Mouth Ulcer
It's another "first time in life", the first time I had a mouth ulcer. I don't remember the exact time, but it lasted for about a week. The pain was unforgettable. It started as a small white spot on the lower part of my mouth. I thought it was a normal blister caused by eating too much spicy food recently. But it got worse and the small white spot became bigger, and the pain became more intense.
On the 24th, I went to a clinic outside of school. I opened my mouth for the doctor to see. He gave me a box of Niuhuang Jiedu tablets and a box of Bing Borax powder (similar to watermelon frost). He told me not to eat spicy or hot food. But I bought an iced drink right after. I started taking the medicine when I got back home. It was even more painful and uncomfortable when I applied the Bing Borax powder to the wound. But after two days of medication, I could clearly feel that it was healing.
Finally, I could eat without pain, but I still had to pay attention to my diet. I followed my friend's advice and bought some mouthwash. I rinsed my mouth after meals. I don't want to have mouth ulcers again.
Cognitive Awakening
I've been reading a book called "Cognitive Awakening" by Zhou Ling this week. It has been on my bookshelf for a long time, but my teacher recommended it recently, so I read it seriously.
From the title, you might think it's a knowledge-based paid product, but it's actually a very basic but practical personal growth methodology. After reading it, I had a feeling of enlightenment. I had never thought of using this method or perspective to understand problems before.
In the beginning of the book, the author says that humans actually have three brains: the instinctive brain, the emotional brain, and the rational brain. These three brains are the origin of all problems. The instinctive brain originated from the era of reptiles. It has a simple structure and only has a primitive reflex module. For example, when faced with danger, it fights or runs away. When hungry, it wants to eat. These are all the functions of the instinctive brain. The emotional brain originated from the era of mammals. It enhances survival advantages through emotions. The rational brain originated from the era of primates. It can generate language, create art, develop technology, and establish civilization. The instinctive brain is in charge of instincts, the emotional brain is in charge of emotions, and the rational brain is in charge of cognition.
These three brains have different powers. The instinctive brain and the emotional brain have been around for a longer time and have more power. They also develop at different times in humans, reaching maturity at around 2 years old, 12 years old, and 22 years old respectively. So in the first 20 years of our lives, we always appear mentally immature.
The book also discusses anxiety, patience, subconsciousness, focus, and action. The reason why we feel anxious, impatient, lack focus, and lack action is because most of our decisions in life are often based on instinct and emotion, rather than rationality. Our growth is about overcoming our nature and controlling ourselves with our rational brain.
Discussion on Rebates
I saw a discussion on Twitter. @Yachen Liu often shares things he thinks are worth buying, and the links he shares usually include rebates. Another user @Red Panda Research thinks this is a low behavior and says not to chase after money.
After reading it, I had a question mark in my mind. Can this also be criticized? Isn't this a normal behavior? As a consumer, I need to buy a product. I happen to see someone recommending a product that they have used and think is great. I can complete the purchase without wasting a lot of time. They get a rebate, I get the desired product, and the business makes a profit. It's a win-win situation. Why not do it?
I'm also a part-time affiliate marketer. I mainly recommend VPS and web hosting. I earned a few hundred dollars from Lao Xue Host and Tencent Cloud. Now I mainly recommend CloudCone VPS and even created a page for it. I have used the products of these three companies and found them to be good, so I share them with everyone to save time.
Speaking of which, it seems similar to employee referrals in companies, right?
Interesting Things and Events
- I watched the first and second seasons of "Sex Education": Don't be fooled by the title. After watching it, it made me think about sex education in China. Honestly, do we have sex education in China? Our middle school biology textbooks briefly mention menstruation in females and nocturnal emissions in males, and that's it. In the series, a high school teacher explains sexual knowledge in class and teaches everyone how to use condoms. The principal gives a speech in the auditorium about the significance of sanitary pads. In China, words like condoms, sanitary pads, and menstruation are sensitive and not openly discussed. This is not only due to cultural traditions but also a flaw in our culture. As a netizen said, in terms of sex education, Chinese people, you have skipped class.
- I watched "Chase the Dragon": I finally understood why good editing can make a bad movie look good. The last time I had this feeling was when I watched "The Storm Riders". After watching it for over an hour, I didn't even see a trace of drugs. The whole movie was filled with floods, mudslides, and landslides. I already didn't like rain, and now I dislike it even more.
- Xiao Lin talked about an interview with the founder of Duolingo: It was an interview video with Luis, the founder of Duolingo, discussing his entrepreneurial journey and the development of Duolingo. During the interview, Luis mentioned that the biggest obstacle to language learning is boredom. So from the beginning, he tried to make language learning with Duolingo fun for users. For the user experience of Duolingo, you can read the latest article by @Chen Cangjie titled "Learning French with Duolingo for 100 Days" (in Chinese).
- On September 26th, Han Yu asked me why I call it a weekly report instead of a weekly journal. The impression of a weekly report is that it is presented and reported to others, while a weekly journal is a self-record. I replied with three words at that time - I didn't think much about it. Indeed, I didn't think much about it. It's just a form, and it doesn't make much difference whether it's called a weekly report or a weekly journal. The primary audience is myself, and the purpose is to record and reflect. Another reason is that @Pseudoyu also uses the term weekly report.
- On September 26th, I learned some things at school that are mostly wrong: 1. Let us be good friends with everyone. It is happier for both parties to keep a distance from people we don't like. 2. Work hard to overcome your weaknesses. It is more advantageous for survival to focus on developing your strengths. 3. Hard work will always be rewarded. If the method and direction are wrong, there will be no reward at all. 4. Sit down and discuss to solve problems. In real life, there are more people who don't understand what others are saying than you think.
- On September 28th, I saw a special offer VPS on CloudCone. It had 3 cores, 3GB RAM, and 6TB bandwidth, all for only $38 per year. At that time, there were still 8 available, so I shared a tweet with my referral link. The next morning, I woke up to find that it had over 40,000 views, and 5 people purchased through my link. Of course, it's sold out now, but I earned some pocket money. I also submitted a ticket to the official website, requesting an exclusive discount code with a larger discount, and I'm waiting for a reply. Hopefully, it will be successful.
- On September 29th, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, I had the idea to use AI to generate some images related to the festival. Surprisingly, the results were good. You can check out the images on my Jike dynamic. The general process was to log in to the ChatGPT website and let it provide me with prompts. I kept adding details to make it more complete. Then I logged in to the Bing Create website and entered the prompts provided by ChatGPT, waiting for the generation.
These are the things and events of this week. I hope to review my week in a relaxed and calm manner, and I hope that friends who subscribe to my blog can calmly read my sharing and continue to love their lives. Life is not just about nonsense.
The background image is taken by me, the sky of Yuzui Island in Nanchang.