My IKEA bias

Almost in all the cities where I lived there is an IKEA store: KL, Brisbane, Perth, Groningen. Now there is one in my current city  Bandung. IKEA was a unique experience for me. DIY furniture and Swedish food. Googling on IKEA impact the Swedish GDP I found that back in 2013, according to Statistics Sweden (SCB) and the National Accounts 2008, the manufacturing of furniture sector constitutes 0.63% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) or about 3700 Million USD which would rank 173th in the world (larger than Burundi in Africa. 

IKEA is a multinational group of companies that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture (such as beds, chairs and desks), appliances and home accessories. As of April 2022, there are 466 IKEA stores operating in 63 countries. The store in Bandung that I visited today is one the 11 stores in my country. 

Once you visited an IKEA store you could say that you have visited all. The architecture is standard. If you only saw photo of one corner of the store (without any description to the name of the item) it would be hard for you to guess where the store is located. It could be in any of the 63 countries. 

However you would taste the difference in the cafeteria. The one that visited this morning is very different to the ones I have been abroad. To be honest the taste is on lower end of the spectrum. Even the ones in KL - which is in the neighboring country of Malaysia taste better. Not sure if the distance to Sweden matters as the ones in Australia are better.

Not sure if I was bias, some kind of inferiority complex. Or it could also be due the more zeroes that I saw on the price tag. Using my quick math, converting the euro or ringgit, I could see that the price is pretty much on par But not the taste.

IKEA are the same here, there and everywhere, but NOT its cafeteria 

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
http://datatopics.worldbank.org/world-development-indicators
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/case-studies/the-greening-of-industries-in-the-eu/sweden-ikea-of-sweden-ab-case-study
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_IKEA_stores

Superworms offer hope for recycling

 I read a news about a type worm that could digest plastic. Below is my summary of that topic.

 Australian scientists have found the Zophobas morio - commonly known as a superworm - can survive on a diet of polystyrene. They believe the beetle larvae digest the plastic through a gut enzyme. That could be significant for advancements in recycling. Polystyrene (PS), including extruded polystyrene (also known as styrofoam), is among the most commonly produced plastics worldwide. 

In this study, the researchers changed in the gut microbiome of superworms (Zophobas morio) reared on bran, PS or under starvation conditions over a 3 weeks period. Superworms on all diets were able to complete their life cycle to pupae and imago, although superworms reared on PS had minimal weight gains, resulting in lower pupation rates compared to bran reared worms. The change in microbial gut communities from baseline differed considerably between diet groups, with polystyrene and starvation groups characterized by a loss of microbial diversity and the presence of opportunistic pathogens. This study confirms that superworms can survive on polystyrene feed, but this diet has considerable negative impacts on host gut microbiome diversity and health.

The minimal weight gain of the larvae on a PS diet will probably hamper their use in the PS recycling process. In particular, downstream applications such as biodiesel production from superworm fatty esters, an approach that has been proven feasible using superworms raised on regular feed,  might not be achievable. Diet diversification, for example by supplementing styrofoam with food waste, could help to counteract the dietary deficits of the unbalanced PS feed and might increase gut microbiome health and subsequently host weight gain.

The researchers hope to identify which enzyme is the most effective so it can be reproduced at scale for recycling. Plastic would then be mechanically shredded, before being treated with the enzyme. The breakdown products from this reaction can then be used by other microbes to create high-value compounds such as bioplastics. 

Despite the promise from this study, the scale-up and translation of research like this is always a challenge, which is magnified in the area of plastics by the incredible scale of the problem and the economics in terms of how cheap new plastic is to produce.

References
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-61727942
https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/mgen/10.1099/mgen.0.000842

it looks a lot like Christmas

I love carols! I love listening to Christmas songs anytime. And it is more sentimental listening to those when I was away from home. I seldom being away alone during Christmas time. I could only remember once when that happened. When I was in the US (1990-1992), I spent my Christmas time away in Azusa, California. Not completely alone as I had a couple of Indonesian friends. The next Christmas I took a holiday in Indonesia and I graduated on August 1992 so I spent Christmas of that year in Indonesia.  

I recall weeks before having vacation in Indonesia (Dec 1991) I listened to songs like "I'll be home for Christmas" when different sentiments. I am thinking about all those things that I have missed being away for half a year and a half in the US.

Christmas time where I lived in the US was without snow. Cold and wet. My only snowy experience was January 2016, after New Year. We spent our Christmas in Berlin. It was cold but no snow. We went to Copenhagen to celebrate New Year with an Indonesian family friends. Cold and no snow either. The next morning after we were back to Groningen we had rain of snow. Our very first. What a dream came true. 

This morning after my running run with the sun already up I happened to listen to a Christmas song. My memory brought me back to those cold days in Texas. I shall be home for Christmas. I wish no one would be lonely on Christmas

 

     

Fake it with Strava

A while ago I read someone's blog stating that Strava app has made each exercise a race and he hates it. Too bad that I could find the link anymore. However when I googled "why i dont like strava" I found hits that I am summarizing below

My reaction seeing strava for the first time was that Strava is essentially Facebook for runners. Strava allow user to post their work out (not only running, but walking does not count in the monthly report). People could be member of clubs and join challenges. Like Facebook we could follow and be followed by others. We would see how far some one runs, how fast, how high he/she climbs, etc. Strava would also record the path taken during the exercise. Of course users are able to post photos. 

Obviously we could (and would) compare our performance to others. How far have we run? How fast? At what heart rate? I am not sure of many elite athletes would post their exercise there, but of course their performance would be google-able and hence one could see where he/she is relative to the pros. 

One long example is the story told on ref.1 about some guy who faked his cycling time to nab a "King of the Mountain" badge on Strava. The article mentioned about the types of doping in this digital age: motor-doping, digital-doping, or just plain old ‘doping’

Point is there is limit to human capability. True that records are broken here and there, but the current men's world record is 9.58 seconds, set by Jamaica's Usain Bolt back in 2009. Hence some dude who ran faster than Bolt would likely be doing one (or more) doping type mentioned above. 

I remember last year my office had a virtual running events which used Strava to record each participant's performances. On guy was spotted to run faster than the world marathon record. It helped that the committee decided that his time was not counted. Looks like he rode a bike and recorded it as running - which is easily be done in Strava.

Like any other social medias in this digital era, Strava could be abused. Of course to some purists fake exercise records are obnoxious. So much that many would claim the hatred for Strava. See one example on the ref 2. 

Recently I stopped using Strava to compete to one another. I admit that I did that in the past. Now I am using to record my exercises. It does not matter if I ran slower or faster. I am no pro and hence I do not have to be perfect at all. If anything I am just trying to maintain my walking and running streak. I assumed that to maintain streak I need to run minimum 2K and walk 1K. I just made it up myself. Recently I injured my left knee and during the recovery I just ran the minimum at slower speed. 

No worries, I am just a regular Strava user.  

References
https://cyclingtips.com/2022/04/exposed-by-a-strava-kom-the-many-lives-of-a-fake-pro-cyclist/#seventeen

https://flowmountainbike.com/features/this-is-why-i-hate-strava/

the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history

When Mount Tambora erupted it spewed ash across the globe; blotting out the sun; poisoning crops; and bringing starvation, illness and death to millions. It may also have helped inspire great scientific and cultural advances – including the horror masterpiece Frankenstein

Tim Harford's podcast that I listened this morning mentioned a Volcano in Indonesia called Mt Tambora. He did not specify its location though which made wonder. Turns out it is located on the northern coast of Sumbawa island. In April 1815 exploded in the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. It is now 2,851 metres (9,354 feet) high, having lost much of its top in the 1815 eruption. The volcano remains active; smaller eruptions took place in 1880 and 1967, and episodes of increased seismic activity occurred in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

It would be unthinkable to have that eruption these days. I am sure as a country Indonesia would suffers tremendously. The immediate effects were most profound on Sumbawa and surrounding islands. Some 80,000 people perished from disease and famine, since crops could not grow. In 1816, parts of the world as far away as western Europe and eastern North America experienced sporadic periods of heavy snow and killing frost through June, July, and August. Such cold weather events led to crop failures and starvation in those regions, and the year 1816 was called the “year without a summer.”

Indonesia has made many progress in building infrastructures all over the country. In the past such development were mostly centralized in Java island, not so lately. It would be devastating to experience such catastrophe today. 

Of course no one would be able to predict when the next big eruption would happen. Come to think of of it, we tend to forget that we are living in a volcanic planet. One big eruption somewhere in the planet would certainly affect the whole world, just like what happened when Mt Tambora erupted back then. 

How many active volcanoes are there? The answer to this common question depends upon use of the word "active." At least 20 volcanoes will probably be erupting as you read these words. The number is also dependent on what time scale is included, and if only confirmed eruptions are counted, or uncertain eruptions and the opinions of volcanologists are considered. Because dormant intervals between major eruptions at a single volcano may last hundreds to tens of thousands of years, dwarfing the relatively short historical record in many regions, it is misleading to restrict usage of "active volcano" to recorded human memories: we prefer to add another identifying word (e.g. "historically active" or "Holocene" volcano). The numbers will change as new research is published, new age dates are acquired, or new criteria are applied and volcanoes are reviewed.

References
https://timharford.com/2022/06/cautionary-tales-frankenstein-versus-the-volcano/
https://as hwww.britannica.com/place/Mount-Tambora

https://volcano.si.edu/faq/index.cfm?question=activevolcanoes

Genetic lottery: Excuse to do nothing or do everything?

We inherit genes from our parents like it's a lottery — a game of luck. 

I saw one overweight guy this afternoon and I thought that he might inherited that tendency from his parents. I recall this term called "genetic lottery". Our genes are something that are definitely out of our control. Each of us were assigned to a set of genes which we inherit from our parents which they themselves inherit from their own parents etc. ad infinitum. The combinations are infinite and yet somehow we are what we are - genetically. 

I am sure that our genes limit us to some degree. I would not dream that I could play basket ball given my height. Not impossible but I would need super human effort to be one. Not to mention that the odds would be against me big time. Of course not able to be an NBA star is not the end of the world. Many great footballers are not that tall. Certainly outside sports I could excel in more that one fields. I could be a scientist, an engineer, etc. 

However one's genes would be a limit if they made the person prone to have some diseases, or even worse lethal diseases. In that case what we inherit is really our game of luck. Let us assume that guy that I saw this afternoon is obese mainly due to his genetics make up. Being obese would certainly exposes him to some health issues. Eventually his fate might be pretty much determined at least the probability are already fixed.

We know that probability have wide outcomes. Even the most unlikely outcome has its own probability.  This in itself should be enough for us to keep trying. Keep being positive. Keep believing. Our genes might be a lottery, but our determination belongs to us. Always

Reference
https://www.dw.com/en/genetic-lottery-excuse-to-do-nothing-or-do-everything/a-59260696

 

the tendency to look upward

In psychology, the human drive to compare ourselves to others is called “social comparison theory” introduced in the 1950s by social psychologist Leon Festinger. He pointed out that humans are driven to evaluate and know the truth about themselves, and desire a way to define themselves. And how do we achieve this, beyond our own personal analysis? By then comparing our abilities and opinions to those of others. Part of Festinger’s hypotheses was one that stated that we are all also prone, when it comes to looking at our abilities, to look upward. We want to do better and better, so choose to compare ourselves to people slightly ahead of us in skill.

I experienced this so call social comparison more after my retirement. I felt like a runner running his final lap and realizing that he was behind. He was to far from the podium position, not even the top ten. Apparently my feeling is pretty much driven my human tendency. Of course being a retiree would make things more dramatic, that final lap feeling.

My knee jerk reaction is avoiding contact with friends who are more successful - or at least look like so. Pretty easy to do as they did not reach out to me. I just skip their Facebook or Linkedin feeds. No worries, Next would to ignore reunion invitation. All of which are easy to do and apparently no one would bother to ask about my disappearance. We all have life outside those things. 

Of course I challenge myself about my weird behavior. Why couldn't I just accept that people have different luck in life. Some eventually are more richer, appear to be more successful, more luckier etc. Some would be situated on the left side of the bell curve. That is the nature of statistic. Such thinking does not work because I still ask - why can't I be on right side of the curve? Why not me?

In the eighties, a new concept was introduced called “downward social comparison”. This is the habit of comparing ourselves to those who are worse off.

Yes indeed we could always point our view to different direction: downward ! We could say: yes my friends are more successful but in this whole world or within a radius of 5 KM there are many people would would like to trade their lives with mine this very minute. Fact is even my so called successful friends are somewhere to the left of the curve looking from higher level. I am sure that they would be nowhere in comparison to the top 50 richest people in my country, never mind in the world. 

Comparing downward does not in itself completely cures my tendency to feel less fortunate. However apparently there are things we could do to help ourselves in dealing with nagging tendency. Firstly,  practice gratitude. It was a trend for a while that then went off the radar, but gratitude is actually evidence based, proven to up your moods and even help your sleep.

Secondly, use comparison for better perspective. If you must compare, use it to widen your perspective. This can be downward comparison (I think my life is hard, but to someone in a Third World country I live like a queen) but also can be comparing upwards if used positively. For example, I am terrified of giving this presentation because I’m terrible at them, but it’s not like I am an actor give an Oscar speech in front of millions, it’s just to my colleagues.

Lastly compare yourself to yourself. Nobody needs to compare their adult body to their teenage body, but comparing your life in general now to your life in general then can be productive. Too often we forget to see how far we’ve come.

Reference
https://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/comparing-yourself-to-others.htm

out of sight, out of mind

Today I deleted one message in one of WA groups that annoyed me. I was surprised that such simple act like that help me to avoid getting more upset. Out of sight, out of mind they say. How true ! Once deleted I tend not to remember it. I might still have it on my mind but of course that message is no linger there for me to ruminate with.

It reminds me how google, twitter etc work, Based on their algorithm this smart app would predict feeds that would interest you. For example, based on people that I follow twitter would pick feeds that are being followed by those whom I follow. In a sense my world is getting narrower. I would not mind at all as I would have deleted or muted those are irritating or not suit my own taste.  Similar algorithm is used by google. My google search would not be exactly the same as yours as my universe would be different as yours. 

Am not sure if this good or bad. This might consider be bad as we are essentially living in our own bubble We simply create our own reality by filtering things that we like. It could be considered as good as we avoid getting upset with things that we do not like. However at the same time we would never be challenged. We would circle around in a tighter and tighter space. I guess in a matter of science we want to be in the widest universe. Limiting our view in matter of science would be betraying the basic principle of science. As for others, I am happy to just seeing things that I like

I know what I like and I like what I know