ZZE.ST – inspiration & lifehacks to make life better
Some thoughts I took notes on during last months. Some pictures I took during last years. Some good music.
“When you run after your thoughts, you are like a dog chasing a stick: every time a stick is thrown, you run after it. Instead, be like a lion who, rather than chasing after the stick, turns to face the thrower. One only throws a stick at a lion once.”
- Milarepa
“You all laugh at me because I’m different, I laugh at you because you’re all the same.”
- Mikhail Bulgakov
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You might remember my recent post about “Moonwalking with Einstein” book about memory and mnemonics.
What you probably did not know though is that one of the characters, winner of multiple memory championships, Ed Cooke, launched his own web startup Memrise.com
I first read about it in The Guardian article “How I learned a language in 22 hours“ by the book author, Joshua Foer. Although, the title is somewhat misleading, the approach is very interesting. So, what is so special about Memrise? They have an interesting learning model. Primarily, the focus is on languages, but there is a whole range of secondary courses, ranging from “How to say I love you in 100 languages” to HTML5.
The first principle: spaced repetition. The words you are asked to remember are spaced in time in a precise manner with intervals calculated based on your past performance. By the way, the same principle is employed by simple app Anki which I once briefly mentioned in my post about GMAT.
The second principle: mnemonic. You are usually shown a picture or an idea that helps you remember a given word using associations. These so-called mems are added by members of community in the best crowd-sourcing traditions. The most voted-up are displayed.
And of course, they also use gamification, who does not?
Overall, it appears to be an interesting tool. However, it remains to be seen whether it is really a good idea to invest one’s time in it without a firm intention to actually learn a language. But learning to read a Chinese menu sounds like a fun thing to try anyway, all serious goals aside.
By the way, Memrise is also discussed on Quora which I recently wrote about.
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I could not find enough time to post here recently. I certainly have been doing more reading than writing. So, I thought why not to share some of things I read? And I decided to tell you about Quora.
As you most probably already know, Quora is a questions-answers website which succeeded in doing what Google and multiple other companies failed at: provide a decent quality of responses.
Several months ago they even created their own book ”Best of Quora 2010-2012“, compiled of best answers, available for free download. It covers quite a range of topics. From Steve Jobs to moldy cheese, from neurological basis of curiosity to Jay-Z. I hope to find time and selectively read the most intriguing ones.
In a meanwhile, here is the short list of questions on the website itself that I found noteworthy:
Add me if you are there.
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Slightly later than planned, I want to sum up my 2012.
There was certainly no dearth of challenges. Quite a few events, quite a few disappointments, but also quite a few achievements. There were things to learn from. Anyway, I aspire to make 2013 even more exciting and much more positive.
Basically, I spent almost all my energy and time on 3, maybe 4, key things:
1. Work;
2. My own entrepreneurial project (starting November 2011);
3. Another long-term initiative;
4. Working out.
But. I usually don’t write about the #1, #2 is not all that interesting at the moment, and I have no idea whether anything will grow out of #3. Also, there is no point to write about #4 as I would rather spend this time actually being in the gym. Besides, I’m not all that keen on sharing personal goals.
This is why I would like to share what somebody might actually find interesting. Although, it was only a secondary background.
Yes, I am talking about films and videos that I tried to watch during dinners, about books and music that I listened to while commuting and travelling. And a little bit about travel itself.
So, what did I enjoy in 2012?
In fact, I watched more lectures, interviews and various presentations on YouTube than I watched actual films. Such as this, this, this, and this, for example.
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I devoted some of my time to self-education in September-December using the opportunity provided by Stanford University Venture Lab‘s online courses. In this post I would like to briefly describe my impressions and share some useful materials from the courses. Venture Lab courses are somewhat different from other online courses in that they take place during a specific time with specific deadlines, and you need to enroll in order to participate.
I tried three courses: Technology Entrepreneurship, Crash Course on Creativity, and Finance. As they are very different, I will tell you about each one separately.
This is probably the best one. Although, there are multiple opinions on whether entrepreneurship can be taught, there are a lot of useful materials.
If it is too late for you to participate, you might still benefit from these materials:
I think it takes about an hour a week or so to keep up with the lectures. But if you want to do more, for example communicate on forum, read recommended books, and actually try to apply ideas to some project, it will take longer, of course.
By the way, if you are interested in this topic, I highly recommend you these recent notes from Peter Thiel’s lectures. They also happen to be in Stanford. Computer Science dep. It will save another hundred thousand dollars. 
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Schengen visa is still valid. It means we’re going for the next trip to Europe. First Copenhagen and Malmo in March, then Stockholm in September, and now Vienna in October.
Actually, I wanted to go to Vienna for years already. Some even think that it is one the best cities in the world, included in all three ratings: The Economist, Mercer, and Monocle. I am not so sure about quality of life as this is not a kind of thing that can be understood during a two day trip, but it is certainly a nice place to walk around and enjoy some good coffee in.
This time, there will be very little text, but some wonderful music and kind of mediocre pictures.
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Morning coffee at home. Train to airport. Boarding. Print-outs about Stockholm. Over there by lunch time.
After Copenhagen and Malmö in March I continued discovering Scandinavia and decided to visit Stockholm. Same format, “weekend + a day” trips.
As one might expect Sweden is very comfortable in multiple respects. There are free Wi-Fi and sometimes audio-guides in museums. In toilets you can sometimes find plastic glasses, so you could try some high quality tap water.
The usual attempt to see how average people live outside of city center was made indirectly. We took a bus from the airport to Marsta and caught a train there to Stockholm. Another immersion in everyday life happened in subway at rush hour, at about 9 AM. I should say that this experience disproved “empty trains” stereotype”. In fact, it was quite crowded. But politeness, as well as perfectly air conditioned and amazingly quit trains made it quite tolerable.
When talking about Sweden, people first think of IKEA, high taxes, social equality, low crime rates, and long life expectancy. All these things have their place, of course. But Stockholm is also a city of awesome sunsets. Of course, pictures are helpless way of transmitting the atmosphere. But it’s better than nothing.
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For 3 years I postponed my plans to buy a bicycle, but I finally did it this spring. It appeared to be quite a good solution for summer commuting as both my rented apartment and office are in the center. Also, they are close enough for daily ride, but too distant to spend time walking daily.
After a long attempts to figure out what’s the best bike for me, I actually settled for quite an exotic option which I’d like to tell you about. At a certain moment I realized that folding bike can do the trick for me as I’m not interested in the long highway rides in the country. But being able to fold a bike quickly and get it to my office is certainly a benefit.
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