Wisdom I Pondered This Week
- “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” — Brené Brown
- “Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run, but it will never make you less afraid.” — Brené Brown
- “The greatest pleasure I know, is to do a good action by stealth, and to have it found out by accident.” — Charles Lamb
- “Relationships are usually the most important thing. If you want to achieve more, there is some relationship that can unlock better results. If you want to make a meaningful contribution, helping others is a great way to do it. If you simply want to be a little happier, life is often more fun when shared with someone. Whatever you’re trying to accomplish, relationships are probably the key to getting there. Take this idea seriously and spend a little time thinking about which relationships you need to build or invest in.” — James Clear
- “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” — The Bible
Things I Learned This Week
- Green Exercise refers to any physical activity performed in natural environments, such as walking, cycling, or yoga in parks, forests, or coastal areas. It offers synergistic benefits by combining movement with nature exposure, leading to improved mental health (reduced stress, anxiety, and depression), enhanced physical health, and a deeper connection to nature. Research shows even five minutes of green activity can boost mood and self-esteem, with environments that include water features often delivering greater effects. Common forms include trail running, beach/revierside walks, or outdoor yoga, making it an accessible and sustainable way to support both personal well-being and environmental mindfulness.
- The Well-Travelled Road Effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people underestimate the time it takes to traverse familiar routes compared to unfamiliar ones, even when the objective durations are the same. This cognitive bias stems from our brain’s tendency to process familiar environments more efficiently, requiring less conscious attention, which in turn compresses our perception of time. Conversely, unfamiliar routes demand more focus and processing, making the journey feel longer. The effect highlights how subjective time perception is shaped not only by distance or speed, but also by familiarity, predictability, and attention.
- 浮世繪 (Ukiyo-e) is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings that flourished during the 江戶時代 Edo period (1603–1868), capturing the transient beauty of the “floating world” — the pleasures and impermanence of urban life. As early mass-produced visual media, Ukiyo-e played a key role in shaping Japanese popular culture and later greatly influenced European Impressionism 印象派/印象主義 in the 19th century, sparking the artistic phenomenon known as Japonisme.
- The quart is a unit of volume used in both the imperial and US customary systems, with the name deriving from the Latin quartus, meaning “a fourth,” since it represents one-fourth of a gallon. There are key distinctions: the US liquid quart equals approximately 0.946 liters, the US dry quart about 1.101 liters, and the imperial quart (used in the UK) exactly 1.136 liters. It’s important to note that US and UK quarts are not interchangeable, which can affect recipes and measurements.
- Sensor Fusion is the process of combining data from multiple sensors to achieve more accurate, reliable, and comprehensive insights than any single sensor can provide alone. It enhances redundancy, improves complementarity, and ensures robustness, especially in dynamic environments. Commonly used in autonomous vehicles, robotics, mobile devices, and aerospace, sensor fusion relies on techniques like Kalman filters, Bayesian inference, and machine learning to integrate inputs such as camera, LiDAR, radar, GPS, and IMU data. By intelligently merging these diverse data sources, systems can make better decisions, track movement more precisely, and maintain functionality even when individual sensors fail.