blackSnake

I've noticed that too. Its an unnatural thing for the body to do, interacting with a computer or other digital device for that length of time. I've never walked away from using the computer feeling charged and rejuvenated, even when working on something I enjoy. Not mentally, I am referring to a whole body feeling.

I believe the vibrations emanating from digital devices is partly incompatible with human biology, so the body spends significant energy trying to maintain its default "state" so to speak, which is why it feels draining to use computer for long stretches of time. If you read a book for hours on end, it would not have the same effect so its not purely the sedentary nature of it.

In qi-gong practice, there is a concept known as "drawing" where you can increase your strength and vitality from being in proximity to different objects. For example, if I put you in a room full of plants and natural sunlight, you WILL become physically stronger instantly. If I put you in a server computer room, you will become physically weaker instantly. The body is constantly adjusting its "aura".

I don't know the science behind it, but it is easy to experiment with. Have someone resist a push while in a wide stance while holding in their left hand

1. a phone in their hand turned on

2. hold a living plant

3. glass of water

4. a battery

See if you can feel the difference in your ability to resist the push. It will change based on the object in your hand.

There is some challenges:

1. the pusher has to have correct form and measured strength. By correct form, it means you know how to correctly use your body to create an effective push (standing too close to not engage your legs, only using your arms to push, etc) Measured strength means similar force each time to have a base to compare to.

2. the pushee has to maintain a "neutral" state and provide the same amount of resistance on every push, to maintain the "control" group.

3. enough sensitivity as the pusher to feel the different levels of resistance provided by the pushee. On some pushes, the pushee might feel "heavier" or "lighter"

4. Patience. Whatever object you are holding has an effect on your body and most people cannot feel it initially. In fact, it takes years to cultivate enough sensitivity to feel subtle changes.

I think there has been some research on this topic in regards to wearing synthetic clothing made of nylon or polyester.

The worlds music at your disposal, and not satisfied... LOL

You can spend the rest of your life listening to all sorts of music, just by using the search bar and clicking around. Thats incredible!

I feel like after a while, we can take things for granted that are incredible and weren't even possible not too long ago. Not that we shouldn't strive for a better ideal..

Reminds me of a fortune cookie note I read a long time ago that I never forgot, mostly. Something to the effect of:

"I spent the time prepare the song, while the song is not being sung"

I do agree that artists should get a bigger share. Im sure if Spotify were super transparent about cost allocation, we would see room for improvement. Where there's money, there is greed.

Another good one is learning and being comfortable driving in the rain, snow, and at night time.

like everyone else says, practice is key.

be predictable and take your time. If you have to go slow, that is fine, even if 1 million people are honking at you from behind. In all my years of driving, i've never been rammed off the road for going too slow. That being said, stick to the right side on 2 lane roads because people will get aggressive if you are on the fast lane (left side). If you need to be somewhere that is time sensitive, leave earlier!

Ive used them for many years. They're awesome

The flower didn't test positive for metals, just the edibles. I think my friend said the edibles tested positive for aluminum and fluorocarbons? Dont recall specifically.

My feeling is the body has an easier time breaking down smoke VS. the metals snd flurocarbons which could stay in your system a while and stack. The lesser of two evils?? lol If the edibles are "clean" then they take less of a toll than smoking but if they are not (metals, shitty ingredients) then smoking the flower might be better. I'm not too familiar how much of a toll trace metals and flurocarbons affect the body and how hard/easy it is for the body to get rid and eliminate, for example, aluminum. Seems like smoke might be less of a foreign element to the body and it knows how to break down easier. Either way, drugs are bad but fun =D

To share, a friend of mine has brought some edibles to his doctor and tested positive for small amounts of trace metals. This is from a legitimate dispensary but I imagine they are not really put thru their proper traces when testing for quality control. Its prolly fine once in a blue moon but if you are consuming edibles regularly, it can stack and create worse problems then smoking it. Smoking is a bit more pure in some ways as its only one ingredient VS. who knows how the edibles are made, the process they use, how much it is actually regulated, packaged, etc. Ive had edibles that get me pretty lifted and the next day I'm pretty good and not beat up too bad. Then ill try a different brand and it'll get me just as lifted, but I feel way more sluggish, like it took more out of me. The best I found in terms of taking a toll on your body, is the water-soluble edibles. Those seem to be cleaner.

At the very best, cannabis is neutral. You can have positive experiences but you pay a price with your body over time. Its unsustainable if you are looking to follow a trajectory that is positive over time for your physical, spiritual, and mental well-being. If you are looking to have transformative experiences in your life, I dont think cannabis will help. If you are looking to chill, cannabis really works

I don't know about this either. It sounds fine to me and I hear both used interchangeably (from NYC area). I've also seen it written both ways. To the original comment, you're fine IMHO.

The other part of it is Musk probably has good rapport with his engineers from Tesla. There's that trust vs. twitter engineers at the moment may be seen in the eyes of Musk as an unknown, undoubtedly everyone has their guard up because of all the uncertainty.

++2 for Alfred. AND it has plugins so you can search your Chrome or Brave tabs with Alfred as well. I just hit CMD + Shift + T and it'll search all my open tabs without the browser being in focus. I had to pay but it wasn't much. Use it everyday! https://github.com/epilande/alfred-browser-tabs

Insert the passion(energy) in yourself. You have no choice if you have to grind through things you don't want to. Every human experiences some type of "grind" , although to different degrees. I acknowledge the difficulty but you do have to make it work or then life sucks lol

Hi Bryanaka, I'm a QA Engineer interested in learning more about the role. What's the best place to reach you?

Progressive martial arts evolved out of traditional martial arts. A lot of it has to do with the practitioner himself. The progressive arts like MMA and Jui-Jitsu emphasize the combative aspect of the arts. Tai-Chi for the most part is nowadays mostly practiced for therapeutic benefits BUT I would argue that there are Tai Chi practitioners worth their weight in gold. The question is, what are you training for? If the Tai chi guy isnt sparring and moving around with other guys intensely, big surprise, theyre going to suck in a fight but that does not take away from the legitimacy and depth of the art. Tai chi still has blocks, kicks, strikes, ground grappling counters, standing grappling counters, etc. Do you think the masters of long ago didnt realize an opponent could take someone to the ground? All the components of MMA are inherent in the traditional arts. The question is why are you training? What are you training for? Are you testing your techniques against different kinda of opponents? Do you even care about fighting? Are you using your art to evolve beyond the fight? Does your martial art enrich you or take away from your wholeness? What is karate? What is Tai chi? What is aikido? How does it serve you?

The arts are so deep.

A good way I found to gain more sensitivity on whether i'm thirsty or hungry is to separate the two during meal times. When I have breakfast or lunch, I don't drink any water or juice, unless i'm having trouble getting it down my throat. I either do it half an hour before or after. I've been doing this for years now and now I can accurately feel when i'm truly thirsty or hungry. shrugs try it..

Quantity is important, but quality is important as well. If I practice my karate 1,000 hours and another man in Alaska practices 1,000 hours of karate as well BUT he has received higher quality instruction, he might be practicing effectively twice as much (measured in quality, which is hard to quantify..haha)

10,000 hours of practice seems like a reasonable gauge of mastery. Its also how you define mastery. Mastery is defined by the people who came before who set the standard. If athletes' top running speed reached 3MPH and I came along and broke the record at 5MPH, I would seem like a master.

Its not magic. Just an aspect and extension of your physical body. All of chinese acupuncture is based on the same principles, which is thousands of years old and a reputable system of medicine.

I am not claiming god powers, just that your body is a complex system that can be finely tuned with some attention and the proper tools. How much control do you have over your body and your mind? How much control do you have over your computer? It probably took decades of attention and the right tools to develop a high degree of skill to be able to get the computer to do what you want. The same can be said for the human body, which is infinitely more complex if you pay attention to it.

Anything that consciously makes you aware of your stomach area, what the Chinese call the "Dan-Tian", will rebalance your energy.

If you are interested in the topic, there are a bunch of great books about the subject.

Check out "The root of Chinese Qi-Gong" by Yang Jwing-Ming.

I have noticed, having the sensitivity of a qi gong practitioner, that computers and interfacing with a digital device makes your body weaker. It sucks the energy right out of you. It also concentrates the energy around the head.

The dangers can come when you don't rebalance the energies in your body. Doing something physical is important and I am sure a lot of you guys will tend to something physical after large amounts of screen time. Unless you ignore the body. That's where you can get a lot of anxiety, mental imbalances, neurosis etc.

The fuel for the mind comes from the body. If you have a strong body, the drain from using the screen will be lessened but make no mistake about it, its taking away from you. You are trading information for energy so make it worthwhile and safe. Don't put the laptops on your lap. Keep the cellphone away from your face. Take a lot of breaks. Eat well.

In all my years of using my computer, I have never gotten up from it and thought to myself "Wow, I feel great after that". It might have been interesting and stimulating but my body would not agree, in a way that's different from reading a book for an hour. Computers will continue to get even more immersive. Maybe the stereotypical image of an alien is accurate for the future of a human being, big heads, little bodies.

Learn to live conservatively. In other words, lower your expenses as much as you can. It will allow you to be more flexible because you can work a part-time gig and use the rest of the time to explore.

Some posters are right that you should appreciate that you have a well paying job, or even a job to that.

I would say, though, life is short and you were fortunate enough to be born as a human being! One of the most conscious beings on the planet. Human potential has not been tapped. Explore it because one day, not too far from now, you will be old(if you make it) and wonder why you spent your energy the way you did, in a cubicle inside for half your life.

In my opinion, the risks are worth the reward. You can always go back to the programming.

There are some on the spiritual path that seek knowledge and awareness. Pure awareness. They are human yet their karma doesn't involve getting entangled with their fellow men. Hermits. Loving, hating, its all the same to them because their focus is elsewhere. Most would say they are selfish and lack empathy but they are just different kind of seeker.

I can relate to it through the lens of Karate. I've been studying just about 10 years and I'm just beginning to see the depth of the art. Its almost like you spend those 10 years building the foundation before you can start building the house.

One of the points in the article really jumps out and again, I use martial arts as a lens for comparison. Talking to other programmers extensively accelerates your growth. If I had tried to piece together the knowledge my Sensei taught me through "Youtube, books, & self-study", I would have not gotten as far as I have. There's something about having a mentor that can warp-speed your progress. Anyone who has mentored under a master in their field would attest to that.

The programming culture is one where you're encouraged to go out and figure it out. Yes, there are teams and pair programming but I don't see most companies emphasizing mentorship as much because its not directly tangible on the books. Its more of a long-term investment and they see employees jumping around every couple of years, so why bother?

It would be interesting to see master programmers (30+ years of exp) offer year-long intensives for serious students who wanted to accelerate their growth. I bet you would get some excellent programmers.

I am a Karate practitioner of an Okinawan traditional system and our main focus of study is kata, or form work. Once you have learned and become very familiar with the form where you don't have to think about the biomechanics, it can be a moving meditation with the same benefits.

In the monasteries and temples of China and India, where Karate can be traced back to, martial arts were practiced not only for self-defense but for therapeutic benefits as well.

If you have trouble sitting still, sometimes a moving meditation can help. This does not mean you have to go out and study a martial art for 4302842 years. It can be a simple exercise.

Think of a nice 30 minute walk that you enjoy taking and go out and walk. Try to be present and observe your own footsteps. Try to feel the weight shifting from one foot to the other. Notice if the sun is out. Can you feel it on your skin? Does it pick up your energy? Or does it make you tired? What kind of relationship do you have with the sun? Don't just think about it intellectually. Feel it out. Its happening right now (if you're on the walk). Bring yourself back to the shifting of your weight between your two legs.

Meditation is about being present. Its about tuning into yourself, without the filters of your mind. You don't need anything.

Another simple meditation exercise, which also helps to massage the organs with the breath: -Lay flat on your back -Place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest -Can you make the hand on your belly rise up as you inhale, without making the hand on your chest move up. In other words, you're breathing into your belly and not your chest. This is a more natural, deeper breath. Repeat for ten minutes, or however long. Even after 10 breaths, you might notice a difference.

The key to shoes lasting long is taking care of them. Don’t wear them in the rain. Give them a break evey couple of days. Most importantly you have to keep polishing them. At least once a week. If you take care of the upper leathers of a shoe, they can last pretty long, not to mention that any shoe with good arches is worth it.

For throwaway shoes that you cant resole, I like Ecco. Excellent!!

Thanks for that gem. Will add to my list

I first heard of Castaneda 7 years ago when I was at university. I started with the first book "The Teachings of Don Juan" and proceeded with reading all his other works. I was fascinated not only with the story he was telling but more so, the practical wisdom he revealed.

One of the techniques he revealed in his books for expanding your awareness as a human being was to consciously diffuse your gaze for long stretches of time. In other words, in your day to day life, most people, myself included, navigate through the world with fixed vision. If I were to walk down a hallway or through a hiking trail, I would normally look at a tree, then maybe at a bird, then maybe some clouds might catch my attention, squirrel jumps off a log, etc. and I would go on like this. His suggestion was to take in the whole panoramic view, constantly engaged in peripheral vision, not focusing on any one particular object, for hours at a time. After consistent experimenting with this particular technique, I came to one realization that it was a tool that can be used to quiet the mind, similar to a sorts of meditation. It was my introduction to the study of energy (I study Internal Martial Arts).

There were other practical wisdoms embodied in his texts and that held my attention for many years. It wasn't until recently that I began to read of Castaneda and the shadows that began to surround his legacy. To be honest, it didn't take away from the treasure of his stories and wisdom. Most, if not all his concepts, can be traced back in time to different religions, groups of people, other yogis and individuals, etc. I believe that ideas and methodologies do not belong to any individuals. They are just mediums that the universe uses to express its consciousness. We say if it weren't for scientist X, this theory wouldn't come to fruition but who knows? I remember reading once about an important theory that a scientist discovered (galileo?) that another scientist was uncovering at about the same time but got beaten to the punch. They were not in the same geographic region but it was interesting to read about an idea being ripe and wanting to be expressed to who is available and able. I digress.

Castaneda had a positive influence on many people and a negative influence on others, as the stories in the article revealed. Such is the way of humanity and life, and you make your mark on this world however you see fit. One door opens, another one closes. Castaneda was the first to open up doors for me, so he has a special place in my heart, as imperfect as he may have been.

Along the same lines, monks begin to gather energy through different methods. They aren't eating as much but can sustain themselves off the vitality of the sun and surrounding environment (if they are in a clean, restorative environment.. basically nature)