Let's agree that there is a pandemic. Yes, there is a virus. It is dangerous, you can get infected and die, and more people are dying now than usual.

Not everyone agrees with this, but it's hard to discuss this further without going crazy. But suppose you agree with the presence of the virus. In that case, everyone already has a different perception of danger and a very different understanding of what to do about it. This is normal. This is generally an evolutionary mechanism for difficult situations. Natural selection in action, you could say.

Here is my principled position on this matter. The virus is dangerous, but not so dangerous that humanity will die. We should not go crazy and forget other essential principles. Worries about the economy, the rule of law, and individual freedoms are important too, and no less important than fighting this virus. Too harsh measures, in general, will do more harm.

That is why I am against mandatory vaccination. The state should not force people to be vaccinated. It should not at this stage already impose severe restrictive measures, obligatory social distancing, and forced closures of entire industries. Even force them to wear masks or, worse, gloves.

We had passed the point when it wasn't at all clear what was going on. There are many different vaccines in most places globally, even there is already a choice and availability.

The role of the state is to help organize and inform. And it is the role of each individual to decide how to protect themselves and their loved ones. It is also the role of each business to decide whether to require masks or to provide test results or vaccinations. Very timely and accurate statistics, and in general, a summary of the situation will allow people to make the right decisions. Then the authorities should help to take action. Help businesses, help medical institutions, just people. But do not force them. A high level of reliable information will be the best means and incentive.

Tyranny on the part of the state machine will not help but will only strengthen the state machine itself. That will lead to excesses and thus stagnation (if not regression) in the development of civilization.

I do not believe that the virus was specially created to introduce stricter control of the population. But it is already evident that the situation will be used by various authorities of all levels to gain even more power and this very unrestricted control.

The freedoms we give away today will most likely not even be known to our grandchildren.

I got the vaccine myself. And I suggest you get one too. But again, everyone has to decide this for themselves. And at the same time decide for themselves how to deal with the overwhelming freedom machine of the states.

Let's deal with Covid-19 with information, not with regulations and mandotary actions.

New Dune by Denis Villeneuve is good. I liked it a lot.

It is very different from the 1984 version by David Lynch that I liked a lot too. The new one is just a lot more modern, with really beautiful and well thought out effects, costumes and decorations. Director's work, details from the book, cinematography, and cast are all excellent.

The only real downside of the new film is that it covers only the first half of the story. Technically it's part one (of two), but it makes the film ending abrupt and leaves you with a feeling of incompleteness

Many people believe that the terrorist act of 9/11 happened primarily or solely because of the US foreign policy and their actions abroad. Obviously, many things are related, yet I think this played a role. Still, the primary motivator comes from the aggressive strain of religion.

Human civilization is driven forward by ideas, and religions played essential roles in the past. However, many of them gone in very maximalists waves. 911 was a result of the religious endeavor.

Even though I do not believe in conspiracy theories surrounding these events, they clearly contributed to the loss of freedoms, new wars, drastic spending, and an overall decline of civilization. Crisis usually helps powers to extend authoritarian control.

Who knows how many years it will take to really roll back all those bad overreaches.

I have been making fonts for a while, and I like doing it a lot, so it became a great hobby of mine. Now I want to take it to the next level and make new typefaces that are more professional. The first fonts that I was able to bring to this new level is a solid stensil typeface that supports all european languages. Stencils are great for making signs of the walls and fences, maybe on t-shorts or banners too. Thus I am calling it — Anarchists' Stencil

More info about it at dimka.com/fonts/anarchists-stencil

The author of the best-selling book The Martian published a new book called Project Hail Mary. A major reason why I love the book The Martian is that it is extremely scientific in nature. Much more so than other science fiction. As a result, I had very high expectations, and I was not disappointed. If you love sci-fi, you will love this one. I actually listened to the audiobook. It was also narrated by Ray Porter, who narrated Bobiverse series as well, which served as a pleasant bonus for me. Also highly recommended are the books on the same topic, which are excellent.

Enjoy.

• amzn.to/3vpCXl2 Paper
• amzn.to/3q0glpZ Kindle
• amzn.to/3vry9vo Audible

The covid world, ah, it's weird. Things probably will never be the same, hopefully not in a horrible way. But for right now, it still feels kind of strange, unreal, and slow all at once. I am not capturing the small details now. I guess I wish to remember them the way I remember them.

USB 3 Type C, or simple USB-C, was introduced many years ago. The first device was a tablet by Nokia, closely followed by Apple with Mac Book. This single-port ultra-light laptop was truly adorable but underpowered and had only a single port for both charging and accessories. Not a very convenient limitation, you might notice.

Then it was also expanded, and another standard adapted the port — Thunderbolt 3. Great promise, single compact, symmetrical port for all the needs: Power up to 100W, Video, data, etc. But as we all know, in a way, it's a failure. Because it all looks the same, yet not all devices, cables, and accessories support all possible features of USB-C, it's hard to know what is supported. I am surprised that at least a simple color scheme was not introduced, like black for Thunderbolt 3 speeds, USB 3.2 speeds, Video, and 100w power delivery, then gray for just 100W power, dark green for only Thunderbolt, navy blue for USB 3.2, blue for USB 3.0, light blue for 2.0, etc. In other words, the complete lack of common sense, pretty much like lots of missed opportunities for a good UX. With Apple finally providing Lightning to USB-C cables for all new iPhones around 2020, I'm not able to buy a simple multiport charger that would allow me to plug in more than one USB-C cable in order to charge my devices at once. Fast forward to 2020, Apple finally providing Lightning to USB-C cable for all new iPhones, but I can't really go and buy a simple multiport charger that would let me plug a bunch of USB-C cables and charge my devices using only one electrical outlet.

There is a huge demand, the market is ready. But we see a complete failure of supply. This happens left and right. Invisible hand fixes things when there is enough commotion, but markets stay empty for years or even decades when it is too little. Usually, it manifests in a lack of design. When all heads of manufacturing parties would say that "in our particular case design is not that important and customers are looking for lower prices and new features," what usually means that they have no taste themselves and too greedy and shortsighted to pay for a decent designer, and ready to add dark pattern features that would help them extract more money from customers that have few alternatives.

Basically, Apple is one of the guilty parties. They decided to push hard, removed quite used and useful ports from all new portables, and totally failed to provide some essential accessories. I understand that their plan was to expect that third parties would do that. But I, as a user, do not care. If small vendors do not make it, the first party should make it long enough for the market to mature. I understand that there could be some technical difficulties, but come on, fix it.

And actually, I really think it's difficult or just expensive to make an outstanding all-powerful and convenient multiport hub that can charge many devices and provide excellent data throughput. But a simple, compact 5 port charger can power a couple of smartphones, and maybe a smartwatch, headphones, and a power bank that should be totally doable. I simply can do it now, in a very inelegant way, but taking my 5-year-old 5 port USB-A charger and plugging 5 little USB-A Male to USB-C Female adapters. It's just idiotic that it's so easy and yet so hard to buy something that has it done right.

update: it's January of 2022 and I see a first product that finally got to market: [https://satechi.net/products/165w-usb-c-4-port-pd-gan-charger?variant=39787940905048](Satechi 165W USB-C 4-Port PD GaN Charger for ~$120)

See this interview with Brett Weinstein on Joe Rogan's show. It's very long, but it discusses many important topics that aren't discussed enough. You don't have to agree with it, but it's worth thinking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRCzZp1J0v0

I made a new digital painting - Cat Ego 20. It's a vector one. Surprisingly, because it has so many objects, the SVG file is heavier than Jpeg or PNG.

Some smart books are really inspiring. They are absorbed quickly and with tremendous pleasure. Your head is filled with new ideas and deep thoughts. But not all smart books are like that. Not even all excellent, bright books have such an effect. It's not a piece of new information that makes a book so interesting. We are too resistive to tides of unprocessed thoughts. They are hard to digest.

Yet fresh ideas "from books" you create yourself. They are (and were before) floating in the head like in the air, unstructured, lucid, amorphous. A truly good book crystalizes them, as if an object is thrown in a bowl with pure steal freezing water, it will get covers in ice, and water will turn to ice. As a thick solution crystallizes upon the intervention of an outside item.

That's why when you reread great books, you always find something new that you did not see before. It is you, in your new state of mind, who is pushing the cart of organized thoughts.