Things Of Note #24
Life, Time, and Death
Hey Friends,
How are you?
Hope you are in good health.
This is a slightly unusual edition in that it’s short and I don’t have a particular central theme or idea. Except maybe, as the subtitle says, “Life, Time, and Death”.
This week I read When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi’s memoir on facing his mortality having been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.
I’m yet to give shape to all the thoughts it engendered in me—from what does give meaning to one’s life?[1] to how should I think about my time? and of course life and death, the relentless march towards increased entropy.
All I can say is that it was a poignant, interesting (especially given his perspective as a neurosurgeon-scientist), and primarily sobering read.
Definitely recommended. His writings (overlapped) are also available in essays such as Before I go. All powerful, poignant reads.
Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
1 hour 16 mins
Time Management
1 hour 16 mins
Perhaps (well, surely) seeing parallels with Paul, this weekend I watched these two talks by Randy that I have had in my to-watch for ages. He was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in Sept, 2006. The first talk—on chasing your childhood dreams—is from Sept, 2007 and the second one—on Time Management—is from Nov, 2007, less than 9 months before he passed away.
There are great nuggets of wisdom in both talks. Granted some (especially from the talk on Time Management) will feel repetitive as a lot of it (like the Time Management Matrix) has become common knowledge now.
However, I think they are worth watching for something more than these tidbits of wisdom. It is just great watching someone so passionate and full of life. It was a life tragically cut short but with the time he had, he seems to have lived true to himself.
Also, well, the talks are engrossing. Randy had a great sense of humor.
I think this quote from Lucy Kalanithi in the epilogue of the book applies to Randy too:
What happened to Paul was tragic, but he was not a tragedy.
My Thoughts
Honestly, it’s all muddled. Maybe I’ll write it up some other day.
However, one main thought I’m chewing on is the fact that I know about the finitude of my existence yet am happy to waste away my time…
Maybe the whole of my being doesn’t understand how valuable it is. Maybe the full-stop feels distant enough to not matter, for now.
// Videos
One Breath Around the World
Guillaume Néry | 12 mins
Jaw-drop all through-out. Amazing, awe-inspiring!
I didn’t know about freediving. Seems like a fascinating activity/sport.
Also, definitely check out his Ted Talk on “the Exhilarating Peace of Freediving”, an engrossing tale of all the changes that our bodies—both physically and mentally— go through during a deep dive. Truly fascinating!
Kiwi!
3 mins
What are we striving for? Is it worth it?
// Tech
The Mental Game of Python
Raymond Hettinger | 1 hour 10 mins
In this talk Raymond outlines some thinking strategies that can lead to programming success.
His description of what a programmer does is definitely interesting: A programmer makes new words that make computers easier to use. The word could be a function, an application, a library, etc.
Use Chunking and Aliasing to reduce cognitive load.
Solve a related but simpler problem. Develop incrementally.
Build classes independently and let inheritance discover itself
Repeat tasks manually until patterns emerge, then move to a function. Continue to generalize as needed.
Consider object oriented programming as a graph traversal problem
Separate ETL from analysis. Separate analysis from presentation.
Verify type, verify size, view subset of data, and test a subset
Humans should never gaze upon unsorted data
Sets and dict groupings are primary tools for data analysis
(He couldn’t cover the last four but keeping them here for completion).
// Poetry
Because I could not stop for Death
Emily Dickinson | 1 min
Famous. Classic. And for good reason.
// Music
Sufjan Stevens <3
Powerful, Powerful song.
// Wholesome (in a way)
At a glance, it’s a funny set of gravestones. But of course, there is a story behind it .
Closing Thoughts
Dashain is upon us, though this year there is nothing to mark its arrival except perhaps the crisp Autumn air, the soothing sun, and flowers in bloom (signals of Tihar!).
Not that I am particularly attached to the festivities but it still feels strange. It also feels strange that 2020 is winding down. I feel I have wasted a lot of the time I had to myself during this crazy year.
Of course, getting through a pandemic is accomplishment enough. But still…
However, some mornings I get up (or rather fall out of sleep) early and go up to the roof, watch the sun come up, a cup of tea in hand. It feels good. It feels enough.
I’m grateful to be alive.
With Love,
Bijay
Notes:
[1] One somewhat related watch: Sheldon Solomon’s conversation with Lex on Death and Meaning.
That "Kiwi" reminded me of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9dZQelULDk