Zhuk Notes

Latest — Jun 17, 2025

WhatsApp is not a messenger app for your kid

Walk down a street in Helsinki and pick a random 7–12-year-old with a smartphone. In 9 out of 10 cases, you’ll find WhatsApp installed. In Finland, WhatsApp is widely seen as a simple messaging tool — private, low-risk, and the default choice for kids to stay in touch with

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Leaving Parasocial Media Behind

I created my Facebook account 17 years ago, in the fall of 2007. Early Facebook was quite different from what it is today. It was about a new way of staying connected with old and current real-world acquaintances—whether childhood friends, coworkers or relatives. Networks were built primarily between people

I used to read two novels a week, then I got a smartphone

A Moment of Honesty A couple of weeks ago, I had the TV on, and the Finnish version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was airing, hosted by Antti Holma—a famous Finnish actor and host. A young man was sitting in the participant's chair. A question

Vuosi häiritsevän tinnituksen kanssa

Kuuntelin viime viikolla Psykopodiaa -podcastin jakson “159. Häiritsevä tinnitus. Vieraina Mari Havia ja Kristiina Laakso.”. Jaksossa käsitellään tinnituksen ja ääniyliherkkyyden hoitoa terapian menetelmin. Aihe on minulle henkilökohtaisesti tuttu, ja ajattelin tarjota siihen yhden tarinan yhden ihmisen elämästä häiritsevän tinnituksen kanssa. Vaikka tinnitus on vaivana hyvin yleinen, se on yllättäen huonosti

The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

This book was originally published in 1951 by Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. The first time I've heard about it was from Cal Newport's Deep Questions podcast. I've been listening

A path of pain with URLCache eviction and subclassing

URLCache class implements the caching of responses to URL load requests, by mapping NSURLRequest objects to CachedURLResponse objects. It provides a composite in-memory and on-disk cache, and lets you manipulate the sizes of both the in-memory and on-disk portions. You can also control the path where cache data is persistently

Overreach by Matthews Owen

Matthews Owen's book offers an exceptionally well-written analysis of the historical background, starting from the earliest times, even before Kievan Rus, and tracing events up to the present war. Owen has access to numerous insider sources and isn't afraid to share his and his family'

Do we need an office?

As the COVID-19 pandemic has now become an integral part of our daily lives, companies around the world are rethinking their policies around how and where the knowledge work is done. Approaches vary: * Airbnb announced its “Live and work anywhere“ policy and is partnering with governments to make it easier

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Book commentary in my essay about remote work. Title: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Author: Cal Newport Year: 2016 Get the book on Amazon

Effective Remote Work by James Stanier

Book commentary in my essay about remote work. Title: Effective Remote Work: For Yourself, Your Team, and Your Company Author: James Stanier Year: 2022 Get the book on Amazon