This summer, I have read the speech of Richard Hamming, called “You and Your Research”. It is very inspiring for all people that don’t want to settle with less important work, but strive for the big research topics out there.
You can find the text here:
You and Your Research – Richard Hamming
About minimalism. My Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh always says that you do not need much possesions in order to be happy and I believe that is true. When we have sold our house, I intend to start living in a smaller house with less stuff. See my earlier post on the subject here. One of my favourite blogs, Lifehacker.com, had an article about minimalism this week:
A minimalist lifestyle does not make you a better person.
I was a bit disappointed with this post. Personally, I think that we have too much possesions. I like the decluttered look of zen-like interiors; I like the low stimulus environments that can create more focus and mindfullness.
Also, I like websites with minimal design (see Minimal Sites for some examples).
When I find an interesting article on the web, I send it to my Kindle (through Calibre) and read it there. The New Yorker now has a very good publication about the strange rules of procrastination. This article is a book review of the Oxford University Press publication The Thief of Time, priced at a whopping $59.
The New Yorker article by James Surowiecki however is free and is a very good read! It describes different historical and philosophical views of the phenomena to put things off untill later, and feel guilty about it.
Other TonsofTime post about procrastination here
This morning, I read an artikel on Yes Magazine about an excursion of US municipal and state politicians and ‘traffic specialists’ visit to my country, The Netherlands, because they want to learn how to promote bicycle use the way the Dutch have. For me, it was amusing to see towns like Utrecht and Amsterdam that are very familiar to me, through the eyes of Americans!
This summer I have learned to love the MiFi gizmo I have bought. What it does? Basically, it gives you mobile WiFi. The device I own (Huawai E585) can be charged by USB and you insert your own HSDPA or UMTS sim card. Then, everywhere you go, you have WiFi with a range of approximately 10 meters. So, don’t order your Ipad with 3G, only with WiFi. Use Skype with your iPhone everywhere you are, even if it only allows WiFi, etc.
The only downside is that you have to be careful that it is charged when you need it!
