The Code is the Design

It was just another lazy Sunday afternoon. In front of me were two dogs being walked around the park by their beloved masters. No sooner did the dogs see either other than did they start growling and barking, struggling against their restraining collars. It was all their masters could do to keep them off each other with the chains around their necks.  The dogs had no way of knowing that they had much more in common with one another, than the benevolent masters holding their chains. I could not think of a more apt analogy for fighting with friends and family; over politics, religion and other ideologies. Maybe some dogs have been trained to attack you. Avoid them. Maybe some dogs are fed better than you. Find a better master. Or better yet. Maybe learn to live on your own. With no masters. But stop fighting with your fellow dogs, for God's sake.

Declining seemingly harmless requests to take pics with your bike may appear elitist, or excessive. But once you've agreed to it a few times, you'll understand why most people are so protective of their personal space and property (if only we could all be Keanu). Most people have no respect for personal space or property; will start with a seemingly benign request and gradually introduce scope creep (remember the camel and the tent); and do all this in such a falsely friendly manner as to make you seem like the bad guy for wanting to protect an expensive, dangerous and fragile piece of hardware. The delicateness of the situation will also prevent you from being openly defensive, and require great care and even sacrifice to resolve boundary violations peacefully.  It's like giving a loan to an irresponsible friend. The unnecessary favor now puts you in their control. It essentially leaves you open to unnecessary exploitation by those with anti-social tendencies . Just don...

By far the best bike in the market right now; in performance, chassis, build quality, VFM, power-to-weight (47BHP at just 175kg!) etc etc. But has a questionable service network and parts availability. Bonus: All the new REs have been phenomenal build quality and VFM — especially the 650 Twins — but this is probably the best RE 650 yet 😬 But it weighs 216 kg which is not good, quite heavy for a scrambler. The Ducati Scrambler has 50% more power and weighs 40kg less, but then costs 3x as much. So the RE Bear is still great VFM, especially with the Showa shocks etc.

Some of the legendary premium Film SLR cameras such as the Voightlander Bessaflex and other expensive top brand models were just rebranded and white labeled Cosina CT1 s, a camera I've used since childhood; for almost 40 years now.

Apple Best in class hardware , for both computers and phones. Has always lagged in software features and quality, in both computers and phones. Android   Best in class software for phones . Hardware options available from budget to class-leading, but only for phones . No high-end hardware options for computers.  Microsoft   Poor options in both hardware and software. But highest market penetration, in both business and gaming software options.

Tried watching another popular motovlog yesterday for what seemed like an interesting topic, the Royal Enfield biker cafe in Goa. Within the first 5 minutes, the man almost destroyed the bike simply trying to shift it to neutral. He literally did almost everything from trying the electric start to nearly breaking the shift lever, but not the one simle thing he had to do to shift gears; move the bike. He then proceeded to botch a kick-start demonstration, in what was not even an old-school Enfield compression kicker. This is not an isolated individual though. The entire field of Motovlogging appears to be filled with people who know almost nothing about biking, but have huge followings. Not that every Motovlogger has to be a professional racer. But shifting gears and kick starting? Come on! But there are also a few individuals in the field who really seem to know their stuff. Guess there will always be those who do and those who talk, and time will separate the wheat fro...

The Anti-Social Drug Psychologists mention how ASPD type people appear more attractive to the opposite sex. Psychologists also talk about Super-Stimuli (see video below). Is it possible that Super-Stimuli might affect both genders? The ability of ASPD types to effortlessly mimic behaviors that they know people are instinctively drawn to, may be a kind of Super-Stimuli that prevents people from forming more normal attachments. This may also be helped by the media portraying extreme characteristics as more normal than they are; things like excessive confidence and effortless charm etc, which are more characteristic of NPD and ASPD personality types. The usage of gender-neutral terms above is due to the fact that the argument could apply equally to both visual and psychological stimuli, affecting both males and females. ASPD psychological tactics may be a kind of Super-Stimuli too, not different from the NPD visual ones. Push-Pull etc are well known psychological pl...