Mohammad Shaker's Blog, page 6

Week 26: People I Love

A picture I took for the top of Alcazar, القصر in Arabic, from the Islamic period in Seville, Spain. Notice the Islamic turned Christian art.

My day in Ramadan

Ramadan Mubarak everyone! Ramadan started on Monday and it’s the best month of the year for me.

8:30: Wake up. Later than usual. 17:30: Wrap up work.18:00: Break the fast with a small portion. That is a couple of dates, full glass of [warm] water, yoghurt/cottage cheese with olive oil and walnut. I take supplements after that: Omega 3 pill, D3 supplements, Glucosamine (for the knee)19:00: Go for a run or Gym for an hour.21:30: Eat my main portion.11:00: Pray Taraweeh and read the Quran.12:00: Have Suhoor with couple of fruits + yoghurt.12:30: Sleep.

Something I’m remembering from the past

I can’t ever repay my mother and my father.

Something I succeeded at recently

Playing to an engineer strengths not to his/her weaknesses.

Who do I wish to be friends with?Nassim Taleb, NNTDavid Hansson, DHHAndrew HubermanTim FerrissA real Arab literate. Still searching.

What I’m reading?

All books. All digitally for now. Following a rating scale without a 6:

Guns, Germs and Steel. Rating so far: 8. Though, I’ve heard terrible rating on this from Dominic Sandbrook from “The Rest is History” podcast.A Human Action, Mises. Rating so far: 8Dao of Capital, Mark Spitznagel. Rating so far: 9The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu. Rating so far: 6

Say thanks for 1 person.

People who I built my first startup Almeta and later Alphazed with. Thanks all. You’re absolute champs.

People I love

People who make me laugh when I’m crying.

Salam, peace.

Week 25: Days of Future Past

Here we go again.

Frederic Leighton. Old Damascus, Jews Quarter (1871-74) Classicism, Pre-Raphaelite The Past Present

This week mark the first year of my father passing. And I will leave it at that. 2023 was a pretty tough year.

RIP my father.

The Past and the Present

Ramadan is among us next Sunday/Monday. And it’s the favorite month of the year for many, including myself. The whole day structure changes, the way I work changes and the way I exercise. The gym is far from where I live now and I have to compensate that with running.

I have plan. Let’s see how it goes. The idea is to maintain muscle mass. Not increase it. If I accomplish that during Ramadan, I’ll be happy.

Something I keep doingGoing to the Gym 3+ times a week. Running 2 times a week. I’m back to running and it feels amazing. More on this in the upcoming weeks. Using a stair climb machine to pump up my heart rate and conditioning before I start my gym session.Reading daily.Reading old books only, pre 1990s – the year I was born. There are exceptions.

Something I’m learningPolitics, law, and philosophy.Refreshing my mind on deep learning and computer vision.

Best buy of the week

Nothing. I moved out. So I am minimizing my purchases.

Worst buy recently

I’ve never tried GymShark. And I did Dec last year with a purple gym top. It was awful. I had it washed with other tops. All my tops and shirts are dyed pinkish now.

Why do I like ?

A principal engineer at Noon who pushes me to phrase and think about every word. This is a double edged sword though.

1 thing that is making me happy?

Change.

Salam, peace.

Week 24: Never a Dog, Ever a Wolf.

This week, it’s not a question. It’s a core idea I believe in.

You never create wealth by being employed. Ever. This is the same thing my grandfather taught me. He started from literally zero, working in a shop when he was 9 years old to deliver for his family (with no father) under the French mandate of Syria in the 1920s.

The State of Damascus was a French mandate from 1920 to 1925. 

After working as a young boy (صبي شغل) in lots of shops with older men in the Old Damascus Souq of Alhamedyeeh (الحميدية), he opened his own small shop. This caught fire by kids playing with fireworks after couple of years.

Started from zero again. This time with a smaller shop. Over the years he moved a bigger shop that became most famous for everything from toothpaste, to paste, to brushes and everything in between. He did by himself. Doing it by himself. Losing and gaining with his own money. Total skin in the game. And total antifragility.

In Nassim Taleb’s universe, which is our universe, modern salaried life is essentially slavery.

In, Skin in the Game, Nassim uses the analogy of the Dog and the Wolf from Aesop’s fables:

(Image from draudreyt.com)

A gaunt Wolf was almost dead with hunger when he happened to meet a House-dog who was passing by. “Ah, Cousin,” said the Dog. “I knew how it would be; your irregular life will soon be the ruin of you. Why do you not work steadily as I do, and get your food regularly given to you?”

“I would have no objection,” said the Wolf, “if I could only get a place.”

“I will easily arrange that for you,” said the Dog; “come with me to my master and you shall share my work.”

So the Wolf and the Dog went towards the town together. On the way there the Wolf noticed that the hair on a certain part of the Dog’s neck was very much worn away, so he asked him how that had come about.

“Oh, it is nothing,” said the Dog. “That is only the place where the collar is put on at night to keep me chained up; it chafes a bit, but one soon gets used to it.”

“Is that all?” said the Wolf. “Then good-bye to you, Master Dog.”

Freedom should not be exchanged for comfort or financial gain.

I shall be a wolf. Never a dog. And that’s my next move.

Salam, peace.

Week 23: Montesquieu and The Spirit of Law

Here we go again with thoughts of my week.

Something I keep doing

Reading a deep/thorough book for 30 min in the morning. Currently it’s: Montesquieu’s Spirit of Law.

Montesquieu, the man behind the theory of Separation of Powers, had ever lasting ideas. This is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. 

Montesquieu, the man behind the theory of Separation of Powers, had ever lasting ideas. This is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. Best of what I readHuman Action, Von Mises (Rating so far: 8)Diderot, Audible biography (Rating so far: 6)Dao of capital, Mark Spitznagel (Rating so far: 9)Safe Haven, Mark Spitznagel (Rating so far: 9)Something I keep usingAudible. I use it in long walks.My backpack. Mandarina Duck. It’s great and I’ve been using it for 5 years now. Would buy it again.Reminders app on iPhone as a planner. More on this later.Best of what I watched

Sami Yusuf’s Beyond the Stars concert.

Something that changed my mind

Putting focus on what I am good at and makes money VS what I love and doesn’t necessary generate good money.

Something new to try

I really like espresso (single shot) recently. Pure, clear, and simple. I like the bitterness.

Something I’m remembering from the past

My dad and his prayers.

Why do I dislike

Jordan Patterson. Never liked him. And his recent views are even worse.

What’s one thing I cant stop talking about?

I can’t stop talking about something I want to learn about. This makes people eager to teach me more.

PoliticsLawNutrition, sport and healthTranquility (ala Seneca)Nassim Taleb (NNT)Antifragility (ala NNT)Barbel Strategy (ala NNT)How can I make my days better?

One focus for the whole day. Or split a day into two and have 1 focus each. Doing it a lot recently and it’s paying off.

Say thanks for 1 guy today.

Just sent a message to my friends who I had great conversation with recently. I can’t thank them enough on how kind they are. Thanks, my friends.

Mehdi ZonjyAbd NizamHussam SandoukZaher WanliHasan Sarhan

That’s it for this week. Peace, Salam.

Week 22: A Place I Call Home

Home.

Home. The place I was born. Because it’s the place I call: home. Many of my Syrian friends disagree and I will disagree even more.

Something I succeeded in doing

Increasing my calorie burn in strength sessions by doing the stepper first for 15 min. This will shoot up my heart rate all the way up to around 155 bpm range.

From there on, my heart seems to be kept at the higher range of 120 if I keep my exercise in sequence with minimal rest.

This works well when I’m doing supersets (i.e. overlapping sets from 2 exercises.) Supersets gives one muscle group an amble time to recover while the other group is under tension.

This is not an advise, nor sth I’ve read and I’m recommending. I just wanted to increase my calorie burn in strength sessions and that’s a nice trick I found to be working.

The result is: I jumped from average of 350 calorie/session to the range of 500s calorie/sessions.

Best of what I watched

This is really good. Chip Conley interview with Tim Ferriss.

Best of what I’m reading

I am still very much enjoying the DK’s Big Ideas book series on politics, history and philosophy. It’s good for general knowledge. The problem though is it lacks connectedness and depth.

One way to fix this is the following: Some DK books talks about the same person in different books – in history, in philosophy or in science. Reading DK History, DK Philosophy and DK Science books on parallel, encountering same person twice or thrice in two different books helps bridge the gab across topics – something the series don’t do out of the box.

That’s it for the week.

Salam, peace.

Week 21: Invert Incentives

Here we go again. Here’s what’s been on my mind recently.

A difficult conversation I had.

In management, I should position any feedback in terms of the benefit of the listener. Simply, minding incentives. This is essential for giving feedback as a manager (especially negative feedback.)

What people do (and sometime say) is based on their incentives. Understand incentives, and I shall understand what people want. And I should know how to approach them.

Ala. Charlie Munger: “Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.” 

Charlie Munger, whom I reread the book that’s based on his wisdom: Poor Charlie Almanak. Recommeded.Best of what I watched.

Tim Ferriss interview with my favorite author, Nassim Taleb. Although the podcast gives a very brief look of what Nassim has worked on or what his philosophy is, it’s still a good intro to Nassim from financial market POV.

Podcast version here. And youtube version here.

1 thing that is making me happy?Journalling for 20 min in the morning.Reading for 40 min in the morning.Going weekly to a coffee place I like with Lamis, like Arome in London, and ordering exactly the same thing.Having a structure for the day by planning my day, a day before.Blocking time for myself to sit and think.Working with people smarter than me.1 thing that is making me angry?

People who need high maintenance. And people who don’t care.

What am I unwilling to feel?

Stagnation.

Salam, peace.

Ed. 21. Invert Incentives

Here we go again. Here’s what’s been on my mind recently.

A difficult conversation I had.

In management, I should position any feedback in terms of the benefit of the listener. Simply, minding incentives. This is essential for giving feedback as a manager (especially negative feedback.)

What people do (and sometime say) is based on their incentives. Understand incentives, and I shall understand what people want. And I should know how to approach them.

Ala. Charlie Munger: “Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.” 

Charlie Munger, whom I reread the book that’s based on his wisdom: Poor Charlie Almanak. Recommeded.Best of what I watched.

Tim Ferriss interview with my favorite author, Nassim Taleb. Although the podcast gives a very brief look of what Nassim has worked on or what his philosophy is, it’s still a good intro to Nassim from financial market POV.

Podcast version here. And youtube version here.

1 thing that is making me happy?Journalling for 20 min in the morning.Reading for 40 min in the morning.Going weekly to a coffee place I like with Lamis, like Arome in London, and ordering exactly the same thing.Having a structure for the day by planning my day, a day before.Blocking time for myself to sit and think.Working with people smarter than me.1 thing that is making me angry?

People who need high maintenance. And people who don’t care.

What am I unwilling to feel?

Stagnation.

Week 20: 7 out of 10 is bad.

Something I keep doing

I’ve been doing it for the last year, keeping a small notebook, in my pocket, whenever I go. I like the physicality of the pen and paper. Whenever I want to wait for someone or whenever I have 2 hours in the weekends, I just go into a cafe, sit down, open my small pocket notebook, armed with a pilot pen, and I simply sip coffee (or green tea) and I think. Analog. No digital. No distractions. Just myself and I, with a pen and paper.

(Normally) my hand writing is better.Smaller than the size of my hand. Fits in (almost) any pocket.A quote I’m living by

Its not what you say, it’s what you do.

Another version is:

Don’t listen to what people say. Look at what they do.

This reminds me of Nassim Taleb’s idea of Skin in the Game. Which is a must read. Again, Nassim’s ideas changed me 10 years ago. And they still do.

Why you shouldn’t have a 7 out of 10 rating. For anything.

Something I’ve learned in Neurofenix and from my friend Dimitris Athanasiou, is that I shouldn’t set a rating of 7/10. For anything.

7/10 doesn’t tell you anything. It’s misleading. It’s neither too good nor too bad. If it’s 6/10, it means OK and you shouldn’t bother. If something is 8/10, it means it’s good and you can proceed.

Used it ever since for watching movies, book ratings and recommendations, and, most importantly, hiring or feedback.

What I’m reading.

Lately another set of books. These are lengthy, meaty and require brain power. All the following are linked in topics in a way. Between economics, policy making and society building (or destructing.)

I read them after a gym session or in the morning just after I wake up- when my mind is clear or the blood is flowing. Ratings are WIP since I haven’t finished the books yet.

The Constitution of Liberty, Hayek. Rating: 8/10A Human Action. Von Mises. Rating: 9/10.The Open Society and its Enemies, Popper. Rating: 8/10. It’s amazing how different I view Plato after reading this one. Both his good side and the bad.Dao of Capital. Rating: 8/10.Something I’m thinking ofWhat I will be doing when in my 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or the 100s with the current pace of AI and the constant change. I’m not sure anyone would be that adaptable. So What’s the constant in all of this? This is what I should be following.Taking extended time off. It’s mind boggling how this simple act does affect my creativity while am off and after I’m back. I know this because I’ve tasted this in the past. Off time is actually more important than on time. It’s where the creative thinking happens to cultivate a meaningful on time. I should aim to take at least 1 week off every 2 months. Even 4 days (2 days off + the weekend) can do the trick if it’s truly off (armed with a pen and paper.) That’s something I must do regularly. The upside is just too great.

Salam, peace.

Ed. 20. 7 out of 10 is bad.

Something I keep doing

I’ve been doing it for the last year, keeping a small notebook, in my pocket, whenever I go. I like the physicality of the pen and paper. Whenever I want to wait for someone or whenever I have 2 hours in the weekends, I just go into a cafe, sit down, open my small pocket notebook, armed with pilot pen, and I simply sip coffee (or green tea) and I think. Analog. No digital. No distractions. Just myself and I, with a pen and paper.

(Normally) my hand writing is better.Smaller than the size of my hand. Fits in (almost) any pocket.A quote I’m living by

Its not what you say, it’s what you do.

Another version is:

Don’t listen to what people say. Look at what they do.

This reminds me of Nassim Taleb’s idea of Skin in the Game. Which is a must read. Again, Nassim’s ideas changed me 10 years ago. And they still do.

Why you shouldn’t have a 7 out of 10 rating. For anything.

Something I’ve learned in Neurofenix and from my friend Dimitris Athanasiou, is that I shouldn’t set a rating of 7/10. For anything.

7/10 doesn’t tell you anything. It’s misleading. It’s neither too good nor too bad. On the contrary if it’s 6/10, it means OK and you shouldn’t bother. If something is 8/10, it means it’s really good.

What I’m reading.

Lately another set of books. These are lengthy, meaty and require man power. All the following are linked in topics in a way. Between economics, policy making and society building (or destructing.)

I read them after the gym when my mind is clear and the blood is flowing. Ratings are WIP since I haven’t finished the books yet.

The Constitution of Liberty, Hayek. Rating: 8/10A Human Action. Von Mises. Rating: 9/10.The Open Society and its Enemies, Popper. Rating: 8/10. It’s amazing how different I view Plato after reading this one. Both his good side and bad.Dao of Capital. Rating: 8/10.Something I’m thinking ofWhat I will be doing when in my 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and the 100s with the current pace of AI and the constant change. I’m not sure anyone would be that adaptable. So What’s the constant in all of this? This is what I should be following.Taking extended time off. It’s mind boggling how this simple act affect my creativity while am off and after I’m back. I know this because I’ve tasted this in the past. Off time is actually more important than on time. It’s where the creative thinking happens to cultivate a meaningful on time. Take at least 1 week off every 2 months. Even 4 days (2 days off + the weekend) can do the trick if it’s truly off. That’s something I must do regularly. The upside is just too great.

Week 19: “Where is the good knife?”

Best Question I’ve Recently Read

“Where is the good knife?” If I’m looking for the good knife in the kitchen, that means I have other bad knives. I should throw those out.

This applies to anything:

If I’m looking for the good shoes, it means I haver bad ones.If I’m looking for the good book, it means I haver bad ones.If I’m looking for the good Y, it means I haver bad Ys.

The Y can be anything: teams building, friends, relationships, supermarkets. Part ways with them, I should.

The limits of our languages..Ludwig Wittgenstein

Side note on an adjacent topic that made me smile: A knife, should, by definition be a good knife. There shouldn’t be a good or bad knife. A good knife is a knife. A bad knife is not a knife. I’ve never thought about this until I’ve read about Ludwig Wittgenstein. Another worthy concept is: Wittgenstein’s ruler.

The ONLY test of intelligence that counts is to see if the person detects Wittgenstein's ruler situations:

1) When you use a ruler to measure the table, you are also using the table to measure the ruler.

2) The more unexpected the measurement, the more you apply W's ruler.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) January 8, 2019

Something I keep doing.

Intermittent Fasting. For me it’s eating 1 meal a day. This doesn’t have to be tied to a Keto or any other diet for me.

Intermittent fasting is something I’ve done for 12+ years now. It’s basically a form of time-restricted eating. I only eat within a time window. The smaller the window, the better. For me:

The window ranged from 2 to 7 hours over the years.I eat my main, and only, meal around 6pm (or later.)The meal size used to be big. In the last year I split it into 1 good-size meal followed by another portion 1 hour later. Much better for digestion, much better for sleep.Something I remembered recently.

Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto is one of my all-time favorite movies.