MuadDib

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Mourning. She settled upon me as dew in the early morning fields of tenderness. My world shifted an inch as she raised her head, the fluttering of her lashes rousing birds warmly nested within. Her glance pierced me as the golden rays of dawn beckoned all that was natural to summon itself from dreary slumber. Her fingers twinkled in the dewdrop's delicate retreat from the impressions they imparted. Sparrows stretched their wings and quickly leapt downward, with a soft fearlessness. She drew me out and folded me away. My heart mourns. It mourns the loss of late-night driving and walking with you hand in hand, Out into the wide yonder of foreverywhere, where dreams are birthed and all that is false goes to die. It mourns lazy afternoons with you, tucked away in a mundane corner of the world, Etching out something of such little and profound consequence, Before eating a meal together, watching a film together, and then falling asleep together, back into foreverywhere. In here. Where a knotted pulse unwinds and the soul finds reprieve from all its transgressions. Wounded teardrops falling like rain to nourish newborn dreaming. Pain pours out of me as I sink into peaceful loving.

Something for nothing a dishonest day's work

"My cartoons were interrupted to show me 3,000 Americans die on live TV when I was just a kid. And honestly? Things haven't gotten better." - A millennial

Abattoir photoshoot

Bernie Pitt '24

One must imagine Sisyphus happy

Efficient Language Learning: Focusing on Frequency and Context I've recently discovered a valuable resource for language learning: a series of audiobooks with accompanying PDF files by Lingo Mastery. These materials cover the 2000 most frequently occurring words in the target language, along with their usage in context by native speakers. This approach aligns well with the widely recognized method of learning languages by starting with the most common words. To illustrate the power of this method, consider that in English, the top 100 most frequent words account for approximately 50% of all spoken language. While knowing these words alone won't make you fluent, it does enable you to distinguish unique parts of speech and follow the flow of ideas. It is curious to watch your mind slowly transition from a state where your target language simply sounds like never-ending babbling and noise to a stage where it clearly distinguishes where one-word ends and another begins, even if you don't know what the words mean. Expanding this to the top 2000 words covers about 90% of all spoken English. This approach provides an efficient way to jumpstart your learning in a new language, allowing you to grasp the context, understand the general gist of conversations, and intuitively begin to comprehend the underlying grammatical structures. This method also demonstrates the process of identifying principles experientially rather than conceptually. It's interesting to contemplate how children manage to learn the grammatical rules (principles) of their native languages, effortlessly while many struggle with textbook-based grammar lessons in school. This observation led me to an idea for enhancing the learning process a few years ago, which I hope to explore further when I integrate Range with Magic in the future. To maximize the utility of these resources, I've developed a technique using AI and audio editing tools: Feed the PDF files into an AI and request the words, their translations, example sentences, and translations be returned in CSV or Excel format. Import this data into Anki I use OpenAudible to obtain the audiobook files. (it's a paid product, but worth it to manage, store, and convert all audible stuffs) Utilize Audacity to clip the audio for each word and example sentence. Add these audio clips to the corresponding Anki flashcards. By practicing with these enhanced flashcards - handwriting the words, attempting pronunciation, and listening to correct native pronunciation - you engage more neural pathways than simple memorization. This multi-sensory approach involves fine motor control for writing and speaking, which translates into a higher-resolution ability to distinguish nuances in new words or sentences. This method not only aids in efficient vocabulary acquisition but also demonstrates the meta-skills of making distinctions, body awareness, and identifying principles to increase overall learning capacity as described in Mastery. It's a holistic approach that engages multiple senses and skills, potentially leading to faster and more robust language acquisition. I hope to apply the meta-skills to the art of discipline itself.

"The archer who does not share with others the joy of the bow and the arrow will never know his own qualities and defects." - Paulo Coelho

Mastering Discipline: My Journey and Methods Recently, I've been deeply contemplating the art of discipline - what it means, what it requires, and how to master it. To this end, I've embarked on an intensive study of Peter Ralston's book "Mastery," employing a method I call "deep reading." This approach involves reading a page (or 2 depending on the context), handwriting questions to clarify my understanding, and then using AI (Claude and GPT-4) to identify nuances I might have missed. This process helps me gain experiential understanding of some of the concepts that goes beyond mere intellectual comprehension. It may seem like overkill, but I only do this for specific books; such as Ralstons where there is much more depth than may initially be assumed. I plan to apply this technique to all of Ralston's books over several months. By doing so, I aim to thoroughly understand the terrain he's mapping before venturing out on my own in the coming years. To supplement this core practice, I'm also utilizing tools like Anki for spaced repetition, engaging in language learning, together with revisiting the questions I generate with deep reading. I believe these methods shall all serve to improve my learning process while uncovering the hidden principles of "discipline". This is an assumption, however, and I am open to being wrong if I identify certain principles that undermine it. Interestingly, I've found that learning languages offers unique insights that I haven't been able to replicate through other means. While knowing multiple languages has its marginal benefits, especially in this day and age where technology provides rapid and accurate translation, I've discovered it provides an experiential awareness of mental constructs that is truly invaluable. It offers a deep understanding of mind, thought, conceptualization, and interpretation that goes beyond the surface-level advantages of multilingualism. My ultimate goal is to evolve from my current level of discipline to someone who is genuinely moving toward mastery. I'm not starting from scratch - I'm not terrible at discipline - but I recognize there's significant room for growth. Through this journey, I hope to uncover and internalize the hidden principles of discipline that separate the truly exceptional from the merely good, or just from the other impulsive brats with high willpower and pain tolerance relative to the average population. In my next post, I plan to share some methods I've developed for creating high-quality flashcards for common languages. I believe these techniques will be useful for others on a similar path of self-improvement and language acquisition or can be applied to similar contexts not related to languages.

While abroad for my sister’s wedding ceremony (a joyous occasion!), my mother began expressing a desire to explore spirituality more deeply, often dropping hints and asking for help to have a psychedelic experience. My father, always pragmatic and grounded, has also shown interest in discovering “something more” as the passage of time has gradually tightened its grip on his health and vitality. I sense a struggle within him to find meaning in various aspects of his life. He's at a point of "fuggit, I don't have much to lose". While he has always been a loving father, present and supportive, he has occasionally viewed my life choices with skepticism, all the while observing with interest and respect the sincerity and rigor I bring to my spiritual practice. Neither of them are particularly interested in metaphysics, epistemology, theology, or ontology—nor in any complex terminology for that matter. They're not stupid, far from it, but just ordinary everyday people living their lives. I intended to provide them with a meaningful experience, hoping to give something back to them through this exploration. Trip Report: Mother's Experience Preparation: I weighed out and prepared a 50mg dose. We began our session with a round of Wim Hof breathing, setting the tone for the experience. On the third cycle, I prepared the vaporizer, warmed up the chamber, and selected a calming music playlist. The Experience: Sitting slightly hunched over, my mother struggled with her breathing but managed to take two decent hits. Almost immediately, she described feeling a sense of intoxication, and her visual perception shifted. The colors around her appeared muddy as she yelled “no, no, no” to herself, convinced she might be vocalizing (shouting out loud) but she remained silent. Then, with a decisive “yes,” she surrendered to the experience. She vividly described reality fracturing into geometric, mathematical shapes, likening it to being plugged into a computer program. As she navigated through intricate tunnels and forms, the colors intensified, but she found the experience somewhat unsettling due to its inorganic nature. A masculine presence was felt, yet no direct communication occurred. I played didgeridoo music in the background, but she later expressed a preference for African drumming and flutes. Halfway through her journey, she opened her eyes and noted that reality resembled a geometric drawing on a foundational canvas, marked by precise mathematical structures. Though she was disappointed not to achieve a full breakthrough, her first words upon returning were, “Wow, you broke reality for me.” She left with a clearer understanding of what to expect in future sessions and hopes that improved breathing and posture will facilitate a breakthrough next time. When I looked in the bottom of the vaporizer I had made I could see that about 1/3 of the dose remained in the bottom. Trip Report: Father's Experience Preparation: I again weighted out a 50mg dose. My father appeared slightly more anxious as we began with the Wim Hof breathing technique. After observing my mother, I filled the vapor chamber more generously for his first hit. The Experience: He managed to inhale but coughed slightly, becoming overly fixated on holding his breath, which affected his second hit. He later said he may not have inhaled fully, believing most vapors remained in his mouth rather than reaching his lungs. He lay back and experienced a bright light enveloping him, accompanied by complex patterns and movements. He described a duality to his perception: while one half of reality was vibrant, the other remained somewhat unchanged, as if he was in two worlds at once. A presence reminiscent of an Egyptian woman lingered at the periphery, observing him with mild interest but without interaction. Upon returning, he struggled to articulate his feelings or visions, indicating that he would need time—possibly weeks—to integrate the experience. While he didn’t achieve a breakthrough, he found the session mind-expanding and intriguing, though it didn’t shatter his sense of reality or alleviate any death anxiety as he had hoped. Psilocybin and MDMA have been rescheduled for therapeutic use in Australia, and it's likely DMT will be legalized soon too for veterans affairs, reports such as these give me hope that in my lifetime there will be a restructuring of society's beliefs and attitudes towards these types of experiences. For now though, if you want to do it legally you have to travel. (:

Taking a long ass break yo...

If you like Piña coladas, and getting caught in the rainbow.

Wedding

T G I F

Bro, I can't afford batteries once, let alone once every ten years. I was also thinking of getting damp towels and wrapping them over my feet at night, and then just having a USB-powered fan blow over them for some concentrated evaporative cooling on one of the body's primary heat radiation centres. If a towel is too clumsy, I also thought of just dumping a pair of fluffy slippers in water and using that as an alternative. I thought a garden hand pump sprayer like this could be an excellent makeshift shower. I could use it over a large tote with some rainwater sheets I have from a tent I slept in for months. I could also use the neat tent poles to make a structure over it that could all collapse down when needed.

I've been researching and documenting ways to cool and heat vans or dongas without relying heavily on electricity. This is important because electrical power is often the main limiting factor in van builds, especially in hotter climates. One method I'm particularly interested in is creating a highly emissive paint using barium sulphate. I'd like to make my own mixture of this paint and apply it to a van to test its effectiveness one day. Your persistence is so inspiring to me. Maybe one day I could own a home too. The goal is to find energy-efficient cooling and heating solutions that don't require much electricity, making them more practical for van life and mobile living spaces.

Welcome ... Welcome

Homework for Larry

Straight White Men