ANATOLY IVANOV / PROSE / CATEGORIES / ESSAYS

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  + 

HOW TO SPOT SOMEONE SERIOUS ABOUT YOGA?

HEALTH / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / SPIRIT / ESSAYS / 2022-02-10

They: don’t go to a “studio” — they practice at home / office / traveling… daily, wearing whatever or semi-naked (no “yoga” apparel) sit in siddhasana / padmasana casually “because it’s comfy” while talking / eating / typing — optimize for meditation, not circus acrobatics  + 

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE AN APPLE MACOS DEVELOPER?

COMPUTERS / MANAGEMENT / PSYCHOLOGY / ESSAYS / 2022-02-01

I’ve always wondered: how does it feel to be an Apple macOS developer? You can’t isolate yourself from the ‘official’ bug reports, or the ‘unofficial’, but very vocal and public grudges on Twitter, about the character / emojis palette random misbehavior since, when, 2014? Or  + 

UNDERSTANDING NEUROTYPICALITY — BY UNKNOWN AUTHOR

SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2022-01-24

“Neurotypicality is a pervasive developmental condition, probably present since birth, in which the affected person sees the world in a very strange manner. It is a puzzle; a enigma that traps those so affected in a lifelong struggle for social status and recognition. Neurotypical individuals  + 

DEBRIEFING INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS IN RELATIONSHIPS?

PSYCHOLOGY / TRANSPORTATION / ESSAYS / 2022-01-22

Do you know how the aviation industry improved to become the safest mode of transportation? Debriefings of incidents and accidents. Do we debrief our failed relationships? No. Do we improve? No. We get into the same cockpit of a 1970′s McDonnell Douglas DC-10 saying “oh,  + 

DRESS LESS FOR SUCCESS… AND A PAIN-FREE LIFE

HEALTH / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2021-08-06

We, humans, have a physical body problem. And it’s not a postmodern “obese body positivity” problem. It’s a “people are either over-clothed (men), or under-dressed (women)” problem.  + 

QUICKLY GAUGE A PERSON BY INQUIRING ABOUT THEIR OPINION

ECONOMICS / HEALTH / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2021-03-19

These days, you can super-quickly gauge a person by inquiring about their opinion on: Covid-19 vaccines climate change religion (especially Islam) UBI (Universal Basic Income) equality of outcome (especially gender issues) body fat over 30% Superb predictive power, eh?  + 

VACCINATION IS THE ONLY WAY OUT

BIOLOGY / HEALTH / POLITICS / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2021-03-02

7,8 billion people currently live on our planet. Only 114 million have been confirmed as infected by Covid-19. That’s less than 2%. The virus will keep eating through the remaining 98% for years. As most governments… or, more accurately, we don’t care enough about others  + 

WHY CHANGE AND IMPROVE?

PSYCHOLOGY / ESSAYS / 2020-07-09

Why would you want to improve yourself, others and the world? — To experience less pain and suffering… especially when you interact with reality. If all is great in your life and you’re content with everything, then don’t improve, stay the same. But even the greatest,  + 

HOW TO USE INSTAGRAM TO LEARN ABOUT SOMEONE

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIAL MEDIA / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-07-02

Instagram is a great tool to get to know people. Open a profile and: Scroll through their posts — sample their taste (or lack thereof), attention to detail (feet cut off, random branches in the frame, etc.) Pay attention to the number of selfies —  + 

MEN ALSO TEST THEIR WOMEN

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-06-24

There’s this idea that only women “test” their men. Nah. Men test their women as well. And it’s OK to test early, test often. Even testing to failure. Like we do in engineering. But what’s really important is the quality of those tests. Because the  + 

WHERE TO FIND YOUR CUSTOM WATCHLISTS ON EBAY?

PRODUCTIVITY / WEB DESIGN / ESSAYS / 2020-06-23

If you’re struggling to find your “to buy” lists on eBay… because your “Watchlist” button on top shows empty. hover the “My eBay” button on top left … but don’t click it select the “Watchlist” item in this hovered menu and click that you’ll arrive  + 

IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ADDICTED, DON’T USE IT AS A METAPHOR

HEALTH / ESSAYS / 2020-05-24

“For me, it was like getting addicted to crack / meth / heroin / LSD” … says yet another person who’d never used any of those, and who’d never been addicted to anything worse than caffeine or chocolate. I mean, come on, people, choose your  + 

DO YOU CHOOSE SAFE OR STRONG?

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-05-19

Strong is an active capacity to interact, rebound and grow in adversity (emotional, intellectual, physical). Strong is seeking out adventure and challenge, people that disagree with you, mentors that pinpoint your fallacies, nature that humbles your invincibility. Strong is giving your best to build new  + 

YOU MAY THINK WHATEVER NONSENSE YOU LIKE… TILL REALITY KNOCKS YOU OUT

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-05-06

It’s real simple. The brain is an organ which, like any other organ in the body, maintains an acceptable state of balance to remain alive. Your consciousness is a (small) part of this organ’s activity. To keep the brain in balance, the consciousness creates stories  + 

CAUSES CHANGE. CULTURES REMAIN.

CINEMA / POLITICS / ESSAYS / 2020-04-21

Thanks to HBO’s Chernobyl, fewer people worldwide will rejoice at the officially low stats of Covid-19 deaths in Russia. Causes change. Cultures remain.  + 

I WANTED TO FEEL SAFE

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-04-17

“I wanted to feel safe. So I went to a safe college, my parents told me it’s for my job security. I didn’t go alpine climbing. I didn’t travel to India. I never rode in a helicopter. I never sailed offshore on a sail yacht.  + 

WE KNOW ABOUT THE BAD THINGS WELL IN ADVANCE

HEALTH / PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-03-16

Just to be clear. As a civilisation, we knew about the current viral pandemic, the 2008 crisis, terrorist attacks beforehand… and we know perfectly well about the next climate-change related disasters. Have we done anything to avert “the situation”? Nah, not really. Very similar to  + 

EXPONENTIAL VS LINEAR THINKING IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

BIOLOGY / MATHEMATICS / PSYCHOLOGY / ESSAYS / 2020-03-09

The people most alarmed about the coronavirus seem to be people accustomed to thinking exponentially — people in tech, finance, and science. People least alarmed are those used to thinking about problems linearly. The problem isn’t the virus itself. It’s the under-provisioned healthcare systems and  + 

COMFORT, PREDICTABILITY, SAFETY AND FUN

PSYCHOLOGY / SOCIETY / ESSAYS / 2020-03-05

Work? 35 hours a week, with counselling and coaching. Travel? Only to pre-approved and reviewed AirBnBs. Sex? Only with inclusive, body-positive people who’ll repeat how gorgeous you are. Not too physical, though. Heart rate below 90 BPM. Drugs? Only comfortable to use, safe to buy,  + 

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