life is
so much easier
when you have
a landmark
to orientate you
it may not be
anybody else’s landmark
(and it shouldn’t be)
but at least
you will know
where everybody else
is in relation to you
that is
the whole point
of choosing
a landmark
Category: thoughts
Interdependence
All conditioned things are interdependent.
Building a philosophy
A famous fashion brand once made a commercial talking about its philosophy. It goes like this: their creations have to be simple, useful, beautiful, dependable, and durable.
To be simple is to have no more components or features than is necessary. To be useful is to serve the purpose that it was created for. To be beautiful is to balance simplicity with functionality. To be dependable is to function as intended. To be durable is to function as intended over time.
These are not bad concepts to hold at all.
Choosing an automatic watch
Men have fewer options compared to women for accessories, let alone jewelry. The watch is perhaps the one accessory that a man can express his fashion sense and tastes.
The choice of buying a watch for the moment versus buying a watch to last a lifetime shows a man’s values and qualities. A well chosen watch shows thought and conviction. It is a statement, an expression of the man.
A watch should standalone as a little piece of art but should match the wearer’s personality and lifestyle. How a man maintains a watch reflects upon how he maintains himself.
Mechanical GMT
Few people realize just what a big deal it is that Seiko brought out an automatic GMT movement last year. Not that GMT movements haven’t been around for long. They have. But that this automatic GMT cost less than USD500 that is the big deal. There are not many automatic GMTs in the USD1000-2000 let alone one sub-USD1000. So when Seiko makes one at this price point people’s antennas are going to prick up.
We are certainly going to see this movement in non-Seiko watches as soon as they release it to the public under their NH brand.
Why I want an 80 hour power reserve watch
The norm for automatic watches is 40 hours power reserve. That is a little over a day and a half.
This in my mind is too short. It means a watch needs to be worn daily in order to be charged, without needing the time to be set again when worn.
This is fine if you only ever wear one watch. Of the watch industry for automatic watches wants me to buy more of their products then a longer power reserve is needed.
I have a 40 hour power reserve dress watch that I used for work. But on weekends it is too formal with my casual clothes. So I have a second watch (a diver watch) to accessorize with my wardrobe. but by the time I comes Monday my work watch has stopped and I have to set the time again.
If I had an 80 hour power reserve dress watch I could come back after the weekend without having to reset the watch. This is why the Powermatic 80 by Tissot is so attractive, especially the Gentleman. To me this is the ideal work watch. Simple, dressy, practical.
Of course, I could just get a quartz watch and never worry about setting the time for years but that wouldn’t be fun at all. There is no romance to that.
Blogging anniversary
Until recently I didn’t know when wordpress.com (not wordpress.org) started – late 2005.
And this blog, signature103, was my first blog anywhere online. I started it on this day in February 2006. This makes me a kind of early adopter here.
The blog is older than my daughter so it’s a kind of journal and journey of this time.
Many of my most important thoughts are made public here. and sometimes I have been affected, both positively and negatively, by comments and interactions. But it was important to be open to the public. Withdrawing from the world is a form of fear.
I started this blog because I had read an article about a lady (whose name I don’t remember) who had put her life into the public domain. It came with dangers of course but it also was freeing. It helped her engage with the world.
I too wanted to engage with the world. And I am thankful to have done so with this blog.
Blogging hasn’t been best social media to engage with the world though but it is still an important one. It has its purpose among all the other ways we engage with the now.
So, thank you, wordpress.com. Thank you, readers.
reduce
You cannot throw out what you have not bought. This is the purest form of reduction. Choose not to reduce use of something but rather stop usage from the beginning.
Just a thought.
Thoughts on Konmari and sustainability
In a causal conversation that went to the topic of Kondo Mariko the famous cleaner upper guru it was said she quit her system because it cannot cope with the variable of children.
This to me is hilarious and a sad truth of systems we set up. As long as the parameters are within limits it works. Beyond the limits and the system fails.
This, I think, is a great analogy for sustainability. Every since I have had kids the idea of sustainability has been thrown out the window. I simply cannot cope. The effort to bring things within sustainable means will, I believe, end with divorce or in death. I am not saying this jokingly. Today’s reality is without exaggeration beyond sustainability.
Poetry hack for WordPress
Problem: in the iOS app, the “return” key gives you a new paragraph when you only want a single line return.
Solution:
- click the “…” icon on the bottom right;
- choose “Transform block” > “Verse”;
- type your poem;
- choose “Transform block” > “Paragraph”.
This way, you have complete control of the layout of the poem.
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