2020 Resolutions

2 weeks before new years and it is time to set some goals for the coming year and lay down a rough plan to achieve them.

Here goes:

1. Pass Inburgering! I have been living in the Netherlands for 3.5 years now and it is time to be able to read and speak Dutch at a ‘good-enough’ level.

More concrete plans are:

• Continue Taalhuis classes until the end of B1 level.
• Talk in Dutch for your day-to-day things.
• Pass a B1 level proficiency test and also pass the Inburgering allowing for a potential permanent residency for the following year.

2. Learn Information Theory I will follow Elements of Information Theory by Cover and Thomas chapter by chapter.

3. Revisit Complex Adaptive Systems My interest in complex systems had quite an early start when I had picked up Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos from my high school library. Since then I read quite a bit on the subject, worked with one of the experts, Douglas R. White, who applies the ideas of complex systems to understanding human societies. Despite all this, I always found the mathematical theory of complex systems quite fragmented. Non-linear dynamics, game theory, network theory, information theory… All these were part of the thing that constituted complex systems yet I had a hard time putting the pieces together.

This year, I want to give complex systems a new try. Mostly because I feel uncomfortable with how little I know even though I spent quite some time working with complex systems.

Concrete plan is to follow:

• Follow Introduction to the Theory of Complex Systems by Stefan Thurner, Rudolf Hanel, and Peter Klimek

• Follow Cosma Shalizi’s Spring 2009 course called Chaos, Complexity, and Inference

4. Exercise * Get down to 10% body weight * Hold a front lever for 10 seconds * 5 hand stand push ups. * Swim in Zandvoord on some weekends.

5. Nutrition * No sugar and fruits save for berries * No seed oils * 16 hours intermittent fasting everyday with the occasional OMAD on weekends, even some weekend long fasts every month or so. * Fatty fish once a week, lamb liver once a week * Fermented veggies and kimchi * Keep experimenting with dairy, not sure how my body reacts to it. I only eat high fat yogurt and hard cheeses. Not sure if they cause inflammation. I find it hard to bring my protein and overall calorie intake to maintenance if I remove them from my diet so this is to be decided.

6. Other Health Related Things * Cold showers every time I shower * Sauna on some weekends. * Go to bed same time, wake up without an alarm clock. No phone in the bedroom. * Investigate more the functions and effects of Resveratrol, NMN/NR and metformin.

Books To Read:

This year I will keep the list smaller and thus more manageable than last year’s because I want to be able to spend more time on learning Information Theory and Complex Adaptive Systems better.

The plan for this year is to read Turkish fiction: classics and modern.

List to be added soon!