Category: Random

Superstitions

~ Veselin ~ 8 Comments
Daily writing prompt
Are you superstitious?
View all responses

I grew up in communist Bulgaria. When I was ten, the Wall fell, and the floodgates of civilization opened—bringing a tsunami of dubious beliefs with them. We got the best of it: horoscopes, psychics, poltergeists, fortune tellers, obscure religions, Eastern spirituality, hippies, numerology, the Knights Templar, UFOs, Kashpirovski—you name it, we got it blasting on us from the TV screen and the newspaper stands. Even the army believed and started digging a hole, guided by a psychic, who promised they’ll find an alien aircraft.

I was no stranger to all that stuff. I read books on horoscopes and checked mine daily. I hoped aliens and poltergeists were real. But one by one, those beliefs faded away. The aliens never landed and I could read anyone’s horoscope and it would feel as accurate as mine. Today, I see these all as thinking errors, used by clever people to farm wealth.

Am I 100% free of superstition? Maybe not but pretty close. Show me proof that any of this works, and I’ll gladly change my mind.

The News Nobody Talks About

~ Veselin ~ 11 Comments

Okay, this is my personal news—it’s all incredibly important, so bear with me.

The spring is here

Winter kept coming and coming and here we are.

My beloved headphones Quantum 400 unglued

They can be glued back but the consumerist in me wants a new pair of some other headphones with a cable. Here’s a full update. In case you use some very good wired headphones under $200, please drop a comment.

Walking shoes++

I wrote an enthusiastic post about Nike Wildhorse 8 in September 2024. Since then, I switched to a pair of very comfortable Grisport boots, and now to a pair of simple and cheap Adidas sneakers. The second pair of Wildhorse 8 lasted about 3 months of intense walking before it started disintegrating and causing pain at the same time. That was disappointing and I’m done with Nike Trail.

The pigeon mystery is now solved

Two weeks ago I posted about a pigeon gathering I see almost daily. Here’s a solution to why these pigeons stay where they stay.

The pigeon paradise is because of a food and water source, and they’re also protected from cat attacks because of all the cars around.

I unfollowed the Starship development

I consider myself a rocket and space travel nerd and I watched most of the Starship flights live. I don’t want to see more of this Musk dude, I want less. His flying Pepelats is cool in principle but we kind of need healthy competition and some reality checks.

Erica

~ Veselin ~ 3 Comments

Erica carnea, also known as Winter Heath, is already in bloom days after the snow melted. Bees were flying around. Feels like it’s time for the sun to show up and for the spring to come.

We also have the next generation of cats already growing up and refusing to pose for a photo.

What is one question you hate to be asked?

~ Veselin ~ 7 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
View all responses

For me, the most hated question is any opener that leads to someone asking for money. For example:

“Do you have a watch?”

“It’s three fifty.”

“Lots of good things will happen to you—I can see it. Let me read your palm.”

Whenever strangers ask questions like that, I instinctively pick up my pace and don’t respond. For some reason, the most common one I hear is about the time—or, more specifically, whether I have a watch.

It’s trickier when people ask for directions. That one still fools me sometimes.

“Hey, how do I get to the National Theater?”

“Right this way,” I say, pointing in the right direction.

“Do you want a flower for health?”

I don’t mind when people ask for change—it’s their job. But using trivial questions as an opener makes me a worse person because I might end up walking past someone who genuinely needs help.

Since I aim for 10,000 steps a day, I have plenty of encounters with strangers—maybe once or twice a week. Most of the time, it’s just people struggling to find something that’s supposed to be there according to Google Maps but isn’t.

Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why?

~ Veselin ~ 3 Comments

I miss the idea of IRC.

IRC is a technology that gives us a decentralized networks of chat servers, allowing people to meet like-minded strangers. It used to be (maybe) the most popular way to chat online before ICQ and Skype changed everything. I spent years of my life there as a teenager and young adult.

Unlike email, IRC didn’t age well. The whole thing started falling apart due to limitations of how big channels could be while remaining usable. Also, spam, hacks, profanity, botnets, and ToS violations invaded. IRC is still alive but with a low number of daily active users.

We now have Discord and Slack but they suffer one little flaw. They’re for-profit companies.