Feats of human Strength

What is impressive? No no no, nobody cares how many miles you could run or whatever. I think also to a certain extent, nobody really cares that much about long-distance bicycle riding either.

I think what we really are impressed by most at the end end of the day, is feats of human physical strength. Because ultimately, he who is the strongest, is the strongest, most powerful and strong!

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Why predict the future?

Does it interest you or not?

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It seems that for a lot of people, at the end of the day what they are chasing is they desire some sort of success, fame, big houses, beautiful decorations, beautiful objects, beautiful clothes, beautiful homework architecture and furnishings, artwork, cars, clothes and shoes etc. But at the end of the day… Isn’t it the human being him or herself, they’re on physiology and body which is actually the most critical?

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Women is a huge market

Living here in Culver City, downtown Culver City, or LA in general something that I have observed is that in terms of economics, targeting women is a great target demographic.

Why? First, it seems that they have a lot of disposable income. Nowadays a lot of single women, without kids, not married yet, maybe not even dating, assuming that they have a good well paying job, they have a lot of money to blow. They spend a lot of money at Lululemon, alo yoga, eating out, clothes and fashion, alcohol etc. I’m starting to have a low-key suspicion that a lot of low-key notions of “female empowerment“, is promoted by companies that just want to sell women more stuff.

How is the female market different from the male market?

Some things I know. Let me start off with cars.

The bias is that men are really into cars, and women are also kind of into cars, for women, it seems that the trend is a lot of successful women strive to drive some sort of expensive SUV, and maybe if they are a really really successful single executive, to drive some sort of Porsche 911 or even Audi e-tron GT.

For men, in the Midwest, Texas, some parts of Orange County etc., some Americans, specifically it seems that the Caucasian or even the Latino Mexican Hispanic population strive to drive some sort of big pick up truck, like some sort of big Ford F150, etc.

For men, if you were in tech, desperation is some sort of Tesla, Tesla model X or Tesla model S glad, a Lamborghini, if you’re older maybe a Ferrari.

The foolish naisere of men is that it seems that they want cars for two reasons: first, the foolish notion that somehow if I own this type of car, it will attract all these beautiful women who want to sleep with me. The second one is masculinity. A man wants to embody the properties of a certain car he drives. For example, why would you buy an American muscle car? Because you want to feel dominant, like if you were loud and who you had the muscles yourself! But I had the funny observation:

Why is it that we are permitted to flex our muscle cars, but not our real life muscles?

Aesthetic ideals, ethos ideals

Ultimately with any of these decisions, it comes down to a certain ethos, or set of aesthetics.

The general idea is that whatever we decide to do, buy, purchased etc., it is rooted in some sort of underlying philosophy.

For example, once again in the domain of cars, the generalized thought that the car you drive to purchase, your dream car, or even the car you purchased, says a lot about you.

For example, let us say that you strive to purchase some sort of Porsche, Porsche 911, Porsche 911 GT three GT three RS, etc. The generalized ideas that you seek to be sophisticated, suave and sleek, and you believe in notions of purity, elegance, German design, bow house, etc.

Or, Lamborghini. Essentially if you strive for a Lamborghini you want to be Kanye West, or some sort of successful rapper. In the modern day consciousness nowadays, a Lamborghini is considered the apex of male success, apex masculinity, etc.

AI VISION

I think i’ve discovered the next $10 trillion industry; AI, artificial intelligence etc.

My vision

I have some grand visions for AI:

First, some sort of photo creation AI, or some sort of AI that helps you cull down your photos. for example, I currently have a backlog of about 10,000 photos, not really sure when I’m going to have the time to look through all of them.

Some sort of AI photo curator division is you could just feed it 10,000 images, JPEG, and have it simply sort and filter it down to your most interesting or best shots. You can give a custom instructions, and it will learn your preferences overtime.

Also, writing. It seems that a lot of writers have issues with “writers block“, which means that they have a vision of what they want to write, but, what holds them back is that somehow they get stuck somewhere.

A very simple solution is having AI help you write more. Some thoughts include more robust and accurate voice recognition models, which allow writers to simply voice dictate their thoughts and write, instead of having to use the agency of a keyboard.

A camera without a shutter button?

Another fun idea that I have is some sort of notion of a camera without a shutter button. Kind of like the narrative clip, or the Google clips; I sent you some sort of device that you have mounted on you, and it automatically shoots photos when it sees something that is significant.

I still think it needs to be some sort of standalone device, because the big issue is with a clip, there are still human concerns about privacy, being creepy etc.

The future for phones?

Whether we like it or not, it looks like we are stuck with this phone analogy. I hesitate calling it a “device”— this doesn’t really mean anything. We should just call it an iPhone; essentially everyone in America at this point has an iPhone.

What should a phone be?

We gotta make AI on phones better.

For example this is where I think Google is doing a very good job, they are actually using AI to try to make her lives more helpful.

For example, this call screening technology. The general idea is that if you get a unknown phone call, I hate picking it up. I hate scammers. It seems that Google AI is very good at screening these annoying phone calls.

What I actually think that the most critical thing about AI in phones is that there needs to be some sort of thing which allows you to know whether a certain phone call is critical or not, at this given moment.

For example, the biggest issue that we have is getting interrupted. Getting distracted, notifications etc.

In fact, I have a bold suggestion for Apple or maybe even Google:

When you first set up your phone, by default have all of the notifications off, and then later, give the user the ability to enable them all.

Or another simple suggestion is when your first setting up your phone, give a prompt to the user asking them whether they would like to have all notifications on or off by default, and or give them the ability to customize which notifications they define important.

for example, all of my notifications on my iPhone are disabled it besides FaceTime. This is a good filter because the only really critical person I need to contact me is Cindy. And she knows that if it is urgent thing, she knows how to FaceTime me.

By default I turn off text message notifications because 99.99% of them are not urgent nor interesting. Also from a pure efficiency and productivity perspective, it is far more efficient and productive to just give someone a phone call or FaceTime instead of texting them back-and-forth.

chatGPT phone

My idea is that open AI and ChatGPT should make their own standalone phone. This might be the next trillion dollar company. Or maybe open AI could collaborate with Microsoft and build their ChatGPT phone on the windows phone platform concept.

Siri is pretty good, but it looks like ChatGPT is at least a quadrillion times better. If you could naturally integrate both ChatGPT directly into the phone, the tight integration of both software and hardware and AI, I think you have hit a gold mine.

For more thoughts email me at eric@erickim.com

Other ways that AI could be very useful

Let me give you another example. Let us say that I recorded a vlog and I want to directly upload it to YouTube and my website, and also extract the audio file, and uploaded to my website and my podcast platform etc. I should be able to do this all via AI script, without the need of any other foreign intercession.

Physiology Thoughts

Something I have cared for a lot ever since I was a fat kid in New York, was diet health physiology and everything in between.

Ever since I was 11 to 12 years old, fat with a triple chin, I have literally experimented with every single diet out there, save this nonsensical vegetarian and vegan trend.

Why does this matter?

I met this cool guy the other day, at the Phils coffee shop in downtown Culver City, named Sodi (his website is https://stedmanhalliday.com/).

We had an interesting chat about how fitness is so critical, especially with all of these silicon valley tech utopists who just think of their body as an afterthought.

I vibe with Stedman Halliday because how many different reasons.

First, the focus on recovery as a first thought is a good one. For example, another day when I was really really tired and exhausted, instead of just taking a shower like I typically do, I filled up the bathtub with really really really really really hot water, and had a really really hot bath. It seems that the trend is towards ice baths, ice plunges etc., but also, I think taking insanely hot baths is also a good idea.

Why? To be able to tolerate an insanely hot bath, literally on the edge of boiling hot water, is also an effective bodily turbo charger. To me it is like my MacGyver way of harnessing the power of the hot sauna, without having to go to the gym.

In fact, maybe having a bathtub might be one of the greatest luxuries in your living situation. Rather than thinking of taking a really really hot bath as a frivolous luxury, maybe we should think of it almost like drinking more coffee or caffeine.

Food

Currently what I am doing, and what I have done ever since I was living in Vietnam in 2017, which is almost 6 years now, is simple:

Intermittent fasting throughout the day, this means no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner.

During the day I only drink tapwater, black coffee, that’s it.

And when I break my fast and eat dinner, which could arrange anywhere in between 6 PM and 10 PM, I strive to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or lamb.

Achilles and Chiron the centaur

Another great thing I have learned from ChatGPT is how great wonderful and effective ChatGPT is, at least 1 trillion times better than Google. In fact, my current thought is short google; ChatGPT is at least 1 billion times more insightful and accurate in terms of being able to accurately Find information about anything.

For example, a simple heuristic:

The best calling card is now, not to tell people to Google you, but instead, to ChatGPT you!

Why? I’m starting to have this low-key suspicion that Google is doing some sort of behind the counter deals with individuals, and somehow tweaking they are all rhythm for subjective ends.

However with ChatGPT, it is less biased, less meddling.

For example, get ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, just pay the $20 for the subscription model, you could cancel it anytime, and just ChatGPT:

Who is ERIC KIM?

The new phrase:

Just ChatGPT me bro!

My thoughts and experiments

I think the biggest issue with diet health physiology and nutrition is that people are so subjective, and also, there is far too many politics, ethics and morality behind it.

For example, I never trust anybody who says:

Don’t eat meat, it’s bad for the planet!

What? Do you know what else is bad for the planet? Your Amazon prime subscription, Netflix, YouTube, your iPhone and iPhone Pro, your MacBook pros, your Tesla, your Range Rover etc.

Simple heuristic:

Never trust nobody who makes commentary about the planet and has either a Netflix subscription, Amazon prime subscription, or owns a car, any card, irregardless of gas or electric. Or watches YouTube. Or has an iPhone, iPhone Pro, and has Instagram Facebook, etc.

Honestly it is all bad for the planet.

My immortal and ethical thought is this:

Don’t do what is “best for the planet“, do what you believe is best for you.

Is the planet made for men, or is man-made for the planet?

Body shaming?

I have observed a funny reverse trend; man is not permitted to walk around, topless in public, show off his body and muscles, and also, not allowed to wear short shorts, or show off his crotch bulge.

I find this highly paradoxical, because nowadays, women are permitted to show off all their body parts! Even nowadays in LA, seeing a woman wear some sort of translucent white shirt or tank top, nipples popping through is not really a big deal anymore. I think this is a good train; there’s this weird quote for men and women that this is seen as a taboo, yet, it seems that most men watch pornography and secret, just ask somebody for fun, “When you turn on Google incognito, what do you really look at?”

Or—

What do you think of Maria Ozawa?

Or,

What do you torrent on Pirate Bay, when you turn on your VPN?

The logic of 100% carnivore diet

Some nuances:

First, what is it that Achilles was fed as a child by his personal trainer, Chiron the Centaur? Legend has it that he was fed entrails, which included bone marrow, hearts, and other offal matter.

I also have an orthodox theory that cholesterol, dietary food cholesterol, is a natural steroid.

I believe the new ones here is critical, because people make this foolish calculus:

If I consume more dietary cholesterol, cholesterol in my food, then my blood HDL, bad cholesterol blood levels will go up, and I will eventually have a heart attack and die.

Also fat –

if you consume more dietary fat, or saturated fat, you will put on more body fat.

However, this ain’t true. I think the big issue is that in today’s world, or modern day English, the semantic lexicon issues is confusing.

Just try it out!

Whenever I get to Korean barbecue, all eat Korean barbecue, my favorite food items to consume include all the innards; beef large intestine, beef liver, beef, beef tongue, etc.

People say that eating meat is “bad for you“, but what about organ meats? Just think about that.

Training thoughts

So the question is this; what is the best way to train?

My personal thought is towards some sort of Indian spartan, ancient Greek notion. The thoughts I’ve been thinking:

How did or how would the ancient Greeks or Spartan train?

First and foremost, they’re very very interesting thing is that most depictions of these great heroes and demigods is not having super super big chests, therefore the simple thought is that perhaps benchpress is a bad idea.

What is more notable about their physiology and stature?

First, how upright they stand. Second, they never have a shirt on. Third, how massive their legs, back, and shoulders are.

My recent experimentations with training include heavy sandbag training; I ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the roguefitness.com website, and I just been going to the local park and filling it up with playground sand.

Second, Farmer’s Carry. I ordered these farmers carry handles on Titan.fitness, and it is very interesting! The skill is not just picking it up, but walking with it.

For example, it is one thing to lift 4 plates, it is another to farmers walk and carry 4 plates for the distance.

Another thing I have observed about lifting a heavy sand back off the floor, crouching down picking it up, shouldering it, or holding it to my chest with my fingers intertwined, and walking it for a long distance is it really strengthens my triceps, my fingers and my grip and hand strength, my foot strength, my feet, as well as my abs, obliques, and back. In fact I felt more sore carrying around I have sandbag than I did atlas lifting 1000 pounds at the gym.

Train like atlas

One of the big innovations I did while I was in Orange County was my notion of the atlas lift; loading up the barbell with as much weight as you can, and just lifting up and standing up. No squatting involved.

In fact, it looks like that my training style is starting to trend more towards a strongman concept; just lifting really really heavy stuff, and doing it in a more old-school way.

For example, atlas stones. To be able to just lift up a very very very very heavy boulder, and presumably throw it at somebody, is an interesting idea. This is what Achilles did; in some of the fight scenes of the Iliad, Homer would write:

Achilles would lift up a massive stone, that which barely two strong men could lift, throw it at his enemy, and the boulder hit their hip, and black death descended upon them.

Also something I have been observing is that perhaps heavy sandbag training is a good idea because it is “safe”, and also, more accessible. Anyone could buy a cheap sandbag on Amazon, and then just go to a local playground and fill it up with sand.

Now what?

Ever since moving to LA, I’ve become more and more reticent to join the gym. Why?

First, I prefer to be outdoors.

Second, I don’t like wearing a shirt.

Third, hygiene.

Working out at the park, in a parking lot, in your garage, or outside is not ideal, but, it is more interesting and innovative.

A simple thought is to just troll amazon, Titan.fitness, or the roguefitness.com website and buy a lot of fun weight lifting equipment! My simple thought is only procure equipment that you could easily throw in your trunk, because it is fun to be able to just put in your trunk, drive to your local park and work out there.

Now what?

Some more thoughts:

Bear lifestyle: Apparently bears walk 50 miles a day. What if we humans did the same?
Photography health and fitness is all connected: why? If you do not feel well, you’ll have no in motivation to make photos. My very simple thought is that first, focus on your health and wellness, and then the guitar will come naturally! Even a simple thought is being able to do a deep “as to grass“ squat is beneficial in photography, to get all the angles.
If you work in cinema, or cinematography, it seems that handling these camera rigs is insanely arduous and also very physical. If you look like a bodybuilder, and had the strength of a demigod, or look like a strong man, or look like ERIC KIM, certainly wouldn’t this help you be a more capable camera operator?

Photo assignments

Here this is where I think shooting selfies of yourself, topless if you’re a man, or in the sports bra for women is a good idea, because Vitar is a good way to keep you motivated and on track with your fitness diet health and physiology.

These are my very very very very very simple suggestions: mostly via negative.

If you want to lower your body fat percentage, simple things to do which include:

Don’t need breakfast or lunch, only dinner. During the day drink lots of tapwater, black coffee with nothing added, or green tea.
Just experiment; don’t need any fruit or vegetables, starches, leafy greens, etc. No nuts.
Experiment with 100% carnivore diet, or maybe 100% organ meat diet. Only beef heart, beef intestine, either large or small, beef kidneys, beef liver, beef tongue. If you don’t like organ meats, just eat 100% breast-fed ground beef, get it at Costco or Aldi or somewhere cheap. The percentages which taste good are 80/20 or 75/15– I like the wagyu ground beef at Costco.
Quit alcohol, weed, beer, drugs, EDM, festivals, bars, restaurants, etc.
Quit almond butter, avocados, whole grains, fruits, fruit juices, fake sugar supplements, real sugar, starches, coke, Coke Zero, pre workout powder, protein powder etc.

When you break your fast aim for 5-6 pounds of meat a dinner.

How to channel your wellness?

Then the simple thought is once you are very well, how do you wish to channel your wellness?

Ultimately, I don’t think it is fitness for the sake of fitness, but rather, the fitter and stronger you become, the more adept you will become as a thinker, writer, creator, photographer etc.

Think more, become more.

START HERE

Also

Books

Photo ideas

Zen photography assignment: strive to make the most minimalistic Zen photo, and upload your best Zen photo to arsbeta.com

ChatGPT experiments

I love AI. Download ChatGPT to your iPhone or iPad, and upgrade to the paid subscription, an experiment with it for a month.

Upload your photos to it, and ask ChatGPT to give you feedback on your photos, or you could upload three photos, and just ask it which of the three he thinks is the best.

Don’t miss out on AI; this is the biggest thing to hit the planet ever since the Internet!

Diversify

Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, it is good to have many different baskets. Why? If there is a single chokepoint or a single point of failure, this is not good.

I think the best way to think and approach things is just assume and predict and know that sooner or later, it will break, go down, become inaccessible, etc.

A simple thing that you could do with websites is this: how many different mirrors of your website, on different platforms. For example, build wordpress.org websites on Amazon web services, build it with blue host.com, ionos.com, The only thing I would probably not build on is Google, which always deprecates their old technology, and has a bias to discontinue products.

Also WordPress.com, maybe even Tumblr.

Propagate all the platforms!

Think islands, web, webs, multiple redundancies.

Train with EK

Random — if you live in LA and want to train with me, just shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com

Stoic training, stoicism and physiology?

Another fun idea that I have is that maybe there is in fact a link between stoicism, physiology, and also bodily training.

Why?

First, let us consider our physiological response to stressors environment etc.

Example, when I get angry, it is a physiological response. I feel the cortisol and stress entering my face, and enlarges my eyeballs, I get a huge shot of adrenaline etc.

Therefore, my simple thought is if you want to become a true stoic, the training must be physical, physiological.

Also, fear. What is fear? Fear is also manifested as adrenaline, as well as stress hormones, chemicals in your body, etc.

To conquer fear, and to become a true stoic, I believe it is all about mastering your physiology, mastering your stress hormones and responses etc.

It is all about training

ASKESIS an ancient Greek, the same notion of aesthetic, or aestheticism is rooted in the notion of training. As guesses, becoming harder, becoming stronger

Even our best friend Frederick Nita says ultimately the goal is to become the hammer, the diamond. To not be soft and yielding, but to create, become harder.

Why is it that softness is considered a virtue in today’s world?

A funny observation that I’ve made is that in today’s world, to be soft, yielding, open minded, flexible etc. is seen as a virtue. Yet I find this very paradoxical and little bit contradictory in the sense that it is all context dependent;

For example, racism, Nazis, holocaust deniers, anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic or anti-African-American people; shouldn’t we be maximally intolerant to these people? A zero tolerance rule here is good.

My personal thought is that in order to become more virtuous, we actually must become harder. To become more unyielding, to become more strict, and more harsh.

For myself, even though there is a lot of things about Korean culture which I deem as bad, one of the good things that come out of Korean culture is that the man is expected to be hard, strong, stoic, never showing his emotions or feelings etc.

Why do I believe this is a good thing?

Certainly if you grow up in America, sooner or later you’re going to naturally learn to be open minded, flexible, etc. So I think that we also need the antipodes; do not just be soft and yielding and flexible, but also to become harder and stronger and more staunch.

“Never say no more than once, if you really mean it” – NASSIM TALEB

What is Stoicism?

Stoicism is the art and approach and philosophy of manliness?

https://videopress.com/v/tvrElKWV?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=1&controls=1&loop=1&muted=1&persistVolume=0&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

https://videopress.com/v/gdSnhYW1?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=1&controls=1&loop=1&muted=1&persistVolume=0&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

STOICISM 101

Become invincible:

The Stoic Masters

Learn from the master stoics:

See all philosophy >

Physiology Thoughts

Something I have cared for a lot ever since I was a fat kid in New York, was diet health physiology and everything in between.

Ever since I was 11 to 12 years old, that with a triple chin, I have literally experimented with every single diet out there, save this nonsensical vegetarian and vegan trend.

Why does this matter?

I met this cool guy the other day, at the Phils coffee shop in downtown Culver City, named Sodi (his website is https://stedmanhalliday.com/).

We had an interesting chat about how fitness is so critical, especially with all of these silicon valley tech utopists who just think of their body as an afterthought.

I vibe with Stedman Halliday because how many different reasons.

First, the focus on recovery as a first thought is a good one. For example, another day when I was really really tired and exhausted, instead of just taking a shower like I typically do, I filled up the bathtub with really really really really really hot water, and had a really really hot bath. It seems that the trend is towards ice baths, ice plunges etc., but also, I think taking insanely hot baths is also a good idea.

Why? To be able to tolerate an insanely hot bath, literally on the edge of boiling hot water, is also an effective bodily turbo charger. To me it is like my MacGyver way of harnessing the power of the hot sauna, without having to go to the gym.

In fact, maybe having a bathtub might be one of the greatest luxuries in your living situation. Rather than thinking of taking a really really hot bath as a frivolous luxury, maybe we should think of it almost like drinking more coffee or caffeine.

Food

Currently what I am doing, and what I have done ever since I was living in Vietnam in 2017, which is almost 6 years now, is simple:

Intermittent fasting throughout the day, this means no breakfast, no lunch, only one massive 100% carnivore dinner.

During the day I only drink tapwater, black coffee, that’s it.

And when I break my fast and eat dinner, which could arrange anywhere in between 6 PM and 10 PM, I strive to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or lamb.

Achilles and Chiron the centaur

Another great thing I have learned from ChatGPT is how great wonderful and effective ChatGPT is, at least 1 trillion times better than Google. In fact, my current thought is short google; ChatGPT is at least 1 billion times more insightful and accurate in terms of being able to accurately Find information about anything.

For example, a simple heuristic:

The best calling card is now, not to tell people to Google you, but instead, to ChatGPT you!

Why? I’m starting to have this low-key suspicion that Google is doing some sort of behind the counter deals with individuals, and somehow tweaking they are all rhythm for subjective ends.

However with ChatGPT, it is less biased, less meddling.

For example, get ChatGPT on your iPhone or iPad, just pay the $20 for the subscription model, you could cancel it anytime, and just ChatGPT:

Who is ERIC KIM?

The new phrase:

Just ChatGPT me bro!

My thoughts and experiments

I think the biggest issue with diet health physiology and nutrition is that people are so subjective, and also, there is far too many politics, ethics and morality behind it.

For example, I never trust anybody who says:

Don’t eat meat, it’s bad for the planet!

What? Do you know what else is bad for the planet? Your Amazon prime subscription, Netflix, YouTube, your iPhone and iPhone Pro, your MacBook pros, your Tesla, your Range Rover etc.

Simple heuristic:

Never trust nobody who makes commentary about the planet and has either a Netflix subscription, Amazon prime subscription, or owns a car, any card, irregardless of gas or electric. Or watches YouTube. Or has an iPhone, iPhone Pro, and has Instagram Facebook, etc.

Honestly it is all bad for the planet.

My immortal and ethical thought is this:

Don’t do what is “best for the planet“, do what you believe is best for you.

Is the planet made for men, or is man-made for the planet?

Body shaming?

I have observed a funny reverse trend; man is not permitted to walk around, topless in public, show off his body and muscles, and also, not allowed to wear short shorts, or show off his crotch bulge.

I find this highly paradoxical, because nowadays, women are permitted to show off all their body parts! Even nowadays in LA, seeing a woman wear some sort of translucent white shirt or tank top, nipples popping through is not really a big deal anymore. I think this is a good train; there’s this weird quote for men and women that this is seen as a taboo, yet, it seems that most men watch pornography and secret, just ask somebody for fun, “When you turn on Google incognito, what do you really look at?”

Or—

What do you think of Maria Ozawa?

Or,

What do you torrent on Pirate Bay, when you turn on your VPN?

The logic of 100% carnivore diet

Some nuances:

First, what is it that Achilles was fed as a child by his personal trainer, Chiron the Centaur? Legend has it that he was fed entrails, which included bone marrow, hearts, and other offal matter.

I also have an orthodox theory that cholesterol, dietary food cholesterol, is a natural steroid.

I believe the new ones here is critical, because people make this foolish calculus:

If I consume more dietary cholesterol, cholesterol in my food, then my blood HDL, bad cholesterol blood levels will go up, and I will eventually have a heart attack and die.

Also fat –

if you consume more dietary fat, or saturated fat, you will put on more body fat.

However, this ain’t true. I think the big issue is that in today’s world, or modern day English, the semantic lexicon issues is confusing.

Just try it out!

Whenever I get to Korean barbecue, all eat Korean barbecue, my favorite food items to consume include all the innards; beef large intestine, beef liver, beef, beef tongue, etc.

People say that eating meat is “bad for you“, but what about organ meats? Just think about that.

Training thoughts

So the question is this; what is the best way to train?

My personal thought is towards some sort of Indian spartan, ancient Greek notion. The thoughts I’ve been thinking:

How did or how would the ancient Greeks or Spartan train?

First and foremost, they’re very very interesting thing is that most depictions of these great heroes and demigods is not having super super big chests, therefore the simple thought is that perhaps benchpress is a bad idea.

What is more notable about their physiology and stature?

First, how upright they stand. Second, they never have a shirt on. Third, how massive their legs, back, and shoulders are.

My recent experimentations with training include heavy sandbag training; I ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the roguefitness.com website, and I just been going to the local park and filling it up with playground sand.

Second, Farmer’s Carry. I ordered these farmers carry handles on Titan.fitness, and it is very interesting! The skill is not just picking it up, but walking with it.

For example, it is one thing to lift 4 plates, it is another to farmers walk and carry 4 plates for the distance.

Another thing I have observed about lifting a heavy sand back off the floor, crouching down picking it up, shouldering it, or holding it to my chest with my fingers intertwined, and walking it for a long distance is it really strengthens my triceps, my fingers and my grip and hand strength, my foot strength, my feet, as well as my abs, obliques, and back. In fact I felt more sore carrying around I have sandbag than I did atlas lifting 1000 pounds at the gym.

Train like atlas

One of the big innovations I did while I was in Orange County was my notion of the atlas lift; loading up the barbell with as much weight as you can, and just lifting up and standing up. No squatting involved.

In fact, it looks like that my training style is starting to trend more towards a strongman concept; just lifting really really heavy stuff, and doing it in a more old-school way.

For example, atlas stones. To be able to just lift up a very very very very heavy boulder, and presumably throw it at somebody, is an interesting idea. This is what Achilles did; in some of the fight scenes of the Iliad, Homer would write:

Achilles would lift up a massive stone, that which barely two strong men could lift, throw it at his enemy, and the boulder hit their hip, and black death descended upon them.

Also something I have been observing is that perhaps heavy sandbag training is a good idea because it is “safe”, and also, more accessible. Anyone could buy a cheap sandbag on Amazon, and then just go to a local playground and fill it up with sand.

Now what?

Ever since moving to LA, I’ve become more and more reticent to join the gym. Why?

First, I prefer to be outdoors.

Second, I don’t like wearing a shirt.

Third, hygiene.

Working out at the park, in a parking lot, in your garage, or outside is not ideal, but, it is more interesting and innovative.

A simple thought is to just troll amazon, Titan.fitness, or the roguefitness.com website and buy a lot of fun weight lifting equipment! My simple thought is only procure equipment that you could easily throw in your trunk, because it is fun to be able to just put in your trunk, drive to your local park and work out there.

Now what?

Some more thoughts:

Bear lifestyle: Apparently bears walk 50 miles a day. What if we humans did the same?
Photography health and fitness is all connected: why? If you do not feel well, you’ll have no in motivation to make photos. My very simple thought is that first, focus on your health and wellness, and then the guitar will come naturally! Even a simple thought is being able to do a deep “as to grass“ squat is beneficial in photography, to get all the angles.
If you work in cinema, or cinematography, it seems that handling these camera rigs is insanely arduous and also very physical. If you look like a bodybuilder, and had the strength of a demigod, or look like a strong man, or look like ERIC KIM, certainly wouldn’t this help you be a more capable camera operator?

BECOMING A ZEN PHOTOGRAPHER

One of the books that I wrote which I’m the most proud of is my Zen Photography book, which I finished in the Vietnam, at the wonderful LA VIET coffee cafe compound.

I think the reason why I love my Zen Photography book, and why it has resonated with so many people is that it is honest, interesting, and insightful.

I have some general thoughts about how to become a zen photographer — the first is focusing on the zen photography aesthetic and ethos.

The second one is very simple: delete all of your social media accounts. Delete Instagram, don’t use it. Delete comments, delete statistics, disable them all.

This is where I still recommend using wordpress.org over wordpress.com. it seems that wordpress.com, which is run by automaticc— they always find a stealthy way to try to include statistics and stats into everything.

With wordpress.org, you can disable comments, disable stats, disable at all.

No feedback

If you really really really really really want to become a zen photographer, the strategy is to structure things in such a way in which you’re not exposed to any feedback.

Also, I think the reason why I’ll never put Seneca in organized sports is that the focus on numbers, games, winners and losers is a bad one. I would rather just take him to a park, like Calvin and Hobbes just play Calvin Ball; just make up the game as you go along. And ultimately the sport in the game isn’t even that important, what is more important is your courage physicality strength and physical capacity and capability.

Zen aesthetics

First and foremost, I don’t think it’s actually necessary to shoot black-and-white. I personally prefer it, but you can still do it in color! Just keep the color super minimal.

For example, I really like the photo curation done by the Apple Photos team, there is this fun little dynamic photo exhibition gallery thing in front of the Apple office in Culver City on Washington, the compositions are beautiful; simple, elegant and flowing.

iPad Pro photographer?

Just shoot on your iPad!

Very funny thought that I have which I really love about shooting photos on the iPad, the iPad Pro 11 inch, with those stupid accessories is it almost feels like you’re shooting photos on a large format 8 x 10 camera, but done in modern-day times.

Certainly the image quality isn’t the best, but compositionally it is fun and interesting and I enjoy doing it a lot!

How to shoot more zen

Simple thoughts include just on one camera, one lens. Whether it is integrated or interchangeable doesn’t really matter.

A simple thought I have is with the lenses, or the camera set up, opt for the most minimal, the most lightweight compact setup. For example on my Lumix G9, I recently bought the Panasonic Lumix 14 mm of 2.5 pancake lens, and I love it! The more compact, smaller and lighter your lens… the more you shoot the happier will be etc.

Also, a simple suggestion is just purge all of your camera equipment. My friend Stan Hudecki did this with his stuff, giving it away to family members, or people in need. Good vibes.

In 2015 I did the same, also purging almost all of my camera equipment, just giving a way to friends, family members etc. The reason why I like giving away camera equipment is that it could have greater utility for somebody, rather than just the annoying thing of having to sell it. I actually don’t like to sell stuff because it is too much work. Having to coordinate, negotiate, it is all such a pain in the ass.

Other zen thoughts

When you go on a photo walk, or go out to take photos, a simple thought is just leave your phone at home. While I think the iPhone is a great tool for photography, it is just too distracting.

Also another tip what I personally do is whenever I take Seneca to the park, I always lock my phone in my glove compartment, and I play with him at the park in order to not get distracted.

I think the biggest enemy and today’s world is being distracted. Imagine shooting photos on your iPhone, getting all these stupid notifications while you’re shooting etc. The simple thought you could do instead is put it in airplane mode when you’re shooting, but the downside is also that you might be tempted to turn off the airplane mode.

The future is standalone digital cameras

When I was in Mexico City, my student Chris Chung had the compact digital medium format Hasselblad camera, and I liked it a lot. Why? It was simple minimalistic and aesthetic, and also, because digital medium format is lower, I think it forces you to slow down.

My pragmatic thought is digital medium format is great; I really love the Pentax 645Z, and I think it is actually a more interesting idea to buy a digital medium format camera instead of buying a digital Leica M camera or a Leica Q camera, which is essentially a low-key Panasonic Lumix camera. How do you know? The Leica Q1 camera uses Panasonic Lumix batteries! Proof is in the pudding.

Also apparently Pentax put out a new black and white only DSLR camera, I think this is the most interesting camera in the market.

Zen photography assignments

For an entire day, only shoot photos in macro mode
Delete your Instagram
Start your own WordPress.org website, just use bluehost.com or Ionos.com
If you already got a website, see if you could disable the comments and statistics
Put on website blocker extensions on chrome or Safari or Firefox which block gear review websites and rumor websites
Don’t follow any photography related websites or blogs or YouTube channels. All of them ultimately just want to get you to buy more equipment, whether cameras or lenses or other stuff
If you should color photos, try to experiment only capturing one photo at a time. Only blue, only red, only yellow etc.
When you’re out shooting and composing your photos, strive to make the edges and the background as simple as possible.
Diagonal composition
Triangle composition

Upload your best photos to arsbeta.com

Happy Halloween!

See if you could apply this Zen photography aesthetic to your Halloween photos! Make the photos as simple as possible, folks on details, and use the flash.

Arsbeta.com for your best photos

Upload

Zen tech?

The more lenses you got on your iPhone the worst. Nowadays my thought is whenever I see anybody with three lenses on their iPhone, it looks kind of silly.

Greater flex to have just the normal iPhone with 2 lenses (2 is enough, just like kids or kidneys or lungs), or better yet, an iPhone SE — with just one lens!

Also a simple thought: every day uninstall at least one app from your phone or iPad or whatever… Better yet uninstalled two apps from your phone every day!

Also, manually go into your iPhone notifications panel and disable all of the apps notifications which include text messaging etc. the only one I enable is FaceTime, in case that my mom Cindy or my sister need to contact me.

Zen tools

EK HAPTIC SHOPPE >

Zen thinking

I am more afraid of the man who has trained one move 1000 times, than the man who knows 1000 moves – Bruce Lee
Even a hair cast its own shadow — Publilus Syrus
Better to use chatgpt to search for information instead of google, because you don’t have to deal with ads!
Never read nothing that has an advertisement in it, which is all of you too, magazines, books which promote products or services etc.
Just own one type of currency or one type of crypto. For example, I’m just invested in 100% bitcoin. It is either all or nothing, I’m also interested in chain-link, but yet have found a strong enough reason to dissolve all my bitcoin into chain-link. Proof of reserves however is a good idea.
Just one wife, spouse or girlfriend: it seems that polygamy is too much stress. Better to just have one spouse, one wife, one girlfriend etc. More zen.

Think more:

START HERE

BECOMING A ZEN PHOTOGRAPHER

One of the books that I wrote which I’m the most proud of is my Zen Photography book, which I finished in the Vietnam, at the wonderful LA VIET coffee cafe compound.

I think the reason why I love my Zen Photography book, and why it has resonated with so many people is that it is honest, interesting, and insightful.

I have some general thoughts about how to become a zen photographer — the first is focusing on the zen photography aesthetic and ethos.

The second one is very simple: delete all of your social media accounts. Delete Instagram, don’t use it. Delete comments, delete statistics, disable them all.

This is where I still recommend using wordpress.org over wordpress.com. it seems that wordpress.com, which is run by automaticc— they always find a stealthy way to try to include statistics and stats into everything.

With wordpress.org, you can disable comments, disable stats, disable at all.

No feedback

If you really really really really really want to become a zen photographer, the strategy is to structure things in such a way in which you’re not exposed to any feedback.

Also, I think the reason why I’ll never put Seneca in organize sports is that the folks on numbers, games, winners and losers is a bad one. I would rather just take him to a park, like Calvin and Hobbs just play Calvin ball; just make up the game as you go along. And ultimately the sport in the game isn’t even that important, what is more important is your courage physicality strength and physical capacity and capability.

Zen aesthetics

First and foremost, I don’t think it’s actually necessary to shoot black-and-white. I personally prefer it, but you can still do it in color! Just keep the color super minimal.

For example, I really like the photo creation done by the Apple photos team, there is this fun little dynamic photo exhibition gallery thing in front of the Apple office in Culver City on Washington, the competitions are beautiful; simple, elegant and flowing.

iPad Pro photographer?

Just shoot on your iPad!

I disdain the weak and anemic

.

It seems that the best SUV to get is a Ford Explorer ST; why? Essentially it is a cop car.

Also, just getting white. Why? Easier to keep clean, and also less hot when it gets really hot. Don’t be a loser in a range rover.

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Also, be very very suspicious of people who are trying to ride your coat tails. They weigh you down. Literally and metaphorically.

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I fucking love LA!

Specifically, Culver City.

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How to warm up?

A simple thought to start off the day walking, with a lot of clothes on, get super super warm. Drink a bunch of coffee, etc.

Then, once you warm up, and the sun comes out stand in the sun, maximum UV exposure. Takeoff your shirt and pants! Shorts or short short shorts or just half short leggings is fine.

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The logic of getting a brand new Prius over a brand new Tesla?

Been seeing more Priuses on the road, the new one. I think the design looks pretty cool, but still… why would you buy a brand new Prius when you go buy a brand new Tesla?

I think it is interesting and wise and smart to buy a used Prius, let’s say the 2010 model. For myself, I re-inherited the family car — a white 2010 Toyota Prius and I effing love it!

Design critique of the new Prius

For the most part, the new design of the new Prius is pretty cool. But what I don’t really like or love is that from the side, it seems like the design was a compromise. For example on the rear hatchback, the rear seats, they made the doorhandles flush and hidden, like the same that they do on the subcompact Honda or Toyota cars. But, they still have normal doorhandles in the front? Doesn’t really make sense to me.

Also, the shift knob. The 2010 version of the Prius, what they did with the shift knob was insanely innovative and futuristic, but now, for some reason they took a step back… making it look like an old Toyota Camry or an older Honda Accord?

*

Don’t partner with anybody.

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ChatGPT should just make a simple voice dictation writing app?

I think a huge problem that people have is writer’s block. A simple solution is to just create a standalone app, which is just focused on writing and voice dictation.

Maybe I will build this; the funny thought is that there is no keyboard, you could only use your voice!

How would this benefit people?

First, we talk more efficiently than we can type. Also, the huge benefit even as I write these words is being able to walk around, upright out in public, in the direct light, on my 11 inch iPad Pro M1 chip, no case no keyboard no stupid pencil, not even a Wi-Fi connection! And I am very very very happy that for the most part, the voice dictation accuracy adjust the built in Apple voice dictation microphone icon on the bottom left is insanely great!

The biggest issue is that people seem shy to speak in public, as a cultural issue. Why? Social cultural one; in the western modernized world, one is not permitted to be allowed and vocal in public. What I love about the mainland Chinese is that they have no regard for this; they talk insanely loud wherever they are, also always using voice dictation or just sending voice text messages and voice memos to one another. This was also very interesting to see in Cambodia, because apparently speaking Khmer to type out is insanely arduous, and as a hack and a workaround, they discovered that to send Snapchat like voice messages to one another is actually much more effective and efficient.

I don’t think it’s the technology issue, but simply a cultural one. How can we encourage more people to use voice dictation instead?

*

People just jealous and envious!

A funny thing, for the first time somebody just yelled at me: “put a shirt on!” Not sure if they were trying to just joke around, or be angry about it, but the general thought is that it seems people seem envious and jealous about my form and physique, they wish they were me.

“Niggas hate you because they can’t be you”— JAY Z

*

Mentally sick people?

Something that I learned is that we should not try to “fix”, or seek to understand mentally sick people. What that means is this; people who are mentally unstable and unwell, apparently the security guards call them 51-50’s — imagine like crazy people, high on some sort of crack or strange drug, running around smelling bed etc. The mere sight or smell of them is repulsive.

Therefore as a consequence, it seems that the optimal thing is to just not be near them within a 5 mile radius.

Another reason of not living or moving to Santa Monica. The place is a dump.

*

Their physiology will show their mental health

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Just do what you like

I think in today’s world the issue is that we do things that we think other people think we should do, or what we shouldn’t do.

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Clear skies, clear futures
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You just hate me because you’re scared of me!

Or, because you’re no match for me.

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The direct light!

Now that winter is upon us, something I’ve discovered and observed is that there’s nothing better than direct light! Things in the cold are terrible because it is so frigid and unpleasant.

Even real estate and buildings; I think the most important thing is that the sun must directly face you. This is the best way to get maximum sun exposure UV radiation etc.

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Critique things or change things?

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Open air gymnasium concept?

In terms of hygiene, wellness, health and strength, it seems that the most supreme concept is an open air gymnasium, in the direct light, in the direct sun.

If it is really really really really hot, like in Arizona or Nevada, then an outdoor, concept, with a simple covering is a good idea.

But I suppose the question and nuance is this; is it a good idea or is it wise to have to own or lease it? Or even borrow it?

I suppose the downside is having to maintain it.

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It seems the only reason we like Lamborghini is for the brand-name, and also the Lamborghini scissor doors. However if we could just apply this to ourselves in real life, what would it look like?

first and foremost, your haircut. Cindy calls in my Lamborghini haircut; very very closely shaped on the sides, Long on the top, flowing back.

Second, your bodily physique. Highly muscular, sleek, low body fat percentage. The basic ideal is to be super buff with the six pack. And of course no steroids.

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Glorious!

THOUGHT VLOGS

I think what I enjoyed the most about studying AI, and thinking about AI, is that it allows me in encourages me to think more about what it really means to be human

https://videopress.com/v/auWLjHHp?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=1&controls=1&loop=1&muted=1&persistVolume=0&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

Why AI cannot be philosophical

Artificial intelligence cannot be wise, because once again, it is just a really good filter, in regurgitating of what is on the internet and what has already been written. It takes a true visionary, a true individual genius to actually write things of worth.

AI doesn’t have a vision!

What is the role of us humans? We humans are visionaries!

To become more human is the goal!

What do we really want?

I don’t think we want more money more power more resources, more health, whatever. Rather, I think we want to expand, augment our curiosity and beyond?

Also, Art?

How to become more curious, how to cultivate your curiosity?

Always assume that somebody is watching, because most likely, somebody is.

However, these “security guards“, tend to just be underpaid staff who could really care less.

Everything that I do is an art piece, an art concept?

The upside of handwashing your own car is that you better understand it? You better understand the curves, the edges etc.

When you hand wash your car, you start to understand the 3-D contours of everything?

I am OCD about design.

I am also OCD about cleanliness and hygiene?

I like being unhurried, unrushed, and to kill time.

Bone marrow is food for the demigods

How to become demigod?

Lift very very very very very heavy stones and boulders just like Achilles
Consume more bone marrow, just like Achilles as well?

What car would Achilles drive? Dubious that he would drive any car.

Two ideas in concepts: straight flat horizontal lightbar for the front and the back of a Prius, as well as iPad Pro mount holder for car?

Often stupid ideas are good ideas?

There doesn’t need to be a logic behind it

What is less distracting? Dark mode is less distracting, as well as black clothes?

AI doesn’t care for aesthetics, but humans do.

Just do what you want, not what others want, even worse, what others want you to do.

It doesn’t need to make sense.

Man cannot tolerate more than one woman

Empathy and compassion is for weaklings.

Maybe it is a good idea to become less tolerant and less understanding? And less supportive?

Censorship

Censorship isn’t about blocking, or hiding things. Censorship, censor comes from censeo— “to have an opinion, I have an opinion”.

Therefore in regards to censorship and Internet censorship, it is wise to consider that in fact, these Internet corporations do have an opinion about what is fitting and what is not. For example, let us not forget that Google owns YouTube, and let us not forget that ultimately Google YouTube is an advertising company.

Anything that runs on advertising will always have censorship!

From chat gpt4:

The term “censorship” has its roots in ancient Rome. The word derives from the Latin “censor,” which was an office in ancient Roman society. The censors were magistrates responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government’s finances. One of their duties was to oversee the behavior and morals of the citizens, which involved removing individuals who were deemed to have violated these morals from the census or reducing their rank. Over time, the role of the censor evolved and came to encompass other tasks related to maintaining public order and morality.

From this ancient office, the term “censor” eventually came to be used in modern times to refer to anyone who examines and suppresses objectionable material, leading to the concept of “censorship” as the act or system of suppressing or deleting anything considered objectionable.

AI THOUGHTS.

AI-THOUGHTS-9 Download

Played around with ChatGPT 4 this morning, and was very impressed. DALL-E 3 is also a great addition.

AI THOUGHTS >

Why Photographers Still Matter

I’ve observed that ChatGPT as well as DALL-E is very fascinating, and also great for creativity.

However, an interesting nuance I have discovered:

The images that they could produce however, is still limited to illustrations, vector images, drawings and paintings etc. It cannot yet make a realistic looking photograph.

I think there is something very very beautiful about the photographs, why? Capturing a moment in time I think is our great joy. Also some simple pragmatics include the ease of printing out photos, and being able to mount them on your wall or inside a frame, something that does not require batteries, charging, LCD screens etc.

The best way to think about AI is that it is essentially like Siri

All of this nonsensical talk of artificial intelligence going to take our jobs in our creativity is silly. Why? The reason people like to do art is because it is fun!

A simple thought is I don’t really think that artist should chase making money, instead, we should do it for autotelic purposes, fulfilling some sort of inner joy in ourselves!

I think the only real reason why people seek to make money through their artwork or photographs is because they are seeking some sort of external validation and legitimacy to what they do. However, this is not a wise path because it means that you are a slave to the nod of others.

How should we think about AI?

The best way to think about AI, open AI, ChatGPT etc. is that it is a complement to us, and an augmentation of us, rather than a replacement.

If AI can give us a creative nudge, it is good!

I’ve also discovered the upside of AI, technology etc. is that it opens up our minds to certain opportunities would have otherwise not thought of. Exposing or introducing unorthodox thinking to us.

For example, I think it is useful to think of Google Maps as AI. Why? Technically Google maps uses artificial intelligence to map out the quickest path from us to get from point A to point B. I love Google Maps as well because it has taken me down some strange routes, which are actually very interesting. Routes I would have never otherwise discovered or thought of up myself.

For example, in order to avoid traffic on the 5 or 405, Google maps has routed me through some sort of side streets and industrial centers, which are actually visually very interesting for me

Automate the boring stuff

This is very very popular online course on udemy titled “automate the boring stuff”. The basic idea is that perhaps the reason of technology is that it helps us eliminate tedious, time-consuming tasks in our everyday life.

Example, my insane joy with the instant pot as well as the air fryer (chefman). Why? It is like having a cooking slave; to be able to instant pot food insanely quickly and effectively is such a great joy, instead of having to tediously cook it myself and monitor it. Do you remember that old commercial, “set it and forget it?” Yeah that’s good.

Or, my great passion and gratitude towards having an in unit washer and dryer. Can you imagine how tedious it was back in the day having to wash wring and dry it yourself?

What are the tedious things we could cut out of photography?

Photography is great, but I have observed that there are certain tedious things. For example, having to trudge through all of our photographs in order to choose the best one. This is a huge issue, because let us say that you shoot 1000 photos a day. Technically photography is my profession, and even I don’t have enough time to go through and review all my photos in a single day! My simple vision for the next generation of arsbeta.com is simple:

Drag and drop, from your iPhone or iPad, or even laptop, quickly drag and drop or select 1000 photos, and ARS BETA AI can help you cool down to your best photo or three photos or 10 photos etc.

Essentially there would be some sort of slider, which would actually enable this to be possible. For example, the slider filter could allow you to cull down to 100 photos, 50 photos, 25 photos etc.

If you can help me build this shoot me an email at eric@erickim.com

Why AI?

I think by far, the most useful use case of AI would definitely be in regards to tedious driving in stop and go traffic. For example, I think the only reason to get a Tesla isn’t for all of that electric car stuff, but rather, the promise of a car that can use the noise of driving on the 405 or the 10 during rush-hour traffic. Or even tedious stop and go traffic when driving around Los Angeles local.

AI to help with voice dictation?

Perhaps one of the greatest innovations I’ve discovered is being able to use voice dictation on my iPad Pro, without a stupid keyboard, and be able to be out and about and walking around to voice dictate my thoughts into IA WRITER.

Why is this so great?

First, I hate being indoors, I prefer to be out and about, walking in the direct sun. I could do this with my iPad Pro, the 11 inch, currently using the M1 processor.

I’ve noted that the reason why I love the iPad Pro so much is that the voice dictation transcription quality and accuracy is at least 1000 times better than using my iPhone SE. I’m not sure if this has to do with the M-series processor over the A-series processor, or whether maybe the iPad Pro has better microphones.

Irregardless, I think a huge benefit to writers and thinkers is voice dictation, and the AI behind it. I believe that open AI had this new concept called “whisper“, which allows this as well.

For example, everyone seems to suffer from “writers block“, but nobody suffers from “talker’s block”.

Photo ideas

Download the iOS ChatGPT app on either your iPhone or iPad or both, and subscribe to the ChatGPT plus, which cost 20 bucks a month. Once you have done that, adjust the slider to ChatGPT four, and note that in the bottom left corner you could upload photos directly to ChatGPT! Type in and ask ChatGPT what it thinks about your photos, and rate your photos.

Or if you want real human responses, upload your photos to arsbeta.com

My new focuses?

Reading the Elon Musk Walter Isaacson biography, many big lessons, one of them being is this; simply predict and anticipate the very critical future concerns.

For example, to me I am very interested in crypto, cryptocurrency and crypto technology, stuff on the Internet and blockchain, as well as AI. Why? It is cool interesting and sexy!

CRYPTO
AI

Not only that, but it seems that if you are passionate enough, you don’t gotta pigeonhole yourself into just one thing. Do it all! Isn’t Elon Musk CEO in about seven or eight different companies?

Fitness and food

erickimfitness.com — everywhere I look, and everybody I talk to, it seems that everyone is a little bit clueless about health and nutrition. It is something that I have always been passionate about, ever since I was a fat 12-year-old kid.

I think also the biggest issue is things which bemuddle fitness and health, namely steroids, performance enhancing drugs, “natural“ testosterone boosters, the multi billion dollar supplement industry, protein powder and creatine, pre-workout powder, caffeine and fake sugar supplements which make you fat.

Also, this strange trend towards veganism “plant-based” diets. I think there is too much weird ethics and morality and anti-masculine sentiment behind it all; rather than thinking critically, without all of this prejudice and propaganda from these vegetarian vegan plant-based corporations.

Do you know James Cameron, the guy who made Titanic avatar and funded all of these pro vegan documentaries? Apparently he owns a $1 billion pea protein powder plant somewhere, just follow the money, this is a big financial and media conflict of interest. He is also apparently best friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is definitely the most influential fitness person of them all. Let us also not forget that when Arnold what is in his prime, he also admits to taking steroids.

Photo thoughts

I think we should rejoice and be glad that the future of photography is still very bright for us!

For example, I’m currently living in Culver City and it seems that Apple is opening up a bunch new offices here! Also, I always walk by the Apple office on Washington, and they have this very very very cool photo exhibit thing on LCD screens, all these lovely photos shot on iPhone.

Why do people buy iPhones?

People buy iPhones, or have a motivation to upgrade their iPhones primarily for photography. I think the reason why iPhone pro titan is lackluster is that the average person doesn’t really care about weight, or even materials, they simply will only upgrade their iPhone or iPhone Pro because they want a better camera.

Also, take note: ain’t nobody use their iPhone to shoot cinema. Nor does anyone aspire to use their iPhone to shoot cinema. What do we want our iPhones for? To shoot photographs!

Now what?

Street photography is the best photography, street art is the best art. Any more time we can spend on the streets, the better.

I was talking to a guy at the park yesterday, Tony, and he told me a fun fact which may or may not be true; that bear is apparently walk 50 miles a day! It probably isn’t true, it had me thinking; could I walk 50 miles a day if I wanted to?

Also, if you simply walked around all day, 50 miles a day with your camera, certainly you would witness many photo opportunities!

What is the best camera to do this with? Of course you could just use your iPhone, or your Ricoh GR camera, or your Fuji, or your Sony, Leica, LUMIX whatever. I think less than the camera component is the walking factor.

The big reason why it is so critical to be able to walk much and have a light camera and a compact camera is that it will assist you to just walk more! I have your camera discourages you from walking a lot, even recently on my Lumix G9 I bought the Lumix 14 mm F2.5 pancake lens and I love it! It has reduced the weight of my camera by at least 10X, and as a consequence, I just shoot more and explore more.

SHOP ERIC KIM / HENRI STRAPS >

Happy Halloween!

Photo assignment: this Halloween go out with your camera, and shoot some fun photos with the flash! You can experiment also using the external flash, on camera flash, have fun with the angles and slow shutter speeds. Upload your best photos to arsbeta.com

Shoot it at night, and smile and have fun with people, and also offer to send people the photos! When you take a photo of somebody or ask or whatever, just compliment them on their costume!

Upload

Happy Haptic!

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Limited to the first 10 motivated streettogs!

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What next?

It seems that ultimate leisure is physical. To me so fascinating because street photography allows us to kill many birds with one stone.

My personal opinion is that street photography may be the most physical form of activity of them all.

Also, the reason why I am also so enthusiastic about street photography is how many birds you can kill with one stone. Let us note how street photography affords us an opportunity to just be out of the house, out in public walking around, as well as opportunity to talk to strangers and other people who interest us, also, visiting and seeing places and traversing new streets and spaces, and also, the great joy of interacting with the real world, embodied reality!

For a lot of these people who like to play video games, Diablo, World of Warcraft, etc.… It seems that ultimate aspiration is to be out and about in public! Isn’t that the whole “open world” concept? Even the new Elden ring game, which Elon Musk is apparently a big fan of, is also all about this open world concept in which you are not relegated to a single place, but rather, have the power and freedom to go anywhere you want!

New futures?

My friend Rinzi Ruiz had a simple adage that I follow:

Follow the light!

Nowadays considering that I prefer to be topless, and walking out and about in public, my greatest passion is to be in the direct sun. With the direct sun I get the greatest amount of energy, power, and hype and motivation. To me the sun is the ultimate stimulant.

It’s still strikes me as bizarre that a lot of people would instead prefer to be indoors, watching some sort of unnatural media without direct exposure to the elements! Isn’t the greatest joy of life to enjoy the sun?

If you’re concerned about skin cancer or whatever, just put on a lot of sunblock, wear a hat and some long sleeves and long pants. I still think it is good to get direct sun exposure.

Also, it seems that the noveau privilege in today’s world is having a full body tan, and also being highly muscular.

What next?

Photography is an infinitely beautiful and complex game, and one of the things I love most about it is our ability to explore.

The best use of our money time and resources I think is to travel, be out in the real world, and also, explore. For example, when I think about all of my world travels, all of these great and phenomenal experiences that had during my time in Japan, Osaka and Tokyo and Kyoto, Vietnam, Saigon and Hanoi, Korea, Seoul Busan, in Dubai, and all around the planet… traveling transform me, uplifted me, and really opened up my mind and my universe.

Can I still be a productive photographer without traveling?

Of course: I think the big secret is living somewhere which allows for maximum walking. For example, a simple thought; if you walked 50 miles a day, and always had your camera with you, certainly you would witness a lot of food opportunities, wouldn’t you?

A simple life optimization suggestion that I have is it is better to rent in an extremely desirable, pedestrian friendly neighborhood then to own a less desirable neighborhood.

LEARN WITH EK

EK WORKSHOPS:

Become you:

DISCOVER YOUR CREATIVE MISSION IN LIFE: DOWNTOWN LA, November 4th, 2023
INTRODUCTION TO STOICISM WORKSHOP: Downtown LA, DECEMBER 2nd, 2023

2024

CONQUER CONFIDENCE ONLINE WORKSHOP: Jan 27, 202
April 20th, 2024: SF ZEN PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP (info TBA)
Family street photography workshop in Culver City, Los Angeles: Working on the details, stay posted.

Never stop learning, never stop thinking:

For the freshest thoughts, what I am thinking right now, always always always the ERIC KIM BLOG >

Other random thoughts

I went to the Peterson automotive museum with Seneca, and we loved it! If you live in Southern California, definitely check it out.

Some car thoughts:

CARS, CULTURE & THE SELF.

CAR THOUGHTS

Just went to the Petersen automotive museum, some thoughts:

How I found out about it?

I suppose one of the big upsides of living in LA, Los Angeles, is that there are so many epic and great things here. For example, I was just randomly driving down Fairfax one day from the gym, and I saw this insanely big building, with great curved white stainless steel and red architecture. I was curious what it was and I saw that it was the Peterson automotive museum on Google maps. I thought to myself, maybe one day I could take Sen here.

Pro tip:

When you’re driving and you see something interesting on the road or the freeway etc. and you’re not sure what it is, just take a screenshot of it on your phone, and revisit it later.

Perhaps this is where great architecture makes a great impression; I first I had no idea what the structure was, it was only later when I looked into it that it was actually an automotive museum.

***

Iterate

So finally the other day, after Sen took a quick nap in the car, I thought that it might be the best time to take Sen to the museum.

To me, after touring the whole place with Sen, some thoughts:

I suppose the good thing of going to museum was that after seeing all these cars in real life, I no longer feel the desire to own any of them.
The second thought which is useful is to think and consider these cars as art objects. That is, it ain’t cars for the sake of movement or driving, but something else.

Cars and culture, America, and Los Angeles?

Several things. First and foremost, in America, whether we like it or not, we are a car culture. For example let us consider that much of our economic powers and prosperity came from the automotive industry, Ford and GM, etc. Apparently even back in the day if you’re living in Michigan or Detroit and you drove a Toyota or a Japanese car, people would physically assault you or even physically vandalize your car.

How and why do cars matter?

Well first of all, this is tricky; cars are great because they allow you to do basic things like go to Costco, buy groceries, drive to the park which is otherwise too time consuming to traverse by foot, and with public transportation, it seems that if it isn’t convenient enough, people want to take it. Certainly COVID-19 did not help at all.

Is there a public transportation future?

I do not think so. Why? What people don’t seem to understand is that it is not about transportation or mobility, it is a matter of fashion, pride, individualism.

For example, it doesn’t really even matter how rich or poor you are, I think the best way to think about it is that your car or what car you drive is almost like your externalized avatar, your ego, your own self impression of yourself.

For example, I think vanity is fine. Everyone wants to distinguish themselves through what car they drive, what they look like, etc. I think for the most part this is a healthy and good thing. Perhaps the big problem though is ultimately, a car will never show your individualism. Why? if your car is not a custom car, ultimately you will look like someone else.

For example, almost any and every modern day card, unless you drive a very very very obscure car, someone else will have a similar make or model as year. For example, it doesn’t matter whether you drive a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, someone out there will also have a similar car to you.

The solution

I have a very very very very very simple solution. I think the best car to drive, in today’s world, almost irregardless of where you live is a simple old-school white Prius. I really like the year 2010 model, and up. Why? The good thing with the 2010 model is that there are no stupid LCD screens that pop up or touchscreens which distract you.

Secondly, these things last forever, and also, I actually really like the body styling the 2010 Prius model. The generation before it looks too much like a bubble car, and the generation after it, looks like a strange half assed effort.

The brand new Prius is very very cool, but still I am suspicious because considering that it is a totally new design, they will probably discover some issues with it. And also once again, all this unnecessary tech.

The car as your creative canvas?

Also the fun thing about just getting an old used car is that you can fuck it up and you don’t really care that much. So for example, this 2010 white Prius that I inverted; I have been having a lot of fun spray painting it, spray painting the rims, Touching up the paint here and there, badging it and modifying it etc.

Also, I think ultimately ultimate privilege is convenience, and living more streamlined. This means being able to live a maximally productive, efficient, streamlined life.

Even being in LA, finding electric chargers is a pain in the butt. And also it takes too long. The amazing thing is my Prius, the last month, I literally only filled it up once, and just going to the close by Arco, it only cost me 40 bucks!

Become the Lamborghini or the Ferrari?

Some other funny thoughts: study and observe and deconstruct the bodies style and the ethos of these cars, and figure out how you could integrate it into your own own bodily physiology.

For example, I really like Lamborghini cars for how wide and low to the ground they are. And how they look like fighter jets. so then the practical thought is why not try to transform your body to look the same?

Or, people who buy these huge pick up trucks, lift them up, or the Overlanding vehicles. Instead of buying a rugged car, why not strive to make your body more rugged? More effective interesting and also way cheaper!

Training

I have never really met anybody with an impressive car who also had an impressive looking body. Car shows an auto shows are funny, because the question is this; who are you more interested in, the owner or the car? My friend Don Dillon laughed and said of course the car!

When you step into the mall or the gym, nobody has any idea what car you drive

Anybody who drives an impressive car, what they do not understand is this; once you go inside the gym or the mall, nobody has any idea what car you drive. You become naked.

How do cars matter, how don’t they?

First and foremost, nobody wants to be sedentary inside a car, irregardless of how expensive or nice the car is. Why? From a pure physiology perspective, sitting down and being sedentary is bad.

The best option is instead, to be out and about in the real world, open fresh air, using your legs. Even a lot of guys who get really really really really successful end up getting into bicycle racing and riding instead? Why? Technically when you’re riding a bicycle, it is almost like you’re in a convertible, as you get fresh air all around you. Second, riding a bicycle is just plain fun! I don’t really believe of bicycle riding from a pure “exercise“ philosophy; there are much better ways to exercise that don’t involve sitting on your butt. And once again, the reason why I think riding a bicycle purely for “exercise“, isn’t good because you are still sitting on your butt! Even though you are pumping your legs.

A funny thing that Seneca has been doing is he got a free balancing bicycle without pedals, and he just walks it around! This seems to be a good idea because he is still able to walk himself around.

Walking lifestyle?

A very simple life thought and strategy is this: better to rent in a very very very desirable neighborhood, which allows for maximum walking, instead of owning or buying a house even in “good” neighborhood?

Even from a pure productivity perspective, I am far happier and more productive being able to just walk everywhere, instead of having to rely on the agency of driving a car.

Now what?

Some simple thoughts:

First, rather than aspiring to buy that new desirable car, better instead to think of modifying and transforming and customizing the car you already got. Figure out how creative you could become!
Instead of buying a Tesla, better to gain his mindset. I recommend downloading and reading the Elon Musk biography book by Walter Isaacson. Just buy it in the iBook store, and read it on your iPhone or iPad. Or if you drive a lot, maybe it is a good idea to just get it as an audiobook!
Think hybrid. I still think in today’s world, even though gas and petroleum is bad for the planet, the ultimate car is still some sort of hybrid car. Whether it be hybrid, plug-in hybrid, etc., or just a straight up hybrid. One concept I actually found very interesting is this notion of a turbo hybrid; I have no idea how it works, but apparently I think it is available on the new Kia Sportage car, as well as the new Toyota Crown car?
If you live in LA or Southern California, or plan to come down here, definitely check out the Peterson automotive museum! I think if you are into cars or car culture, you’ll probably gain at least one creative idea.
Instead of wasting all that money on a car or your car, better instead to think and consider spending that money on insanely great food instead. Eat more organ meats, 100% grass fed beef, 100% grass fed lamb, bone marrow, which is essentially the demigod food of the gods, cheek, tongue.
Whenever you see a nice car, always try to look through the car window and give a good stare to who is actually driving the car. Become less interested in the car, become more interested in the person driving the car.
I still think it is a fun idea to try to psycho analyze people, car behavior, why people drive searching cars etc. I am still fascinated by this concept, “Tell me what car you drive, and I will tell you who you are.”
Think American. Am I the only liberal I know who is still pro America? Let us not forget that Tesla is technically an American car company! I’m also still really big into Ford, I really really enjoyed the Ford versus Ferrari film. In fact, I think it is a harder flex to buy that new Ford Mustang, the one that looks like a supercar, instead of buying some sort of loser Lamborghini or loser Ferrari. American muscle is supreme.

Tesla innovation

A lot of things unravel here. One idea is studying Tesla Elon Musk is from a design and production and innovation perspective— I gained some great ideas from it.

First, one thing that I learned from the Peterson automotive museum which was insanely inspiring was seeing a deconstructed Tesla. It is so insanely innovative.

One idea is how Elon and his team innovated and discovered new ways of merging the unit frame body and the production as well as the batteries. The more you can merge the two together, the better.

I think ultimately there is an underlying philosophy behind it all. Some innovation thoughts:

Merge the components
Consolidate
Delete, delete, delete
Start from a blank slate and canvas
Think first principles
Question all of the rules and regulations
Have a supreme disregard for authority
Never compromise on design
Think 1 trillion, $10 trillion industry. 1T, 10T.
Legitimately care.

I think one thing that people don’t get about Elon Musk is that I think there is a strange thought that some people are just money hungry. With Elon this is not the case. I think that your mission must be so insanely critical to you, you are willing to sacrifice everything to obtain it.

Never stop thinking

http://erickimphilosophy.com

And

erickim.com

Send it!

Elon Philosophy

I think ultimately there is an underlying philosophy behind it all. Some innovation thoughts:

Merge the components
Consolidate
Delete, delete, delete
Start from a blank slate and canvas
Think first principles
Question all of the rules and regulations
Have a supreme disregard for authority
Never compromise on design
Think 1 trillion, $10 trillion industry. 1T, 10T.
Legitimately care.

Hard Philosophy

harduz— *kort-us, *kret— strong, powerful.

kratus— strong. Krakos— strength, power, dominion.

*kret-

Insight, intelligence, strength.

Harduz— strong, brave, hard.

Hard — like hard, solid like a stone?

Like a diamond!

AI THOUGHTS

Photo Thinking

Played around with ChatGPT 4 this morning, and was very impressed. DALL-E 3 is also a great addition.
AI THOUGHTS >

Why Photographers Still Matter

I’ve observed that ChatGPT as well as DALL-E is very fascinating, and also great for creativity. Even the images that they could produce however, is still limited to illustrations, vector images, drawings and paintings etc. It cannot yet make a realistic looking photograph.

All of this nonsensical of artificial intelligence going to take our jobs in our creativity is silly. Why? The reason people like to do art is because it is fun!

The best way to think about AI, open AI, ChatGPT etc. is that it is a complement to us, and an augmentation of us, rather than a replacement.

Automate the boring stuff

This is very very popular online course by udemy titled “automate the boring stuff”. The basic idea is that perhaps the reason of technology is that it helps us eliminate tedious, time-consuming tasks in our everyday life.

Example, my insane joy with the instant pot as well as the air fryer (chefman). Why? It is like having a cooking slave; to be able to instant pot food insanely quickly and effectively is such a great joy, instead of having to tediously cook it myself and monitor it. Do you remember that old commercial, “set it and forget it?” Yeah that’s good.

What are the tedious things we could cut out of photography?

Photography is great, but I have observed that there are certain tedious things. For example, having to trudge through all of our photographs in order to choose the best one. This is a huge issue, because let us say that you shoot 1000 photos a day. Technically photography is my profession, and even I don’t have enough time to go through and review all my photos in a single day! My simple vision for the next generation of arsbeta.com is simple:

The New Hippies

I have a realization: all of these new weird modern trends, they are just like the noveau hippies.

What does this mean? For example, anyone who is too into craft beer, spirits and alcohol, marijuana, drugs, EDM electronic dance music, concerts and festivals, dogs, Japan, flannel and vintage clothing, “culture”, sunglasses and facial hair, designer things etc.

Or when people take coffee snobbery to the next level, or people who are too into analogue/analog, anti digital, the strange romanticism of the past. Also spending too much time on their iPhone or iPhone Pro.

Also, too much media consumption, inability to meet eye contact in real life, to make small talk, to interact or engage with others, or lift weights.

Also this strange trend towards “plant-based” diets, vegetarianism and veganism, and juice.

My solution

100% carnivore diet, beef and lamb, beef large intestine, beef tendon, tongue, beef liver, beef heart. Bone marrow, lamb leg and steak and ribs.
Lifting insanely heavy weights. True manly lifts.
Maximum time outdoors and in the direct sun.
No cars.

https://videopress.com/v/gdSnhYW1?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

ASKESIS

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OR END GOAL OF TRAINING?

Staying insanely local?

In terms of how to conquer living in LA something that I have gleaned;

first and foremost, it seems wise to live a life or a lifestyle in which one is not stuck in traffic, any traffic.

for example, one of the great tragedies of life and modern day life is any period of time being stuck in a car, against your own wheel. Essentially what this means is that when you’re stuck in the car there is so much you cannot be doing, so much you cannot do.

Purely from an economic perspective, up productivity perspective, this is a huge waste of time. Even one of the grand visions behind Elon Musk and his boring companies; how to not be stuck in traffic?

My vision

So I have a few visions. One is in regards to being able to stay fit and work out and whatever without having stuck in traffic there are some way that have figured this out. First, sandbag training. The general idea is that despite a big ass sandbag, Online or on the Internet, you could just get on roadfitness.com or you can get it on Amazon, and just go to local playground, fill it up with sand, work out, pick it up throw it around etc., just have fun with it, And when you’re done, just dump out the sand, put the empty sandbag back in your car and just drive home, or even walk home!

One of my favorite parks is without traffic just a five minute drive away! I love it, but the critical downside is that because of LA traffic, literally this 1 mile stretch takes me almost 20 minutes stuck in traffic! All bumper-to-bumper local traffic.

Home gym?

Another thought I have is about having some sort of home gym, mobile gym, backyard gym, etc.

The first interesting thought is that gym, gymnasium actually means “gymnos”, which literally means naked in ancient Greek. Why?

First, things in Greeks would hang out in big open air plazas — the gym wasn’t simply a place where one “worked out”, it was also a place in which one philosophies, talk to other men, etc.

Also, I think the original purpose of the gym, Gnos was training, training for battle. The purpose was to fight, for war, to defend ourselves in the possible case of war.

Other ideas

What is better, to move 1000 pounds an inch, or to move 1 pound 1,000 inches?

Certainly the prior!

Power, strength, courage?

Some other thoughts;

Becoming a warrior? Fit for battle?
Aesthetics? How your body looks and feels to yourself?

Askesis

Askesis— ascetic, training.

CARS, CULTURE & THE SELF.

CAR THOUGHTS

Just went to the Petersen automotive museum, some thoughts:

How I found out about it?

I suppose one of the big upsides of living in LA, Los Angeles, is that there are so many epic and great things here. For example, I was just randomly driving down Fairfax one day from the gym, and I saw this insanely big building, with great curved white stainless steel and red architecture. I was curious what it was and I saw that it was the Peterson automotive museum on Google maps. I thought to myself, maybe one day I could take Sen here.

Pro tip:

When you’re driving and you see something interesting on the road or the freeway etc. and you’re not sure what it is, just take a screenshot of it on your phone, and revisit it later.

Perhaps this is where great architecture makes a great impression; I first I had no idea what the structure was, it was only later when I looked into it that it was actually an automotive museum.

***

Iterate

So finally the other day, after Sen took a quick nap in the car, I thought that it might be the best time to take Sen to the museum.

To me, after touring the whole place with Sen, some thoughts:

I suppose the good thing of going to museum was that after seeing all these cars in real life, I no longer feel the desire to own any of them.
The second thought which is useful is to think and consider these cars as art objects. That is, it ain’t cars for the sake of movement or driving, but something else.

Cars and culture, America, and Los Angeles?

Several things. First and foremost, in America, whether we like it or not, we are a car culture. For example let us consider that much of our economic powers and prosperity came from the automotive industry, Ford and GM, etc. Apparently even back in the day if you’re living in Michigan or Detroit and you drove a Toyota or a Japanese car, people would physically assault you or even physically vandalize your car.

How and why do cars matter?

Well first of all, this is tricky; cars are great because they allow you to do basic things like go to Costco, buy groceries, drive to the park which is otherwise too time consuming to traverse by foot, and with public transportation, it seems that if it isn’t convenient enough, people want to take it. Certainly COVID-19 did not help at all.

Is there a public transportation future?

I do not think so. Why? What people don’t seem to understand is that it is not about transportation or mobility, it is a matter of fashion, pride, individualism.

For example, it doesn’t really even matter how rich or poor you are, I think the best way to think about it is that your car or what car you drive is almost like your externalized avatar, your ego, your own self impression of yourself.

For example, I think vanity is fine. Everyone wants to distinguish themselves through what car they drive, what they look like, etc. I think for the most part this is a healthy and good thing. Perhaps the big problem though is ultimately, a car will never show your individualism. Why? if your car is not a custom car, ultimately you will look like someone else.

For example, almost any and every modern day card, unless you drive a very very very obscure car, someone else will have a similar make or model as year. For example, it doesn’t matter whether you drive a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, someone out there will also have a similar car to you.

The solution

I have a very very very very very simple solution. I think the best car to drive, in today’s world, almost irregardless of where you live is a simple old-school white Prius. I really like the year 2010 model, and up. Why? The good thing with the 2010 model is that there are no stupid LCD screens that pop up or touchscreens which distract you.

Secondly, these things last forever, and also, I actually really like the body styling the 2010 Prius model. The generation before it looks too much like a bubble car, and the generation after it, looks like a strange half assed effort.

The brand new Prius is very very cool, but still I am suspicious because considering that it is a totally new design, they will probably discover some issues with it. And also once again, all this unnecessary tech.

The car as your creative canvas?

Also the fun thing about just getting an old used car is that you can fuck it up and you don’t really care that much. So for example, this 2010 white Prius that I inverted; I have been having a lot of fun spray painting it, spray painting the rims, Touching up the paint here and there, badging it and modifying it etc.

Also, I think ultimately ultimate privilege is convenience, and living more streamlined. This means being able to live a maximally productive, efficient, streamlined life.

Even being in LA, finding electric chargers is a pain in the butt. And also it takes too long. The amazing thing is my Prius, the last month, I literally only filled it up once, and just going to the close by Arco, it only cost me 40 bucks!

Become the Lamborghini or the Ferrari?

Some other funny thoughts: study and observe and deconstruct the bodies style and the ethos of these cars, and figure out how you could integrate it into your own own bodily physiology.

For example, I really like Lamborghini cars for how wide and low to the ground they are. And how they look like fighter jets. so then the practical thought is why not try to transform your body to look the same?

Or, people who buy these huge pick up trucks, lift them up, or the Overlanding vehicles. Instead of buying a rugged car, why not strive to make your body more rugged? More effective interesting and also way cheaper!

Training

I have never really met anybody with an impressive car who also had an impressive looking body. Car shows an auto shows are funny, because the question is this; who are you more interested in, the owner or the car? My friend Don Dillon laughed and said of course the car!

When you step into the mall or the gym, nobody has any idea what car you drive

Anybody who drives an impressive car, what they do not understand is this; once you go inside the gym or the mall, nobody has any idea what car you drive. You become naked.

How do cars matter, how don’t they?

First and foremost, nobody wants to be sedentary inside a car, irregardless of how expensive or nice the car is. Why? From a pure physiology perspective, sitting down and being sedentary is bad.

The best option is instead, to be out and about in the real world, open fresh air, using your legs. Even a lot of guys who get really really really really successful end up getting into bicycle racing and riding instead? Why? Technically when you’re riding a bicycle, it is almost like you’re in a convertible, as you get fresh air all around you. Second, riding a bicycle is just plain fun! I don’t really believe of bicycle riding from a pure “exercise“ philosophy; there are much better ways to exercise that don’t involve sitting on your butt. And once again, the reason why I think riding a bicycle purely for “exercise“, isn’t good because you are still sitting on your butt! Even though you are pumping your legs.

A funny thing that Seneca has been doing is he got a free balancing bicycle without pedals, and he just walks it around! This seems to be a good idea because he is still able to walk himself around.

Walking lifestyle?

A very simple life thought and strategy is this: better to rent in a very very very desirable neighborhood, which allows for maximum walking, instead of owning or buying a house even in “good” neighborhood?

Even from a pure productivity perspective, I am far happier and more productive being able to just walk everywhere, instead of having to rely on the agency of driving a car.

Now what?

Some simple thoughts:

First, rather than aspiring to buy that new desirable car, better instead to think of modifying and transforming and customizing the car you already got. Figure out how creative you could become!
Instead of buying a Tesla, better to gain his mindset. I recommend downloading and reading the Elon Musk biography book by Walter Isaacson. Just buy it in the iBook store, and read it on your iPhone or iPad. Or if you drive a lot, maybe it is a good idea to just get it as an audiobook!
Think hybrid. I still think in today’s world, even though gas and petroleum is bad for the planet, the ultimate car is still some sort of hybrid car. Whether it be hybrid, plug-in hybrid, etc., or just a straight up hybrid. One concept I actually found very interesting is this notion of a turbo hybrid; I have no idea how it works, but apparently I think it is available on the new Kia Sportage car, as well as the new Toyota Crown car?
If you live in LA or Southern California, or plan to come down here, definitely check out the Peterson automotive museum! I think if you are into cars or car culture, you’ll probably gain at least one creative idea.
Instead of wasting all that money on a car or your car, better instead to think and consider spending that money on insanely great food instead. Eat more organ meats, 100% grass fed beef, 100% grass fed lamb, bone marrow, which is essentially the demigod food of the gods, cheek, tongue.
Whenever you see a nice car, always try to look through the car window and give a good stare to who is actually driving the car. Become less interested in the car, become more interested in the person driving the car.
I still think it is a fun idea to try to psycho analyze people, car behavior, why people drive searching cars etc. I am still fascinated by this concept, “Tell me what car you drive, and I will tell you who you are.”
Think American. Am I the only liberal I know who is still pro America? Let us not forget that Tesla is technically an American car company! I’m also still really big into Ford, I really really enjoyed the Ford versus Ferrari film. In fact, I think it is a harder flex to buy that new Ford Mustang, the one that looks like a supercar, instead of buying some sort of loser Lamborghini or loser Ferrari. American muscle is supreme.

Tesla innovation

A lot of things unravel here. One idea is studying Tesla Elon musk is from a design and production and innovation perspective, one of the greatest ideas. Why?

First, one thing that I learned from the Peterson automotive museum which was insanely inspiring was seeing a deconstructed Tesla. It is so insanely innovative.

One idea is how Elon and his team innovated and discovered new ways of merging the unit frame body and the production as well as the batteries. The more you can merge the two together, the better.

Also, the cyber truck. When I saw it in real life at the museum, my mind was literally blown. To me the cyber truck was at least 1 billion times more interesting than any other Ferraris in the vault. Also much more impressive than any of the Rolls-Royce or Bentleys, even the old-school ones.

Why? First, to see the total stainless steel body is insanely epic. It looks beautiful. Secondly, how angular it is, so gangsta. Honestly the reason why I think it is wise to go all in on Tesla, at least for standard investments is that once the cyber truck comes out, it will totally destroy and dominate all these other loser trucks. No more Ford F150, Raptors, or the loser Rivian truck.

Also the reason why I love the cyber truck so much is that I feel that it is truly a carte blanche design. Think in this world, in this life, isn’t it more fun to shock and all people instead of just doing the same boring old iterative designs?

Morbid people, morbid thoughts?

Miserable people

It seems that we pay more attention or give more heed or are more influenced by miserable people than happy people?

For another words, one miserable person can outweigh the happiness of 1000 happy people?

Thus, do everything in your best power to escise miserable people from your sight, your environment, your home, your neighborhood, your social circle etc.

It is not your duty to “fix” or “help” miserable people. Also they are not bad people for being miserable; just treat them like they have the plague. They must be quarantined.

Most people lack self knowledge

“Give them what they need, It may not be what they want” – Kanye (On Sight, YEEZUS ALBUM).

Something I have observed; it seems that in actuality, when people say they want XYZ, and they ask you to give it to them, don’t give it to them. Why? Most people are foolish and actually don’t really know what they need or want.

For example, a very basic thing. People think that if I buy this car or have X amount of money something I’ll be happy. This is never the case. And therefore we should not count out to their needs desires or wants. Because they are foolish and don’t know their true desires.

Artist only “get” other artists?

Moving forward, maybe it is just easiest and most direct to just self identify yourself as an artist.

7 Lessons Elon Musk Has Taught Me

How to Think Like Elon?

7-Lessons-Elon-Musk-Has-Taught-Me-2 Download

Just finished the Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson and feeling super inspired. These are some practical things that I’ve learned or gleaned from it.

1. You don’t want to be Elon Musk

The first practical and pragmatic thought that I have is that no you do not want to be Elon Musk. Better to be yourself.

I am grateful for all of the epic sacrifices that Elon has made, but, at the expense of his health and sanity and personal well-being, I don’t really think it’s worth it.

The simple thought I have is that instead of trying to become someone else, a better strategy is to just take the parts that you like, the parts you desire to emulate.

It does not pay to try to become someone else.

Regarding the book the reason why I find it to be such great material to read is get a sense of all the personal anguish and tragedy of Elon. For example, his first kid getting sudden death infant syndrome, and Elon having to pull the plug while his child was still in his arms, heart beating and all. Also his insanely horrific upbringing with his father, which makes in my mind, all other comparisons seem pedestrian.

2. An insanely audacious vision and goal

An idea that I borrowed from Elon is that perhaps, the only limits we should put forth are the limits of physics. That is, all of these other considerations are unnecessary and superficial. To get beyond silly regulations and “rules”, because the reason why so many things are so expensive is people just trying to game the system.

First principles thinking. That means just ask yourself; is this thing possible or not possible simply from a physics perspective?

3. Cost cutting

Why do people want to be Elon Musk? I think they think they want to spend a billion dollars, rather than being insanely scrappy.

I think the tragedy of modern day life is that we think that in order to be legitimate, we must spend exorbitant amount of money on certain things. However, perhaps the path to the greatest entrepreneurship is actually from the opposite; being able to be insanely scrappy, to bricolage, to experiment, and reduce costs seems to be a better path.

I have a simple suggestion: first always strive to reduce costs by 90%, then simply work your way backwards.

4. A passion for deletion

Delete delete delete, “if you don’t have to add back at least 10% of things, you’re not deleting enough.” Elon

I think great design, innovation and entrepreneurship comes from deletion rather than addition.

For example, deletion goes hand-in-hand with cost reduction and simplification.

Perhaps it is a good idea to delete to a fault; to even delete the necessary, in order to push the limits.

5. Design passion

I think what makes Elon Musk great is that he is almost like the ultimate merge between Steve Jobs and Jony Ive; he has a passion not only for business, but also design. It seems that he might be as fastidious, if not more fastidious for design in regards to Jony Ive and Steve Jobs.

I think Elon Musk has two pieces of wisdom. First, design sells. Or in other words ugly design or boring design doesn’t sell.

I was particularly inspired by just how passionate he was in regards to designing the Tesla model S and cyber truck. He truly truly truly wanted to blow everyone’s mind, and he personally would be present at these critical design meetings. I think the ultimate take away is that you must believe in the design so so much, 100% of your soul in it. Otherwise it will just become a lame design that nobody cares for.

To compromise on design is to compromise your soul.

6. To become an insanely great entrepreneur, you must be bad

I don’t think it’s a matter of being bad or unethical or “evil“, for the sake of it… rather, to think and consider how perhaps to create insanely insanely epic things, what needs to push traditional morality to the side.

I was particularly inspired and shocked and also impressed by how ruthlessly he would fire people, even if he was in the wrong. I think the general gist is that 90% of his firing decisions were critical and wise, perhaps 10% of them were inaccurate.

Maybe then that is the path; just follow your gut and wisdom, and know that honestly, eventually 10% of the time you’re going to be wrong.

Truth be told, it ain’t even about being right or wrong. I think it’s more of a matter of following your heart, and having the courage to be the “bad guy”. Irregardless of what others think or say or feel or desire or request.

If in fact, I think about it critically, my Achilles heel is that I want everyone to like me. And this is my critical flaw; I don’t know how to be a “bad guy“. Certainly this has made me more empathetic, but is empathy holding us back?

7. Success or failure isn’t the goal

I think the ultimate takeaway point that I have from Elon Musk, and being able to retroactively study his life, also through the wise lens of Walter Isaacson is that ultimately, it ain’t about success or failure. Instead, it is committing 100% of your soul to something you truly believe in and care for.

How to save money?

Simple ways: just make a coffee at home, ERIC KIM Omakase coffee. Also just cook at home! Just buy cheap meat, beef and lamb, and go ham!

Maybe instead of getting a gym membership, just work out at the park! Simple ideas include getting a very very heavy sandbag, 400 pounds, and throwing it around! Just ordered a 400 pound sandbag on the Rogue website, let’s see what this bad boy can do.

Passion for entrepreneurship?

For me, entrepreneurship is all about discovering novel solutions to common problems. Even for myself, I am always seeking a more optimal or satisfactory solution for myself.

Health?

If it is maximum productivity that we seek, then, what is the best path? I believe it has to do with health. That means, optimizing your health is to optimize your productivity.

For example, sugar is bad. Also to a large extent, energy drinks are bad, Red Bull is bad, anything that ain’t just 100% black coffee is bad. Even caffeine is bad; I think coffee and caffeine is probably the least bad drug out there, but I really do think that it is a timing issue; coffee in the morning is good, but it seems that after that coffee is bad.

For example, when I was in Philly I had a coffee mid day, and as a consequence, I slept insanely poorly that night which totally fucked up my next day. I think I had a coffee at around 2 PM or 3 PM. My new thought is that any coffee past the midday is bad.

The upside of napping

The more you sleep, the more you nap, the more productive you shall become. I think it is a very wise idea to first prioritize your sleep. Like my friend Jeffrey Lam says, perhaps sleep is the number one most critical factor.

Why sleep? Even 30 minutes of productive work after sleeping a great 8 to 12 hours is more effective than 12 hours of subpar work done with little sleep.

Even the gods sleep

Let us never forget — in the Iliad, even the ancient gods go to sleep!

ERIC

UPCOMING EK EXPERIENCES

Nov 4: Discover your creative mission in LIFE IN LA
Dec 2: Introduction to Stoicism Workshop

2024:

CONQUER CONFIDENCE ONLINE WORKSHOP: Jan 27, 2024
April 20th, 2024: SF ZEN PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP (info TBA)

What am I into right now?

The hardest car is a white Prius?
Excited for my 400 pound ROGUE FITNESS sandbag to come in the mail!
Enjoying EK OMAKASE COFFEE— the photographer. Best coffee on the planet.

More thoughts on EK BLOG

Also some BOGO thoughts below:

Muscle Paradise?

Muscle is not zero sum. Everyone can get swole together.

1. What is the point of muscle?

First and foremost, let us consider the purpose of muscle. What is the point of muscle?

My thought is from a very pragmatic perspective, muscle is strength. Muscle is power.

Power for what? Anything and everything.

For example, if we consider tenacity, endurance, where does this derive from? Not the mind or the silly nonsense of “willpower”, but rather, muscle and muscle power.

2. Why this anti muscle trend?

It seems that nowadays, muscle and being muscular has fallen a little bit out of vogue. Why? I think the new modern day male aesthetic is towards being feeble, weak, androgynous, non-threatening and nonconfrontational etc.

For example, if you are a muscular, and have muscles, other people feel belittled by you. For example, if someone is salty about your physique, it is simply a sign that they wish they were as fit as you.

3. Muscle cars?

Am I the most jacked person that I know who just drives a Prius?

A funny realization:

We are allowed to flex our muscle cars, yet, we are not permitted to flex or muscles in public.

Also, virtue. Scholarship and education; we are allowed to flex how virtuous we are, or how good we are, or how enlightened we are or how wise we are, or how “educated” we are, yet, we are not permitted to flex or muscles and our body?

Why this bias?

I have some theories.

First and foremost, maybe it is a capitalism thing. We are permitted to flex or muscles in terms of our economic prowess, and to quote Benjamin Franklin, capitalism is a virtue.

Also, I think I have a good definition for what it means to be a “white person“— to quote Kanye West:

White people make money don’t spend it — I’d rather buy 80 gold chains and go ignant.

Therefore, in America, according to the cult and new religion of capitalism, any sort of activity towards building capital, whereas not “wasting it” is seen as a virtue.

Never stop thinking

The secret to the happiest life? The life with the most risk!

EK

More Benefits, More Downsides

Carnivore Flex

How to become a real G:

PENN PHOTOS

THE POWERLIFTING PHILOSOPHER

Trust no philosopher who doesn’t pull at least 9 plates!

Easy:

Setup the pins to proper height.
Use mixed grip and chalk
No music
Hype yourself up and pull with your legs and thighs!

9 Plates a 10 & 2.5 pounder:

Full

Video

Empty your mind:

Muscle Paradise?

Muscle is not zero sum. Everyone can get swole together.

1. What is the point of muscle?

First and foremost, let us consider the purpose of muscle. What is the point of muscle?

My thought is from a very pragmatic perspective, muscle is strength. Muscle is power.

Power for what? Anything and everything.

For example, if we consider tenacity, endurance, where does this derive from? Not the mind or the silly nonsense of “willpower”, but rather, muscle and muscle power.

2. Why this anti muscle trend?

It seems that nowadays, muscle and being muscular has fallen a little bit out of vogue. Why? I think the new modern day male aesthetic is towards being feeble, weak, androgynous, non-threatening and nonconfrontational etc.

For example, if you are a muscular, and have muscles, other people feel belittled by you. For example, if someone is salty about your physique, it is simply a sign that they wish they were as fit as you.

3. Muscle cars?

Am I the most jacked person that I know who just drives a Prius?

A funny realization:

We are allowed to flex our muscle cars, yet, we are not permitted to flex or muscles in public.

Also, virtue. Scholarship and education; we are allowed to flex how virtuous we are, or how good we are, or how enlightened we are or how wise we are, or how “educated” we are, yet, we are not permitted to flex or muscles and our body?

Why this bias?

I have some theories.

First and foremost, maybe it is a capitalism thing. We are permitted to flex or muscles in terms of our economic prowess, and to quote Benjamin Franklin, capitalism is a virtue.

Also, I think I have a good definition for what it means to be a “white person“— to quote Kanye West:

White people make money don’t spend it — I’d rather buy 80 gold chains and go ignant.

Therefore, in America, according to the cult and new religion of capitalism, any sort of activity towards building capital, whereas not “wasting it” is seen as a virtue.

Muscle Lifestyle

Immoral Ethics

Podcast

Anti Empathy, Anti Compassion

Audio

Vlog

New thoughts:

Productive Photographer

Society and body control

For example, I am seen with chagrin for wearing really really short shorts when out in public, when in reality, there is nothing illegal about it?

Body comportment, body control?

https://videopress.com/v/i5awVowu?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=1&controls=1&loop=1&muted=1&persistVolume=0&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

Musk Mentality

How to Think Like Elon?

Just finished the Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson and feeling super inspired. These are some practical things that I’ve learned or gleaned from it.

1. You don’t want to be Elon Musk

The first practical and pragmatic thought that I have is that no you do not want to be Elon Musk. Better to be yourself.

I am grateful for all of the epic sacrifices that Elon has made, but, at the expense of his health and sanity and personal well-being, I don’t really think it’s worth it.

The simple thought I have is that instead of trying to become someone else, a better strategy is to just take the parts that you like, the parts you desire to emulate.

It does not pay to try to become someone else.

Regarding the book the reason why I find it to be such great material to read is get a sense of all the personal anguish and tragedy of Elon. For example, his first kid getting sudden death infant syndrome, and Elon having to pull the plug while his child was still in his arms, heart beating and all. Also his insanely horrific upbringing with his father, which makes in my mind, all other comparisons seem pedestrian.

2. An insanely audacious vision and goal

An idea that I borrowed from Elon is that perhaps, the only limits we should put forth are the limits of physics. That is, all of these other considerations are unnecessary and superficial. To get beyond silly regulations and “rules”, because the reason why so many things are so expensive is people just trying to game the system.

First principles thinking. That means just ask yourself; is this thing possible or not possible simply from a physics perspective?

3. Cost cutting

Why do people want to be Elon Musk? I think they think they want to spend a billion dollars, rather than being insanely scrappy.

I think the tragedy of modern day life is that we think that in order to be legitimate, we must spend exorbitant amount of money on certain things. However, perhaps the path to the greatest entrepreneurship is actually from the opposite; being able to be insanely scrappy, to bricolage, to experiment, and reduce costs seems to be a better path.

I have a simple suggestion: first always strive to reduce costs by 90%, then simply work your way backwards.

4. A passion for deletion

Delete delete delete, “if you don’t have to add back at least 10% of things, you’re not deleting enough.” Elon

I think great design, innovation and entrepreneurship comes from deletion rather than addition.

For example, deletion goes hand-in-hand with cost reduction and simplification.

Perhaps it is a good idea to delete to a fault; to even delete the necessary, in order to push the limits.

5. Design passion

I think what makes Elon Musk great is that he is almost like the ultimate merge between Steve Jobs and Jony Ive; he has a passion not only for business, but also design. It seems that he might be as fastidious, if not more fastidious for design in regards to Jony Ive and Steve Jobs.

I think Elon Musk has two pieces of wisdom. First, design sells. Or in other words ugly design or boring design doesn’t sell.

I was particularly inspired by just how passionate he was in regards to designing the Tesla model S and cyber truck. He truly truly truly wanted to blow everyone’s mind, and he personally would be present at these critical design meetings. I think the ultimate take away is that you must believe in the design so so much, 100% of your soul in it. Otherwise it will just become a lame design that nobody cares for.

To compromise on design is to compromise your soul.

6. To become an insanely great entrepreneur, you must be bad

I don’t think it’s a matter of being bad or unethical or “evil“, for the sake of it… rather, to think and consider how perhaps to create insanely insanely epic things, what needs to push traditional morality to the side.

I was particularly inspired and shocked and also impressed by how ruthlessly he would fire people, even if he was in the wrong. I think the general gist is that 90% of his firing decisions were critical and wise, perhaps 10% of them were inaccurate.

Maybe then that is the path; just follow your gut and wisdom, and know that honestly, eventually 10% of the time you’re going to be wrong.

Truth be told, it ain’t even about being right or wrong. I think it’s more of a matter of following your heart, and having the courage to be the “bad guy”. Irregardless of what others think or say or feel or desire or request.

If in fact, I think about it critically, my Achilles heel is that I want everyone to like me. And this is my critical flaw; I don’t know how to be a “bad guy“. Certainly this has made me more empathetic, but is empathy holding us back?

7. Success or failure isn’t the goal

I think the ultimate takeaway point that I have from Elon Musk, and being able to retroactively study his life, also through the wise lens of Walter Isaacson is that ultimately, it ain’t about success or failure. Instead, it is committing 100% of your soul to something you truly believe in and care for.

Elon Musk Thoughts

Just finished the Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson and feeling super inspired. These are some practical things that I’ve learned or gleaned from it.

1. You don’t want to be Elon Musk

The first practical and pragmatic thought that I have is that no you do not want to be Elon Musk. Better to be yourself.

I am grateful for all of the epic sacrifices that Elon has made, but, at the expense of his health and sanity and personal well-being, I don’t really think it’s worth it.

The simple thought I have is that instead of trying to become someone else, a better strategy is to just take the parts that you like, the parts you desire to emulate.

It does not pay to try to become someone else.

Regarding the book the reason why I find it to be such great material to read is get a sense of all the personal anguish and tragedy of Elon. For example, his first kid getting sudden death infant syndrome, and Elon having to pull the plug while his child was still in his arms, heart beating and all. Also his insanely horrific upbringing with his father, which makes in my mind, all other comparisons seem pedestrian.

2. An insanely audacious vision and goal

An idea that I borrowed from Elon is that perhaps, the only limits we should put forth are the limits of physics. That is, all of these other considerations are unnecessary and superficial. To get beyond silly regulations and “rules”, because the reason why so many things are so expensive is people just trying to game the system.

First principles thinking. That means just ask yourself; is this thing possible or not possible simply from a physics perspective?

3. Cost cutting

Why do people want to be Elon Musk? I think they think they want to spend a billion dollars, rather than being insanely scrappy.

I think the tragedy of modern day life is that we think that in order to be legitimate, we must spend exorbitant amount of money on certain things. However, Perhaps the path to the greatest entrepreneurship is actually from the opposite; being able to be insanely scrapping, to bricolage, to experiment, and reduce costs seems to be a better path.

Elon Musk Philosophy

I just finished the Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson, loved it. 12 stars out of 10. I even enjoyed it more than the Steve Jobs biography, up to date my favorite! Thought: perhaps Walter Isaacson should also do a biography on Kanye West.

Anyways, I highly recommend anyone and everyone to read it, if you’re interested in Elon, SpaceX, Tesla innovation entrepreneurship creativity design etc. In fact, I find the parts on design and design thinking and simplification and deletion and merging the most interesting.

For reference, I just bought it in the Apple iBook store, which was very convenient as I could read it on my iPhone and iPad. Started reading it on the flight to Philly from LAX, direct flight from Spirit airlines (I actually really like Spirit airlines! Very fast, and I actually prefer the no-frills Spartan approach; I prefer how much more direct it is than Southwest). Read a little bit of it when I was in Philly, and finished it on the flight back home.

1. Delete, delete, delete

The first thing I really loved was this notion of delete delete delete. I think this is where Elon Musk mirrors Steve Jobs, even myself this passion towards simplification.

2. Passion for design

Another big thing I learned which I intuitively thought and believe, but found out for real is how committed and passionate Elon Musk is about design. For example, for the Tesla roadster the original one, as well as the subsequent Tesla model S in the cyber truck etc.,

MAN IS DESIGNED FOR WORK

Philly 1

ELON 5

Surprising.

I hate too soft!

Authority of a pickup truck.

Change the form!

Stainless steel doesn’t need painting!!

Ultra hard

Cold rolled — stainless steel alloy

Exoskeleton

Sharp lines, sharp planes , straight planes sharp angles

Edgier , jarring

Don’t resist me

Let’s be bold. Let’s surprise people ***

I want the future to look like the future !

Diamond facets

I seek satisfaction !!

Distractions ?

The pleasure of sunlight on your bare skin

Rule breaking ethos

Fundamental physics ; question every requirement

First Principles Level

Just make it one integrated component

Order of magnitude cheaper***

Culling makes life easier

Don’t be chicken

Simpler

Stainless steel over carbon fiber

Closest to the source for the information

Burn the boats ***

ELON IV

If you really want to be the best entrepreneur possible, it seems that the best strategy is to not drink alcohol

Step one: question all of the requirements

Delete delete delete

“Delete them”

Often times, just doing them manually, not automated is better.

Introduce automation at the very very end

Factory settings are always idiotic.

Set to 100, then dial back. 70%

Question every tiny detail!

What’s slowing down the line?

When in doubt, delete ***

Remove all the unnecessary machines!

“Go or stay?”

Build a massive tent!

Makeshift solutions ***

Unconventional thinking

Question every requirement

Delete any part of the process you can

Delete more!

Simplify and optimize

Accelerate cycle time

You cannot change attitude

The only rules are rules of physics— everything else is a recommendation ***

ELON III

Is it possible to become a “lean“ sumo wrestler?

Real friends

“King crazy”

Things to really worry about, things not to?

Larry page … page rank.

ERIC RANK

Of course humans are the best.

Make it truly open source!

DATa

Build your own systeM?

Only visual data?

It cannot be too expensive!

Anti radar?

Anti lidar? But lidar x iPhone Pro is good?

Portable Lidar.

No steering Wheel and no braking?

Risk is a type of fuel?

Safety first.

Energy innovation company

Travel for innovation

”no Brainer”

Integration

Never compromise on aesthetics ***

The integrated future.

Delete steps and simplify.

I need a lot of drama to keep me invigorated?

I love fire!

100% cut toxic.

Often the greatest benefit of studying biographies is knowing in hindsight which things do not do

Via negativa wisdom.

MUSK NOTES II

More acres?

Scrappy.

Scavenge, repurpose cheaply.

Save money

Anti flabby

Upend cost structure concepts

“Right” or being “wrong”?

Time will tell.

Accelerate the pace of innovation

Fitness Innovation

How much risk are you willing to tolerate?

“Vindication”

Border on the reckless?

Become more nimble.

Jealousy versus envy?

Tight control.

Tight feedback loop — innovate on a daily basis.

Brain strategy

Be like a hawk! A Guard dog!

Foreign investors?

How to design the factory?

I am addicted to innovation!

“fuck oil”

“Production quality”?

“Assembly line”?

Hardcore

“Ultra hardcore”

Supermodel

“Wacky idea”?

Matter of first principles.

What should a camera be?

Or, what is a camera?

Blue sky wacky.

“Reusable”.

Anti stasis.

Why do you care for, what don’t you care for?

For example, I don’t really care for space.

Mission-driven pioneer.

Physics problem

Pare down the contents of your knapsack

Obsession with reducing weight?

Delete or trim ***

Venture seeker.

The true holy grail?

Different order of magnitude?

Relentless goal to conquer gravity

Redesign,

How to cram more power into it?

Muscle through!

Intuition?

Gut Thinking

Become a fan of yourself. Become fanatical of yourself

Stay away from strange people.

Why do all the men look like women now? Not only that, but unattractive women.

You cannot force me to be tolerant about something I don’t believe in.

Only fight about causes you care for?

I don’t like foreign ideas

Make it a part of your structure

The shape matters!

Design x Engineering

—

Indulge your interests.

Once you’re the strongest man on the planet, then what?

Who is more capable?

I want the place to be big enough for my ambitions !

Think critically.

Don’t look at the clock; just witness how you feel.

Visual OCD

The best way to beautify a space is just get rid of the ugly stuff

ELON NOTES

The zen of the sun and big airway strips?

The real world has the richest visual information

Concrete paradise

The ocean is vast

America is really really big.

Risk seeking innovator

Shut down fear, also shut down empathy?

Embark on epic quests

Develop a cosmic view?

Hostile bid.

“That wasn’t enough”

War and empire building game

Build your own playground? Gym concept ?

What stimulates you?

Visual Information

Train your kid to become a genius?

Mountain ranges

I fear nothing nor nobody

Don’t put effort into things you consider meaningless?

Future capitalists

Fun or boring?

What is the question?

Prevail!

It is your duty to be strong

Think about your own self and preferences

“I am wired for war!”

I cannot work nor live with other people!

Nobody knows more than I do.

Never have to work for a boss

Radically new technologies?

Greater impact in the world?

Move the needle!

Things which will truly affect humanity?

*

Sell directly to consumers?

Online customer destination portal

Anti VC

Anti managers

Build and create a new company or something new?

Indomitable will — what makes a great Man

*

Fund a new enterprise?

Win in a big way

*

How are you wired, who are you?

Delete!

Email over user name or phone number

Merge

Remake the entire industry?

Social network to disrupt?

AIM big.

Take it all over!

Think more engineering?

Exclusive club membership

Street fighter

I am a visionary who doesn’t play well with others

Amplify risk?

Pursue great dreams

Sand bags are cheap!!! Concrete and sand are both insanely cheap!

*

Cost of basic materials? The idiot index?

More efficient manufacturing approach?

50x cost?

How to push the technology forward?

Resolve?

One key metric .. cost per pound?

.50 cents per pound?

Price per pound?

Reduce mass!

*

Physics: more mass on a phone or anything is worse

More thrust!

What is more interesting?

You need risk to be a founder!

*

Buy it used!!!

Bend reality

The most aggressive

Question every cost ***

Laser focused to keep down costs!

Cost effectiveness is the ultimate goal!

*

Just make it in house!

Question all specifications

“Who made that requirement”?

Actual person and actual name?

Laws of physics ***

Unrealistic deadlines even when not necessary?

A maniacal sense of urgency

First principles thinking … for power, muscles, strength?

Move fast, blow things up, repeat.

Push things until they break?

Iterative design

Cheap leases!

Rapid unscheduled disassembles

Improvise.

Makeshift solutions

Every situation is salvageable

Try new ideas, okay if things blow up!

Keep working on reducing the cost!

Mercurial.

Fulfill the mission!

1,500 pounds?

Promote Innovation ***

Defense Department

Cut costs ***

Maybe the first strategy is to just first start off by cutting costs or just buying the cheapest possible thing then moving forward from there?

We need cost effective solutions!!

Buy Chinese or Vietnamese or Amazon, not American?

Common sense is bad.

Commercialize it !

Importance of the mission.

For a “fitter” planet earth and humans?

Make your own key components.

Control your own destiny

Vertical integration

Don’t rely on far away supply chains?

Source and roast the coffee myself?

Or just buy the coffee?

It ain’t in my nature to defer!

I am insanely passionate about design decisions

You gotta wow them!

Agonize over the details!

Correct yet costly decisions?

You buy a sports car because it looks beautiful!

“ we have to make it beautiful!”

Lower costs and make it more affordable!

Outlaunch

Outlift

Scrappy

*

I seek a great solution!

Costs must go down!

11 items on risk list, not just 10

Shop floor

How to make the product efficiently?

How to use money efficiently?

Build the machine that makes the machine?

How to design the factory, the gym?

Valor

Ars.com

Less dominant hand

24 hours of production A day?

Make your production more efficient?

Don’t outsource it !

Start with clean sheet design! Don’t modify the old.

“ true costs”

Buy directly from the source!

Grill them!

I hate liars!

When people say that they’re not lying, they’re lying.

Not a good person.

I am not good at sharing power.

I have zero interest in being a CEO and having to manage others?

Hell bent on it working!

A beautiful story

Anti-pressure, anti-expectations

The funny irony about pressure; the more you try to pressure somebody into doing something, the less likely they will do it. However on the contrary, when you tell people there is no pressure, they are more likely to do it.

Also, with expectations. If you don’t expect it, you’ll get it, however, if you expect it you won’t get it.

Minimum viable thoughts

Minimum viable food, the most effective, perhaps some sort of Grassfed ground beef, or even the new Wagyu ground beef at Costco. Also beef neck bone. Instant pot as well as air fryer.

Minimum viable iPhone; the cheapest one. Currently the iPhone SE.

Minimum viable car, my opinion the best is some sort of used Prius.

Satisfaction?

Why Doesn’t Anything Satisfy Me?

But perhaps this is my superpower?

Fortunately, the statics of Lumix G9 photos shot in grainy dynamic black-and-white mode and JPEG satisfy me!

Also, meat satisfies me! Beef neck bone is phenomenal and only 99 cents a pound! Instant pot for the win.

Problem: I have yet found a gym in LA which satisfies me.

Good thing: I am very very satisfied with the apartment me and Cindy found here in Culver City.

Also good thing, I am very satisfied with ERIC KIM Omakase coffee!

Also, I’m very happy with the clothing I have designed and made.

Theory: the only way to become satisfied with anything is to do and build and make it yourself? To innovate it yourself? To create it yourself?

Entrepreneurship by KIM

Become the change which you desire to see manifested in the world!

Become you.

Think for Yourself.

FREEDOM

Never stop innovating.

Entrepreneurship Mindset

Put a Dent in the Universe.

Don’t Be a Bitch!

How to Change the World

In this limited world, which are some big things you wish to change fix or resolve?

1. Traffic?

One of the big things I am very interested in is fixing this issue of traffic. Honestly speaking, during rush-hour the traffic is intolerable.

I’ve only lived here in LA for about two weeks, it seems that the big optimization we are trying to make is trying to save time. Fortunately we live within walking distance to the Culver City downtown area, which is great because we could kill two birds with one stone — A) we’re not stuck in traffic and B) we can enjoy the sun and the walk.

Even the big issue; the closest LA fitness to me is a 5 minute drive, but even on the drive back, it seems that the bumper to bumper traffic during rush-hour takes me almost 10 minutes! Insanely annoying!

Therefore some things I’m trying to figure out is how to save time in terms of fitness. The first simple thing is to just walk a lot, walking maybe the most beneficial thing you could do for your health and wellness.

The second thing is sun exposure. The more sun time you have, the better. If you’re worried about getting skin cancer or whatever, just put on a hat lots of sunblock and cover up.

Third, I really been enjoying going to the park and working out, both for the social life, the fresh air, and also for general well-being. I recommend the Kenneth Hahn park in LA — just drive all the way on top of the hill! There is a good calisthenics workout area.

Fourth, matters of health and physiology. A very practical thought I have is to just sell out the big bucks, pay for the 100% grass-fed beef, I think the benefits for you will be instrumental. This includes sleeping better, sleeping deeper, feeling more energized, and also certainly muscle Physiology related concepts.

2. Innovation?

Also a big thing I’m trying to innovate and pioneer is in regards to innovation. For me maybe this is my personal passion and my Archimedes lever — I am addicted to innovation, trying to make things better, more efficient and effective etc., and trying to come up with interesting novel ways to improve our lives. Why is this? Because I feel like I have some sort of duty as I have been seeking a lot of answers my whole life, and I think only recently I’ve found some answers.

3. Photo and art

At the end of the day, my number one greatest passion is photography.

Therefore, my passion for photography; promoting photography, helping encourage photographers.

4. How to make an insanely great impact?

How does one make an insanely great impact on the planet? I think it is simple; just ascertain that which you are insanely concerned about, what you care insanely about, and then use all your resources and power to seek to resolve that!

Money?

The Peter Thiel idea:

Perhaps “profit” is a pedestrian concept.

Then instead, what we seek instead is not “making money“, but building something insanely great, and then the profits will follow later.

Also another thought from Peter Thiel from his zero to one book:

Perhaps the best way to think of money or approach money is not to concern yourself with profits.

For example, Amazon for a very very very long time focused on growth instead of profits and now it looks like Amazon is running through the world. On the contrary, companies like Apple have also been very intelligent in pricing the products very high, and also being one of the most profitable companies on the planet.

But I suppose my question is this; why are we so concerned and obsessed with profits? What is it a sense of? A sense of growth, a good sense?

Income vs profits

Income, profits, expenses, net gain, savings.

There are a lot of ways to think and consider this. First and foremost, it is possible to actually make a more humble income, but create a massive savings.

Security?

I sense of security as a mindset. It don’t matter if you got $100 million in the bank, as long as you are concerned about security money or something else, you will never feel secure.

The reason why I think this is such a critical thing to consider is that people often think that more money means more security. But is this true? No.

And also, security towards what ends?

The first thought is we often seek security perhaps for our families and our future children. For example, it seems that physiologically, if a woman wants to give birth, or beget children, she needs to be in some sort of psychologically and physiologically robust health, in order to beget children. Often the reason why stillbirths occur, especially in the context of war, famine, disease, or other stressful situations is that a woman and her body knows that if the environment is not fitting to give birth to children, she will not.

Also, at theory; if an anxious mother gives birth during a tumultuous time, naturally her kids will also have higher levels of anxiety. Why? Survival mechanism. For example if a woman gives birth in refugee camp, certainly she has high anxiety. And as a consequence, her children also having high anxiety may keep the child alive! A child who is too chill and relaxed in a perilous situation might not make it.

Why make changes?

First, it is my thought that what man desires to do is exert his willpower and force upon the planet. Ultimately, I think this is our desired endgame.

For example, you could either do it in embodied reality, on the Internet, whatever.

Second, I think it is an issue of happiness and joy for a man or a person or even a child to see how he or she can affect change or manipulate the world. For example the joy of art, physics, mechanics, buttons etc.; if I press this and do this, then the reaction will be XYZ. Our great delight in action and reaction.

Now what?

A very very simple way to change the world:

Make a website/blog, and just keep posting your thoughts, opinions and philosophies.

Also, just record and vlog your thoughts and just post it to YouTube or make a podcast.

I think the big secret is to make it open and public, and easily indexable by Google.

For example, it seems the best way to get “discovered“ is organically via Google search. If not that, word-of-mouth. Or having people forward your emails to another friend.

To build a website, either IONOS.com or bluehost.com or Amazon Web Services Lightsail. I recently built two new websites; ERICkimphilosophy.com as well as erickimfitness.com

Why am I so passionate about websites?

I think it is a timing thing. I was born in 1988, and I recall in elementary school making my own firstgeocities.com website. Then later I learned how to blog, inspired by Maddox, when I was around 11 years old. I still remember the hilarity of his post on “why you should beat your children“, and me and my friends all laughing and saying how it was true.

Then later, xanga.com, and starting to blog. Then building my own website. And then the trend to continued.

The reason why I love websites so much is that it is an infinite canvas for your thoughts, your ambitions, your passions etc.

No limits, no upper ceiling!

Also an insanely great joy and recent discovery; IONOS.com recently upgraded her file limit to practically infinity!

To infinity and beyond!

Some more ambitious thoughts:

Elon Goals

The breath and future vision of Elon Musk is quite phenomenal. For example, driving in LA today, I saw the OG Tesla roadster, convertible electric car, which was essentially a retrofitted Lotus. Even when I was an undergrad at UCLA, I remember seeing one of the original Tesla dealerships.

Dream bigger?

A very simple thought I have is that it is best to set an audaciously great goal, and either miss it, or meet it halfway, rather than setting the bar too low.

What do you want out of your life?

Not happiness, not even necessarily “joy“. I think all of these are too overly simplistic commoditized notions.

For example, as man, what is it that we see to do achieve or create? I think this should be the critical goal, not happiness joy making money etc.

Everything is a work in progress

A generalized thought I have towards life is that there is no such thing as finality — everything is a continuum, and all about changes evolution and difference.

For example, today after I hit the hot sauna at the gym, and I witnessed my body in the mirror, muscles bulging, and glistening like a god, I thought to myself:

Wow, my physique is perfect.

Now what?

The future for photography

I think moving forward, I want to continue to help innovate and pave great insights into photography. It has to deal with motivation, inspiration, and also the pragmatics of composition, equipment, aesthetics etc.

The best camera set up

No no no, not the newest iPhone Pro Titan, or not a Leica, not a Fujifilm, maybe not even a Ricoh. Currently I think the new GOAT is the LUMIX G9 paired with the 14mm F2.5 lens, or I’m sure you could just get the new LUMIX G9 mark II.

Why?

First of all, it isn’t as big as you would think it is. I think one of the big benefits of a micro four third system is however relatively compact and light it is.
Second, it will last. My annoyance with the Ricoh GR cameras is that they don’t last. They eventually break, for me within a year or two. Super annoying.
Third, the tilting calculating LCD screen is actually surprisingly useful! I’ve been using a lot to photograph Seneca, with very low angles, and the result is that the photos look much more cinematic!
Fourth, the straight out of Camera JPEG actually look really great! Both for the dynamic black-and-white, gritty monochrome look, as well as color!

Now what?

Upload your best photos to arsbeta.com; the only place to get real feedback on your photos on the entire planet.
Why? — I think actually more effective than ChatGPT is the Why app? Why? ChatGPT gives you answers, whereas the why app encourages you to think, consider, and ask why?

How to advance your photography art and thinking

Turbocharge your mind, and also your creativity at an upcoming ERIC KIM workshop:

CONQUER STREET PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILLY, OCTOBER 14th, 2023
DISCOVER YOUR CREATIVE MISSION IN LIFE: DOWNTOWN LA, November 4th, 2023
INTRODUCTION TO STOICISM WORKSHOP: Downtown LA, DECEMBER 2nd, 2023

2024

CONQUER CONFIDENCE ONLINE WORKSHOP: Jan 27, 2024
April 21st, 2024: ZEN PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP (info TBA)
Social Skills workshop TBA

Workshops Page.

What to read?

Maybe it’s a good idea to read the new Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson!

And of course, free books by KIM >

Now what?

Some simple ways to stimulate your thinking and your physiology include just hitting up the hot sauna at your local commercial gym, or going to the park, doing some basic calisthenics and chin ups, taking in the sun.

Also, eat well. Get some Wagyu ground beef at the local Costco, or just buy some 100% grass fed ground beef. I think it’s the best bang for the buck food.

For coffee, ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE is the only thing I drink now!

More thoughts to come!

Forward the turbo!

If this part even one interesting idea with you, feel free to forward to a friend!

ERIC KIM TURBO NEWS >

ONLY ONE WOMAN.

Anti “polygamy.”

Food

Nietzsche once commented; what is it that woman knows about cooking, in the context of men?

Is there a preferential difference between male consumption habits and food preferences versus female consumption habits and food preferences?

First, I think there is. Let us assume there is a vast hormonal difference between men and women. First, let us note that testosterone, testes, is the hormone inside of testicles, that which only man has. However, it does seem that both men and women both have testosterone, however the degree is different; it seems that men have at least 1000 X testosterone than women. This is why we will never see any woman on planet earth, irregardless of how many steroids she consumes or takes, dead lift 501 kg or beyond.

Also in the context of sports and fighting. If you took the worlds best tennis player, mail, Roger Federer, and pitted him against the worlds best female tennis player, Serena Williams, who would win and into what degree? It seems pretty obvious that Roger Federer would win, and most likely by a large margin. Similarly speaking, if you took the world greatest boxer or UFC MMA fighter, man, and pitted him against the worlds toughest female boxer or MMA fighter, who would win, no contest. Obviously the man.

Why does this matter?

The reason why I think this matters is that in a lot of the modern day world, it seems that the general bias is that women should cook for men. But what if it should be opposite; that instead, man is in focus of cooking, because he will ultimately have a greater taste for meat.

Carnivore preferences for men vs women?

Both men and women both love meat. However, assuming that meat, cholesterol, organ meat is a natural steroid, it seems that man would have a greater preference for it, and could also consume more of it.

For example, after Atlas lifting 1000 pounds, do I want to eat rice and quinoa? Hell no! I want the juiciest, bloodiest, reddest meat.

Male vs female preferences

Why?

What Are Big Issues I Seek to Solve?

CHANGES?

In this limited world, which are some big things you wish to change fix or resolve?

1. Traffic?

So one of the big things I am very interested in is fixing this issue of traffic. Honestly speaking, during rush-hour the traffic is intolerable.

I’ve only lived here in LA for about two weeks, it seems that the big optimization we are trying to make is trying to save time. Fortunately we live within walking distance to the Culver City downtown area, which is great because we could kill two birds with one stone — A) we’re not stuck in traffic and B) we can enjoy the sun and the walk.

Even the big issue; the closest LA fitness to me is a 5 minute drive, but even on the drive back, it seems that the bumper to bumper traffic during rush-hour takes me almost 10 minutes! Insanely annoying!

Therefore some things I’m trying to figure out is how to save time in terms of fitness. The first simple thing is to just walk a lot, walking maybe the most beneficial thing you could do for your health and wellness.

The second thing is sun exposure. The more sun time you have, the better. If you’re worried about getting skin cancer or whatever, just put on a hat lots of sunblock and cover up.

Third, I really been enjoying going to the park and working out, both for the social life, the fresh air, and also for general well-being. I recommend the Kenneth Hahn park in LA — just drive all the way on top of the hill! There is a good calisthenics workout area.

Fourth, matters of health and physiology. A very practical thought I have is to just sell out the big bucks, pay for the 100% grass-fed beef, I think the benefits for you will be instrumental. This includes sleeping better, sleeping deeper, feeling more energized, and also certainly muscle Physiology related concepts.

2. Innovation?

Also a big thing I’m trying to innovate and pioneer is in regards to innovation. For me maybe this is my personal passion and my Archimedes lever — I am addicted to innovation, trying to make things better, more efficient and effective etc., and trying to come up with interesting novel ways to improve our lives. Why is this? Because I feel like I have some sort of duty as I have been seeking a lot of answers my whole life, and I think only recently I’ve found some answers.

3. Photo and art

At the end of the day, my number one greatest passion is photography.

Therefore, my passion for photography; promoting photography, helping encourage photographers.

4. How to make an insanely great impact?

How does one make an insanely great impact on the planet? I think it is simple; just ascertain that which you are insanely concerned about, what you care insanely about, and then use all your resources and power to seek to resolve that!

Money?

The Peter Thiel idea:

Perhaps “profit” is a pedestrian concept.

Then instead, what we seek instead is not “making money“, but building something insanely great, and then the profits will follow later.

Elon Goals

The breath and future vision of Elon Musk is quite phenomenal. For example, driving in LA today, I saw the OG Tesla roadster, convertible electric car, which was essentially a retrofitted Lotus. Even when I was an undergrad at UCLA, I remember seeing one of the original Tesla dealerships.

Dream bigger?

A very simple thought I have is that it is best to set an audaciously great goal, and either miss it, or meet it halfway, rather than setting the bar too low.

What do you want out of your life?

Not happiness, not even necessarily “joy“. I think all of these are too overly simplistic commoditized notions.

For example, as man, what is it that we see to do achieve or create? I think this should be the critical goal, not happiness joy making money etc.

Everything is a work in progress

A generalized thought I have towards life is that there is no such thing as finality — everything is a continuum, and all about changes evolution and difference.

For example, today after I hit the hot sauna at the gym, and I witnessed my body in the mirror, muscles bulging, and glistening like a god, I thought to myself:

Wow, my physique is perfect.

Now what?

The future for photography

I think moving forward, I want to continue to help innovate and pave great insights into photography. It has to deal with motivation, inspiration, and also the pragmatics of composition, equipment, aesthetics etc.

The best camera set up

No no no, not the newest iPhone Pro Titan, or not a Leica, not a Fujifilm, maybe not even a Ricoh. Currently I think the new GOAT is the LUMIX G9 paired with the 14mm F2.5 lens, or I’m sure you could just get the new LUMIX G9 mark II.

Why?

First of all, it isn’t as big as you would think it is. I think one of the big benefits of a micro four third system is however relatively compact and light it is.
Second, it will last. My annoyance with the Ricoh GR cameras is that they don’t last. They eventually break, for me within a year or two. Super annoying.
Third, the tilting calculating LCD screen is actually surprisingly useful! I’ve been using a lot to photograph Seneca, with very low angles, and the result is that the photos look much more cinematic!
Fourth, the straight out of Camera JPEG actually look really great! Both for the dynamic black-and-white, gritty monochrome look, as well as color!

Now what?

Upload your best photos to arsbeta.com; the only place to get real feedback on your photos on the entire planet.
Why? — I think actually more effective than ChatGPT is the Why app? Why? ChatGPT gives you answers, whereas the why app encourages you to think, consider, and ask why?

What Are Big Issues I Seek to Solve?

CHANGES?

In this limited world, which are some big things you wish to change fix or resolve?

1. Traffic?

So one of the big things I am very interested in is fixing this issue of traffic. Honestly speaking, during rush-hour the traffic is intolerable.

I’ve only lived here in LA for about two weeks, it seems that the big optimization we are trying to make is trying to save time. Fortunately we live within walking distance to the Culver City downtown area, which is great because we could kill two birds with one stone — A) we’re not stuck in traffic and B) we can enjoy the sun and the walk.

Even the big issue; the closest LA fitness to me is a 5 minute drive, but even on the drive back, it seems that the bumper to bumper traffic during rush-hour takes me almost 10 minutes! Insanely annoying!

Therefore some things I’m trying to figure out is how to save time in terms of fitness. The first simple thing is to just walk a lot, walking maybe the most beneficial thing you could do for your health and wellness.

The second thing is sun exposure. The more sun time you have, the better. If you’re worried about getting skin cancer or whatever, just put on a hat lots of sunblock and cover up.

Third, I really been enjoying going to the park and working out, both for the social life, the fresh air, and also for general well-being. I recommend the Kenneth Hahn park in LA — just drive all the way on top of the hill! There is a good calisthenics workout area.

Fourth, matters of health and physiology. A very practical thought I have is to just sell out the big bucks, pay for the 100% grass-fed beef, I think the benefits for you will be instrumental. This includes sleeping better, sleeping deeper, feeling more energized, and also certainly muscle Physiology related concepts.

2. Innovation?

Also a big thing I’m trying to innovate and pioneer is in regards to innovation. For me maybe this is my personal passion and my Archimedes lever — I am addicted to innovation, trying to make things better, more efficient and effective etc., and trying to come up with interesting novel ways to improve our lives. Why is this? Because I feel like I have some sort of duty as I have been seeking a lot of answers my whole life, and I think only recently I’ve found some answers.

3. Photo and art

At the end of the day, my number one greatest passion is photography.

Therefore, my passion for photography; promoting photography, helping encourage photographers.

4. How to make an insanely great impact?

How does one make an insanely great impact on the planet? I think it is simple; just ascertain that which you are insanely concerned about, what you care insanely about, and then use all your resources and power to seek to resolve that!

Money?

The Peter Thiel idea:

Perhaps “profit” is a pedestrian concept.

Then instead, what we seek instead is not “making money“, but building something insanely great, and then the profits will follow later.

Elon Goals

The breath and future vision of Elon Musk is quite phenomenal. For example, driving in LA today, I saw the OG Tesla roadster, convertible electric car, which was essentially a retrofitted Lotus. Even when I was an undergrad at UCLA, I remember seeing one of the original Tesla dealerships.

Dream bigger?

A very simple thought I have is that it is best to set an audaciously great goal, and either miss it, or meet it halfway, rather than setting the bar too low.

What do you want out of your life?

Not happiness, not even necessarily “joy“. I think all of these are too overly simplistic commoditized notions.

For example, as man, what is it that we see to do achieve or create? I think this should be the critical goal, not happiness joy making money etc.

CHANGES?

In this limited world, which are some big things you wish to change fix or resolve?

1. Traffic?

So one of the big things I am very interested in is fixing this issue of traffic. Honestly speaking, during rush-hour the traffic is intolerable.

I’ve only lived here in LA for about two weeks, it seems that the big optimization we are trying to make is trying to save time. Fortunately we live within walking distance to the Culver City downtown area, which is great because we could kill two birds with one stone — A we’re not stuck in traffic and B, we can enjoy the sun and the walk.

Even the big issue; the closest LA fitness to me is a 5 minute drive, but even on the drive back, it seems that the bumper to bumper traffic during rush-hour takes me almost 10 minutes! Insanely annoying!

Therefore some things I’m trying to figure out is how to save time in terms of fitness. The first simple thing is to just walk a lot, walking maybe the most beneficial thing you could do for your health and wellness.

The second thing is sun exposure. The more sun time you have, the better. If you’re worried about getting skin cancer or whatever, just put on a hat lots of sunblock and cover up.

Third, I really been enjoying going to the park and working out, both for the social life, the fresh air, and also for general well-being. I recommend the Kenneth Hahn park in LA — just drive all the way on top of the hill! There is a good calisthenics workout area.

Fourth, matters of health and learning. A very practical thought I have is to just sell out the big bucks, pay for the 100% breast-fed beef, I think the benefits for you will be instrumental. This includes sleeping better, sleeping deeper, feeling more energized, and also certainly muscle Physiology related concepts.

Women don’t know what they want

But, does man know what they want?

Man Can Tolerate Only One Woman

New Thriving Pick

The Ethics of Self Promotion

To promote yourself may be the most ethical and honest thing you can do? Much more honest than promoting other things or other people.

LA LIVING

Social Philosophy

Was it Voltaire who once said that the best modern day inventions was society?

How to talk to men
How to talk to women
How to talk to children
Talking with friends and people you know
Talking to strangers

Skills

How to do small talk
To do deep philosophical talking
Talking to people above, below, or at your own own social class

Social arenas

The park
The gym
The coffee shop cafe
Public spaces and places
The grocery store
The restaurant
The mall

Patience is Weakness

Philosophy Lifestyle

Can philosophy also be a lifestyle?

How to Become

Become, Becoming:

What does it mean to become, and why does this matter?

The first thought is you and things are not static. They are dynamic, changing, advert evolving, ever rotating etc. I don’t think there’s really an ideal and state or goal. Rather, the end outcome is that your continuously become you, or become something different.

Anti finality

A weird thing is that a lot of people seek completion, or some sort of final end state and goal. What I personally believe in is that in fact, this isn’t and shouldn’t be the desired and goal. Instead, ever changing, ever ever evolution, never ending is better.

The end state and goal is not a zen peaceful tranquil life

In the past what I believed the end goal in state was was towards were achieving some sort of truly blissful peace, send, tranquility, emptiness. Now upon much consideration thinking meditation and contemplation and life experiences, I’ve actually discovered this is not the way. And also not the desired end goal.

On the contrary, my thought is perhaps the point of it all in the point of our lives is to seek ever greater challenges, hazards, danger, things to test our courage and will.

Thoughts in progress

What I love about philosophy is that it is a never ending journey. My only desire in life is that I continue having personally interesting thoughts until I die, whenever that is.

Pragmatic Thoughts

Some very pragmatic thoughts:

1. Wellness

Waking up this early morning, with cold dreary overcast, no sun, and now, basking in the direction sun, what am I thinking about? Some pragmatic thoughts; how much I love the sun. The first general thought is that without the sun, none of it is worth it.

PURE JOY

Body Glory

Why is modern day man not allowed to glorify his body?

The Philosophy of Muscle

MUSCLE BY KIM:

Why build your body?

Your own body as a work of art!

In Praise of Building Your Body

My Muscle Philosophy:

Treat your body as sculpture.

This is not my body

The first thing:

I don’t see my body as belonging to me. I look at my body like it belongs to someone else.

When I look at the Lamborghini of someone else, I admire it. When I see the muscles and physiques of anyone else, I admire it. Then I had the epiphany:

Why not transform my own body into a Lambo, and admire my own body instead?

The logic

The great logic:

It is far cheaper to get buff than to buy a Lambo.
The human body is the apex beauty. This means your personal goal in life should be to beautify your own personal body to the maximum (without plastic surgery, steroids, etc).
Ultimate democratic approach: Genetics doesn’t matter. Sex doesn’t matter. Racial ethnicity doesn’t matter. Anyone can both add muscle mass and subtract fat.
It doesn’t cost much to get ripped. Just intermittent fast [no breakfast, no lunch], one big ass meal a day, and mostly a ‘ketogenic’ diet.
Your body is always with you. Why not beautify your body to inspire yourself?

The joy of sculpting your own body

To sculpt your own body is insanely fun. Why? You can see the change over time!

Once again, the goal is simple:

Never stop adding muscle mass, and never stop reducing body fat, or keeping it low (around 10%).

Muscle and your body is highly practical.

The more muscle you have, the more energy you got. The more power you got to make art-work, and live with gratitude, joy, and hyper-vigor.

Strengthen on, and flex on!

ERIC

MUSCLE 101

Body Euphoria

My new notion of body euphoria: the exact opposite of body dys-morphia.

Body euphoria — insane godlike joy in one’s body and capabilities!

https://videopress.com/v/JAJ2zoB4?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=1&controls=1&loop=1&muted=1&persistVolume=0&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

https://videopress.com/v/B5qTdU40?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=1&controls=1&loop=1&muted=1&persistVolume=0&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

THE TRUE ELITE

THE SPARTAN ELITE.

Despite what people think, the true elite is spartan, not pampered, weak and soft.

100% CARNIVORE DIET BABY!

The Pragmatics of Aesthetics?

I have a thought that aesthetics are often very practical. For example, things, spaces, and places which are aesthetically beautiful are often better for our health.

Another thought, in regards to fitness:

Some people go to the gym and lift weights and exercise and do certain exercises in order to beautify their bodies. Some people just focus on strength and power.

But the funny thing is if you are insanely strong and powerful, like ERIC KIM and the 1,000 pound atlas lift, naturally your body will become beautiful. However if you just focus on aesthetic side of bodybuilding, you often become plagued with injuries, and weaknesses. And not very strong.

Therefore, the practical advice:

Just focus on getting very very strong. Insanely strong. Demigod strong.

MAN VS WOMAN

Man desires to be out and about? Woman cares less to be out and about, and doesn’t mind *as much* to stay at home?

The limits of our physiology?

For example the downside of a woman and her menstrual cycle — it does make things much much worse.

Does man have a similar thing, in regards to his mood, hormones, testosterone?

DUTY.

My first duty is towards my wife and kid. To protect, defend, avenge them!

Culver 3 Picks

Happy Thoughts: The Philosophy of Happy and Happiness

Currently settling down in my new life here in Culver, Culver City (Los Angeles), and feeling insanely happy. Then the thought: what is the philosophy of happiness? Why happiness, and how to become it?

1. Health is prime

The first thought is that health is prime, health is peak. That is, I believe that your focuses must first be critically directed towards your health. For example, simple things:

Godlike sleep: a new experiment is that I’m trying to cut off my caffeine intake after 9 AM. I say first thing in the morning, before you go to the gym, maybe after you go to the gym, allow yourself to drink a shit load of coffee 100% fine robusta, ERIC KIM Omakase coffee. The reason why I recommend robusta, especially 100% fine robusta is that I think arabica is too weak, and too sweet. If you want to peak health, I believe that the key is robusta. Why? Robusta has a higher caffeine content, and less sugar alcohol content, which means it will assist you in staying lean, and cutting down your body fat. I’m starting to get suspicious of even most plants and vegetables; all of it is cellulose, and sugar molecules. Even if you eat straight up Napa cabbage, which is used in kimchi, it is actually very sweet. the same thing goes with onions; onions for the most part part is just caramelized candy.
Go to the gym first thing in the morning? Last night I slept a little earlier, maybe around 10 PM, and naturally woke up today around 5 AM, 5:15 AM. After downing a very very strong cop of ERIC KIM coffee, I immediately jumped into my workout clothes, went to the gym, a random LA fitness. When you wake up in the morning, it is cold and dark outside, which means that being outside is unpleasant. But when you go to the gym, the first thing you could do is hit the hot sauna, which is great because it warms up your bones and sinews, and then the big indoor space and the lights and the music of the gym stimulate you and wake you up. And also lifting heavy weights is fun there at the gym, because it seems that the gym is the only modern day place in which one is permitted to be loud. and also the reason why might prefer traditional commercial gym like LA fitness over equinox is I get the sense that equinox you are not permitted to be loud.
Eating a lot of meat before going to sleep: I would recommend striving to eat at least 4 to 5 pounds of beef or Lam before you go to sleep. It could just be ground beef, I recently discovered this American Wagyu ground beef at Costco, 75%, 15%, which I love. Or just get the standard beef brisket in a huge slab and instant potted. Or cut it up thinly and just pan fried on the frying pan on the stove. I believe this to be critical because it helps you fall asleep, and sleep deeply, and the meat will help you maximally recover your body, build muscle bone etc. Isn’t it so funny that nowadays we are taking all these silly supplements my collagen, but don’t people know that collagen is naturally present in beef, beef neck bone, beef tendons, bone marrow etc.?
Sunlight: Another thing and the reason why I feel like LA is paradise to me; the sun. It’s funny because when I was undergraduate at UCLA, I never once recall ever complaining about the weather. It was perfect all year round. And also my mood was always always good as an undergrad at UCLA, never depressed. Compare this with being on the East Coast, or being in Europe during the winter; incredibly miserable. I remember feeling so miserable in Marseille France during the winter, and also equally miserable in Prague during the winter time. I think for myself I am a very sensitive soul; maybe it is less of an issue about the cold, but it is an issue of the sun. I like Denver Colorado because although it is cold, at least it is bright and sunny! A life without the sun is not a life worth living.

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Man would not desire the world without women, but if there were no men… Women would probably be fine?

WALLPAPERS

ERIC THOUGHTS

Thought paving.

Aesthetic Thoughts

Some morning thoughts: what is the point and purpose of aesthetics? Why is it important and towards what ends?

What is the purpose or point of beauty?

The first thought I have is in regards to beauty, the philosophy of beauty, the significance of beauty etc. On the first hand, I believe that beauty has to do with health. Physiological health, wellness, grandeur.

For example, beautiful women, finding a beautiful wife, begetting children with a beautiful woman. I think the significance of beauty, a beautiful woman is the promise that your offspring will be superior, strong, great. I believe to some degree physical and physiological beauty, aesthetic beauty, also beauty in the face has to do with the promise advancement. Your kids will be stronger, more intelligent, taller, stronger, better than you.

Things?

Then, beauty in the context of things. For example, what is the significance of beauty in regards to things, objects, spaces etc?

On the firsthand, I think it has to do with hygiene. Often places which look ugly signal some sort of degeneracy, or poor hygiene. For example, indoor places which are small tight cramped, dark and musty, perhaps signals some sort of mold, fungus, or poor air circulation, lack of natural light etc. Often beautiful spaces signal some sort of hygiene; natural light greater disinfectant from the sun, big windows, floor to ceiling windows, and windows which open which allow and lot airflow is good for our circulation and health, and also brand new spaces, especially interior spaces signal some sort of great hygiene.

Cars?

Another thing in which we Americans or modern go gaga over is cars. We seem to be very very obsessed with cars, the newest car, the newest model, etc. We are addicted to cars and innovation in cars.

However is there some sort of objective measure to beauty in cars? I think there is some.

For example, beauty in the context of ugliness. Difficult to ascertain what a beautiful car is, but very very easy to ascertain what an ugly car is. An ugly car is rusted, yellowing headlights, peeling clear coat, rust, and components which have faded or haven’t aged well. For example my extreme disgust and hatred in my mom’s old car; a 1995 Nissan Maxima, six cylinder, black paint, which had 1 trillion headaches and nightmares. Peeling clearcoat made it insanely ugly, and also the V6 engine had so many problems. That car was hell.

Ultimately I think new is beautiful. New cars look beautiful because they are bright and shiny, all the components are new, nothing has faded. For example crystal clear headlights, window and car side molding, etc.

Clothes?

One thing I have observed about clothing is that there is no such thing as beautiful clothes, only beautiful people. For example the people who tend to wear these beautiful clothes also tend to be beautiful people. That means, a beautiful person can wear ugly clothes and still look beautiful. An ugly person, if they wear a beautiful clothes, do not become beautiful. Because there is no such thing as beautiful clothes.

Beautiful body?

Something I am obsessed about is bodily beauty and physique. Why?

THE POINT OF LIFE?

What is the point of life?

The first thought I have is the point of life is to feel more powerful, more dominant. I think there is a root and a stem both in the metaphorical and the physiological.

For example, when you get a raise, or some sort of increase, or obtain something or increase something etc.… physiologically what does one feel? I believe it is a rush of power. Feeling more powerful, more secure, greater.

Perhaps this is also the feeling of getting some sort of new tool or device or phone or car; a feeling that you are progressing, becoming stronger etc.

Towards what final ends?

My thought is the goal of power, feeling more powerful etc. is for the goal and towards the goal of art and arts production. To give birth to more art, greater art.

For example, let us consider art, art objects, etc. Essentially what is the artist doing? The artist is getting more metaphorical children in the substance form and output of art work.

For example Cindy is currently working on her first book, and truth be told, it is like metaphorically giving birth to a child.

Also, currently as I raise Seneca, he is currently two years and eight months old, he is my ultimate artistic art project.

What is art?

To me, art is metaphorical birth. That is, when you photograph something, make photos of it, produce it what are you doing? You are imputing your own metaphorical ideals into what you create and put out there.

For example, my personal suggestion is before you look at the artwork of somebody, first look at them as a human being, look at them physiologically. For example a lot of sick artists can only beget sick art. This is why I am very very suspicious of people who rely on drugs, alcohol, marijuana, or other forms of amphetamines to create artwork. I suppose my only device is coffee; But beyond that I am 100% sober, no weed no alcohol etc.

There is this strange modern day notion of the artist being some sort of strange, emaciated, pale, sickly, strange feeble individual. It is difficult to imagine an artist looking like an Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Ronnie Coleman, or like Thor with a six pack. My thought is the more physiologically strong and fit you are, the more strong and fit your photos will be in your artwork will be as well.

Why make art?

Photo Thoughts

Ever since my Ricoh GR 3X has died, I’ve been experimenting a lot with different camera setups. One of them is simple: just using the old Lumix G9 I had lying around, using the Lumix Leica 12mm F1.4 lens, and more recently, getting this really great tiny pancake Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens.

Beauty

First and foremost, I think our primary preoccupation as photographer-artists is to create beautiful photos.

I never really thought it would make a difference, but switching from the Leica Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens to the Lumix 14mm f2.5 lens, I could actually see an insanely huge difference. Things I noticed:

The first huge obvious difference is that the Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens photos, in terms of shooting portraits, up close portraits of Seneca, the photos are aesthetically a lot uglier. It is almost too rough, too grainy, too gritty. Also something about the out of focus bokeh effect, is really ugly on the F2.5 lens.

Another thing is that the colors, when shooting color photos, intelligent auto mode on the F2.5 lens, the colors look really off and ugly. Something I didn’t think too much about, but if you shoot intelligent auto JPEG mode, straight up on the Lumix G9 with the Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens, the photos look insanely perfect. The colors are true to life, vibrant, and beautiful.

Photo dissonance

Another huge shocking factor is that when I saw all of these photos that I shot of Seneca, with the new 14 mm F2.5 lens, of Seneca, I had some sort of visual, photo dissonance, which means that I almost didn’t recognize the photos of Seneca.

Then my simple thought: maybe I should just keep the Lumix G9 permanently paired with the 14 mm F14 lens, and just use it as a portrait art camera, and then figure out a more pocketful portable solution for street photography of strangers in public? Or just maybe use an iPhone for street photography of strangers in public and urban landscapes?

Why this matters

Walking around Culver City, downtown Culver City, the Culver City arts District, driving around LA, Sunset, West Hollywood, and just LA in general, my general thought is that it seems that at the end of the day, what we are primarily passionate about is art. For example, even being on Rodeo Drive and seeing the new Mr. Brainwash art museum, thinking about Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, etc.… it seems that the true and goal is towards art.

Even when we think about all these clothing brands, luxury object brands, what is it? Essentially it is consumer art, codified into objects. For example, getting a Richard Mille watch, is essentially an art object on your wrist. Or any sort of designer luxury designer thing, whether it be clothes, shoes, a handbag, sunglasses, I had piece etc.… They are essentially art objects you could purchase and wear and use.

Making beautiful things in your own eyes?

Then what I believe is this: perhaps the ultimate goal that we have is to create beautiful things, beautiful art objects, etc., designed in our own eyes.

Free

Free spirits, free souls. Why? They wish they were as free spirited and unbounded like me!

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TIME WILL TELL

Funny enough, when all these people said that computers are bad for your eyes monitors are bad for your eyes etc., I think they were right. For example, busting out Cindy‘s old Dell monitor, and being shocked on how poor the sharpness and resolution is; it might be true that it is really bad for your eyes. After staring at the monitor for even a few minutes, my eyes already hurt.

Lesson:

Become more skeptical towards technology!

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Aesthetic Thoughts

Some morning thoughts: what is the point in purpose of aesthetics? Why is it important and towards what ends?

What is the purpose or point of beauty?

First thought I have is in regards to beauty, the philosophy of beauty, the significance of beauty etc. On the first hand, I believe that beauty has to do with health. Physiological health, wellness, grandeur.

For example, beautiful women, finding a beautiful wife, getting children with a beautiful woman. I think the significance of beauty, a beautiful woman is the promise that your offspring will be superior, strong, great. I believe to some degree physical and physiological beauty, aesthetic beauty, also beauty in the face has to do with the promise advancement. Your kids will be stronger, more intelligent, taller, stronger, better than you.

Things?

Then, beauty in the context of things. For example, what is the significance of beauty in regards to things, objects, spaces etc?

on the firsthand, I think it has to do with hygiene. Often places which look ugly signal some sort of degeneracy, or poor hygiene. For example, indoor places which are small tight cramp, dark and musty, perhaps signals some sort of mold, fungus, or air circulation, black and natural light etc. Often beautiful spaces signal some sort of hygiene; natural light greater disinfectant from the sun, big windows, floor to ceiling windows, and windows which open which allow and lot airflow is good for our circulation and health, and also brand new spaces, especially interior spaces signal some sort of great hygiene.

Cars?

Another thing in which we Americans or modern go gaga over his cars. He seem to be very very obsessed with cars, the newest car, the newest model, etc. We are addicted to cars and innovation in cars.

However is there some sort of objective measure to beauty in cars? I think there is some.

For example, beauty in the context of ugliness. Difficult to ascertain what a beautiful car is, but very very easy to ascertain what an ugly car is. Ugly car is rusted, yellowing headlights, peeling clear coat, rust, and components which have faded or haven’t aged well. For example my extreme discussed in my families old car; a 1995 Nissan Maxima, six cylinder, black paint, which had 1 trillion headaches and nightmares. Peeling clearcoat made it insanely ugly, and also the V6 engine had so many problems. That car was hell.

Ultimately I think new is beautiful. New cars look beautiful because they are bright and shiny, all the components are new, nothing has faded. For example crystal clear headlights, window and car side molding, etc.

Clothes?

One thing I have observed about clothing is that there is no such thing as beautiful clothes, only beautiful people. For example the people who tend to wear these beautiful clothes also tend to be beautiful people. That means, a beautiful person can wear ugly clothes and still look beautiful. An ugly person, if they wear a beautiful clothes, do not become beautiful. Because there is no such thing as beautiful clothes.

THE POINT OF LIFE?

What is the point of life?

The first thought I have is the point of life is to feel more powerful, more dominant. I think there is a root and a stem both in the metaphorical and the physiological.

For example, when you get a raise, or some sort of increase, or obtain something or increase something etc.… physiologically what does one feel? I believe it is a rush of power. Feeling more powerful, more secure, greater.

Perhaps this is also the feeling of getting some sort of new tool or device or phone or car; a feeling that you are progressing, becoming stronger etc.

Towards what final ends?

My thought is the goal of power, feeling more powerful etc. is for the goal and towards the goal of art and arts production. To give birth to more art, greater art.

For example, let us consider art, art objects, etc. Essentially what is the artist doing? The artist is getting more metaphorical children in the substance form and output of art work.

For example Cindy is currently working on her first book, and truth be told, it is like metaphorically giving birth to a child.

Also, currently as I raise Seneca, he is currently two years and eight months old, he is my ultimate artistic art project.

What is art?

To me, art is metaphorical birth. That is, when you photograph some thing, make photos of it, produce it what are you doing? You are imputing your own metaphorical ideals into what you create and put out there.

For example, my personal suggestion is before you look at the artwork of somebody, first look at them as a human being, look at them physiologically. For example a lot of sick artist can only be get sick art. This is why I am very very suspicious of people who rely on drugs, alcohol, marijuana, or other forms of amphetamines to create artwork. I suppose my only device is coffee; But beyond that I am 100% sober, no weed no alcohol etc.

What is the point of life? To feel more dominant, more powerful.

Anti Misery

Avoid miserable people like the plague! And miserable news! Just quit the news.

Misos— hatred. Also people who are “miserly” (excessively scroogey about money and “saving money”)— it is all connected?

Miserable people are miserly.

Miserable people hate, hate existence and hate their lives and selves?

ETHICS by KIM

Your Own Personal Code of Ethics:

Photo Thriving

Photo Thoughts

Ever since my Ricoh GR 3X has died, I’ve been experimenting a lot with different camera setups. One of them is simple: just using the old Lumix G9 I had lying around, using the Lumix Leica 12mm F1.4 lens, and more recently, getting this really great tiny pancake Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens.

Beauty

First and foremost, I think our primary preoccupation as photographer-artists is to create beautiful photos.

I never really thought it would make a difference, but switching from the Leica Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens to the Lumix 14mm f2.5 lens, I could actually see an insanely huge difference. Things I noticed:

The first huge obvious difference is that the Lumix 14 mm F2.5 lens photos, in terms of shooting portraits, up close portraits of Seneca, the photos are aesthetically a lot uglier. It is almost too rough, too grainy, too gritty. Also something about the out of focus bokeh effect, is really ugly on the F2.5 lens.

Another thing is that the colors, when shooting color photos, intelligent auto mode on the F2.5 lens, the colors look really off and ugly. Something I didn’t think too much about, but if you shoot intelligent auto JPEG mode, straight up on the Lumix G9 with the Lumix 12 mm F1.4 lens, the photos look insanely perfect. The colors are true to life, vibrant, and beautiful.

Photo dissonance

Another huge shocking factor is that when I saw all of these photos that I shot of Seneca, with the new 14 mm F2.5 lens, of Seneca, I had some sort of visual, photo dissonance, which means that I almost didn’t recognize the photos of Seneca.

Then my simple thought: maybe I should just keep the Lumix G9 permanently paired with the 14 mm F1 .4 lens, and just use it as a portrait art camera, and then figure out a more pocketful portable solution for street photography of strangers in public? or just maybe use an iPhone for street photography of strangers in public and urban landscapes?

Time Wisdom

“Virtuous” uses of your time vs “foolish“ uses of your time?

Photo Domination

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“He without a past has no future.”

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Classics never die:

BODY PHILOSOPHY

Body thoughts:

Over Thoughts

Over Achieve

When I was a kid growing up, to be a “overachiever“ was seen as a double edged sword; on one hand, it was greatly respected admired, a desired thing. Yet at the same time, a lot of kids would tease and make fun of kids who were “tryhard“. That in fact, trying “too” hard, and aiming to achieve was seen as a negatively bad thing.

It is my personal thought that to overachieve is a positively good thing. For example, can one imagine an Elon Musk who wasn’t an overachiever? Or a Kanye West who wasn’t was an overachiever? Or a Jay Z who wasn’t an overachiever?

What does it mean to achieve?

Achieve — head? Same as chief?

To (ad) caput?

What does it mean to achieve, and what are the logical consequences of it?

*kap- head. Same word as capital.

Achever— to finish, to complete.

I think in modern day English, or modern day times, to achieve is to seen as succeed, to be number one, to advance, and a lot of achievement notions typically comes from academics and academia. For example, to achieve or scholastic achievement has to deal with getting straight A’s, getting a 4.0 GPA or a beyond a 4.0 GPA, getting into high-ranking universities, scoring high on standardized testing etc.

A generalize way we could think about achievement it’s a simply set a personal goal on something, and obtain it. To seize it.

*kap- to seize, to hold.

Holding?

HODL — hold on for dear life, a notion that we get from the cryptocurrency world.

To hold. What does it mean to hold? To grip onto something, to grasp. It has to do with grip strength, and wrist strength.

In the world of finance and economics, holding onto assets, or in Texas “hold-‘em”— you have the option to hold.

Perhaps true hold is a really really good idea. To hold is a good idea in so far much as holding seems like a passive action, but in actuality, it is one of the most virtuous things that you could do. It takes courage and skill to hold, rather than to quickly buy or to sell, in which people over act.

For example one of my friends used to own 50 bitcoin, a while back, but this is when it was valued very low, and after a huge spike, he freaked out, and sold it all. Perhaps the better strategy was for him to just hold, hold it for a decade or two, and if that were the case, he would be able to quit his job and retire.

The courage to hold?

Seneca is currently two years, eight months old. A new trick you could do is when at the park with me, she can grab the chin up rings, grab it, and hold his body up off the floor! The other day at Barnes & Noble, when washing our hands, she was actually able to Hold and grasp the edge of the sink table, and successfully hold and suspend himself on it!

Holding strength?

Maybe this is a new thing we could innovate; to see how strong and how much you could hold?

Even my 1000 pound infamous atlas lift, part of it is a lifting motion, in which I lift the weight off of the rack with my shoulder and legs, but then I hold it up for a second or two before putting it down.

Even when I think about the strongman competitions, there is this Hercules pillar hold competition in which there are two columns, each about 1000 pounds, attached with chain and hand grip. The contestant simply sees how long he can hold the weights together, before his strength gives out.

Tenacity

Maybe also the most virtuous path to entrepreneurship is towards tenacity? How long can you hold and be tenacious?

Mimesis?

A concept I am trying to currently think through is about mimesis and mimetic theory. The general gist is this; which desires are implanted in us by society, and which are truly inherent and natural?

Why does it matter? In terms of achievement, what you want to achieve… we need to set some sort of goal. But, is the goal you are setting inherently interesting to you, or is it a goal which is seen as desirable by society?

The Philosophy of Durable, Durability

Durable. Durability. Even Nietzsche once said, “Durability is the first rate good amongst human beings!”

The importance of durable, durability?

An interesting epiphany that I had is that it seems that with modern day consumerism, durability is actually not what we seek. For example, nobody truly seeks a 100% durable iPhone that will last forever. Why? We need some sort of excuse to upgrade. I think the same thing is with cars; cars are fashion. The second our car has any issues, or needs an “upgrade“, we are very very happy to jump ship, and then to seek some sort of new solution.

Why does this matter?

Durabilis: Durable, lasting.

I think this matters for many different reasons. First and foremost, with everything in life, we need to posit some sort of desired ends and outcomes. Therefore, if we know what we seek, and what we desire, then we can better straight shot attain, obtain, and pursue that which we desire.

Becoming harder

Duro— harden, make hard.

Studying some etymology for the word durable, it seems that comes from the Latin, duro, which means harden, make hard.

Durus: looking further into the Proto Indo European, it seems that it means far, long. Deros— Sanskrit dura which means “far”. Long, extended.

I suppose there are several interesting interventions with this line of thought. First and foremost, then it seems that the desired end outcome is for us to go long. An extended range, and also, to last into the future. Long, extended can be seen as distance, or time and years.

Extended range as good!

Modular solutions

Durability doesn’t just mean to be hard, to be robust. The philosophy of durability is to last for a long time, or for us to use the framework an ecosystem for a long time.

For example, cameras. I am a huge fan of the Ricoh GR series cameras, as it is so small compact and powerful. Yet the durability is poor insofar much as the duration you could use it only seems to be about a year. After hard-core use, all of my Ricohs have broken.

Surprisingly, the Lumix G9 that I bought in 2019 while in Japan, has lasted. Something about how it was engineered, and also the fact that it is an interchangeable lens system means that if the lens breaks (mine did), I can simply swap out the lens, and I could still keep using the system.

Whereas with non-interchangeable, non-modular systems, if one component breaks, it is all broken.

The same thing goes with computers. Laptops are bad in so far much as at least with MacBook laptop, you can honestly swap out the parts. This means, if one component breaks, you’re screwed.

Durable investments?

What is a durable investment? If we think long, long-term, maybe it is best to think in the 30+ year time span.

For example, a simple thought: will bitcoin prices go up or down in 30 years? Will more people use cryptocurrency or less in 30 years? Or, will we use our phones more for financial things? Or less? Will finances become more digital, or paper hard cash based?

30 years from now, what will we still need? A habitat somewhere to live, food.

Nobody likes to think 30 years ahead, because we want to live in the now. Yet this is my simple thought:

Live today, insanely frugal and scrappy, Spartan. Yet in terms of your investments, think 30 years ahead, like a demigod.

Durable body?

In modern day society, we have a strange relationship with our bodies. We know that it is important and critical, yet, we sacrifice it for other things like money, prestige, “productivity”, mental faculties, building capital, etc.

Yet at the end of the day, none of these things are possible without our bodies. And also a reverse thought:

What is the opposite should be done? That the ultimate endgame is to beautify and strengthen our bodies to the maximum, and money and capital and all these other things were simply to aid that end goal?

For example, modern day work and office work. I think I got it figured out. Essentially you sacrifice your health and well-being for money.

For example, if you work in the modern day office job, doesn’t matter if it is an investment banker, lawyer, attorney, money manager, programmer, etc.… essentially what you are doing is prostituting your body mind and soul for greater money and capital gains. Let us consider the inordinate amount of time we spent sitting; sitting in a car when committing to work, or sitting in the train, or sitting in the bus, sitting in the metro, or sitting in the office, sitting at our computer office chair, sitting down in meetings, etc. And all of that time we spend indoors which is positively bad for our health.

Why ethics and morality is the hook and the snare

My general thought is that morality “ethics“, religious rules of conduct is essentially soft forms of coercion and power control. For example, these “rules“ governing our speech, our social behaviors, our comportment and how we leverage and carry our bodies, what we do what we say, what we don’t do what we don’t say, what we desire what we don’t desire etc. Essentially almost 99% of our physical or mental activities is directed towards some other ends, which is often not our own.

For example, Confucianism. This ridiculous idea that no matter what, whether good or bad, one must always respect their elders. But why? Once again, another form of social control.

Or, the notion of “saving money“, or “not wasting“ water, electricity, etc. Yet once again, why are these things considered a virtue?

Why ethics and morality is the hook and the snare

My general thought is that morality “ethics“, religious rules of conduct is essentially soft forms of coercion and power control. For example, these “rules“ governing our speech, our social behaviors, our comportment and how we leverage and carry our bodies, what we do what we say, what we don’t do what we don’t say, what we desire what we don’t desire etc. Essentially almost 99% of our physical or mental activities is directed towards some other ends, which is often not our own.

For example, Confucianism. This ridiculous idea that no matter what, whether good or bad, one must always respect their elders. But why? Once again, another form of social control.

Or, the notion of “saving money“, or “not wasting“ water, electricity, etc. Yet once again, why are these things considered a virtue?

Crypto Thoughts

CRYPTO BY KIM

Brave new world for photographers and crypto:

The Philosophy of Durable, Durability

Durable. Durability. Even Nietzsche once said, “Durability is the first rate good amongst human beings!”

The importance of durable, durability?

An interesting epiphany that I had is that it seems that with modern day consumerism, durability is actually not what we seek. For example, nobody truly seeks a 100% durable iPhone that will last forever. Why? We need some sort of excuse to upgrade. I think the same thing is with cars; cars are fashion. The second our car has any issues, or needs an “upgrade“, we are very very happy to jump ship, and then to seek some sort of new solution.

Why does this matter?

Durabilis: Durable, lasting.

I think this matters for many different reasons. First and foremost, with everything in life, we need to posit some sort of desired ends and outcomes. Therefore, if we know what we seek, and what we desire, then we can better straight shot attain, obtain, and pursue that which we desire.

Becoming harder

Duro— harden, make hard.

Studying some etymology for the word durable, it seems that comes from the Latin, duro, which means harden, make hard.

Durus: looking further into the Proto Indo European, it seems that it means far, long. Deros— Sanskrit dura which means “far”. Long, extended.

I suppose there are several interesting interventions with this line of thought. First and foremost, then it seems that the desired end outcome is for us to go long. An extended range, and also, to last into the future. Long, extended can be seen as distance, or time and years.

Extended range as good!

Modular solutions

Durability doesn’t just mean to be hard, to be robust. The philosophy of durability is to last for a long time, or for us to use the framework an ecosystem for a long time.

For example, cameras. I am a huge fan of the Ricoh GR series cameras, as it is so small compact and powerful. Yet the durability is poor insofar much as the duration you could use it only seems to be about a year. After hard-core use, all of my Ricohs have broken.

Surprisingly, the Lumix G9 that I bought in 2019 while in Japan, has lasted. Something about how it was engineered, and also the fact that it is an interchangeable lens system means that if the lens breaks (mine did), I can simply swap out the lens, and I could still keep using the system.

Whereas with non-interchangeable, non-modular systems, if one component breaks, it is all broken.

The same thing goes with computers. Laptops are bad in so far much as at least with MacBook laptop, you can honestly swap out the parts. This means, if one component breaks, you’re screwed.

Durable investments?

Durable body?

Over Achieve

When I was a kid growing up, to be a “overachiever“ was seen as a double edged sword; on one hand, it was greatly respected admired, a desired thing. Yet at the same time, a lot of kids would tease and make fun of kids who were “tryhard“. That in fact, trying “too” hard, and aiming to achieve was seen as a negatively bad thing.

It is my personal thought that to overachieve is a positively good thing. For example, can one imagine an Elon Musk who wasn’t an overachiever? Or a Kanye West who wasn’t was an overachiever? Or a Jay Z who wasn’t an overachiever?

What does it mean to achieve?

Achieve — head? Same as chief?

To (ad) caput?

What does it mean to achieve, and what are the logical consequences of it?

*kap- head. Same word as capital.

Achever— to finish, to complete.

I think in modern day English, or modern day times, to achieve is to seen as succeed, to be number one, to advance, and a lot of achievement notions typically comes from academics and academia. For example, to achieve or scholastic achievement has to deal with getting straight A’s, getting a 4.0 GPA or a beyond a 4.0 GPA, getting into high-ranking universities, scoring high on standardized testing etc.

A generalize way we could think about achievement it’s a simply set a personal goal on something, and obtain it. To seize it.

*kap- to seize, to hold.

Holding?

HODL — hold on for dear life, a notion that we get from the cryptocurrency world.

To hold. What does it mean to hold? To grip onto something, to grasp. It has to do with grip strength, and wrist strength.

In the world of finance and economics, holding onto assets, or in Texas “hold-‘em”— you have the option to hold.

Perhaps true hold is a really really good idea. To hold is a good idea in so far much as holding seems like a passive action, but in actuality, it is one of the most virtuous things that you could do. It takes courage and skill to hold, rather than to quickly buy or to sell, in which people over act.

For example one of my friends used to own 50 bitcoin, a while back, but this is when it was valued very low, and after a huge spike, he freaked out, and sold it all. Perhaps the better strategy was for him to just hold, hold it for a decade or two, and if that were the case, he would be able to quit his job and retire.

The courage to hold?

Seneca is currently two years, eight months old. A new trick you could do is when at the park with me, she can grab the chin up rings, grab it, and hold his body up off the floor! The other day at Barnes & Noble, when washing our hands, she was actually able to Hold and grasp the edge of the sink table, and successfully hold and suspend himself on it!

Holding strength?

Maybe this is a new thing we could innovate; to see how strong and how much you could hold?

Even my 1000 pound infamous atlas lift, part of it is a lifting motion, in which I lift the weight off of the rack with my shoulder and legs, but then I hold it up for a second or two before putting it down.

Even when I think about the strongman competitions, there is this Hercules pillar hold competition in which there are two columns, each about 1000 pounds, attached with chain and hand grip. The contestant simply sees how long he can hold the weights together, before his strength gives out.

Tenacity

Maybe also the most virtuous path to entrepreneurship is towards tenacity? How long can you hold and be tenacious?

Mimesis?

A concept I am trying to currently think through is about mimesis and mimetic theory. The general gist is this; which desires are implanted in us by society, and which are truly inherent and natural?

Why does it matter? In terms of achievement, what you want to achieve… we need to set some sort of goal. But, is the goal you are setting inherently interesting to you, or is it a goal which is seen as desirable by society?