officio black boxer briefs.
5. For glasses, Lindberg. Titanium for maximum lightness. In black.
6. No watch. Neither Kanye West nor Elon musk wears a watch. In an interview Elon Musk said he doesn’t wear a watch, if he needs to check the time he just checks his phone. Apple Watch, no matter the model is bad because it will become outdated, and you need to charge it. If you do really really want to watch for aesthetics, just get a Rolex.

All clothes in size medium.

Better to produce your own adrenaline internally, then getting it secondhand or elsewhere.

For example, in the world in which we got porn, and even virtual reality porn, POV porn, etc., what is the purpose of pursuing women in real life? I say it is a matter of hormone secretion, receiving the hormone signals from the woman, and the difficulty in drama between you and the woman. Because if you are watching videos or images of a woman on a computer, and it is all already pre-recorded, there is actually no interaction between you and the woman. Whereas in real life, if you try to stare or make eye contact with a beautiful woman, there is the risk that she will notice you doing so.

I think this is the real joy of “pick up artists, etc — The joy of the difficulty in challenge of charming a woman and exercising ones personal charm and prowess, rather than the actual sexual act. Imagine an alternative approach in which the goal wasn’t actually to bed somebody, but, the joy of just the social interaction.

Passive versus active adrenaline

I always thought it to be a bit bizarre how so many people are into sports. But this is what I’ve realized: The reason why people love sports so much is that you put yourself in the shoes of the athlete, and you think you are the athlete, dominating the competition.

And when we witness this, we get a huge boost of adrenaline, and uplifting hormones, which we get secondhand from watching the athlete.

But, this is all passive. Isn’t it better for you to just play the sport yourself?