ANATOLY IVANOV / PROSE / CATEGORIES / ESSAYS

THE ARGUMENT BY FUZZY CONCEPT

LINGUISTICS / PHILOSOPHY / PSYCHOLOGY / ESSAYS / 2023-02-11

The “argument by fuzzy concept” fallacy is second only to ad hominem… An argument of intellectual indoctrination, laziness and dullness which, if pressed, degenerates into circular reasoning, requiring, at best, a definition by negation (“not hate, not lust, not friendship, not nⁿ…”) Got a World  + 

WHY ARE WE NOT FREE?

PSYCHOLOGY / RELIGION / SOCIETY / SPIRIT / ESSAYS / 2023-02-10

Are we really free? Are we free to be who we really are? The answer is no, we are not free. True freedom has to do with the human spirit — it is the freedom to be who we really are. Who stops us from  + 

MORE MONEY CAN BUY YOU MORE PILLS

ECONOMICS / HEALTH / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2023-01-24

“America is a kind, generous place… if you have money. It’s a rapacious, violent place if you don’t have money. To be wealthy in America is to be loved. People find you interesting, they want to know you. You have a broader selection of mates.  + 

DAVID GOGGINS RUNS BECAUSE HE HATES IT

PSYCHOLOGY / RUNNING / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2023-01-18

“I run every single morning. That’s because that’s the one thing I hate to do more than anything in the world” — David Goggins, an ultramarathon runner and triathlete. I wonder whether people who worship him realize the all-too-common pattern of self-abuse and hate in  + 

A TRULY PRO NOTEBOOK COMPUTER

COMPUTERS / GADGETS / ESSAYS / 2022-11-28

A truly “Pro” notebook computer would feature: • an ortholinear, split & probably concave keyboard optimized for touch-typing • an Apple Pencil compactible screen • a 21:9 screen ratio / form factor But hey, who’s thinking about pros these days, eh? Economies of scale rule…  + 

RUNNING A BUSINESS IS NOT AS FUN AS YOU MIGHT THINK

ACCOUNTING / MANAGEMENT / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-11-27

Where does this voguish idea of everyone becoming a glamorous and fun entrepreneur come from? Sorry, but: 1) most people are not born with the DNA required to run a business; 2) while being an entrepreneur adds a lot of positive nouns to your life,  + 

LIFE IS SHORT AND UNCERTAIN… ACT NOW

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / SPIRIT / ESSAYS / 2022-10-18

Life is short. You might have heard that one before. And uncertain. You can die at any moment, making it even shorter. So think hard about what you do with your gift of life right now, not after you “get funded” or “feel inspired” or  + 

ROBERT SAPOLSKY ON WHY RUSSIANS ARE STUCK IN A SUBMISSIVE / AGGRESSIVE LOOP

POLITICS / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / LINKS / 2022-10-12

An interesting take on why Russians have been stuck in a submissive / aggressive loop for centuries by Robert Sapolsky, who privileges the nurture (culture) component rather than the nature (DNA) factor. I’d disagree somewhat: the negative selection pressure has expunged the country of its  + 

WHY EVERYONE AND YOUR GRANDMOTHER NEEDS AN AR-15?

POLITICS / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-10-07

A well-researched, superbly edited, humorous video explaining why every American, especially a senior, needs an AR-15 gun. In all seriousness. Or how to build the perfect straw man with a bit of a circular thing goin’. His logic: US civilians need the same firearms as  + 

THE FLUID OF STARS AT THE BOUNDARIES OF STATES

PHYSICS / ESSAYS / 2022-08-27

We model the galaxies as a sort of fluid of stars, where the interactions are not electromagnetic, but gravitational. So, galaxies are fluids of stars, which themselves are made of plasmas of hydrogen made of frozen nuggets of quark matter. Yet again, there are no  + 

EURO COMPANY CULTURE: SAME DATE DELIVERY… NO, VACATIONS

LOGISTICS / MANAGEMENT / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-08-14

What is an Express Delivery by a  European company, within the EU (no customs)? Ordered: Thursday 14:00, courier picked up on Friday, delivered next week on Wednesday 18:00. 🙄 Similar service name by an American company, also in the EU: picked up same day 20:00,  + 

I CAN’T THINK OF A TITLE FOR THIS STORY OF WARPED MOTHERHOOD

ECONOMICS / POLITICS / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-08-09

In the US state of Nebraska, a 17-year-old girl got pregnant, decided to abort but couldn’t because of local laws, received help from her mother to buy and administer mifepristone and misoprostol, miscarried, buried the fetus… and discussed the details on Facebook Messenger… The private  + 

THE FEAR OF THE WORLD GOVERNMENT

ECONOMICS / LOGISTICS / POLITICS / TRAVEL / ESSAYS / 2022-07-25

The observable universe is a sphere of 93 billion light years in diameter. Our Universe contains 200 billion trillion stars (with their planets). And yet, people are against a “World Government” for a puny rock that you can fly around under 45 hours in a  + 

JORDAN PETERSON’S OPINION ABOUT THE RU-UA CONFLICT IS HYSTERICAL & WRONG

ECONOMICS / POLITICS / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-07-18

Impressive to watch such a hysterical Descent of Man. Despite decades of his “studies” of Russian literature and totalitarianism, Jordan Peterson completely misunderstands what’s going on in Russia, NATO, rouble (un)currency, global economy, and uses a real war killing real people to talk about a  + 

BIZARRE GOOGLE REVIEWS OF EUROPEAN LOGISTICS CENTERS

LOGISTICS / SOCIETY / TRANSPORTATION / ESSAYS / 2022-07-15

Bizarre Google Reviews of European logistics centers, such as Dachser, Geodis, Kuehne+Nagel… 4-5 stars from truckers — hauling the semi-trailer 1-2 stars from end-customers — businesses and consumers unable to schedule a pick-up or delivery 🤷🏻‍♂️ Truck drivers commenting the tidy toilets and lacking space  + 

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR RUNNING SHOES OR SANDALS?

RUNNING / ESSAYS / 2022-06-19

How to choose your running shoes or sandals after you’ve done your homework and narrowed the choice to 3-4 pairs? run in each pair — which one gives you the childish sensation of flight? reduce to 2 pairs — put a different shoe on each  + 

CAR-CENTRIC CITIES OF AMERICA CREATE NATIONS OF STAY-AT-HOME-GAMERS

EDUCATION / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / LINKS / 2022-06-10

Car-centric urban planning in North America creates nations of stay-at-home-gamers “under adequate supervision” that fail to acquire social interaction skills till the age of 16 (when they can get a driver’s license)… So their 20′s and 30′s are spent being a teenager, “discovering the world  + 

THE OPAQUE AND CONVOLUTED ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION

ARCHITECTURE / LINGUISTICS / ESSAYS / 2022-05-29

I wonder how much time architects spend writing instead of designing? The typical text that describes a random contemporary house is something else… “Architecture, specifically the house, is an act of enabling shelter, a vessel through which in turn enables habitation and the ongoing experience  + 

CIGARETTE SMOKERS HAVE LOWER IQ THAN NON-SMOKERS

HEALTH / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-03-29

I’ve been wondering about indirect IQ measurements. One of them, is… smoking. Yes, people still smoke tobacco in 2022. A lot of people. 🤢 Cigarette smokers have lower IQs than non-smokers, and the more a person smokes, the lower their IQ. For example, this study  + 

SPECIAL OPERATIONS

CINEMA / POLITICS / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-03-01

You know what’s “special” about “an operation”? It’s when it CREATES something new. A piece of art: a film, a book, a soundtrack. A scientific discovery. A technological breakthrough. A medical procedure that allows us to walk hours after appendectomy. A business that transforms us  + 

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