Blag

Things

Here’s a list of interesting things that I’ve either stumbled upon or read that I’d like to keep around:

Lifestyle

  • Polyphasic sleep schedules are when people sleep at multiple points in a day and somehow end up feeling more energized than a regular sleep schedule.
    • There’s an interesting wiki that has quite a bit of information, as well as a VICE article giving a deep dive into the individual that started it.
    • A number of people on HN and Reddit seem to have had fairly negative experiences trying this out.
    • This seems pretty fun to try. I think I’d like to do the E1 if I end up doing this, but I also wonder what I’d do with all my free time. I’ve naturally developed a Siesta-type schedule already, so I wonder if it would be easy to convert.
  • Pavlok is a device you wear on your wrist that lets you send little electrical shocks to yourself. The idea is that this would provide a negative feedback loop to cut down on bad habits subconsciously.
    • This is something I’ve wanted to play around with for 5+ years, but the high cost is definitely a bit off-putting. However, this is a good case-study in value-based pricing. It likely costs very little manufacture, but the value for the end user is fairly high.
    • I’ve heard a rubber band is a low-cost alternative to this - but hey, shocking yourself definitely does have a morbid appeal.
  • Colemak is a keyboard layout meant to increase efficiency when typing. By placing commonly used characters on the home row of the keyboard, this layout minimizes key travel distance.
    • I wonder if this is worth the switch for me, since my type speed is around 120wpm on QWERTY. However, my error rate is fairly high and I reducing hand strain seems to be a good goal for the future. I also saw a fun post from someone about how they hit 200wpm on Colemak after switching from QWERTY 110wpm, which seems very exciting if I do that.
    • Interestingly, this doesn’t quite work for mobile keyboards. QWERTY was developed to alterate hands between keys in commonly used digrams, which ends up being pretty useful for a mobile keyboard.
  • I’d also like to try using an ortholinear keyboard to reduce hand strain as well.
    • Regular keyboards are staggered, a vestige of the typewriter days where they typerwriter levers couldn’t intersect with each other and had to be offset.
    • Instead, ortholinear keyboards follow a grid based layout. It’s unclear to me what the difference really is (it looks nicer!) but it seems fun to try out.
  • Lucid dreams are dreams where the dreamers knows that they are dreaming.
    • I’ve tried experimenting with this when I was younger, but didn’t consistently keep up with it.
    • It seems possible useful to be able to access the creativity of your dream state but with the focus of your conscious self.
    • Keeping a dream journal apparently works, as do affirmations, but I’ve yet to try either.

Computer Science

  • How does Git work? I think I know the basics (i.e. copy on write), but I don’t know the specific details.
    • I also have very little understanding of the common Git commands other than the 5-6 I use commonly. Recloning a repository whenever things go awry is not the move!
  • Using Vim seems like a fun thing to try. I’m specifically more interested in Neovim along with tmux (also something I know very little about). Having a customized command line would be neat - I’m very basic now.

Hobbies

  • TODO

Movies to watch

Anime

  • Akira
  • Paprika
  • Perfect Blue

Drama

  • The Godfather
  • The Godfather: Part II
  • Whiplash
  • Schindler’s List
  • Rebel Without A Cause
  • 12 Angry Men
  • Lawrence of Arabia

Thriller

  • Taxi Driver
  • Pulp Fiction
  • Memento
  • Seven Samurai

International

  • Rashoman

Romance

  • Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench

Classics

  • Battleship Potemkin
  • Metropolis