Category: thoughts

Why I want an 80 hour power reserve watch

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Changing metaphors

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If you do change the metaphor half way through the poem the change should represent change itself. Starting with LOVE IS A JOURNEY e may change the metaphor to LOVE IS A LONG DISTANCE RACE with images of struggle, uphill battles, not lasting the distance, rivalry, etc.

Means to ends

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There isn’t a single use for language. Learning a language isn’t just for communication purposes. Just like a rock can be used for building a house it can serve as a chair. There is no set defined limit as to what something is used for. The purpose of any object is the choice of the individual.

So learning a language could be for communication purposes. But it can also be for honing thinking skills. And there is nothing to stop us from learning a language for both purposes, or even have more purposes.

Why kill two birds with one stone when you can kill three.

Stay with one metaphor

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When writing, especially poetry, stay with one metaphor. It may not confuse you, the writer, but mixing metaphors often confuses the readers.

For example, if you start with LOVE IS A JOURNEY then continue with metaphors about roads, signs, bends, distance, loneliness, etc.

A language for the rest of your life

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Photographer Nigel Danson described in this video why he has stayed with Nikon cameras for over twenty years. It wasn’t because Nikon is far better than any other camera system out there but rather once you start with one system it is easier to stay with one than to learn a new one.

Your mother tongue is kind of like picking up a camera system – you use it for the rest of your life. Why switch to another system of the one you’re using now when it does the job? Danson rightly points out that a camera is a tool to get the job of taking photos done. Language is also the same. Language is a tool, a means to an end. The end here is communication.

Unless you’re like me moving to a new country with a completely different language for communication then it isn’t necessary to learn a new language. Language learning is resource intensive. Unless you are learning another language for the specific purpose of training your mind for flexibility rather than for practical reasons then it might not be worth all that effort.

Love is not a thing

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Love isn’t a thing.
It’s not a
you-either-have-it-
or-you-don’t thing.
It is what you do.
And it is what
someone does to you.

Go do love. Go love.
Go get loved. Be loved.
Then you will understand
what love is. Love is
not a thing.
Just love.