(Originally posted on Tuesday, 7 August 2018)
“The act of creation saves us from despair” is a phrase that is similar to what is running in my head: “work ennobles you and make you happy”. It all comes down to the fact that no matter how bad you feel any useful thing you do makes you feel a little better. The problem is that really depressed people don’t want to do anything, having trouble supplying their most basic needs, which makes them even more unhappy. A vicious cycle.
By work I mean any work – also a job. Any job is useful on its own, because it gives you a way to earn money to pay bills for services and goods necessary for you and/or your family. But there are many other things that are useful for you and/or your family that are free, but require your own work. Pretty obvious? Well, it turns out it is not.
Why so many people work very hard, but are not happy? Because they don’t “avoid the casual litter” – they do/buy things that are not really necessary, hence wasting their time/money, which results in them having too little time/money for things that are really necessary, which makes them feel unhappy anyway. Whenever there is a thing that you have to do (sooner or later) it feels more or less like a dark cloud hanging above you and in such case it is impossible to be truly happy. The really necessary things are not so numerous after all and there should be enough time to “look up to the skies” and/or “celebrate the boredom”.
The phrase “any useful thing” reminds me of a phrase “any simple act of kindness” that I have heard here (well worth watching):
There is a topic that I wanted to describe in another post, but the more I think about it the more I believe that it is connected with work and happiness – the lack of sleep. Obviously when we are sleepy then we can’t concentrate as much as when we are well rested and our work suffers and so does our overall happiness. But why do people sleep less and less?
One reason is obvious – partying. Some people, especially some young adults, want to have lots of fun and they try to “live their lives to the fullest”. Let me just say that I am sure that partying is NOT a way to become truly happy and that narcotics and alcohol are in fact poisons (they can kill you quite easily) that cost ridiculous amounts of money. Paying big money for poisons that harm your body? Isn’t that stupid? The same goes for cigarettes. Imagine that you are in a building that is on fire – you would surely cover your mouth and/or stay very low to avoid inhaling smoke, right? But cigarette smokers inhale smoke voluntarily! Ridiculous.
But what about people who don’t go partying but sleep too little anyway? It seems that even children sleep less and less nowadays, which is VERY bad. The simple answer, or more precisely the too simple an answer, would be: “because on the Internet there are many interesting things to do/see/read about”. Sure all the people are curious about the world by nature, yet there are some things about our own body that nobody really understands in full.
One of the most interesting parts of our body is the pineal gland that is hidden in the middle of our brain. It regulates our circadian (24-hour) rhythm by releasing melatonin – a hormone that modulates our sleep. I’ve read that “the proper functioning of the pineal gland keeps people focused, happy, awake in the day and asleep at night, and prevents neuro-degeneration as people age.” The problem is that modern technologies (screens that release light on their own – screens that can be seen in the dark) make the pineal gland release less melatonin than it should. It explains why so many people, including children, have trouble falling asleep at a proper hour. It seems that the worst effects are caused by computers and smart-phones that are very closed to the eyes and lesser effects are caused by relatively small TV screens that are significantly farther away from the eyes.
But there is also an additional catch. Concentration. What we see on computers and smart-phones is usually much different from what we see on the TV. Reading a text or watching small details from a close distance requires much more concentration than watching a normal movie from afar. Humans can stay concentrated this way (on small details) very long, but at the cost of their sleep.
What about colours? Have you noticed that most Internet pages and most programs use a white background and dark letters? You could say: “So what? It's like a page in a printed book”. Well it is NOT like that at all. A white page in a printed book can't be seen in the darkness – it doesn't glow on its own. You have to lit it with a lamp and then SOME of the light rays reflect from the page and only then your eyes can see it. On the other hand a white computer/smart-phone screen throws much more light DIRECTLY at your eyes AND this light is also a different kind of light than the light coming from a normal lamp. So watching a screen is definitely NOT the same as looking at a page in a printed book.
Now compare how many times you have fallen asleep while: sitting in front of a computer, using a smartphone, watching TV or reading a normal (printed) book. I bet there are big differences in these numbers.
From my own experience I can say that sitting at the computer very long into the night feels like being under a kind of hypnosis – doing or watching things that are not good for me, even though I know I should go to sleep instead. Good and long sleep is much more important than most people think. Unfortunately modern technologies seem to interfere with the amount of our sleep and make us less healthy and less happy in the long run.
PS. There is a rule that I strictly adhere to – when it is dark outside and I watch the TV or use a computer or even read a normal (printed) book I always have the main lamp (the main source of light) lit above me (under the ceiling). The thing is that your eyes should not look at a brightly lit object, even at a page in a printed book, when everything around it is much darker – your eyes get much more “tired” this way, which over time can ruin your eyesight.
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Friday, 16 January 2015
The strangest dead ends in evolution
(Originally posted on Saturday, 11 August 2018)
“Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.” What is the key word? Generations. Without new generations there would be no evolution of a particular species (for example of the humankind) because the species would simply die out.
Any human being who does not have children on purpose or who purposefully kills (also aborts) his (or her) own children is one of the strangest dead ends in evolution. That person's genes will simply vanish from the whole gene pool because of his (or her) own conscious decision. It's like genes' suicide.
Normal people (normal from the point of view of evolution) care about their own children as well as they can, because it maximises the chances that their genes will be passed from their children to the following generation. They do it subconsciously – it simply feels natural. The same way normal people don't harm their own children because that would be unnatural. Rightfully so. Any harm to a child means that there is a bigger risk that the harmed child in the future will NOT want to reproduce or will decide to kill (also abort) his (or her) own children or will develop a sexual behaviour that will make having children impossible. Or a combination of these things.
I think that every society should protect their young generation from any danger that may lead to the strangest dead ends in evolution. To be precise: by danger I don't mean religions that defend the normal model of a family – normal from the point of view of evolution!
Unfortunately in our crazy world it becomes more and more difficult to protect young generation from misguided opinions about what is normal and what is not. The real future of the humankind (people who have children and care about them as well as they can) have to constantly defend their right to raise their own children the way they think is adequate.
“Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.” What is the key word? Generations. Without new generations there would be no evolution of a particular species (for example of the humankind) because the species would simply die out.
Any human being who does not have children on purpose or who purposefully kills (also aborts) his (or her) own children is one of the strangest dead ends in evolution. That person's genes will simply vanish from the whole gene pool because of his (or her) own conscious decision. It's like genes' suicide.
Normal people (normal from the point of view of evolution) care about their own children as well as they can, because it maximises the chances that their genes will be passed from their children to the following generation. They do it subconsciously – it simply feels natural. The same way normal people don't harm their own children because that would be unnatural. Rightfully so. Any harm to a child means that there is a bigger risk that the harmed child in the future will NOT want to reproduce or will decide to kill (also abort) his (or her) own children or will develop a sexual behaviour that will make having children impossible. Or a combination of these things.
I think that every society should protect their young generation from any danger that may lead to the strangest dead ends in evolution. To be precise: by danger I don't mean religions that defend the normal model of a family – normal from the point of view of evolution!
Unfortunately in our crazy world it becomes more and more difficult to protect young generation from misguided opinions about what is normal and what is not. The real future of the humankind (people who have children and care about them as well as they can) have to constantly defend their right to raise their own children the way they think is adequate.
Thursday, 15 January 2015
Grand Prix 4 (2002) – awesome racing game
(Originally posted on Saturday, 17 April 2021)
I play Grand Prix 4 (2002) to have fun, so I want to be able to overtake even the best drivers, but I still don't want to dominate the championship – this is why I play on a low difficulty setting, but start from the last position and drive races at minimum length (10%). The AI drivers behave VERY realistic, but at the very start of a race it's very easy to overtake lots of them. If there is a contact with another car in front of me I slow down not to gain any unfair advantage because of the contact. I try to drive naturally (not like a madman), but if I am involved in a big “incident” (with or without my fault) I restart the race from the very first lap. Please notice that I play this awesome game with a keyboard!
I use 1 of my 4 universal setups: “slow”, “medium”, “fast” and “max”. The have different settings for wing adjustments and gear ratios, so they have different maximum speeds, but they all have the same “advanced” settings (all the other settings are default):
springs: front 1500 back 1200
ride height: front 33.0 back 53.0
packers: front 25 back 35
My CURRENT wings adjustments:
slow: front 18 rear 16
medium: front 14 rear 12
fast: front 10 rear 8
max: front 3 rear 1
In the gameplay movies below I used slightly different wings adjustments, but my car was quite unstable in SOME of the corners:
slow: front 20 rear 16
medium: front 16 rear 12
fast: front 12 rear 8
max: front 5 rear 1
I experimented a little and I must say that my car was definitely BETTER with front 18 and rear 16 than with front 20 and rear 16, even though theoretically there was less down-force at the front! For example on the Hungaroring circuit I felt MUCH better with front 18 and rear 16 than with front 20 and rear 16!
Gear rations:
slow: 24 31 38 44 50 55 60
medium: 24 31 38 45 51 56 61
fast: 24 31 38 45 51 57 62
max: 27 34 41 48 55 61 66
Race 1 – Australia – Melbourne (setup: slow)
I finished at the 6th place.
Race 2 – Malaysia – Sepang (setup: medium)
I finished at the 2nd place.
Race 3 – Brazil – Interlagos (setup: fast)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 4 – San Marino – Imola (setup: medium)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 5 – Spain – Barcelona (setup: medium)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 6 – Austria – A1-ring (setup: medium)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 7 – Monaco – Monte-Carlo (setup: slow)
I didn't finish the race because I hit a car in front of me, ending his race, so I ended my race too. I hate this circuit because there are hardly any places good for overtaking.
Race 8 – Canada – Montreal (setup: fast)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 9 – Europe – Nurburgring (setup: medium)
I finished at the 2nd place.
Race 10 – France – Magny-Cours (setup: slow)
I finished at the 9th place. I hate this circuit because there are hardly any places good for overtaking. Even the AI opponents don't make any defending manoeuvres because in most cases there is just ONE driving line!
Race 11 – Great Britain – Silverstone (setup: medium)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 12 – Germany – Hockenheim (setup: max)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 13 – Hungary – Hungaroring (setup: slow)
I finished at the 7th place. I hate this circuit because there are hardly any places good for overtaking. Even the AI opponents don't make any defending manoeuvres because in most cases there is just ONE driving line!
Race 14 – Belgium – Spa-Francorchamps (setup: fast)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 15 – Italy – Monza (setup: max)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 16 – United States – Indianapolis (setup: fast)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 17 – Japan – Suzuka (setup: medium)
I finished at the 7th place. This was the only race where I used the better wings settings (medium: front 14 rear 12). It was definitely better than my previous setup on this circuit (slow: front 20 rear 16) that I used in desperation – I was not able to make good enough times with my old medium setup (front 16 rear 12) because my car was unstable in some of the crucial corners.
I finished the championship at the 2nd place!
And my team was 3rd in the constructor championship!
I play Grand Prix 4 (2002) to have fun, so I want to be able to overtake even the best drivers, but I still don't want to dominate the championship – this is why I play on a low difficulty setting, but start from the last position and drive races at minimum length (10%). The AI drivers behave VERY realistic, but at the very start of a race it's very easy to overtake lots of them. If there is a contact with another car in front of me I slow down not to gain any unfair advantage because of the contact. I try to drive naturally (not like a madman), but if I am involved in a big “incident” (with or without my fault) I restart the race from the very first lap. Please notice that I play this awesome game with a keyboard!
I use 1 of my 4 universal setups: “slow”, “medium”, “fast” and “max”. The have different settings for wing adjustments and gear ratios, so they have different maximum speeds, but they all have the same “advanced” settings (all the other settings are default):
springs: front 1500 back 1200
ride height: front 33.0 back 53.0
packers: front 25 back 35
My CURRENT wings adjustments:
slow: front 18 rear 16
medium: front 14 rear 12
fast: front 10 rear 8
max: front 3 rear 1
In the gameplay movies below I used slightly different wings adjustments, but my car was quite unstable in SOME of the corners:
slow: front 20 rear 16
medium: front 16 rear 12
fast: front 12 rear 8
max: front 5 rear 1
I experimented a little and I must say that my car was definitely BETTER with front 18 and rear 16 than with front 20 and rear 16, even though theoretically there was less down-force at the front! For example on the Hungaroring circuit I felt MUCH better with front 18 and rear 16 than with front 20 and rear 16!
Gear rations:
slow: 24 31 38 44 50 55 60
medium: 24 31 38 45 51 56 61
fast: 24 31 38 45 51 57 62
max: 27 34 41 48 55 61 66
Race 1 – Australia – Melbourne (setup: slow)
I finished at the 6th place.
Race 2 – Malaysia – Sepang (setup: medium)
I finished at the 2nd place.
Race 3 – Brazil – Interlagos (setup: fast)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 4 – San Marino – Imola (setup: medium)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 5 – Spain – Barcelona (setup: medium)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 6 – Austria – A1-ring (setup: medium)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 7 – Monaco – Monte-Carlo (setup: slow)
I didn't finish the race because I hit a car in front of me, ending his race, so I ended my race too. I hate this circuit because there are hardly any places good for overtaking.
Race 8 – Canada – Montreal (setup: fast)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 9 – Europe – Nurburgring (setup: medium)
I finished at the 2nd place.
Race 10 – France – Magny-Cours (setup: slow)
I finished at the 9th place. I hate this circuit because there are hardly any places good for overtaking. Even the AI opponents don't make any defending manoeuvres because in most cases there is just ONE driving line!
Race 11 – Great Britain – Silverstone (setup: medium)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 12 – Germany – Hockenheim (setup: max)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 13 – Hungary – Hungaroring (setup: slow)
I finished at the 7th place. I hate this circuit because there are hardly any places good for overtaking. Even the AI opponents don't make any defending manoeuvres because in most cases there is just ONE driving line!
Race 14 – Belgium – Spa-Francorchamps (setup: fast)
I finished at the 3rd place.
Race 15 – Italy – Monza (setup: max)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 16 – United States – Indianapolis (setup: fast)
I finished at the 1st place.
Race 17 – Japan – Suzuka (setup: medium)
I finished at the 7th place. This was the only race where I used the better wings settings (medium: front 14 rear 12). It was definitely better than my previous setup on this circuit (slow: front 20 rear 16) that I used in desperation – I was not able to make good enough times with my old medium setup (front 16 rear 12) because my car was unstable in some of the crucial corners.
I finished the championship at the 2nd place!
And my team was 3rd in the constructor championship!
Difference between an unborn baby and a newborn baby
(Originally posted on Sunday, 27 January 2019)
The ONLY difference between an unborn baby and a newborn baby is the way it gets food and oxygen. Please, always remember that in both cases the baby and the mother are two different living organisms with two different sets of genes. A birth doesn't change ANYTHING in this regard. Please, remember also that a newborn baby will die without any help, just like an unborn baby taken out of its mother's womb.
How would you call a situation where someone purposefully ends the life of a living human organism that is totally innocent? I would call it a murder. However, some of such cases can't be called a murder because they are legal. Yes, I am talking about abortion. If it's not a murder (because it's legal) then how the hell should I call it? It's not a freaking “procedure”, because there are two different living organisms, not one patient. There is no way I can righteously describe legal abortion.
No wonder that many doctors strongly refuse to carry out abortions even when it is harmful to their careers. Kudos to them! In most cases it has nothing to do with faith or religion, but simply with respecting the survival instinct of any living organism. Many doctors don't like to “interfere” against such a basic thing.
We (me and my wife) have two children: a daughter and a son. In both cases we didn't want any prenatal diagnostic tests to be run on our children. For two different reasons. First reason was the fact that the more advanced prenatal diagnostic tests are in fact invasive and there is a risk that the child may be harmed by these tests alone. We didn't want to take ANY risk. The second reason was that even if the results were very bad we would not be able to have our child killed, even legally.
Interestingly our son did have a congenital malformation, but it did not make us regret our decision. On the contrary – it only made us focus on truly important things and to disconnected somewhat from this stupid and empty materialistic world. Sure we need money to buy necessary things, but the word “necessary” has got a whole different meaning.
We learned that there is something wrong with our son in the middle of the pregnancy. My wife's gynaecologist couldn't get a steady heartbeat of our son, but she didn't tell us about it and instead she sent us for a consultation to another gynaecologist. I had a very important day at my work, so my wife went there alone. We thought it was just a normal consultation, but when I got back from work my wife was all in tears. Basically the other doctor told her that the heartbeat of our son was clearly irregular, that he had congenital malformation (cleft mouth) and that there may be other defects. He even said that our son may not live long enough to be born.
That was truly devastating, but we stayed true to our decision and were ready to care about our son as well as we could, if he would survive. We are both religious, so obviously we prayed. When my wife's female colleagues at her work learned about our situation they started praying too, even if they were not going to church regularly. And it worked, I believe.
After one horrifyingly long week we drove to another city to get another consultation. The mouth malformation was semi-confirmed (the doctor couldn't get a totally clear view because our son put his both fists in front of his mouth, as if he knew we were watching), but his heartbeat was totally steady. The doctor took many measurements of our son's body and analysed them toward Down syndrome and things like that. He said that everything seemed to be perfectly normal, except for the mouth.
Until our son's birth we hadn't known how much his mouth would be cleaved AND if there would be also cleft palate. Thankfully the palate was only marginally cleaved, but his appearance was not good anyway. The bright side was the fact that he was able to eat directly from my wife's breasts, which was a surprise even to the nurses in the hospital.
Because of our son's congenital malformation the doctors in the hospital run a series of additional tests and didn't find anything worrying. In fact our son's general state was so good that he and my wife were released from the hospital right after 48 hours after the birth (the absolutely minimal time that they had to be there).
Our daughter was so worried about her brother's mouth that she was not even jealous about him (she is almost 5 years and 5 months older than he). Everybody was very supportive, but the only thing we could do was just wait for a surgery. We picked a hospital that specialises in such cases and they told us that we have to wait almost 5 months. Another long waiting period, as long as during the pregnancy.
I took the first picture below several days before the surgery. Our son made a strange look because he was concentrated on the camera I was taking the picture with (you can actually see his left arm reaching for the camera).
The surgery took place 5 month after our son's birth (almost to the day). The surgeons did a great job and our son's lips look stunning. I took the second picture over a month after the surgery. I managed to take it while he was smiling after my wife amused him. Click to enlarge!
The scar is not in a straight line on purpose. The doctor explained to us that a straight scar would cause strains that could slightly deform our son's lips over time. Our son is almost 4 years old and his lips look still very good. Here's a great picture of him (taken by my wife) when he was 3 and a half years old. Click to enlarge!
Well, a mouth is not only lips. Our son's gums look not as good, some of his teeth are a little twisted and one teeth is almost completely missing, but orthodontists say they will fix everything when he will be older. Here's a picture of him while he is smiling broadly.
He smiles a LOT. And he has a great sense of humour. We can't imagine a situation where he was not born. Here's a short film showing how fun our life has been with him (he was 2 and a half years old then).
SUMMING UP:
I like the world we live in because nowadays doctors can significantly help people who have health problems, NOT because they know how to carry out an abortion (or a euthanasia). Doctors should be only for helping living organisms, NOT for killing them.
The ONLY difference between an unborn baby and a newborn baby is the way it gets food and oxygen. Please, always remember that in both cases the baby and the mother are two different living organisms with two different sets of genes. A birth doesn't change ANYTHING in this regard. Please, remember also that a newborn baby will die without any help, just like an unborn baby taken out of its mother's womb.
How would you call a situation where someone purposefully ends the life of a living human organism that is totally innocent? I would call it a murder. However, some of such cases can't be called a murder because they are legal. Yes, I am talking about abortion. If it's not a murder (because it's legal) then how the hell should I call it? It's not a freaking “procedure”, because there are two different living organisms, not one patient. There is no way I can righteously describe legal abortion.
No wonder that many doctors strongly refuse to carry out abortions even when it is harmful to their careers. Kudos to them! In most cases it has nothing to do with faith or religion, but simply with respecting the survival instinct of any living organism. Many doctors don't like to “interfere” against such a basic thing.
We (me and my wife) have two children: a daughter and a son. In both cases we didn't want any prenatal diagnostic tests to be run on our children. For two different reasons. First reason was the fact that the more advanced prenatal diagnostic tests are in fact invasive and there is a risk that the child may be harmed by these tests alone. We didn't want to take ANY risk. The second reason was that even if the results were very bad we would not be able to have our child killed, even legally.
Interestingly our son did have a congenital malformation, but it did not make us regret our decision. On the contrary – it only made us focus on truly important things and to disconnected somewhat from this stupid and empty materialistic world. Sure we need money to buy necessary things, but the word “necessary” has got a whole different meaning.
We learned that there is something wrong with our son in the middle of the pregnancy. My wife's gynaecologist couldn't get a steady heartbeat of our son, but she didn't tell us about it and instead she sent us for a consultation to another gynaecologist. I had a very important day at my work, so my wife went there alone. We thought it was just a normal consultation, but when I got back from work my wife was all in tears. Basically the other doctor told her that the heartbeat of our son was clearly irregular, that he had congenital malformation (cleft mouth) and that there may be other defects. He even said that our son may not live long enough to be born.
That was truly devastating, but we stayed true to our decision and were ready to care about our son as well as we could, if he would survive. We are both religious, so obviously we prayed. When my wife's female colleagues at her work learned about our situation they started praying too, even if they were not going to church regularly. And it worked, I believe.
After one horrifyingly long week we drove to another city to get another consultation. The mouth malformation was semi-confirmed (the doctor couldn't get a totally clear view because our son put his both fists in front of his mouth, as if he knew we were watching), but his heartbeat was totally steady. The doctor took many measurements of our son's body and analysed them toward Down syndrome and things like that. He said that everything seemed to be perfectly normal, except for the mouth.
Until our son's birth we hadn't known how much his mouth would be cleaved AND if there would be also cleft palate. Thankfully the palate was only marginally cleaved, but his appearance was not good anyway. The bright side was the fact that he was able to eat directly from my wife's breasts, which was a surprise even to the nurses in the hospital.
Because of our son's congenital malformation the doctors in the hospital run a series of additional tests and didn't find anything worrying. In fact our son's general state was so good that he and my wife were released from the hospital right after 48 hours after the birth (the absolutely minimal time that they had to be there).
Our daughter was so worried about her brother's mouth that she was not even jealous about him (she is almost 5 years and 5 months older than he). Everybody was very supportive, but the only thing we could do was just wait for a surgery. We picked a hospital that specialises in such cases and they told us that we have to wait almost 5 months. Another long waiting period, as long as during the pregnancy.
I took the first picture below several days before the surgery. Our son made a strange look because he was concentrated on the camera I was taking the picture with (you can actually see his left arm reaching for the camera).
The surgery took place 5 month after our son's birth (almost to the day). The surgeons did a great job and our son's lips look stunning. I took the second picture over a month after the surgery. I managed to take it while he was smiling after my wife amused him. Click to enlarge!
The scar is not in a straight line on purpose. The doctor explained to us that a straight scar would cause strains that could slightly deform our son's lips over time. Our son is almost 4 years old and his lips look still very good. Here's a great picture of him (taken by my wife) when he was 3 and a half years old. Click to enlarge!
Well, a mouth is not only lips. Our son's gums look not as good, some of his teeth are a little twisted and one teeth is almost completely missing, but orthodontists say they will fix everything when he will be older. Here's a picture of him while he is smiling broadly.
He smiles a LOT. And he has a great sense of humour. We can't imagine a situation where he was not born. Here's a short film showing how fun our life has been with him (he was 2 and a half years old then).
SUMMING UP:
I like the world we live in because nowadays doctors can significantly help people who have health problems, NOT because they know how to carry out an abortion (or a euthanasia). Doctors should be only for helping living organisms, NOT for killing them.
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Religious fanatics
(Originally posted on Sunday, 2 December 2018)
I am a religious person (Latin/Roman Catholic), but it bothers me when some people (from ANY religion) say that “their God” is the “true One”. There is only one God, by definition. For every person and for every religion. I believe in God who loves all good people, not only good people from a particular religion.
Yes, different religions “define” God in different ways, but at the same time they point out that we can't really understand the true nature of God. In my religion it's the true nature of the Trinity that cannot be understood. I have no trouble with that at all, but it also makes me realize that people from other religions, as well as atheists, can have their doubts concerning my religion.
What really matters, however, is the fact that in ANY religion there are people who seem to blessed and who are universally seen as “living saints”. Unfortunately in every religion there are also people who are fanatics. The number of fanatics and their inclination to violence is different in every religion, but it only really means that some religions can be used for political goals more easily than others. Nothing more.
In every religion the most important thing is the belief that the spiritual world really exist and the good part of that world (God) tries to help us. The thing is that we still have our free will and this is why some of our deeds are not really good (to say the least). It also explains why some good people suffer greatly from deeds done by other people (other people have their own free will too).
I believe that there is also the evil part of the spiritual world (demons?) that tries to make us do things that are more or less bad for us or for other people. Or both. It explains why some good people from time to time do bad things or have some very strange thoughts/fantasies that even they can’t explain. Or why some good people turn into bad people over time.
I myself sometimes feel as if I were being torn – on one hand I know/feel what is good for me (long sleep, healthy food and some physical exercises) and what I should do (my everyday duties), but on the other hand I can’t help myself and I do other things (spending too much time playing computer games or browsing the Internet). Moreover I sometimes react so nervously and/or so out of place that I don’t even recognize myself. Freakishly disturbing feeling.
Many people can't understand why the world is not perfect, forgetting that the reason for that is our free will. However there is also a kind of good side to this fact. A person can be judged properly only in an environment that is NOT perfect. If we were living in a perfect world then there would be no way of judging us by our decisions made in difficult circumstances, because there would be no such circumstances at all.
I will never believe that God likes when people hurt (or even kill) other people in God’s name and this is why I believe that a truly religious person (a person who listens to the good side of the spiritual world) will never interpret his (or her) Holy Book in a way that allows such things.
By the way, please notice that punishing people for their crimes is not done in God’s name, but in the name of the law. God wants us to forgive our oppressors, but it does NOT mean that God is against any punishments. Without appropriate punishments the world would be a very bad place indeed. At the same time we should not allow punishments for PURELY religious reasons. The crucial word is “purely”. When arguing about things like abortion a religion is only a side-issue that is used to divert the attention from the most important issue – the well being of the unborn baby. The interest of the parents of the baby is only one side of the story and we shouldn't ignore the other side! Please notice that the baby and the mother are two different organisms with two different sets of genes!
In most cases religions help people handle their own weaknesses as well as difficult situations caused by other people. Unfortunately religions have always been used by politicians who are quite often very far from God. They steer some weak pseudo-religious people into doing evil things apparently in God’s name, but in fact they do it in the name of their own political and/or personal gains. Sometimes they use the mass media to steer the whole societies and/or religions into waging wars against each other. That’s pure evil.
One of the most important people who advocated for the respect and peace between religions was John Paul II and I must admit that the longer I live the more I think he was a truly unique person. Of course he was criticized by some of the Catholics for some of his symbolic gestures, but a person who is truly religious should understand his intentions easily.
Now let me give you my own explanation of the fact that we can’t even “detect” God. Obviously it's a huge simplification, but I use it just to show you my own feelings about this topic. Imagine a 2-dimensional person “living” on a page of paper. Can he (or she) see the third dimension or detect it in any other way? No – his eyes and his tools are 2-dimensional and it is impossible for him to see nor detect higher dimension, by definition. However, he can see the results of some things done in higher dimension, for example he could see an item drawn on his page of paper by a 3-dimensional pencil. For him it would be a miracle, but for a “3-dimensional god” it would be a piece of cake. Except maybe that the “3-dimensional god” would have to know how to actually draw the item using the 3-dimensional pencil.
I am a religious person (Latin/Roman Catholic), but it bothers me when some people (from ANY religion) say that “their God” is the “true One”. There is only one God, by definition. For every person and for every religion. I believe in God who loves all good people, not only good people from a particular religion.
Yes, different religions “define” God in different ways, but at the same time they point out that we can't really understand the true nature of God. In my religion it's the true nature of the Trinity that cannot be understood. I have no trouble with that at all, but it also makes me realize that people from other religions, as well as atheists, can have their doubts concerning my religion.
What really matters, however, is the fact that in ANY religion there are people who seem to blessed and who are universally seen as “living saints”. Unfortunately in every religion there are also people who are fanatics. The number of fanatics and their inclination to violence is different in every religion, but it only really means that some religions can be used for political goals more easily than others. Nothing more.
In every religion the most important thing is the belief that the spiritual world really exist and the good part of that world (God) tries to help us. The thing is that we still have our free will and this is why some of our deeds are not really good (to say the least). It also explains why some good people suffer greatly from deeds done by other people (other people have their own free will too).
I believe that there is also the evil part of the spiritual world (demons?) that tries to make us do things that are more or less bad for us or for other people. Or both. It explains why some good people from time to time do bad things or have some very strange thoughts/fantasies that even they can’t explain. Or why some good people turn into bad people over time.
I myself sometimes feel as if I were being torn – on one hand I know/feel what is good for me (long sleep, healthy food and some physical exercises) and what I should do (my everyday duties), but on the other hand I can’t help myself and I do other things (spending too much time playing computer games or browsing the Internet). Moreover I sometimes react so nervously and/or so out of place that I don’t even recognize myself. Freakishly disturbing feeling.
Many people can't understand why the world is not perfect, forgetting that the reason for that is our free will. However there is also a kind of good side to this fact. A person can be judged properly only in an environment that is NOT perfect. If we were living in a perfect world then there would be no way of judging us by our decisions made in difficult circumstances, because there would be no such circumstances at all.
I will never believe that God likes when people hurt (or even kill) other people in God’s name and this is why I believe that a truly religious person (a person who listens to the good side of the spiritual world) will never interpret his (or her) Holy Book in a way that allows such things.
By the way, please notice that punishing people for their crimes is not done in God’s name, but in the name of the law. God wants us to forgive our oppressors, but it does NOT mean that God is against any punishments. Without appropriate punishments the world would be a very bad place indeed. At the same time we should not allow punishments for PURELY religious reasons. The crucial word is “purely”. When arguing about things like abortion a religion is only a side-issue that is used to divert the attention from the most important issue – the well being of the unborn baby. The interest of the parents of the baby is only one side of the story and we shouldn't ignore the other side! Please notice that the baby and the mother are two different organisms with two different sets of genes!
In most cases religions help people handle their own weaknesses as well as difficult situations caused by other people. Unfortunately religions have always been used by politicians who are quite often very far from God. They steer some weak pseudo-religious people into doing evil things apparently in God’s name, but in fact they do it in the name of their own political and/or personal gains. Sometimes they use the mass media to steer the whole societies and/or religions into waging wars against each other. That’s pure evil.
One of the most important people who advocated for the respect and peace between religions was John Paul II and I must admit that the longer I live the more I think he was a truly unique person. Of course he was criticized by some of the Catholics for some of his symbolic gestures, but a person who is truly religious should understand his intentions easily.
Now let me give you my own explanation of the fact that we can’t even “detect” God. Obviously it's a huge simplification, but I use it just to show you my own feelings about this topic. Imagine a 2-dimensional person “living” on a page of paper. Can he (or she) see the third dimension or detect it in any other way? No – his eyes and his tools are 2-dimensional and it is impossible for him to see nor detect higher dimension, by definition. However, he can see the results of some things done in higher dimension, for example he could see an item drawn on his page of paper by a 3-dimensional pencil. For him it would be a miracle, but for a “3-dimensional god” it would be a piece of cake. Except maybe that the “3-dimensional god” would have to know how to actually draw the item using the 3-dimensional pencil.
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
Time travel and sixth sense
(Originally posted on Sunday, 11 April 2021)
Time travel has always been a fascinating topic for many people. And so has sixth sense, but in a totally different context. Recently I realised that these two things can be explained in the same way.
We – people living in a 4-dimensional universe (3 dimensions plus time) cannot travel in time, exactly like we cannot teleport ourselves to another 3-dimensional place.
Let's focus on the time and imagine it as a 1-dimensional line. Our present time is a particular spot on that line. We see only that spot (present time), but we can remember what we experienced in the past ourselves and we can learn about other events from the past from various historical texts.
We cannot “jump” to another spot on that line because we cannot “leave” this line on our own. But I think that an entity in higher dimensions (God) can look at that line (and at our 4-dimensional universe as a whole) from the “outside”. Look and see the WHOLE line (all the past, the present and the future) at the same higher-dimension time!
When you can look at something then you can usually touch it and modify it. You can “pick up” something from the line and place it at another spot on that line. That would be time travel.
An alternative would be “telling” somebody on that line in the past to do (or not to do) something to prevent something else from happening to him (or her) in the future. That would be sixth sense.
Both cases change the universe. Time travel places somebody in the past, so the future is automatically different. Sixth sense adds only an info in the past, so it's up to a person if the future will be different – if the person ignores the sixth sense then nothing is really changed. Like it is said – God gives us free will.
The interesting question is this: When the universe is changed does the time line change or does another time line emerge (like in the movie Back to the Future II)?
Other interesting questions are these: What are the consequences of a new time line? Is there a maximum limit for the number of new time lines in the universe? Are those new time lines parallel universes? Are there some other, totally independent universes? What was “before” the big bang? What is on the “other side” of a black hole?
It's impossible to answer such questions from our point of view, because we, being “trapped” in our 4-dimensional universe, don't know how the higher dimensions actually “work”.
Time travel has always been a fascinating topic for many people. And so has sixth sense, but in a totally different context. Recently I realised that these two things can be explained in the same way.
We – people living in a 4-dimensional universe (3 dimensions plus time) cannot travel in time, exactly like we cannot teleport ourselves to another 3-dimensional place.
Let's focus on the time and imagine it as a 1-dimensional line. Our present time is a particular spot on that line. We see only that spot (present time), but we can remember what we experienced in the past ourselves and we can learn about other events from the past from various historical texts.
We cannot “jump” to another spot on that line because we cannot “leave” this line on our own. But I think that an entity in higher dimensions (God) can look at that line (and at our 4-dimensional universe as a whole) from the “outside”. Look and see the WHOLE line (all the past, the present and the future) at the same higher-dimension time!
When you can look at something then you can usually touch it and modify it. You can “pick up” something from the line and place it at another spot on that line. That would be time travel.
An alternative would be “telling” somebody on that line in the past to do (or not to do) something to prevent something else from happening to him (or her) in the future. That would be sixth sense.
Both cases change the universe. Time travel places somebody in the past, so the future is automatically different. Sixth sense adds only an info in the past, so it's up to a person if the future will be different – if the person ignores the sixth sense then nothing is really changed. Like it is said – God gives us free will.
The interesting question is this: When the universe is changed does the time line change or does another time line emerge (like in the movie Back to the Future II)?
Other interesting questions are these: What are the consequences of a new time line? Is there a maximum limit for the number of new time lines in the universe? Are those new time lines parallel universes? Are there some other, totally independent universes? What was “before” the big bang? What is on the “other side” of a black hole?
It's impossible to answer such questions from our point of view, because we, being “trapped” in our 4-dimensional universe, don't know how the higher dimensions actually “work”.
Monday, 12 January 2015
Peace between people
(Originally posted on Thursday, 28 February 2019)
Therefore, the Sage embraces the One,
And becomes a Pattern to all under Heaven.
He does not make a show of himself,
Hence he shines;
Does not justify himself,
Hence he becomes known;
Does not boast of his ability,
Hence he gets his credit;
Does not brandish his success,
Hence he endures;
Does not compete with anyone,
Hence no one can compete with him.
I am obsessed about peace between people, especially about peace between religions, so the quote above is perfect to me. There is no room for fanaticism and there is no room for violence.
One of the most important people who advocated for the respect and peace between religions was John Paul II and I must admit that the longer I live the more I think he was a truly unique person. Of course he was criticized by some of the Catholics for some of his symbolic gestures, but a person who is truly religious should understand his intentions easily.
I am currently reading the Old Testament and the New Testament, but in the meantime I had also read a little Quran. I am fascinated by some other religions, especially by Hinduism and their ancient texts called Vedas and Upanishads. I am honestly intrigued by the ideas of karma and reincarnation that are found both in Hinduism and Buddhism. I find it extremely interesting that some wise Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato believed in reincarnation too. I also like to read about ancient Egyptian beliefs and about the beliefs of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. My most recent “discovery” is the ancient Chinese text Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) that is the base for Taoism (both philosophical and religious Taoism). The quote at the start of this post comes from this text (translation by John C. H. Wu, chapter 22).
I must point out that I realise that a holy text can be properly understood only by the people who are familiar with it for a long time. For example I am a Christian (Latin/Roman Catholic), but when I started to read the Old Testament (which is kind of “valid” also in my religion) I was really disturbed by some fragments that I haven’t heard before. The Old Testament is so long that during a three-year liturgical cycle only around 5.7 % of the Old Testament is read (and explained) in the Catholic Church. Because I hadn't been familiar with most of the Old Testament before I don't judge it at all.
The problem of unfamiliarity with a holy text is by definition a very big problem and we should constantly remind ourselves about it. For example I tried to read the Quran, just out of curiosity, but its type of narration to me was kind of strange and/or lacking context, so the Quran itself seemed unclear. I don’t think that the problem was about translation because I used three different translations to two different languages. One of the translations was even described as “clear Quran”, but it was still not really clear to me. Please notice that I did find the correct chronological order of the Quran, but the particular parts of the Quran still are as they are. I am sure that Muslims who study the Quran for a long time don’t have this kind of problem and are able to read it relatively quickly, but to me it was too big of a problem and I was not able to continue reading it. But because I didn't read it in whole AND I hadn't been familiar with it before I don't judge it at all.
There is only one God, by definition. For every person and for every religion. I believe in God who loves all good people, not only good people from a particular religion. Yes, different religions “define” God in different ways, but at the same time they point out that we can't really understand the true nature of God. In EVERY religion there are people who seem to blessed and who are universally seen as “living saints”. Unfortunately in every religion there are also people who are fanatics. The number of fanatics and their inclination to violence is different in every religion, but it only really means that some religions can be used for political goals more easily than others. Nothing more.
In every holy book there are many good things to be found, but there are also parts that are more or less “disturbing”. Such parts are often used by some people to create anger of the fanatics. I don’t like it. People should concentrate on the things that they have in common, not on the things that are different, mostly because of the problem of unfamiliarity with a text described above.
Fanatics (all kinds of them, including religious fanatics and atheistic fanatics) try to convince everybody that only their opinion is right, pissing off everybody who has a different opinion. I don’t want to be such a person, so I am not afraid to say that I believe that any person can be “worthy of Heavens”.
Yes, I think that also atheists can be “worthy of Heavens”, as long as they are good to other people. It means, among other things, that atheists shouldn’t be intolerant towards religious people. The same goes to other way round – religious people shouldn’t be intolerant towards atheists.
Obviously the key word is “intolerant”. Tolerance is NOT about agreeing with everybody, but it’s about tolerating what and/or who you don’t agree with. Every person should be free to say what he thinks or to make his own decisions as long as he (or she) doesn’t hurt anybody else. Of course I don’t have anything against non-religious legal punishments, because every society needs protection from crimes. On the other hand imposing PURELY religious laws on atheists or people of different religions is not tolerant at all.
Tolerance is also NOT about setting some quotas for the minorities (both religious and non-religious types of minorities) because any quotas are by definition unfair to people from the majorities. Tolerance should never result in unfairness in any way. In fact unfairness defines intolerance – if people from the minorities are treated unfair then there is intolerance towards them. But if people from the majorities are treated unfair then there is intolerance towards them too. Yes, there can be intolerance towards people from the majorities! It actually is more and more common in our stupid “modern” world – for example in some sports women are FORCED to compete against men who “feel like women”. Ridiculous! I must say it again: Tolerance should NEVER result in unfairness in ANY way.
Some misguided opinions about tolerance are based on misguided opinions about unfairness. For example, is it unfair that two men can't have a baby together? Or is in unfair that two women can't have a baby together? No, it is NOT unfair. It's life. It's nature. This is why such pairs should not be allowed to adopt children. Not a single person should be treated unfair in the name of tolerance, including a little child who is about to be adopted. Such a child was born out of a man and a woman and ONLY such pairs should be allowed to adopt children. It's fair for children and NOT unfair towards anybody else. It's the natural way of life!
Life has a habit of not being fair. (...) A man who goes through life complaining about fairness will make nothing of himself.
The quote above (that can be found also in my post under the date of 20 April 2016) should make us all realise that some things will always be or seem to be unfair because life is as it is. The point is not to allow any unfairness towards us (real or imagined unfairness) make us fanatics.
(The sage) does not compete with anyone, hence no one can compete with him.
Therefore, the Sage embraces the One,
And becomes a Pattern to all under Heaven.
He does not make a show of himself,
Hence he shines;
Does not justify himself,
Hence he becomes known;
Does not boast of his ability,
Hence he gets his credit;
Does not brandish his success,
Hence he endures;
Does not compete with anyone,
Hence no one can compete with him.
I am obsessed about peace between people, especially about peace between religions, so the quote above is perfect to me. There is no room for fanaticism and there is no room for violence.
One of the most important people who advocated for the respect and peace between religions was John Paul II and I must admit that the longer I live the more I think he was a truly unique person. Of course he was criticized by some of the Catholics for some of his symbolic gestures, but a person who is truly religious should understand his intentions easily.
I am currently reading the Old Testament and the New Testament, but in the meantime I had also read a little Quran. I am fascinated by some other religions, especially by Hinduism and their ancient texts called Vedas and Upanishads. I am honestly intrigued by the ideas of karma and reincarnation that are found both in Hinduism and Buddhism. I find it extremely interesting that some wise Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato believed in reincarnation too. I also like to read about ancient Egyptian beliefs and about the beliefs of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. My most recent “discovery” is the ancient Chinese text Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) that is the base for Taoism (both philosophical and religious Taoism). The quote at the start of this post comes from this text (translation by John C. H. Wu, chapter 22).
I must point out that I realise that a holy text can be properly understood only by the people who are familiar with it for a long time. For example I am a Christian (Latin/Roman Catholic), but when I started to read the Old Testament (which is kind of “valid” also in my religion) I was really disturbed by some fragments that I haven’t heard before. The Old Testament is so long that during a three-year liturgical cycle only around 5.7 % of the Old Testament is read (and explained) in the Catholic Church. Because I hadn't been familiar with most of the Old Testament before I don't judge it at all.
The problem of unfamiliarity with a holy text is by definition a very big problem and we should constantly remind ourselves about it. For example I tried to read the Quran, just out of curiosity, but its type of narration to me was kind of strange and/or lacking context, so the Quran itself seemed unclear. I don’t think that the problem was about translation because I used three different translations to two different languages. One of the translations was even described as “clear Quran”, but it was still not really clear to me. Please notice that I did find the correct chronological order of the Quran, but the particular parts of the Quran still are as they are. I am sure that Muslims who study the Quran for a long time don’t have this kind of problem and are able to read it relatively quickly, but to me it was too big of a problem and I was not able to continue reading it. But because I didn't read it in whole AND I hadn't been familiar with it before I don't judge it at all.
There is only one God, by definition. For every person and for every religion. I believe in God who loves all good people, not only good people from a particular religion. Yes, different religions “define” God in different ways, but at the same time they point out that we can't really understand the true nature of God. In EVERY religion there are people who seem to blessed and who are universally seen as “living saints”. Unfortunately in every religion there are also people who are fanatics. The number of fanatics and their inclination to violence is different in every religion, but it only really means that some religions can be used for political goals more easily than others. Nothing more.
In every holy book there are many good things to be found, but there are also parts that are more or less “disturbing”. Such parts are often used by some people to create anger of the fanatics. I don’t like it. People should concentrate on the things that they have in common, not on the things that are different, mostly because of the problem of unfamiliarity with a text described above.
Fanatics (all kinds of them, including religious fanatics and atheistic fanatics) try to convince everybody that only their opinion is right, pissing off everybody who has a different opinion. I don’t want to be such a person, so I am not afraid to say that I believe that any person can be “worthy of Heavens”.
Yes, I think that also atheists can be “worthy of Heavens”, as long as they are good to other people. It means, among other things, that atheists shouldn’t be intolerant towards religious people. The same goes to other way round – religious people shouldn’t be intolerant towards atheists.
Obviously the key word is “intolerant”. Tolerance is NOT about agreeing with everybody, but it’s about tolerating what and/or who you don’t agree with. Every person should be free to say what he thinks or to make his own decisions as long as he (or she) doesn’t hurt anybody else. Of course I don’t have anything against non-religious legal punishments, because every society needs protection from crimes. On the other hand imposing PURELY religious laws on atheists or people of different religions is not tolerant at all.
Tolerance is also NOT about setting some quotas for the minorities (both religious and non-religious types of minorities) because any quotas are by definition unfair to people from the majorities. Tolerance should never result in unfairness in any way. In fact unfairness defines intolerance – if people from the minorities are treated unfair then there is intolerance towards them. But if people from the majorities are treated unfair then there is intolerance towards them too. Yes, there can be intolerance towards people from the majorities! It actually is more and more common in our stupid “modern” world – for example in some sports women are FORCED to compete against men who “feel like women”. Ridiculous! I must say it again: Tolerance should NEVER result in unfairness in ANY way.
Some misguided opinions about tolerance are based on misguided opinions about unfairness. For example, is it unfair that two men can't have a baby together? Or is in unfair that two women can't have a baby together? No, it is NOT unfair. It's life. It's nature. This is why such pairs should not be allowed to adopt children. Not a single person should be treated unfair in the name of tolerance, including a little child who is about to be adopted. Such a child was born out of a man and a woman and ONLY such pairs should be allowed to adopt children. It's fair for children and NOT unfair towards anybody else. It's the natural way of life!
Life has a habit of not being fair. (...) A man who goes through life complaining about fairness will make nothing of himself.
The quote above (that can be found also in my post under the date of 20 April 2016) should make us all realise that some things will always be or seem to be unfair because life is as it is. The point is not to allow any unfairness towards us (real or imagined unfairness) make us fanatics.
(The sage) does not compete with anyone, hence no one can compete with him.
Sunday, 11 January 2015
Embrace your problems with joy!
(Originally posted on Wednesday, 6 March 2019)
I’ve just realized that our problems can become the source of our happiness. With a proper approach we can embrace all our problems with joy!
Human brain is built for solving problems. This is what makes us special compared to other animals – no other animal can even dream about solving problems that a human can solve. The humankind as a whole can solve huge problems, but it’ all about particular individuals solving particular problems. Obviously some individuals are more “blessed” than others, but every human brain works more or less in the same way. This is why we like to solve puzzles or crosswords. Why we like to play computer games. Why we like to watch TV mind competitions. Why we like to read about interesting things. Human brain LOVES to learn to be able to solve problems. But our own life is full of interesting things too. Every day we have to deal with problems. Some of them are bigger and some of them are smaller, but we constantly have some problems to solve. If we start seeing them as challenges instead of unpleasant chores then we will smile much more often!
Usually it is the other way round – usually our problems make us unhappy and we try to run away from them or try to ignore them at least for some time, but in the long run we are always forced to deal with them, which makes us even more unhappy. Well, sometimes we are so stubborn that we slide into addictions, debts, health problems or we harm our life in another way and then we have to deal with the “extra” problems first. Obviously dealing with the “extra” problems is by definition harder than dealing with “normal” problems, but the “extra” problems can be embraced with joy too! For example a joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our addiction and the upcoming withdrawal syndrome.
If we are lucky to successfully deal with the “extra” problems then we have to tackle the “normal” problems anyway, so it is much better to deal with the “normal” problems right away and “skip” the “extra” problems.
Please notice that something that can't be changed by us is not really our problem – our problem is how to deal with it (with a given situation) as best as we can. It regards also things that were very sad for us, especially when they were actually our own fault. No matter what happened in the past it can't be changed. It's the past. All our problems are today, even if they concern past events. Every such problem can be embraced with joy too! A joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our past.
Once again – our brain loves to solve problems, so when we concentrate on our own PRESENT life we will be able to embrace ALL our problems with joy. And the world will suddenly look much more positive. And we will smile much more often. :)
I’ve just realized that our problems can become the source of our happiness. With a proper approach we can embrace all our problems with joy!
Human brain is built for solving problems. This is what makes us special compared to other animals – no other animal can even dream about solving problems that a human can solve. The humankind as a whole can solve huge problems, but it’ all about particular individuals solving particular problems. Obviously some individuals are more “blessed” than others, but every human brain works more or less in the same way. This is why we like to solve puzzles or crosswords. Why we like to play computer games. Why we like to watch TV mind competitions. Why we like to read about interesting things. Human brain LOVES to learn to be able to solve problems. But our own life is full of interesting things too. Every day we have to deal with problems. Some of them are bigger and some of them are smaller, but we constantly have some problems to solve. If we start seeing them as challenges instead of unpleasant chores then we will smile much more often!
Usually it is the other way round – usually our problems make us unhappy and we try to run away from them or try to ignore them at least for some time, but in the long run we are always forced to deal with them, which makes us even more unhappy. Well, sometimes we are so stubborn that we slide into addictions, debts, health problems or we harm our life in another way and then we have to deal with the “extra” problems first. Obviously dealing with the “extra” problems is by definition harder than dealing with “normal” problems, but the “extra” problems can be embraced with joy too! For example a joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our addiction and the upcoming withdrawal syndrome.
If we are lucky to successfully deal with the “extra” problems then we have to tackle the “normal” problems anyway, so it is much better to deal with the “normal” problems right away and “skip” the “extra” problems.
Please notice that something that can't be changed by us is not really our problem – our problem is how to deal with it (with a given situation) as best as we can. It regards also things that were very sad for us, especially when they were actually our own fault. No matter what happened in the past it can't be changed. It's the past. All our problems are today, even if they concern past events. Every such problem can be embraced with joy too! A joy coming from the feeling that we are ready to face the challenge of overcoming our past.
Once again – our brain loves to solve problems, so when we concentrate on our own PRESENT life we will be able to embrace ALL our problems with joy. And the world will suddenly look much more positive. And we will smile much more often. :)
Saturday, 10 January 2015
Vegan diet and Kyrie Irving
(Originally posted on Thursday, 5 December 2019)
Today I've read something that struck me like a lightning. It was the very first comment to this article:
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256357/Kyrie-Irving-Could-Be-Out-Several-More-Weeks-With-Shoulder-Injury
The comment was posted by somebody nicknamed „Chi Dynasty12” and it was exactly this: „Seems like Kyrie is hurt all the time. Maybe he needs some more protein in that vegan diet..”.
VEGAN DIET! I had forgotten that Kyrie Irving was on vegan diet, but it's not what got me so shocked. Originally, when I learned that Kyrie Irving had switched to vegan diet (around 2 years ago) I was thinking like: „It's impossible for a professional athlete to maintain healthy body without eating meat or at least proteins coming from animals. I wonder how long it would take for him to switch back from this diet.” I have read somewhere that there are some amino acids (structural units that make up proteins) that can be found only in animals, so we HAVE to eat meat to stay perfectly healthy. The comment above is exaclty what I have been thinking myself.
However, the case of Kyrie Irving reminds me of something else. Some time ago (can't remember exactly when) I read that some scientists had made an experiment on meat-eating animals and stopped giving them meat at all. They started giving them plants that where supposed to provide enough proteins and vitamins, but after some time the animals started to behave strangely. After some more time the animals started to behave as if they were getting crazy. Then the scientists started giving meat to the animals again and the animals very quickly got back to normal behaviour. I wonder if the reported strange behaviour of Kyrie Irving is the result of his vegan diet. There are many articles about it and Kyrie Irving himself admitted that „It's Okay To Have Mood Swings”.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2860293-report-kyrie-irvings-mood-swings-are-unspoken-concern-make-nets-queasy
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/255985/Kyrie-Irving-Its-Okay-To-Have-Mood-Swings-My-Teammates-Know-Who-I-Am
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256291/Celtics-Source-Describes-Night-And-Day-Difference-In-Atmosphere-From-Last-Season
Here is something about mood disturbances:
https://blog.usejournal.com/why-i-stopped-eating-meat-for-ten-years-then-started-again-95f4a4a6500e
Today I've read something that struck me like a lightning. It was the very first comment to this article:
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256357/Kyrie-Irving-Could-Be-Out-Several-More-Weeks-With-Shoulder-Injury
The comment was posted by somebody nicknamed „Chi Dynasty12” and it was exactly this: „Seems like Kyrie is hurt all the time. Maybe he needs some more protein in that vegan diet..”.
VEGAN DIET! I had forgotten that Kyrie Irving was on vegan diet, but it's not what got me so shocked. Originally, when I learned that Kyrie Irving had switched to vegan diet (around 2 years ago) I was thinking like: „It's impossible for a professional athlete to maintain healthy body without eating meat or at least proteins coming from animals. I wonder how long it would take for him to switch back from this diet.” I have read somewhere that there are some amino acids (structural units that make up proteins) that can be found only in animals, so we HAVE to eat meat to stay perfectly healthy. The comment above is exaclty what I have been thinking myself.
However, the case of Kyrie Irving reminds me of something else. Some time ago (can't remember exactly when) I read that some scientists had made an experiment on meat-eating animals and stopped giving them meat at all. They started giving them plants that where supposed to provide enough proteins and vitamins, but after some time the animals started to behave strangely. After some more time the animals started to behave as if they were getting crazy. Then the scientists started giving meat to the animals again and the animals very quickly got back to normal behaviour. I wonder if the reported strange behaviour of Kyrie Irving is the result of his vegan diet. There are many articles about it and Kyrie Irving himself admitted that „It's Okay To Have Mood Swings”.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2860293-report-kyrie-irvings-mood-swings-are-unspoken-concern-make-nets-queasy
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/255985/Kyrie-Irving-Its-Okay-To-Have-Mood-Swings-My-Teammates-Know-Who-I-Am
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/256291/Celtics-Source-Describes-Night-And-Day-Difference-In-Atmosphere-From-Last-Season
Here is something about mood disturbances:
https://blog.usejournal.com/why-i-stopped-eating-meat-for-ten-years-then-started-again-95f4a4a6500e
Friday, 9 January 2015
Over-interpreted symbols
(Originally posted on Saturday, 23 January 2021)
That would be an understatement! A regular pentagram represents the Golden Ratio/Section/Number in THREE different ways!
This fact, combined with the fact that the pentagram is often linked to some evil things, made me ponder about symbols in general. The crucial question is this: Can a symbol on its own be good or evil?
The answer is: No, it can't. Everything depends on the person who is looking at a particular symbol. Everything lies in one's mind.
For example a Christian cross to me is a symbol of devotion to the Father God and of being a good person in general (especially the way Jesus taught it). This is why I constantly wear a necklace with a Christian cross myself. However there are some people who over-interpret this symbol and say it's some kind of evil only because some priests did some bad things. This is ridiculous! A religion (any religion) can't be blamed for the fact that people, including priests (or their equivalents), are sinners. Obviously people, including priests (or their equivalents), who committed crimes should be punished, but we can't blame a whole religion because of them!
But it works the other way too! Some religious people treat some symbols as some kind of evil only because these symbols were used by atheists who did some evil things. Yes, a pentagram is used by some evil people, but not everyone fascinated by a pentagram is evil. For some people a pentagram is (or used to be) a symbol of balance or a symbol of protection. Recently I got fascinated by a regular pentagram myself, but only because from a mathematical point of view it is simply fascinating that one figure represents the Golden Ratio/Section/Number in THREE different ways!
I will end my post with a meme that contains two symbols that can be understood only by people who watched the movie Matrix. It proves that a symbol is meaningless without a context.
PS. Personally I am very curious about the true “meaning” of God that we will be able to really comprehend only after our death. But I believe that our death should be natural. Obviously doctors should help patients to ease as much pain as possible through medicaments, but a purposeful euthanasia is just like a suicide (taking an easy way out). By the way, any forced euthanasia (against one's will) is simply a murder. A quasi-euthanasia, for example carried out by stopping to feed a disabled person AND preventing the family from taking the person out of the hospital, is also a murder! Such a person is slowly starving to death, so it's actually quite a gruesome murder!
That would be an understatement! A regular pentagram represents the Golden Ratio/Section/Number in THREE different ways!
This fact, combined with the fact that the pentagram is often linked to some evil things, made me ponder about symbols in general. The crucial question is this: Can a symbol on its own be good or evil?
The answer is: No, it can't. Everything depends on the person who is looking at a particular symbol. Everything lies in one's mind.
For example a Christian cross to me is a symbol of devotion to the Father God and of being a good person in general (especially the way Jesus taught it). This is why I constantly wear a necklace with a Christian cross myself. However there are some people who over-interpret this symbol and say it's some kind of evil only because some priests did some bad things. This is ridiculous! A religion (any religion) can't be blamed for the fact that people, including priests (or their equivalents), are sinners. Obviously people, including priests (or their equivalents), who committed crimes should be punished, but we can't blame a whole religion because of them!
But it works the other way too! Some religious people treat some symbols as some kind of evil only because these symbols were used by atheists who did some evil things. Yes, a pentagram is used by some evil people, but not everyone fascinated by a pentagram is evil. For some people a pentagram is (or used to be) a symbol of balance or a symbol of protection. Recently I got fascinated by a regular pentagram myself, but only because from a mathematical point of view it is simply fascinating that one figure represents the Golden Ratio/Section/Number in THREE different ways!
I will end my post with a meme that contains two symbols that can be understood only by people who watched the movie Matrix. It proves that a symbol is meaningless without a context.
PS. Personally I am very curious about the true “meaning” of God that we will be able to really comprehend only after our death. But I believe that our death should be natural. Obviously doctors should help patients to ease as much pain as possible through medicaments, but a purposeful euthanasia is just like a suicide (taking an easy way out). By the way, any forced euthanasia (against one's will) is simply a murder. A quasi-euthanasia, for example carried out by stopping to feed a disabled person AND preventing the family from taking the person out of the hospital, is also a murder! Such a person is slowly starving to death, so it's actually quite a gruesome murder!
Thursday, 8 January 2015
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
Working at home
(Originally posted on Sunday, 29 March 2020)
Because of the developing epidemic I was ordered to work at home by my boss. My wife also works at home right now. Schools in Poland are closed, so our daughter is also at home, learning online. Nursery schools are also closed, so our son is at home too. Every morning I drive my car to bring my wife's mom to us, so she can look after our children while we are working.
Our first common working week went better than we had anticipated, but right before that we had had some crisis. Instead of staying at home I was busy buying the needed things for me, my wife and our daughter. It got me very nervous, so more things at home were pissing me off (more than usual). When I got nervous my wife “hung up” internally and started to behave more illogically (more than usual), which made the situation even worse. A vicious cycle.
Thankfully my wife found something on the net that made us laugh and relax:
A conversation between a person from epidemiological station and a guy who is about to be quarantined:
– Sir, you have to be quarantined for a while and we prepared two different plans for you – plan A and plan B. Plan A is that you will be constantly staying at home with your wife and your children and plan B is …
– B! Plan B!!!
Because of the developing epidemic I was ordered to work at home by my boss. My wife also works at home right now. Schools in Poland are closed, so our daughter is also at home, learning online. Nursery schools are also closed, so our son is at home too. Every morning I drive my car to bring my wife's mom to us, so she can look after our children while we are working.
Our first common working week went better than we had anticipated, but right before that we had had some crisis. Instead of staying at home I was busy buying the needed things for me, my wife and our daughter. It got me very nervous, so more things at home were pissing me off (more than usual). When I got nervous my wife “hung up” internally and started to behave more illogically (more than usual), which made the situation even worse. A vicious cycle.
Thankfully my wife found something on the net that made us laugh and relax:
A conversation between a person from epidemiological station and a guy who is about to be quarantined:
– Sir, you have to be quarantined for a while and we prepared two different plans for you – plan A and plan B. Plan A is that you will be constantly staying at home with your wife and your children and plan B is …
– B! Plan B!!!
Tuesday, 6 January 2015
Morons driving after alcohol
(Originally posted on Monday, 13 April 2020)
Thankfully this particular moron driving after alcohol didn't kill anybody, but he himself had to be cut out of his car by fire-fighters and was taken to the hospital.
Thankfully this particular moron driving after alcohol didn't kill anybody, but he himself had to be cut out of his car by fire-fighters and was taken to the hospital.
How do you raise your children?
(Originally posted on Monday, 12 April 2021; updated on Tuesday, 13 April 2020)
I tell my children that if a cop orders you to stop – you HAVE to stop. If a cop orders you to lie down – you HAVE to lie down. If a cop wants to arrest you, even without a good reason from your point of view – you HAVE to let him do it. For the sake of your own safety. My children know it. Do your children know it?
If ANY person could run away from a cop then the police would be useless and the criminals would roam free. I have NO sympathy for ANYBODY who tries to run away from the police, no matter what the colour of his (or her) skin is. Such people (running away from the police) provoke tragic accidents like this:
By the way: from what I've read it seems that this man (running away from the police) was likely NOT a totally innocent person.
Here are some comments to the video above that I fully agree with:
“So it was a female cop reacting to a guy who lunges back into his car (for something?) while being arrested. Now criminals are pretending to be upset by looting some guy's shop he's spent his whole life building.”
“Don’t fight cops, don’t get shot. Simple.”
“What an idiot. You don’t do What he did. Police make mistakes and She thought She had the tazer out. I would love to see You fools in this chat go through the same situation. It was his fault 100% not the police! I love to hate on police but this time They are not to blame.”
“no more teasers. tell the criminals you play with the cops, you die. don't play with them carrying a teaser. you obey the orders of the cops, don't let these fools think they will only be teaser. they will follow your orders if they know the cop will shoot them dead. Teaser cause lives.”
“Here we go again media will twist the story again.I feel bad the young man got shot but why try to run if u did nothing really wrong it just makes it look bad.And these idiots out protesting oh I mean rioting is just plain stupid destroying property and looting of people who had nothing to do with it.”
“This is 100% the fault of the victim. Personal responsibility. That is not saying he deserved to die but crazy stuff happens when you do crazy stuff. Trying to get away and avoid getting arrested is crazy stuff.”
“If BLM protesters focused more on teaching the community to not resist and comply with Police instructions... there would be a massive reduction in Police killings.
This Police officer was clearly very incompetent and untrained for the situation, which will only become more of a problem if there is not enough funding for the Police.”
PS. Don't even start with a crap like “you don't know how it is to be a black person”, because such a comment would mean that you think that a black person can do things that all the other people should NEVER do! Such a way of thinking would be totally racist. Please notice that my comments would be exactly the same, even if the person running away from the police were of ANY other skin colour! I'm tired of such situations. And do you know why I even noticed this tragic accident at all? Because an NBA game was postponed because of it!
PS. #2
I have been reading Internet comments on this tragic incident (not only to that video above) and I can't believe that so many people are angry at the police while totally ignoring the FACT that the guy tried to run away from the police! Like it was something normal! So many people think that running away from the police is normal? Oh, God! What is wrong with the people in today's world? NOTHING bad would happen to that guy if he didn't try to run away from the police! This is the most important fact! This is the source for everything what happened later!
UPDATE:
One of the Internet comments made me realise another very important thing: when a person is running away from the police by car then he (or she) drives much faster than the speed limit, which means that other people on the road, or near the road, are in danger. Who is better to be killed: a person running away from the police or a little child going on a side-walk? It's MUCH better when the person running away from the police is killed before he (or she) kills an innocent child. So the guy who tried to run away from the police should be strongly CONDEMNED not defended!
Not long ago there was a police hero who sacrificed his own life and rammed head-on into a car that was driving against the traffic extremely fast. That policeman was a HERO because he probably saved lives of other innocent people! Respect!
I tell my children that if a cop orders you to stop – you HAVE to stop. If a cop orders you to lie down – you HAVE to lie down. If a cop wants to arrest you, even without a good reason from your point of view – you HAVE to let him do it. For the sake of your own safety. My children know it. Do your children know it?
If ANY person could run away from a cop then the police would be useless and the criminals would roam free. I have NO sympathy for ANYBODY who tries to run away from the police, no matter what the colour of his (or her) skin is. Such people (running away from the police) provoke tragic accidents like this:
By the way: from what I've read it seems that this man (running away from the police) was likely NOT a totally innocent person.
Here are some comments to the video above that I fully agree with:
“So it was a female cop reacting to a guy who lunges back into his car (for something?) while being arrested. Now criminals are pretending to be upset by looting some guy's shop he's spent his whole life building.”
“Don’t fight cops, don’t get shot. Simple.”
“What an idiot. You don’t do What he did. Police make mistakes and She thought She had the tazer out. I would love to see You fools in this chat go through the same situation. It was his fault 100% not the police! I love to hate on police but this time They are not to blame.”
“no more teasers. tell the criminals you play with the cops, you die. don't play with them carrying a teaser. you obey the orders of the cops, don't let these fools think they will only be teaser. they will follow your orders if they know the cop will shoot them dead. Teaser cause lives.”
“Here we go again media will twist the story again.I feel bad the young man got shot but why try to run if u did nothing really wrong it just makes it look bad.And these idiots out protesting oh I mean rioting is just plain stupid destroying property and looting of people who had nothing to do with it.”
“This is 100% the fault of the victim. Personal responsibility. That is not saying he deserved to die but crazy stuff happens when you do crazy stuff. Trying to get away and avoid getting arrested is crazy stuff.”
“If BLM protesters focused more on teaching the community to not resist and comply with Police instructions... there would be a massive reduction in Police killings.
This Police officer was clearly very incompetent and untrained for the situation, which will only become more of a problem if there is not enough funding for the Police.”
PS. Don't even start with a crap like “you don't know how it is to be a black person”, because such a comment would mean that you think that a black person can do things that all the other people should NEVER do! Such a way of thinking would be totally racist. Please notice that my comments would be exactly the same, even if the person running away from the police were of ANY other skin colour! I'm tired of such situations. And do you know why I even noticed this tragic accident at all? Because an NBA game was postponed because of it!
PS. #2
I have been reading Internet comments on this tragic incident (not only to that video above) and I can't believe that so many people are angry at the police while totally ignoring the FACT that the guy tried to run away from the police! Like it was something normal! So many people think that running away from the police is normal? Oh, God! What is wrong with the people in today's world? NOTHING bad would happen to that guy if he didn't try to run away from the police! This is the most important fact! This is the source for everything what happened later!
UPDATE:
One of the Internet comments made me realise another very important thing: when a person is running away from the police by car then he (or she) drives much faster than the speed limit, which means that other people on the road, or near the road, are in danger. Who is better to be killed: a person running away from the police or a little child going on a side-walk? It's MUCH better when the person running away from the police is killed before he (or she) kills an innocent child. So the guy who tried to run away from the police should be strongly CONDEMNED not defended!
Not long ago there was a police hero who sacrificed his own life and rammed head-on into a car that was driving against the traffic extremely fast. That policeman was a HERO because he probably saved lives of other innocent people! Respect!
Monday, 5 January 2015
I have no idea why
(Originally posted on Sunday, 26 April 2020)
I have no idea why, but I feel an unstoppable urge to write a post about the music video below. Maybe somebody who wants to commit suicide will read it and change his (or her) mind. Hopefully. Ironic thing is that the lead singer of the band 13 years later did commit suicide, but the song actually helped many other people. Here are some of the comments to the video:
“This song has helped me get through so many depressing moments in my life”
“This song help me so much threw my addiction.. thank you Chester. May u be in heaven fr what u gave to the world..”
“Chester, if only God gave me a chance first. I promise and bet anything for you, I will help you in any way to fix your pain. Im sorry i couldnt help you the way you help me”
“I have always liked this song but never really pay heed to the meaning when I was a kid. But this song helped me got out from my depression. 5 years ago I lost my mother after her year long battle with cancer. My dad left us and she had to fight cancer. When she died, I was in deep depression. I tried so many drugs to drown my sorrows.
When drugs don’t help me feel numb, I contemplated suicide. But one night I was listening to Linkin Park, this song came up and I cried so hard. Thinking that my mother fought hard to be a single mother, fought with her cancer and looking at me trying to kill myself. It will be a massive waste on all her sacrifices.
Now I am married and I have a daughter, whom I named after my mother. Chester, whenever you are. You saved my life. If I had taken away my life, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to marry my beautiful wife and have my little princess.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
A suicide is never a good answer to anything, because it's like running away from something. Often it's all about fear, but the truth is that you can't run away from your own fear or anxiety. It reminds me of a scene from the novel Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell:
“If you were faced with a snarling dog, what would you do?”
“Stand very still,” said Niall.
“And if it attacked?”
“If I were armed, I would try to kill it. If not, I would shout loudly and kick at it.”
“What would happen were you to run from it?”
“It would chase and bite me. That is the way with dogs.”
“That is also the way with fear,” said the Gray Man. “You can't run from it. It will follow, snapping at your heels. Most fears recede if you face them down.”
In some cases fear is connected with some very hard circumstances and a person feels a kind of unbearable burden. Well, in such cases it helps to be a Christian – you should take your own cross and carry it till the end of your days. Just accept all the hardships and keep on keeping on with your life. Actually it's quite fulfilling when you are able to raise your head up against all odds, still trying to be a good person. It also inspires other people to face even the hardest circumstances without paralysing fear.
I have no idea why, but I feel an unstoppable urge to write a post about the music video below. Maybe somebody who wants to commit suicide will read it and change his (or her) mind. Hopefully. Ironic thing is that the lead singer of the band 13 years later did commit suicide, but the song actually helped many other people. Here are some of the comments to the video:
“This song has helped me get through so many depressing moments in my life”
“This song help me so much threw my addiction.. thank you Chester. May u be in heaven fr what u gave to the world..”
“Chester, if only God gave me a chance first. I promise and bet anything for you, I will help you in any way to fix your pain. Im sorry i couldnt help you the way you help me”
“I have always liked this song but never really pay heed to the meaning when I was a kid. But this song helped me got out from my depression. 5 years ago I lost my mother after her year long battle with cancer. My dad left us and she had to fight cancer. When she died, I was in deep depression. I tried so many drugs to drown my sorrows.
When drugs don’t help me feel numb, I contemplated suicide. But one night I was listening to Linkin Park, this song came up and I cried so hard. Thinking that my mother fought hard to be a single mother, fought with her cancer and looking at me trying to kill myself. It will be a massive waste on all her sacrifices.
Now I am married and I have a daughter, whom I named after my mother. Chester, whenever you are. You saved my life. If I had taken away my life, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to marry my beautiful wife and have my little princess.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
A suicide is never a good answer to anything, because it's like running away from something. Often it's all about fear, but the truth is that you can't run away from your own fear or anxiety. It reminds me of a scene from the novel Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell:
“If you were faced with a snarling dog, what would you do?”
“Stand very still,” said Niall.
“And if it attacked?”
“If I were armed, I would try to kill it. If not, I would shout loudly and kick at it.”
“What would happen were you to run from it?”
“It would chase and bite me. That is the way with dogs.”
“That is also the way with fear,” said the Gray Man. “You can't run from it. It will follow, snapping at your heels. Most fears recede if you face them down.”
In some cases fear is connected with some very hard circumstances and a person feels a kind of unbearable burden. Well, in such cases it helps to be a Christian – you should take your own cross and carry it till the end of your days. Just accept all the hardships and keep on keeping on with your life. Actually it's quite fulfilling when you are able to raise your head up against all odds, still trying to be a good person. It also inspires other people to face even the hardest circumstances without paralysing fear.
Sunday, 4 January 2015
1588 days of mice utopia
(Originally posted on Sunday, 5 July 2020)
Have you ever heard about John Calhoun's experiments, especially “Universe 25”? On these sites:
http://www.physicsoflife.pl/dict/calhoun's_experiment.html
https://www.victorpest.com/articles/what-humans-can-learn-from-calhouns-rodent-utopia
there are very good and clear descriptions of this experiment.
Please notice that the maximum possible mice population was never reached AND that the mice society didn't recovered even after their population fell down back to low levels, so the long term problem was NOT about overpopulation.
Maybe the problem was the lack of work? In my country there is a saying “Work ennobles”, so by reversing it we might say that “Lack of work degenerates”. Please notice that “work” is not only “job”, so even if you are currently unemployed you can still find many things to do, for example for your family and/or society.
Have you ever heard about John Calhoun's experiments, especially “Universe 25”? On these sites:
http://www.physicsoflife.pl/dict/calhoun's_experiment.html
https://www.victorpest.com/articles/what-humans-can-learn-from-calhouns-rodent-utopia
there are very good and clear descriptions of this experiment.
Please notice that the maximum possible mice population was never reached AND that the mice society didn't recovered even after their population fell down back to low levels, so the long term problem was NOT about overpopulation.
Maybe the problem was the lack of work? In my country there is a saying “Work ennobles”, so by reversing it we might say that “Lack of work degenerates”. Please notice that “work” is not only “job”, so even if you are currently unemployed you can still find many things to do, for example for your family and/or society.
Friday, 2 January 2015
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2020)
(Originally posted on Friday, 1 January 2021)
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2020) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 732 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described is my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3660 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2020 I managed to do only 96 sets of exercises, which is only 13.1 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 480 push-ups, 480 knee-bends, 480 “leg-ups”, 480 dumbbells lifts and 480 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2021 is exactly the same as for the year 2020 – to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises in the morning and one set in the afternoon or in the evening.
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2020) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 732 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described is my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3660 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2020 I managed to do only 96 sets of exercises, which is only 13.1 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 480 push-ups, 480 knee-bends, 480 “leg-ups”, 480 dumbbells lifts and 480 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2021 is exactly the same as for the year 2020 – to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises in the morning and one set in the afternoon or in the evening.
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2019)
(Originally posted on Sunday, 19 January 2020)
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2019) was to exercise twice a day and to do some other things – I decribed it here:
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018)
I can give you my results only for the „exercises part”, because I wasn't able to keep track of all the other things. It (keeping track of little things) is much harder than it seems. Also sleeping 7 hours in the night is too long for me. If I need more sleep I take a nap in the afternoon. Like a cat.
As far as exercises are concerned I described the crucial parts of my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
If I had been able to stick to my resolution I would have done 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would have given me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise!
In reality in the year 2019 I managed to do only 96 sets of exercises, which is only 13.2 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 480 push-ups, 480 knee-bends, 480 “leg-ups”, 480 dumbbells lifts and 480 reps of every other exercise I do during every set (16 kinds of warming-up or stretching or light exercises). Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2020 is to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises in the morning and one set in the afternoon or in the evening.
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2019) was to exercise twice a day and to do some other things – I decribed it here:
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018)
I can give you my results only for the „exercises part”, because I wasn't able to keep track of all the other things. It (keeping track of little things) is much harder than it seems. Also sleeping 7 hours in the night is too long for me. If I need more sleep I take a nap in the afternoon. Like a cat.
As far as exercises are concerned I described the crucial parts of my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
If I had been able to stick to my resolution I would have done 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would have given me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise!
In reality in the year 2019 I managed to do only 96 sets of exercises, which is only 13.2 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 480 push-ups, 480 knee-bends, 480 “leg-ups”, 480 dumbbells lifts and 480 reps of every other exercise I do during every set (16 kinds of warming-up or stretching or light exercises). Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2020 is to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises in the morning and one set in the afternoon or in the evening.
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018)
(Originally posted on Tuesday, 1 January 2019)
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described the crucial parts of my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2018 I managed to do only 107 sets of exercises, which is only 14.7 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 535 push-ups, 535 knee-bends, 535 “leg-ups”, 535 dumbbells lifts and 535 reps of every other exercise I do during every set (16 kinds of stretching or light exercises). Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2019 is more complex than for the year 2018:
1) to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises right before breakfast (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set right before dinner or supper,
2) to thoroughly wash my hands and my face 3 times a day – preferably in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening,
3) to thoroughly brush my teeth 3 times a day – preferably in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening,
4) to take a shower or a bath once per day – preferably in the evening,
5) to sleep from 7 to 8 hours in the night – preferably from 10 pm to 5 or 6 am.
The crucial part of my new resolution (for the year 2019) is the last one – in previous year it was the lack of long sleep that prevented me from achieving better results. Please notice that the resolution amounts to 10 things to do every day (2 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 1) and every one of them is connected with health.
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2018) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described the crucial parts of my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2018 I managed to do only 107 sets of exercises, which is only 14.7 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 535 push-ups, 535 knee-bends, 535 “leg-ups”, 535 dumbbells lifts and 535 reps of every other exercise I do during every set (16 kinds of stretching or light exercises). Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2019 is more complex than for the year 2018:
1) to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises right before breakfast (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set right before dinner or supper,
2) to thoroughly wash my hands and my face 3 times a day – preferably in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening,
3) to thoroughly brush my teeth 3 times a day – preferably in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening,
4) to take a shower or a bath once per day – preferably in the evening,
5) to sleep from 7 to 8 hours in the night – preferably from 10 pm to 5 or 6 am.
The crucial part of my new resolution (for the year 2019) is the last one – in previous year it was the lack of long sleep that prevented me from achieving better results. Please notice that the resolution amounts to 10 things to do every day (2 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 1) and every one of them is connected with health.
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2017)
(Originally posted on Monday, 1 January 2018)
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2017) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described is my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2017 I managed to do only 85 sets of exercises, which is only 11.6 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 425 push-ups, 425 knee-bends, 425 “leg-ups”, 425 dumbbells lifts and 425 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2018 is exactly the same as for the year 2017 – to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises right before breakfast (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set right before dinner or supper.
My previous New Year's resolution (for the year 2017) was to exercise twice a day. That would give me 730 sets of exercises in the whole year. I described is my own set of exercises here:
My previous New Year's resolution
With only 5 reps (repetitions) of each kind of exercise it would give me 3650 reps of EVERY exercise! In reality in the year 2017 I managed to do only 85 sets of exercises, which is only 11.6 % of the plan. Pathetic result, but nevertheless it means that during the year I did 425 push-ups, 425 knee-bends, 425 “leg-ups”, 425 dumbbells lifts and 425 reps of every other exercise I do during every set. Better this than nothing.
My New Year's resolution for the year 2018 is exactly the same as for the year 2017 – to exercise twice a day – preferably one set of exercises right before breakfast (in most days it would have to be before my work – very early in the morning) and one set right before dinner or supper.
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