Random thoughts

Testing publishing from Byword

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Testing writing this from Byword, a beautifully minimalist markdown editor for Mac.

Today I got my first continuous glucose monitor (cgm) – apparently all the cool kids are using them to see what foods they work well with and which ones give them a “spike”. It’s obviously super early days for me, but it is interesting to see the impacts, usually shown about 30 minutes after eating. I will say the needle on the device is larger than I was expecting! But then again, how would they accurately monitor without something that goes inside you!

Life's Symphony: A Beautiful Mess

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

We live in a world brimming with contradictions. We’re all connected, a chorus of minds humming in unison, yet each of us experiences highs of joyous laughter and crushing lows of sorrow. We see the sunrise paint the sky, a masterpiece of light, while shadows of suffering linger close behind. We crave a reason for it all, a grand script defining our existence, but find only silence in the vastness of space.

This is the bittersweet beauty of life: a symphony both delicate and powerful, composed of notes both joyful and tragic. We have no pre-written score, no conductor whispering instructions. This grand stage is ours to play on, our stories to tell.

The lack of answers, however, isn’t a void, but a blank canvas. We paint it with laughter, love, and the colors of our creativity. We grapple with the suffering, not to erase it, but to understand its place in the larger melody. We find meaning not in some universal blueprint, but in the connections we forge, the moments that weave us together like threads in a tapestry.

So dance with the paradox. Find beauty in the stardust and sorrow, the laughter and tears. Embrace the mystery, the whispers of the unknown. For in this act of living, of creating, we discover the true masterpiece: ourselves. We are the artists, the conductors, the makers of meaning in a world that sings even without a script.

This is the exquisite enigma of life. And it’s a symphony worth playing.

It has been a while

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Writing this to see if I remember how to post on here! It has certainly been a while since my last post on here.

48 Laws of Power

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Sun, 26 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Be discreet in your actions and never overshare information.
Avoid drawing unwanted attention to yourself.
Surround yourself with people who are loyal and supportive.
Be assertive and learn to say ’no'.
Protect your reputation and public image.
Be flexible in your approach and adapt to changing situations.
Use your network to your advantage.
Let others do the work and take credit when necessary.
Win through actions, not arguments.
Avoid the unhappy and unlucky.
Learn from others’ mistakes and successes.
Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your rivals.
When asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest.
Be a master of timing, knowing when to act and when to be patient.
Create a sense of mystery and unpredictability around yourself.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Cultivate an air of charisma and confidence.
Master the art of diplomacy and conflict resolution.
Use the power of absence to increase your influence.
Demonstrate your power by making bold, calculated moves.

Morning posts

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Finally getting to the place where I’m organised enough during my morning coffee to write some posts. I remember the days a couple of years ago when I had a whole newsletter that I had prepared by like 6am. Gone are those days, but maybe they’re slowly making a return.

It does feel good to be writing in the morning, and not just in my journal but in this more publicly facing one. The more publicly facing one makes me structure it all a little better, and give my writing a bit of flow. So even though I can’t be as open as I would like, I can make up for it in style. And thankfully… I don’t think anyone reads this.

It makes me think, what do I want to achieve from this blog? I think over time I will become more open, and write a little more about me and my life. For now I keep it quite general - but maybe, hopefully, one day that’ll change and I’ll feel confident enough.

One thing I can share is that I’m glad to be back in a routine, after being on holiday for a few weeks. I enjoy some of the mundanities, if that’s a word, of normal life. The beach is great, but I find my body and mind work best with some constraints. For example, I’d taken my laptop and my Moleskin on holiday, thinking that I’d have a lot of time to reflect and dig into the depths of my mind. But that never happened, come 11am I was thinking it was time for the first beer. Then I’d just chillout, listen to music and watch the world go by.

Okay, enough for today - but good to be back to posting in the morning.

Sounds of calm

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I was scrolling through Youtube and the channels that I’m subscribed too, and I saw Ludovico. He was with Coldplay’s Chris Martin of all people - having a jam in Sao Paulo. Naturally this gets me thinking that either one of them must have some new music, and to my delight Ludovico has a new album entitled ‘Sounds of Calm’ - exactly what I need at this moment. Granted, there are a few of his greatest hits on there - but still a light dusting of new melodies.

I’ve listened to Ludovico for the best part of a couple of decades. That makes me feel old. I’ve seen him live twice, maybe three times. I got to bring my mother to one of his concerts, it was a special moment. Knowing how much of a fan she grew to be after listening to me having him on repeat.

Most of the exams in my life have been revised for with Ludovico playing in the background. Times when I wanted peace. Times when I wanted to imagine myself somewhere, to remember someone, to remember a moment, to imagine a moment. This one person has been responsible for transporting me to so many places.

I wanted this post to just be a small thank you to him. You know what I will be doing this evening, now.

Posting reminder

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Reminding myself of how to add a new post here! It’s been a while!

Notes on a nervous planet

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“Reading isn’t important because it helps to get you a job. It’s important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given. It is how humans merge. How minds connect. Dreams. Empathy. Understanding. Escape. Reading is love in action.”

“Never be cool. Never try to be cool. Never worry what the cool people think. Head for the warm people. Life is warmth. You’ll be cool when you’re dead.”

“Remember no one really cares what you look like. They care what they look like. You are the only person in the world to have worried about your face.”

“And besides, libraries aren’t just about books. They are one of the few public spaces we have left which don’t like our wallets more than us.”

“Happiness is not good for the economy. We are encouraged, continually, to be a little bit dissatisfied with ourselves.”

“We often find ourselves wishing for more hours in the day, but that wouldn’t help anything. The problem, clearly, isn’t that we have a shortage of time. It’s more that we have an overload of everything else.”

“I sometimes feel like my head is a computer with too many windows open. Too much clutter on the desktop. There is a metaphorical spinning rainbow wheel inside me. Disabling me. And if only I could find a way to switch off some of the frames, if only I could drag some of the clutter into the trash, then I would be fine. But which frame would I choose, when they all seem so essential? How can I stop my mind being overloaded when the world is overloaded? We can think about anything. And so it makes sense that we end up thinking about everything. We might have to, sometimes, be brave enough to switch the screens off in order to switch ourselves back on. To disconnect in order to reconnect.”

“To enjoy life, we might have to stop thinking about what we will never be able to read and watch and say and do, and start to think of how to enjoy the world within our boundaries. To live on a human scale. To focus on the few things we can do, rather than the millions of things we can’t. To not crave parallel lives. To find a smaller mathematics. To be a proud and singular one. An indivisible prime.”

“To see the act of learning as something not for its own sake but because of what it will get you reduces the wonder of humanity. We are thinking, feeling, art-making, knowledge-hungry, marvellous animals, who understand ourselves and our world through the act of learning. It is an end in itself. It has far more to offer than the things it lets us write on application forms. It is a way to love living right now.”

Point of view

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The goal of art isn’t to attain perfection. The goal is to share who we are. And how we see the world.

Artists allow us to see what we are unable to see, but somehow already know. It may be a view of the world singularly different from our own. Or one so close, it seems miraculous, as if the artist is looking through our own eyes. In either case, the artist’s perception reminds us of who we are and who we can be.

Meditations

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The Impermanence of Life: Marcus reminds us that life is fleeting and that we should strive to make the most of it while we can.

The Power of Thoughts and Attitudes: Marcus stresses the importance of our thoughts and attitudes in shaping our experiences and our lives.

Acceptance of What Cannot Be Changed: Marcus teaches us to accept and embrace the things we cannot change, rather than resisting or fighting against them.

The Pursuit of Virtue: Marcus encourages us to live a virtuous life, focused on doing what is right and good, rather than simply pursuing pleasure, wealth, or power.

The Importance of Self-Discipline: Marcus stresses the importance of self-discipline and self-control, reminding us that our thoughts and actions have a profound impact on our lives.

The Need for Inner Peace: Marcus teaches us to cultivate inner peace and contentment, rather than seeking happiness and fulfillment from external sources.

The Value of Simplicity: Marcus encourages us to simplify our lives, focusing on what is truly important and valuable, and letting go of what is not.

The Benefits of Gratitude: Marcus reminds us of the benefits of being grateful for what we have, rather than dwelling on what we lack.

The Power of Perspective: Marcus teaches us to shift our perspective, looking at the world and our experiences from a broader, more objective viewpoint.

The Importance of Living in the Present: Marcus encourages us to live in the present moment, embracing each experience as it comes, and letting go of the past and worries about the future.

Remember that you will die

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

There are two words that come to us from the ancients that I think we should remind ourselves of, repeat to ourselves, in any and every situation we’re in.

Memento mori.

Which means, ‘remember you will die’.

Whether you go through shit, you are in troubled times, someone cheats on you, someone betrays you, someone lies to you, someone gets what you earned, someone gets promoted over you.

Say to yourself, memento mori - remember you will die.

Maybe someone says something mean to you, you’re stressed out by work, your kids are sick.

Life is short, I am going to die.

And what that means is you can’t take any of this seriously. You can’t let it weigh on you. You can’t hold onto it. You can’t let it get you angry.

Memento mori.

You can’t take any of this with you.

It pales in comparision ot the idea of eternity.

How many people have come before you and had these same honours, where are they now? They’re dead - just like you will be.

It’s a reminder that helps you accept the good things without arrogance, and to let the bad things go with indifference.

Your plane is delayed, you’re stressed, you’re tired, you’re hungry, you’re cynical… memento mori.

What does any of this mean? Why am I taking any of it so seriously? Why am I letting it get to me? What’s three hours here or three hours there. Remember you are going to die.

What you do control is whether you waste time getting upset by this. Whether you waste time taking it personally. Whether you’re the best in the world at what you do, or an unpaid intern.

Is this how you want to spend your time. Are you wasting it? Or are you living it? Are you embracing it? Or are you letting it escape from your grasp?

Memento mori - this too shall pass.

Mixed feelings

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

My mind is a real rollercoaster at the moment, sometimes I’m pleased when I take a moment to reflect, other times I’m angry and disappointed by how slow I move, and the number of things I haven’t yet accomplished.

One minute I can be pleased, the next minute, a complete 180.

I’m trying to read all of these books at the moment to help shape and train my mind. Make myself live more in the present than the past or the future. Those two aspects of time seem to give the most trouble to people with brains wired like mine.

I don’t know how I’m going to tackle this, at the moment it seems like a rather steep hill to climb. But let’s see if I can start to recondition my mind and really make progress.

In other, unrelated, news - I got a tooth fixed at the dentist today. So at least not in as much pain now! Have a good evening 🙏

Kintsugi

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In Japanese pottery, there’s an artful form of repair called kintsugi. When a piece of ceramic pottery breaks, rather than trying to restore it to its original condition, the artisan accentuates the fault by using gold to fill the crack. This beautifully draws attention to where the work was broken, creating a golden vein. Instead of the flaw diminishing the work, it becomes a focal point, an area of both physical and aesthetic strength. The scar also tells the story of the piece, chronicling its past experience.

We can apply this same technique to ourselves and embrace our imperfections. Whatever insecurities we have can be reframed as a guiding force in our creativity.

Markdown Syntax Guide

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

This article offers a sample of basic Markdown syntax that can be used in Hugo content files, also it shows whether basic HTML elements are decorated with CSS in a Hugo theme.

Headings ¶

The following HTML <h1>—<h6> elements represent six levels of section headings. <h1> is the highest section level while <h6> is the lowest.

H1 ¶

H2 ¶

H3 ¶

H4 ¶

H5 ¶

H6 ¶

Paragraph ¶

Xerum, quo qui aut unt expliquam qui dolut labo. Aque venitatiusda cum, voluptionse latur sitiae dolessi aut parist aut dollo enim qui voluptate ma dolestendit peritin re plis aut quas inctum laceat est volestemque commosa as cus endigna tectur, offic to cor sequas etum rerum idem sintibus eiur? Quianimin porecus evelectur, cum que nis nust voloribus ratem aut omnimi, sitatur? Quiatem. Nam, omnis sum am facea corem alique molestrunt et eos evelece arcillit ut aut eos eos nus, sin conecerem erum fuga. Ri oditatquam, ad quibus unda veliamenimin cusam et facea ipsamus es exerum sitate dolores editium rerore eost, temped molorro ratiae volorro te reribus dolorer sperchicium faceata tiustia prat.

Itatur? Quiatae cullecum rem ent aut odis in re eossequodi nonsequ idebis ne sapicia is sinveli squiatum, core et que aut hariosam ex eat.

Blockquotes ¶

The blockquote element represents content that is quoted from another source, optionally with a citation which must be within a footer or cite element, and optionally with in-line changes such as annotations and abbreviations.

Blockquote without attribution ¶

Tiam, ad mint andaepu dandae nostion secatur sequo quae. Note that you can use Markdown syntax within a blockquote.

Blockquote with attribution ¶

Don’t communicate by sharing memory, share memory by communicating. — Rob Pike¹

Tables ¶

Tables aren’t part of the core Markdown spec, but Hugo supports supports them out-of-the-box.

Name	Age
Bob	27
Alice	23

Inline Markdown within tables ¶

Italics	Bold	Code
italics	bold	`code`

Code Blocks ¶

Code block with backticks ¶

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Example HTML5 Document</title>
</head>
<body>
  <p>Test</p>
</body>
</html>

Code block indented with four spaces ¶

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Example HTML5 Document</title>
</head>
<body>
  <p>Test</p>
</body>
</html>

Code block with Hugo’s internal highlight shortcode ¶

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Example HTML5 Document</title>
</head>
<body>
  <p>Test</p>
</body>
</html>

List Types ¶

Ordered List ¶

First item
Second item
Third item

Unordered List ¶

List item
Another item
And another item

Nested list ¶

Fruit
- Apple
- Orange
- Banana
Dairy
- Milk
- Cheese

Other Elements — abbr, sub, sup, kbd, mark ¶

GIF is a bitmap image format.

H2O

Xn + Yn = Zn

Press CTRL+ALT+Delete to end the session.

Most salamanders are nocturnal, and hunt for insects, worms, and other small creatures.

The above quote is excerpted from Rob Pike’s talk during Gopherfest, November 18, 2015. ↩︎

Math Typesetting

ronalds.vilcins@gmail.com (Ronalds Vilcins) — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Mathematical notation in a Hugo project can be enabled by using third party JavaScript libraries.

In this example we will be using KaTeX

Create a partial under /layouts/partials/math.html
Within this partial reference the Auto-render Extension or host these scripts locally.
Include the partial in your templates like so:

{{ if or .Params.math .Site.Params.math }}
{{ partial "math.html" . }}
{{ end }}

To enable KaTex globally set the parameter math to true in a project’s configuration
To enable KaTex on a per page basis include the parameter math: true in content files

Note: Use the online reference of Supported TeX Functions

Examples ¶

Block math: $$ \varphi = 1+\frac{1} {1+\frac{1} {1+\frac{1} {1+\cdots} } } $$