#59 Ruggets

“We’re only different from the bacteria because we are able to ask what the hell this is all about. Not answer, just ask.” *Carolyn Ives

Nov 28, 2025

Rabbit Hole

This place is reserved for us—for the moments when we want to remember everything we’d like to hold on to. Are we trying to cling to life, or are we simply trying not to die?

Some days I wake up with the strange sensation that nothing is truly mine—not the thoughts circling my head, not the ambitions I cling to, not even the emotions I confuse for “me.” And in that small disorientation, there’s an unexpected freedom: if none of it is fixed, as Buddha would suggest, then everything is workable. Everything is in transition. The ancient Stoics understood this well; they believed life becomes lighter the moment we stop insisting it should feel a certain way. There is no way, there is no self. So tonight, as you read this, let this be a soft reminder: you don’t need to resolve yourself into a final form. You’re allowed to be unfinished, shifting, contradictory—because meaning is not found in arriving, but in noticing the quiet transitions you usually rush past. You are not your money, status, or the fragile symbols you arrange around yourself to feel solid in a world that won’t stop moving. You are the quiet observer beneath all that noise—the one who remains when the applause fades, when the titles dissolve, when the curtain closes, when everyone takes what they came for, when you forget who you truly are, when sleep no longer is a friend, when the metrics no longer impress even you. And the irony is this: the moment you stop trying to prove your worth through things that can be taken away, you finally touch the part of yourself that cannot be taken at all.

And with that spirit—of shedding the unnecessary and leaning into what actually nourishes—I’ve gathered a few pieces for you this week. Ideas, signals, fragments of the world that felt worth slowing down for. Think of this as your brief pause in the chaos: a curated moment to reconnect with what matters before the next wave of life arrives.

I do not remember the source for most of the screenshots I got from here and there, so if you find yours, ping me and I will @ you.

Read sublime.

[YOUR BRAIN CARES ABOUT YOUR REPETITIONS.] I REPEAT:

Seriously, how did we get so ugly?

Long term>short term

Watching this guy act is art:

Some old-gold-bold movies:

Ever heard of Minto Principle? Here is all you need to know:

There is no self.

Security is an illusion. Nature offers no guarantees.

How to manage your boss:

End quote of that perfect hero movie:

Let us learn how debt works:

[You cannot feel what I feel.]

Interested in Nietzsche? We may become good friends.

Make wild guesses, them correct.

17 questions from Tim Ferris:

The resulf of the Google study for what makes a great team, that’s it. No need to read thousands of leadership books.

Grief doesn’t vanish, it transforms. It carves new dimensions within us, reshaping how we love, remember, and see the world. As Alan Watts wrote, “The more a thing tends to be permanent, the more it tends to be lifeless.” Grief, in its movement, keeps memory alive, not as something to escape, but as something continually becoming.

18. If things aren’t going well, throw away the existing design, start from first principles, question every requirement based on fundamental physics.
9. Apply The Algorithm constantly. (1) Question every requirement. (2) Delete any part of the process you can. (3) Simplify and optimize. (4) Accelerate cycle time. (5) Automate.

A white background with black text listing 20 rules for a better life. The rules are numbered from 1 to 20, covering topics like taking responsibility, exercising, and fostering relationships.

Sam Altman spills out some wisdom:

So much wisdom in one shot.

Create a new you and let go of the old you:

Same papa, same.

Great way to show some respect for your colleagues:

Why do I love asking questions so much? You may need this.

Look for these personality traits very closely:

Discomfort is essential:

Here are all the photos flying through interstellar space on Voyager’s Golden Record.

Truest words from the brightest mind. I maybe interested in simpler world problems when compared to Karpathy but the road is the same.

Pursue the heartbreak, do not be afraid:

A little remedy for the heart:

Keep this handy while designing or criticizing something, it serves well.

System thinking simplified:

AS LONG AS THERE IS LOVE, THERE WILL BE GRIEF.

The grief of time passing, of life moving on half-finished, of empty spaces that were once bursting with the laughter and energy of people we loved.

As long as there is love there will be grief because grief is love’s natural continuation.

It shows up in the aisles of stores we once frequented, in the half-finished bottle of wine we pour out, in the whiff of cologne we get two years after they’ve been gone.

Grief is a giant neon sign, protruding through everything, pointing everywhere, broadcasting loudly, “Love was here.” In the finer print, quietly, “Love still is.”

While we spoke, David, an intense, dark-eyed man, grew excited. “So Nietzsche said something cool, right?

He said that everybody searches for power, but the weak search for it everywhere, while the strong will search in very specific places.” David applied this insight in his own life by noticing his drive for power and expressing it more selectively. He no longer tried to win every argument or prove that he was right in trivial situations; he and his wifethey married five years ago-began fighting less often. Meanwhile, he focussed on pursuing power in the financial sphere, shifting from a job in digital marketing to commercial real estate.