Re: broken schools

Too much screen reading if you ask me. But when I'm not working, I read a lot of
regular books, or on my eInk device, which is much kinder to the eyes. Reading
is one of my greatest hobbies. My wife gets annoyed at the enormous number of
books I accumulate. She wants me to throw them away, but it would be like
throwing away my children. I cannot do it! =/

>
I don't know the two of you, but it does sound like a good idea to throw
it all away.  But I'm suspicious to say it because I often do it.  When

Ouch! My children! ;)

I was a freshman, I bought all the books I'd use at the university.  I
thought it was expensive, but it was worth it---I thought then.  On the
second semester, I couldn't spend that money again and decided to try to
just get the books from the library.  If the exact book wasn't
available, I'd take another one---a theorem should be the roughly the
same in every book, right?  From this experiment, I concluded that I'd
never buy another book (and that every student should do the same).  It
was wonderful to always look at other books perspectives.

I bought last years used books. Usually they weren't that expensive, about 20-30
USD or so per book. But if you bought them new, the price were at least double!

Of course it's not literal throwing away.  You'd give them to a library,
say.  If that's too hard, you could rent a u-haul-equivalent storage in
your country to just put them out of the house.  It's not the same
thing---you could possibly enjoy the experience of being completely free
from these books.

Well, for the book throwers, I do prefer to hear that they donate their books to
libraries, used book stores, or give them away. =)

I'm suspicious because I love to get rid of stuff. :)

I think this must be an inborn trait. My default is to keep everything. I'm
probably descended from a squirrel or hamster if you go back a few million
years. ;)

I try to go to the beach every day.  Today, for instance, I biked to the
beach, swam and then drank coconut water and do my reading.  If I'm not

>
Oh, wonderful! Where do you live?

>
Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Ahh... the country of eternal sunshine and happiness! At least that is what it
looks like from here on the surface. But sadly I have also heard that
polarization and leftists vs rightist has infiltrated brazil as well. =( I hope
it won't become as bad as the US, that would be really bad for the country.
I also imagine that it would be difficult to work from the beach. Too many
beautiful women, it must be very distracting!

Wonderful! Sounds like an excellent idea! I do save online articles and stuff as
pdf:s and do the same thing sometimes, going to a café or when flying. I find
the effect very similar to yours.

>
I used to go to cafés too... But they only have bad stuff to eat such as
coffee and coffee-like drinks and anything with gluten. :) Coconut

Bad coffee?? Doesn't brazil have the best coffee in the world?? Be thankful that
you don't have to drink the crap I have here in europe. ;)

water, on the other hand, happens to be better than mineral water.  And
the Sun is a true doctor on this planet.

This is the truth!

I'm even reading non-technical stuff.  Since December, I read
``Hackers'' by Steven Levy (1984) and then I also read the book ``No
Filter'' by Paulina Porizkova (2022), the model. :) She's an excellent
writer.  I enjoy the music from The Cars.  Paulina was Ric Ocasek's
wife.  He died in the pandemic, though not from COVID-19.  She seemed
interesting and I found her book interview-ads while listening to The
Cars songs on YouTube.  I enjoyed the book, but, yeah, I was just
snooping into other people's lives, which perhaps I shouldn't.

>
I'm currently reading Mirrorshades by Bruce Sterling (and other authors). Some
good, classic cyberpunk.

>
Sounds interesting.  The topic is fascinating.  But it might be a little
overrated as well.  Currently, I don't think our technology is really
advanced to warrant all the exploration of cyberpunk writing.  What I
think we have a lot of hype, which makes sense, given that the industry
has taken over the monarchies over the years.  You see, rewind history
until the collapse of the roman empire; then feuds sprang; then
monarchies were established, with help from the churches; eventually the
industrial revolution begins and then the bourgeoisie rises.  Now it's
their prime time---no wonder the hype is all in their favor.

It is an interesting thought that kingdoms faded, were replaced by nations.
Perhaps now, nations are fading (slowly) and getting replaced with corporations?
Imagine a future were your primary allegiance is to your corporation, and the
nation of old, just exists in the background as a faint humming sound, that no
one really cares about.
What do you think?

I'm also reading various texts by Schopenhauer trying to figure out if
he in fact did independently discover buddhism, as his proponents are
very fond of saying. I'm skeptical. But let's see!

>
I wouldn't be surprised.  I think a lot of ideas from buddhism can be
inferred by a sensitive person.  Of course, those who sit down to write
and publish and have the skills to do it well are much less in number.
So perhaps Schopenhauer is one of them.  Let me know what you find. :)

Will do! If I find out anything that is. ;)