Hardware & Software

Last Update: 05.11.24

Priorities

First of all as I am an architect, I have to use windows machine for work, especially for 3dsmax, photoshop and stuff. This is why I generally have the latest workstation CPU, latest GPU, and the most ram I can get -right now 192GB. But as it is work only computer at the office I will not talk about it.

My main laptop is for research, writing, mails, watching stuff, listening to music, so basically everything I need.

Hardware

Laptop: My main laptop is Thinkpad X230. I have bought it from Insurgo. But they dont sell hardware anymore, so the best bet for you to get Intel ME neutralized X230 preferably with Heads and i7, ssd, 16GB ram and IPS screen. Then if something is broken, you can replace easily, and it has enough power to do even video rendering. If you spend more than 200 dollars for a computer, it is a waste of money.

Phone: Google Pixel 6a, if it ever gets broken, I will get the latest Pixel phone and install GrapheneOS immediately. You can see what I use as apps in the mostly updated post.

Kindle: I have always prefered hard copy books, but sometimes it is hard to get the actual book, or even impossible. And also instead of waiting days for a book to come, I just buy it from amazon, I always have my recent library with me and it has crazy battery life.

Crypto:

Coldcard – air-gapped transaction for #btc
Trezor – storing my #eth
Phantom wallet – my hot wallet, generally use it on Jupiter

Software

Operating System: I use Arch linux. And I do only recommend Arch/Artix and if you are into these stuff QubesOS. Even if you are totally newb, get Arch, only few days you will have problems, then you will love the way linux works.

Terminal: I use st by suckless which is one of the most minimal yet easily customizable terminal emulators out there.

Window Manager: dwm as window manager and dwmblocks for status bar.

Text Editing: Neovim, it is vim, but a bit better.

Web Browser: Librewolf with arkenfox with some modifications. Also I do have these add-ons:

uBlock Origin
Decentraleyes
I still don’t care about cookies
VimVixen

File Manager: lf fast,easy to customize.

Mail Client: neomutt, I keep all my mail offline with isync. Not that easy to set up, but you do it once.

Video Player: mpv, as you know all cool kids are already using it. I am even using it on my phone.

PDF Viewer: Zathura, you can also use MuPDF, which I still prefer for my phone.

Logic is simple, I only use libre software, I will not use any proprietary software. I try to optimize my life with better alternatives for everything. So that means no video games either.

  • Eat alkaline
  • Workout daily
  • Quality sleep
  • Ground daily
  • Sun gazing
  • Pray daily

Life will be on easier mode. Trust me.

Alkaline Diet

Acidity and Alkality

To stay healthy, it is suggested to keep the human body in an alkaline state, an acidic environment is believed to be conducive to the growth of germs and bacteria, raising the risk of developing diseases. Naturally occurring foods, present since the beginning, tend to be alkaline, while man-made (GMO) foods are generally considered acidic when consumed.

It is extremely important to get meat from an animal whom did not suffer. Because when they see other animals butchered or they suffered, the adrenaline and cortisol increases in their blood. And with the meat we consume these, and this keep us in a heightened state of survival mode associated with the root chakra.

Also the flesh of the today’s world is contaminated with vaxines which polutes the blood of the animal. Even the grass they are eating is sprayed with chemicals and makes their meat toxic, and their milk is acidic.

How to eat correctly

  • Ensure you chew enough to make the food liquid.
  • Establish a consistent daily eating schedule so that body can optimize its cycles.
  • Avoid eating after sunset as sunlight aids various bodily functions.
  • Refrain from combining different types of food.
  • Allow four hour gap between your last meal and bedtime.
  • Eat once a day.
  • Fast one day a week
  • Avoid GMO

Alkaline food examples:

  • Apples
  • Seeded oranges
  • Key limes
  • Cherries
  • Small ginger
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Mushrooms
  • Thyme
  • Blueberries
  • Grapes
  • Olives
  • Baby bananas
  • Bell Peppers
  • Basil
  • Dates
  • Watermelon
  • Cayenne pepper
  • Sea salt
  • Seaweed
  • Chocho
  • Walnuts
  • Pumpkin

Acidic food examples:

  • Tumeric
  • Bananas
  • Green beans
  • Soy beans
  • Pineapple
  • Potatoes
  • Meat (better one is fish)
  • Anything seedless
  • Carots
  • Peanuts
  • Corn
  • Chestnuts
  • Radish
  • Applecider viniger
  • Tofu
  • Broccoli
  • Kiwi
  • Lettuce

Chess Life

Chess is NOT a metaphor for life

Life is a metaphor for Chess.

  • When first starting out, anything less than 10 minute games is merely A Race To See Who Can Make MORE Mistakes FASTER.
  • Stop that Shit!
  • Get Smart, Go Slow.

An excellent resource for training openings is Listudy.

For beginners, stick to the basics:

  • Develop Knights and Bishops before Queen and Rooks
  • Play to control the center
  • Castle to secure the King
  • Connect Rooks

The chessboard, just like our lives, is large. You must keep track of all the pieces on the board, as well as their various interactions across the 64 squares. A great training tool is Chess-o-tron.

Challenge yourself to identify all the interactions on the board:

  • Hanging (undefended) pieces
  • Checking squares
  • Pinned pieces
  • Forks
  • Hidden attacks
  • Mate threats

Then just play EVERY SINGLE day.

e4 Motherfuckers!

Bullrun Safety Guide

All types of wallet/token/NFT hacks fall into two categories:

  • Abuse of previously owned token approval.
  • Private key/seed compromise.

Token Approvals:

Token approvals are essentially a permission for smart contract to access and move specific type or amount of a token from your wallet. Like giving permission to OpenSea or Uniswap to move your NFTs so you can see them.

In detail, on Ethereum network, everything except ETH is ERC-20 token. NFTs are are mostly ERC-721 and 1155 tokens respectively. Their approval mechanics work similar to ERC-20s but for NFT marketplaces.

If you are not careful about that, you might just give grant tokens permission to a malicious smart contract to get your assets stolen.

Many DeFi apps will prompt for unlimited approval of ETC20 token by default. This is to improve user experience, and it is more convenient as it does not require potential future approvals thus saving on time and gas fees.

So limiting this for max amount of tokens will fix the problem.

NFT Approvals:

NFT marketplaces will ask for that kind of approval, thus when you sell and NFT to a buyer, that marketplace’s smart contract can move the NFT automatically to the buyer. This sounds cool, but can also be used by malicious websites/contracts to steal your NFTs.

Example: When you are about to mint an NFT, from a website which looks totally legitimate, in the background their contract searches for your wallet and chooses the highest value NFT and asks for permission to take it, and when you think you are minting, you are giving away your NFT.

Limit your risk to approvals:

  • Use multiple wallets, do not sign approvals from your high value wallet.
  • Ideally reduce or completely avoid granting unlimited apprivals for ERC-20s.
  • Check and revoke approvals periodically via Etherscan or Revoke.

Hardware Wallets:

Hot wallets are connected to the internet through your computer or phone so the keys stored online.

Cold wallets are hardware devices where the key is generated and stored offline.

So it is a lot safer to use hardware wallet, I would suggest Coldcard mk4 for #btc, and trezor for #eth

There are some stuff to look for:

  • Buy hardware wallet only from official manufacturer website. No Ebay / no Amazon…
  • Make sure the packaging is sealed.
  • First time you set it up, it will generate a seed phrase.
  • ONLY write that seed on physical paper or a steel plate so it will be fire and waterproof.
  • Never digitalize it meaning never take picture of it, never write it on any kind of keyboard.
  • This seed phrase you got when you set up is EVERYTHING. Do not forget that, and not specific to your device, you can use that with any device.
  • If you loose it, you will loose everything.
  • Ledger / Trezor and Coldcard has the ability to add 25th word. Which sets a different address which cannot be access via the 24-word recovery phase alone, so you will be the only one who can know the word.

How People Got Hacked?

  • Tricked into downloading malware via PDFs, beta testing games, running some macros via google sheets or phishing websites.
  • Interacting with malicious contracts: FOMO minting from a mimic website, as explained above.
  • Inserting or giving away the seed to customer support or something similar.

Takeaways:

  • Don’t trust, always verify. Make sure the contract address and website you are interacting with is legitimate.
  • Periodically check and revoke your token approvals via revoke and etherscan.
  • You can take advantage of Pocket Universe and Wallet Guard as the last line of defense.
  • Choose custom approval limits over the default unlimited approval option.
  • Hedge your risk by utilizing multiple wallets.
    Utilize cold wallet and hot wallets for their purpose.

Misc Stuff:

  • Always use 2FA. Authy is great app, you can use Yubikey for the next level. Never use SMS as 2FA tho.
  • Use password manager. Then you can use all different 20 mixed characters passwords for all websites. Most people use Bitwarden, but I would suggest pass or KeepassXC or self hosted Bitwarden.
  • You can check have I been pwned for data breaches.
  • Assume everyone online is liar or compromised.
  • Instead of using Gmail, Hotmail etc.. Use better ones like Tuta or the best, you can host your mail.
  • Never use public Wi-Fi, there can always be fake hotspot, or MIM attack.
  • If you need to use a Wi-Fi, use VPN, because any network can be hacked. For VPN I would suggest Mullvad.

The point is assume that everything you have is already compromised or can be at any point, so act accordingly.

GrapheneOS Apps

GrapheneOS is an opensource operating system for Pixel phones aimed to be the most secure and private OS for mobile phones.

Here you can find some Tips&Tricks and App suggestions.

Tips & Tricks

  • Use Private Space for banking apps, just to add an extra layer of security. I use Google Play services here as well. Because I have to install these apps from Google anyway.
  • Try to use minimum number of apps to reduce the attack surface.
  • Try to always look for FOSS alternatives of the apps you want to use.
  • If you have to use VPN, host yours to VPS or Mullvad.
  • Use quality DNS server like nextdns, or mullvad.
  • Turn off Wi-Fi automatically is a great option.
  • Disable bluetooth whenever you are not using it.
  • Use obtainium to install&maintain apps.
  • Vanadium is the only browser you need.

Apps

  • Bitwarden self hosted – 2fa and passwords
  • Lichess – chess
  • DAVx5 – sync your contacts with nextcloud server
  • Thunderbird – mail
  • Tasks – daily to do list
  • Fossify Calendar
  • Phantom – crypto Wallet for daily stuff
  • Obtainium – Install apps from its own source
  • Organic Maps – can be used offline
  • Nextcloud self hosted – syncing files between phone and computer
  • Vanadium – better browser on mobile
  • Wireguard/Mullvad – to connect VPN
  • Localsend – send files to/from computer
  • Camera, Gallery, Clock, Contacts, PDF etc. stock GrapheneOS apps.

Last update: 30.12.24

This post will be updated regularly. Please send an email for questions or suggestions.

Artix

I was a hard windows / mac user. Windows for daily stuff, work and gaming, mac for travelling, graphics work and unreal engine.

And my wife also had 2015macbook pro. Just recently it got extremely slow, I mean I remember what it was to use that computer, it was booting up fast, opening pdfs, videos fast, it was fast. But now booting takes ages, cannot open big pdf files, something got wrong. I formatted it couple of times, installed old OS versions, nothing has changed. Apple knows it better to slow their computer to sell you newer.

Then I got into investigating, lets say your wifi card broken, then you go to Apple, they give you 2 options:

  • mainboard has to be replaced, 1000 USD
  • or get a new one, 1200 USD

and of course you choose new one. But WTF, just for a wifi card, you bought a new computer! This is ridiculous, and I am not even talking about the privacy problems.

Then I got my hands on a Thinkpad x230, the last bastion, you can change components, install linux without any hassle, perfect!

Then tried tons of distros and finally found my true love, Artix Linux which basically Arch without systemd. I use it with runit, but there are options for openrc and s6 as well.

Lets dive in:

You can find base ISO from its website the base will be enough.

this and this videos will be enough to cover everything. Especially installing on encrypted disk.

Then simply install LARBS. It is basically ready-made system with suckless software. In around 10 minutes you will have stable, extremely useful, ready to work Artix build.

Then the only tip I will give about Artix, is to use it. In a week you will be sufficient enough to work faster than ever.

Diet

Metabolic flexibility simply means that your body can use any source of substance as its disposal for fuel. In this state your body can break down the food you feed for energy as well as tap into your body fat storage when food is not available.

This is the human default setting. And if you are not metabolically flexible you will have the following signs:

  • Constant hunger even after regular meals.
  • Fatigue and low energy.
  • Inability to work out in a fasted state.
  • Inability to fast without decreased mental/physical performance.

Most people are like that because they are “sugar burners”. That means your body runs on carbohydrates. I will not go into so much detail about this but if you are a sugar burner and you don’t eat every couple hours, your blood glucose lowers making you tired and hungry, and you will need to re-energize your body with carbs.

So then, how does one become metabolically flexible? The answer is to eliminate what is causing the issue. But the key is not to eliminate all carbs. Like Mike Mentzer said we need carbs for muscles to run optimal. So the step one is to limit good carbs to 100 grams a day. You want your carbs to come from organic whole foods such as: honey, sweet potatoes, nuts, berries, raw diary.

Step two is can be called as intermittent fasting. You eat 6-8 hours a day, and not eat anything for 16-18 hours, and even 20 hours if you are heavy on fat. While fasting you can drink water, tea and even coffee. Just no calories. As you don’t have much time to eat, you will only eat nutritious food, good protein, nice amount of fat. No grains, zero processed sugar, zero gluten, no seed or vegetable oil. Only eat wholefood.

Training mindset is easy, get active as much as possible.

  • Try to walk 3-4 times a day 10-15 minutes each in the afternoon and after meals.
  • Stretch every 2 hours.
  • Try to water fast 1-2 whole days a month if you can.
  • Try to ground as much as you can.
  • Have a small notepad to note what you are grateful daily.

Also you can check routine for the basic daily layout example.

T.A.T.E

Lies?
Sadness?
Depression?
Revenge?
Retribution?
Payback?

Stopping the NWO?
Revealing the ILLUMINATI?
Saving the West?
Making America Great Again?
Making Women Great Again?
Changing her 🐉 nature?

I.
Don’t.
Have.
Time.
For.
This.

I focus on The Litany
and let my Villain guide me with his laughter.

I ABSORB my enemies’ anger, jealousy, resentment, attention,
AND ENERGY

and TRANCE-FORM MYSELF WITH IT

to take me to further heights,
GREATER VICTORIES, and insane successes for me and my BROTHERS OF THE WAR ROOM.

BROTHERHOOD.
VICTORY.
SUCCESS.
FURY.
GRATITUDE.

… and the dogs snore peaceFully by the fire.

Easiest Fat Loss

You might know about intermittent fasting, which is a state that your body taps into after around 16 hours of hunger. Your body starts to burn fat in your body instead of the carbohydrates that you eat normally.

Everybody knows that and its effects; what I would add to it is intermittent walking. Basically, when you are in that fasting state, you walk.

  • When you wake up, 15 minutes of walk
  • After eating 15 minutes of walk
  • At the end of fasting, 15 minutes of walk. Easy.

Train your abs and do the resistance workouts as always, if you can do them in fasted state, that would be great.

Also here is the easiest intermittent guide ever:

Stop eating around 6PM.

Start eating around 6PM following day. Break your fast with very lean protein. After an hour or so, you can eat some carbs and a lots of fat.

Then start the cycle all over again.

The most important take you will gain from this is being metabolically flexible, your body can tap into any energy source whenever you need. So you will not need to feed every couple hours. You can even fast whole day and eat only once, and you will be more energetic, healthier, leaner than the other people. Just be sure your meals are is full of protein and healthy fat.

Lets go eat some huge fatty rare steak!

Simple Training

If you are also trying to find the ONE method for training, you are at the right place.

To get in shape, build muscle and stay athletic, there is an easy solution. And no it is not going to gym six times a week.

First, build your strength and conditioning to the Simple standard as laid out in the Simple and Sinister by Pavel Tsatsouline.

It is basically, total 10 sets of 10 reps 1H swings, using 32kg kettlebell, done every 30 seconds, alternating hands each set.

Rest 1 minute

10 sets of 1 rep of Turkish Get-Up (TGU) using 32kg kettlebel, done every minute, alternating hands each set.

If you cannot do that yet, focus on that first. It is a baseline level of strength and conditioning you need to have if you are serious about it.

And also it prepares your body for more demanding training going forward.

Once you achieve Simple, then to amplify your growth, you can add more Squats, Cleans, Presses. You can use kettlebells for these as well, so still no need to go to gym.

As long as your diet is clean alkaline and protein focused, you will be growing without getting fat.

You can also add Pullup program into that Simple training, namely Fighter Pullup Program.

Any other exercises are purely unnecessary. Just keep the things Simple