Life

I had this idea to create a running log of problems in life whenever I encounter some kind of problem, and maybe to come back to it and edit it if some problem is solved, and to think about whatever growing list of problems that get listed

(And to seed this list to get started)

I remember once thinking about managing this like a "bug tracker" or listing "issues" like on github, with discussions about them, and then "closing" the issue if it gets solved in some way

Has anyone approached problem solving like this or does anyone have related approaches?

After writing for as long as you could remember, you might have thought you knew everything there is to know about punctuation but here we gathered a list of uncommon punctuation marks which go beyond the period, comma, and dashes. This list includes everything from the interrobang to the question comma.

A Zettelkasten is a personal tool for thinking and writing. It has hypertextual features to make a web of thoughts possible. The difference to other systems is that you create a web of thoughts instead of notes of arbitrary size and form, and emphasize connection, not a collection.

Just stumbled upon this, I probably won't use it because I have my own system, but I thought it was something interesting for maybe someone else or discussion, or that I might find some things in it I like that I could adapt

This came up on "dopamine fasting" suggestions or like a kind of asceticism

The idea is that color on screens contributes to creating overwhelming stimulation, so you can put "grayscale mode" on, on your computer, to make it only show black, white, and gray, which is less stimulating to your brain

I've done this for a while before and got used to it, and then quit it and didn't notice much of a difference

Trying it now, it does feel different, and I might like to do it pediodically

Anyone tried "grayscale mode" and had thoughts on it?

Linux Grayscale: Depends on Distro I think (Gnome has a "Bedtime Mode" Extension - https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/4012/gnome-bedtime/)

Mac Grayscale: https://9to5mac.com/2019/05/27/how-to-use-grayscale-on-your-mac/

Windows Grayscale: https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-enable-grayscale-mode-windows-10

Has anyone thought about these concepts before?

Definitions

I tried reading about it but got a little confused as to what the author was getting at (in various secondhand accounts) but I guess a distinction I landed on was that there are some specific finite tasks that are done once or a handful of times (like cleaning something today), versus recurring "infinite" tasks that will be done over and over (say, that same cleaning task is done daily or weekly, or that cleaning task was a one-off task while there are cleaning tasks you might do daily or weekly)

Preventing "Failure" With Infinite Tasks

I've found this to be somewhat helpful to remember as you can feel like a "failure" unwittingly attempting "infinite" tasks, where there is no one final state of "winning" (when we think back to the analogy of an "infinite game"). Or, you need to break those up in to "finite" games - say if you are doing some kind of chess puzzles, you can really do them over and over again indefinitely with new puzzles, but maybe a "finite" framing of those might be to do 10 or 100 puzzles.

Thoughts on Finite and Infinite "Games" or Tasks?

For humans, echolocation is a good alternative to vision, though it does have drawbacks. It’s much easier to hear echoes bouncing off head-height objects than ground-height objects. It’s more difficult in some conditions than others; the noise of rain or traffic or the muffling effect of snow will all make it harder. Unlike vision, you’re not getting a constant stream of information but something more like a series of snapshots. Though precision of echolocation varies from person to person, it has a far lower precision limit than vision because sound has longer wavelengths than light – so it's like looking at something out of the corner of your eye rather than focusing on it directly. And, until very recently, there’s been no training available, so most people have had to teach themselves or learn informally from someone else.

Well, to me it's that time of year where it's about time to start thinking about how the year (2024) went, and about what to do in the next year (2025).

Does anyone have a process for this?

Anything they want to discuss about the good and bad of this year, and what they want to do next year?

(This is my basic format, identify good / bad, and what's up for next year, in each area of life...)

Yes there's still a month and a half left and a bunch of things can happen within that, but I like to get the process rolling a bit early and to just add to it within the next 6 weeks if anything major changes...

Thoughts on 2024 / 2025?

Kill 2023. Behead 2023. Roundhouse kick 2023 into the concrete. Slam dunk December into the trashcan. Crucify filthy 2023. Launch 2023 into the sun. Stir fry 2023 in a wok. Toss 2023 into an active volcano. Judo throw 2023 into a wood chipper. Karate chop 2023 in half. Trap 2023 in quicksand. Crush 2023 in the trash compactor. Liquefy 2023 in a vat of acid. Eat 2023. Dissect 2023. Exterminate 2023 in the gas chamber. Cremate 2023 in the oven. Lobotomise 2023. Slice 2023 with a katana.

I’m not sure if I’m coming down with a cold or what but damn I just want to go back to bed.