Since 2014 I am participating in a local 5km mass-run (with over 15k participants). My time is between nothing special and fairly good. I will run this year as well.

Previously, I did not train systematically. I would start only when it was comfortably warm (mid-late April), running 4-6km 1-3 times a week.
I would also stop training very soon after the run, and definitely stop if it was getting colder (early October).
After every winter, it actually felt like I am starting my training from scratch.

Eventually, I have adopted an 18-session training regimen, which I found to be very easy for me, and also very efficient.
I had also tried to keep training for longer after the run (which is in summer).

This year, thanks to highly-enthusiastic co-workers, we started light jogging already in January.
One of my co-workers has a nearly-full set of gadgets, including a heart-rate monitor, and was keeping his pulse under a certain threshold.
I have only used a very basic Xiaomi Mi Band fitness/sleep tracker before, and got interested in a more quantified self.
After some reading, I have decided to buy a heart-rate monitor.

Here are my requirements for a heart-rate monitor:

• should measure heart-rate well; based on some reading, I’d prefer to have a chest strap: optical pulse measuring is a tad less precise, it may work worse with hairy (man’s) hands, and (for now) I only plan measuring my heart rate when I’m actually running/bicycling, not all day long;
• should be convenient to use – a wrist display is fine, but carrying a smartphone during a run isn’t;
• should not be expensive: I do not know yet how useful it will be to me, so I do not want to spend more than 150 EUR on it, so the likes of Polar V800 are, unfortunately, outside the scope of my comparison…

Read the rest of this entry »

“We only value what we loose”, they say.

Fortunately, I haven’t lost anything valuable, and don’t plan to. However, I did come to realize that false leads may and actually do obscure some simple happiness bits we fail to notice in our everyday life. Especially when that happiness comes from someone close, someone you literally got used to as to something inseparable from your life – but still fail to give value to.

Take care of your happiness and inner peace – do stop sometimes to thank and praise and value the oh-so-inseparable people around you.

Copyrights note: this is not my image, and I do not know who is the proper copyrights holder. It is used here for illustrative non-profit purposes, with a proper disclaimer. Contact me if you own the copyright and wish this image removed.

DIYbio is

an organization that aims to help make biology a worthwhile pursuit for citizen scientists, amateur biologists, and DIY biological engineers who value openness and safety.

DIYbio also has a google group, where a wide range of questions – from bio-patents to DIY gel electrophoresis shopping list and model organisms is dicussed. There is also a DIYbio/biohacking FAQ.

Today for me is the day of discoveries. I learned about the International Open Space Initiative (to give robotics enthusiasts a way to send their tele-controlled and/or intelligent robots to the Moon and Mars), about the DIYbio and biohackers, about OpenManufacturing (which doesn’t seem to have produced enough content to link to), Open Source Medicine (ouch!), BioBrick Assembly Kit (with an assembly manual), OpenWetWare, and a whole bunch of other awesome and inspiring community efforts, which do not belong here.

Do you feel the wind of change?

Everybody already knows that, but this visualization is good:

The Crisis of Credit Visualized by Jonathan Jarvis.

It has been over 18 months, since I started this post. As a result, it has gone through some (though not really extensive) internal reviews and modifications. I have no doubts there will be more comebacks and reviews and edits to this topic.

On Sunday, the 10th of December, 2006, the grandmother of my wife died – almost three days after she had a cardiac infarction.

She was a kind, calm, warm-hearted old woman. She was just a little bit over 79 years old.

What did she leave behind?

She had brought up and educated her children and grandchildren to be People. None of her offspring went the way of crimes, or even disrespect towards others. The likes of her children could form a quasi-ideal ethical society, with no exaggeration – given she would be able to teach and bring up all of them.

She served the society well, working as a psychotherapist at a hospital. She helped people regain peace of mind, she cured mental diseases in the best way she could. She happened to meet her old-time patients in the street from time to time, and they expressed gratitude for her help.

She left a memory of a good, reliable, helpful person. This memory lives with all the people who were lucky to know her.

———

Death is the final evaluation for the person’s deeds during life.

What are the measures for this evaluation? What is really important? What matters after death?

First, it appeared to me that human memories are what matters. Memories of good deeds, memories of helping others, memories of being valuable for the society and mankind. “To put the mark on history” and “to be placed on record” are the expressions of the desire to have people remember someone even after death.
Read the rest of this entry »

PodTech had an interview with Jason Calacanis published on October 3, 2006.

You can download the video from the source page, or use my local copy.

As for the “starting a company” part, which goes closer to the end of the video, Jason recommends focusing on a single thing and excel in it. That is, if you are starting a company to host user blogs – then think on what you can do better than others in the field, instead of adding ontop of your blogs some additional not-that-really-related services.

Jason also foresees great future for the internet advertising, providing as an example iTunes-like shops providing TV shows for download, and – of course – embedding some ads. The same goes for user-generated content providers, which are viewed by the producers and sellers as good platforms to promote and sell their goods.

Part 1: Basic Business Hints

I am not a millionaire myself, to start with. And yes, I do want to become one. In this essay, I am going to present you some tiny snippets I collected, which would make your own way to financial freedom easier.
Read the rest of this entry »