Leo's Blog: Infinite Insights — Page 129

I found a huge lifehack for how I consume video and audio content. It's very simple and obvious but a game-changer.

From now on I start consuming all video and audio content 10% in. And 20% in for any topic related to news or politics.

That's it. That's the whole hack.

The way it works is, if I open a new YT video, podcast, or audio book, I jump 10-20% forward and starting my watching/listening from there.

Over the years this will save you 100s of hours of wasted time. Most YT videos and podcasts have no meaningful content within the first 10%. It's a bunch of boilerplate, intro, recap, garbage, devoid of substance. The way your mind works, you don't need to consume content in linear order. You can start watching a video or reading a book from 50% and your mind will still make sense of it. And if that 50% is good enough you can go back and listen to it from the start. But most content is not deep enough to warrant such meticulous attention. Except mine of course. You gotta watch my videos from 0%. :P

This simple little lifehack has revolutionized how I consume content. I am no longer a slave to the linear format nor do I respect the sequence of events that authors lays out. I jump around and scavenge from content exactly what I need. Stop trying to be a completionist about content (books, videos, podcasts, etc). Most content is not good enough to warrant it and actually abuses your time and focus. Take back the authority of your own mind. Learn material how you need, not how someone laid it out. They don't know you. They don't know what you know and what you need.

Throw away this notion that you need to sit down and consume a piece of content from start to finish. From now on, content has to earn that right.

If you skip the first 20% of political videos, especially, you will jump straight to the good bits. Over time you will develop a feel for which content should be started where. It's an intuition you will build.

Maybe that hot witch girlfriend was not such a good idea.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a crocodile ;)

When I first invented my crocodile metaphor, I saw crocodiles every day for like a month. It was like the universe communicating to me in crocodiles. I might be walking through a mall and see a Lacoste store. Once you see it you can't unsee it. Crocodile Awakening.

I was studying synesthesia when I came across the following curious story:

A man who is able to taste colors sees a unique color for each type of food. So he invents recipes to maximize the taste of his colors. He will cook up a roasted chicken breast with strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Why this combination? Because each item in the recipe corresponds to the same color, say, dark blue, and he eats to maximize the taste of a specific shade. Imagine that when you eat chicken you experience dark blue. And if you stack that chicken with strawberries and vanilla ice cream you get the purest, strongest dark blue.

So this man is on a culinary quest to taste the most beautiful and delicious colors. Whereas the typical human distinguishes between about 5 shades of a color — sky blue, navy, sapphire, indigo, cobalt, etc — a typical synesthete will distinguish up to 30. So he can make 30 recipes to maximize the taste of 30 different blues.

Attending a dinner, one synesthete remarked that the chicken was not pointy enough for his liking, because he tastes geometric shapes and he likes the pointy ones.

There are over 30 different types of synesthesia, some as common as 4% of the population, some as rare as one in a million.

This gives you a little taste of the power of Consciousness.

I love watching bushcraft & outdoor survival videos.

Here are some of my faves:

I will share many more in the future.

If you find good bushcraft videos, share them on the Actualized Forum Bushcraft Mega-Thread.

I'm sharing another cure for Tinnitus. It's called Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT). Basically, how it works is that you buy special red laser earbuds and wear them 20-30 minutes each day. The red light from the laser is very strong and penetrates deep into your inner ear. This red light has the ability to stimulate cell healing and regeneration. Clinical studies show that red light of certain wave lengths can help to stimulate cell healing and improve the healing of wounds. How reliable are such studies? I don't know, but if you're suffering from tinnitus you'll try anything.

There is solid anecdotal evidence that LLLT has helped to reduce some people's tinnitus. But keep in mind that these results are highly variable. Not all tinnitus is the same and LLLT does not work for everyone who tries it. But I have read credible reports where it significantly helped people with tinnitus, and from my own case it seems to have helped me, although not entirely. It's a partial remedy at best.

How to do LLLT:

• You need to purchase very specific red laser earbuds. Click Here for the product I recommend. This is the product I use. It costs $840. This includes a device and two sets of earbuds, each emits a different wavelength of light. One is visible red (660nm) and the other is barely visible infrared (808nm).
• If you think this price is expensive, it's actually the cheapest version of this device. Other brands cost $1500+. There's not many brands available. You can potentially try to buy a used version.
• You can buy that device on this page. There are many versions of the device for sale, with various headsets and colors. I recommend the following model: emLas-520BCB. That's the black colored version, you can also buy it in white color if you prefer.
• Once you receive the device, start low and slow. Don't use it more than 15 mins per day for the first week or two. During this period pay close attention to how your tinnitus changes, if at all.
• Be careful because there is a small chance that this could make your tinnitus worse. Test gradually.
• In practice LLLT can temporarily make tinnitus a bit worse, but after a few days your ears should heal and improve and ultimately the tinnitus lowers over weeks. So expect that kind of process. Healing will not necessarily feel better every day.
• Alternate between the two different sets of earbuds every day. So, do a day of 660nm light, followed the next day by 808nm light, and keep switching. Using multiple wavelengths gives you more chances to activate healing.
• As long as your tinnitus is not getting much worse, increase the duration that you use the earphones each day, up to 30 minutes per day.
• Once I realized that this device is not making my tinnitus worse, I started using it 20 mins on 660nm + 20 mins of 808nm light each day. For 40 mins total. And I plan to increase that even more in the future.
• Keep doing this practice every day for at least a month. Possibly more. It just depends on how things feel for you.
• I recommend you buy some extra ear tips for your device on that website at checkout. They sell various sizes of ear tips. Buy various sizes because you can't predict which set of tips will fit your ears best. The cost is minimal relative to the shipping fees you'll have to pay to order a single set of tips. It's also good to have extra tips in case you lose one or they get too dirty.
• It is recommended that you modify the ear tips you receive by cutting off 1/3rd of the base. This ensures that the red laser emitter sits closer to your ear, so the light penetrates deeper into your ear. This modification is easy to make with small sharp scissors or Exacto-knife.

Here's a link to a forum where this treatment protocol is discussed in great detail.

Do your research before trying this method. I make no promises that it will work for you, and it could potentially make things worse. So use your best judgment.

Note: This is not a sales promotion, affiliate offer, or sponsorship. I receive no money from you buying this device.