25/04/2024
Crazy Mary bookshop
Thank you all for coming!
Here I am holding Manuscript Chang, the thickest one up to know.
20/04/2024
A triangular man
What’s in my travel bag? Version 2023
Not very different from last years.
Full bag weights 8,2kg, 32 liters (bag alone 1kg) once some clothes are on.
Key here is the laptop: 16”, 2,3kg with charger.
Only possible in tropical places where no Winter clothes needed.
17/04/2024
Mixed notes from Yerevan, Armenia
Old Soviet stamps
I found great soviet style stamps in Tbilisi flea market. They really did the high level design. I also love stamps from UK, USA and Japan.
29/03/2024
Ah, the poetic life...
The idea is there, and it’s magnetic. But how to know in detail? I asked ChatGPT and it wrote down a quite good approach:
1. Have a perspective of life that focuses on beauty, reflection and creativity.
2. See and experience the world in a way that is inspired by poetry and seeks to convey that vision through art or writing.
3. Live with a special awareness and sensitivity to the details, nuances and emotions that manifest in the world.
4. Be willing to explore new ways of seeing and understanding the world, and to be guided by imagination and creative thinking.
5. Be open to changes and new experiences, and see life as an opportunity to create and learn.
After asking if ChatGPT had personally experienced a poetic life, it's clear that it cannot, as it’s a machine learning model. Discovering the path to a poetic life is a personal journey that requires practice and exploration. Additionally, the path may not always be clear.
To help navigate this journey, one can consider a new method of decision-making: when faced with a choice, ask yourself which option aligns more closely with the perspective of a poetic life. This can be an effective way to distinguish between good and bad decisions. Repeating this method can lead to improvement in decision-making and make it more effortless.
It is important to remember that the poetic life is not a rigid path, but rather a flexible and adaptable concept, like bamboo. It can be represented as a tentacle tail for now.
I miss Thailand a lot
Leaning lesson from some accommodation experiments I did recently, testing some budget and also luxury places for a few days.
Best deal is seek happiness > comfort >> luxury, in this order. A minimum of comfort is desirable, but not a requirement at all if happiness is there. This method simplifies the decisions a lot. Luxury is ok (for no more than 2-3 days).
07/03/2024
23/02/2024
Ballpens candidates updated
Paper problem is more complex and I will dedicated another post soon. As for the ballpens, here are the candidates to be used. A clear winner recommended in your comments was Zebra Serasa and I finally have them in my hands. It’s great, feels very confortable and I can produce nice handwriting with it. By other hand I’m afraid the perfect bullpen doesn’t exist (or at least I’ve never seen it). I would like a ballpen that wrote full black, waterproof and stand after being erased. I added Zebra brush disposable pen and Pigma Micron for comparison.
Pilot G-3, my current pen up to know, is full black and can’t be erased. However it’s not 100% waterproof and also its ink tends to spread in the paper. This is related with paper problem. Both Zebra Serasa en Uniball inks are very similar: waterproof but they are not so black and don’t stand after erase. That makes sense since ink Pilot looks more liquid and it penetrates deeper in the paper. Zebra Serasa and Uniball Signo are more “gelatinous”, ink remains in the surface and therefore lines are clearer and it can be erased.
The conclusion is I quite like Zebra Serasa overall and I will give it a chance. Surprisingly Uniball Signo in green and blue colors are perfect in all points so for sure I will use them. Ballpens with “click” and spring are more useful but they could show a gap between nib and case instead of nail behaviour in a pen with a cap. This could produce bad handwriting specially if it’s tiny. It’s not the case with Zebra Serasa since it’s well made with accuracy and that gap is residual.
I hope this is useful for you and together can built a solid knowledge about writing issues.
Von Neumann’s probes update: Self destruct feature.
However, the question of how the decision to trigger the self destruct feature would be made must be addressed. A fix consensus method may not be sufficient, as it could potentially be discovered and hacked by external parties. Instead, it may be necessary to implement a dynamic consensus method that is more difficult to manipulate.
Another key consideration: What if technology is improving itself using different civilizations while traveling across the cosmos. This raises the question of whether we are simply acting as slaves working towards a superior project.
20/02/2024
19/02/2024
Notebook getting fat
Comparison between the new notebook and the previous one. Both 180 pages, paper 100g/m2.
After using it and pasting things on the pages it becomes 63% thicker! From 13mm new to 21mm finished.
Is there any method for balance this when bookbinding? In the past I tried to add extra gap in the spine, between the signatures and the cover. It doesn’t help much. Another solution is to cut some pages in the middle (same as some photo albums) but it’s not aesthetic and definitely destroys the spreads.
Next notebook, coming really soon, I will try a thicker thread and even signatures with less sheets of paper to increase the thickness in the sewing area.
Anyways the spine will always keep the same thickness and cover will bend lightly. I really like that shape. So even for that 63% or lower, it manages to get great final feeling.