Author: Kon

Lifestyle

Beards, What are they good for?

  • by Kon

There is a reason you’re here, most likely you asked yourself why should I grow a beard? Or what does a beard do? How about can I save food for later? Or something along those lines. I’m going attempt to outline some reasons to grow a beard, and what they are good for. Also to answer your first question no you cant really store food for later. Lets get started.

Chill

Depends on what part off the globe you’re from, winter is either coming or going. With that said my usual audience its located in Australia, so the winter is almost out. How can a beard help though you may ask? With a thick cover of hair on your face, it breaks down the chill of the wind. So instead of a cold slap in the face you feel the mild caress of winters hand. And you thought winter had no chill.

Sun

What about on the other spectrum of the year, when the sun is out and ready to party? Where the same beard that can keep your face warm from the chill of winter, works both ways and prevents  you getting sunburnt. This obviously depends on how much growth you have, and how dense the forrest is. Makes sense that when guys shave their beards they have a pale baby face, imagine your chin not getting any Vitamin D for a year.

Soft

Ever had stubble, or a five o’clock shadow before? Who wants that kind of harshness on their skin or others in general? People think beards are rough, in fact they are pretty soft. I’ve received numerous compliments from women telling me that they are surprised that my beard is soft. Also imagine your face being surrounded by a pillow most of the time, that a good thing. Embrace it.

Makeup

Women can apply makeup to pretty up their face, or hide imperfections. What do guys have? Beards. Simply by having a beard its a way to mask certain imperfections, or spots on your face. I mean you can apply makeup, but would you? Look, even if you can go full viking you can have a neatly maintained Maine that can make a world of difference.

And there you have it, that is some reasons (four in fact) as to what beards are good for. Primarily it’s to either keep you from getting cold or getting hot. While also helping make you look more defined, with the right grooming.

composition-img Tutorials

5 Basic Photography Tips

  • by Kon


I’ve spent a long time taking photographs and learning photography. But in a time where everything is a snap or a filter away on your phone, it makes it easy to take more and more photos until you have the right one. By no means am I telling you to hipster out and go buy a camera and film. Just a few simple techniques to implement and consider the next time you take out you phone for a snap, that can improve your photography.

1. Exposure

The first thing you learn when you’re learning photography is exposure, the most fundamental technical aspect of photography. Its called the exposure triangle and it includes Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO. With the adjustment of these setting on your camera you adjust how sharp to blurry your photo is and how bright and dark it is.


Aperture

Inside each lens you use whether its a lens on a Digital SLR or a tiny little lens attached to a phone there is an aperture ring. With a DSLR you can adjust it to open up or close it to allow less light. They are numbered stops and the smaller the number the opening is larger to let in more light. Although if you let in more light with a larger aperture, the focus distance becomes smaller.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed adjusts how long the shutter will open up to allow light to be exposed by the film or sensor In the camera. The numbering system for shutter speed is in fractions. The basic explanation is the shutter can be opened for one second. The “speed” of the shutter speed is relative to one second. 1/60 shutter speed is one 60th of one second. So you take one second and cut it up in to sixty parts and the duration of one of those parts is the length of time the sensor is exposed to light. The shutter speed on your camera can range from 1/5000 of a second to 10 seconds. The larger the fraction the less light gets exposed thus the image will be sharper and darker, the longer the exposure you increase motion blur of movement and more light gets exposed on to the sensor.

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ISO

The sensitivity of the light to your sensor is adjusted by the ISO rating. It usually ranges from 100 to 3200. The higher the number, means the sensor will be more sensitive to light. So naturally you would keep the shutter speed higher so you can get shaper images in low light. I would use the highest ISO sparingly because the higher the sensitivity, you then introduce grain an pixel noise. So even though you can shoot in lower light, you will get a grainier image. I would personally use it between 100-800. Use the higher ranges at your own discretion.

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2. Composition

Composition sounds like what it is, just like musicians compose music, you pay attention and what to include in the photo and what not. And it is the absolute most important thing you need to consider when you take photos. Think about what is in the photo before you press the shutter. Ask yourself is that sign distracting in the background? can I move to the left? How will including this make the photo better?

3. Rule of thirds

What this means is, when you compose your image imagine your image is split up in nine different partitions on top of the image horizontally and vertically. Think a big hashtag over the image “#” which helps with composition. What this technique is used for is to seperate the background middle ground and foreground, where your subject can be in any of those. Usually almost everyone places the focal point of an image in the middle square. To make your compositions interesting try placing your focal point on either of the other boxes, for a more interesting photo.

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4. Perspective

A way to take a mediocre photo is to shoot from eye level, the usual same boring perspective everyone looks through everyday. One sure way to stand out and get people looking at your photos with revere is to change the way they look at things. What I mean is change your perspective, thus changing theirs. Shoot low, mid, from the hip or get up from above.

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5. Zoom

This something I see people do and personally I wish they didn’t. When they take a photo they will stand really far away and use their camera that has a ridiculous 40x zoom. They zoom in to their subject which leaves no room for any movement around to experiment with your rule of thirds or perspective. Physically zoom in, get up close and move around to get your composition and perspective perfect.

Experiment and try something you never have before, or try something you have before with a twist. No one gets good overnight, so what I say is practice, practice, practice. Go out have your camera with you and take photos.

morning routines Lifestyle

Morning Routine

  • by Kon

morning routines

Morning routines, almost everyone says they have them and they most likely do or don’t even think about it. What is involved in a morning routine, what do you do and what should you do?

What you should do and what shouldn’t do is subjective, some things that work for you might not work well for others. The way I see it is you want to aim to get the most value out of your time in your morning routine.

Now what do I mean by that? What I do as soon as I wake up, is actually wake up. Have breakfast and shower, and I check the news for the day and do some light reading. Then I go over my list of goals. I look at what’s on the list, and Then I check of what I’ve done and make a new one for the day, so I know what needs to be done. Once I finish the 9 to 5 job, I want to spend at least three hours actually working towards those day-to-day goals. That’s pretty much what I do almost everyday has my daily routine, it does vary slightly from day to day.

Now what I want to talk about is things that you can do and implement in your daily routine, that will help you get to the next level.

wake-up-early

Waking up early

This is something that I struggle with, and I’m not necessarily telling to wake up early but what I’m saying is try to wake up earlier than usual. Time is a finite resource and an invaluable asset. Think about what you could do with an extra 2 to 4 hours a day if you only woke up earlier. Now I’m not telling you to wake up that three or four in the morning but if your wake up time is closer to noon then you could definitely try waking up a couple of hours earlier.

meditate

Meditation

I don’t do this, in the traditional fashion. But I do enjoy some quiet time. This is all about de-stressing, and spending the time focusing and just relaxing. Professionals say a lot of our problems and illnesses caused by stress, and I really do believe that. Make it a habit of taking some time out, breathe and listen to the speech by Al Pacino in any given Sunday and go out and kick some ass.

There you go, a post about what I do during my morning routine. And some of the things that you can incorporate in yours, and definitely something I could incorporate mine. I pretty much did the research for this post as a way to find new morning routines for myself, and now I have a new blog post, so you’re welcome.

how-to-win-friends Book Reviews

How to win friends and influence people. A book…

  • by Kon

how-to-win-friends

This book is actually definitely one you need to read, written by Dale Carnegie published in 1936. You might say that’s an old book and the principles will be outdated. Fair assumption to think that but a lot of the content in the beak is still relevant. Why? Human behaviour is still the same as it was in 1936.

What do I mean when I say human behaviour is still the same 80 years later? Well the basic principles of human behaviour. some of the topics discussed in the book are:

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Six Ways to Make People Like You
Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offence or Arousing Resentment

The book gets into these topics in to great detail with case studies and personal experiences, from different people who have interacted with Dale Carnegie

One fundamental teaching of the book is talk in terms of the other persons interest. Everyone Wants something. And if you want to influence someone look at it from their point of view and see what they want. How to win friends? Just listen and take interest in them instead of talking about yourself.

Last thoughts

Overall the advice illustrated in this book is 85 per cent solid, and is a must read for anyone. Firstly it you an understanding of how to win at social interactions and win friends. I rate this book a solid eight out of ten doughnuts. Get onto it as soon as possible, and the best thing is because it is an older book, you can find a free copy on archive.org here.

feature-img Food & Drinks

Where to get good coffee in Melbourne

  • by Kon

One things for sure, I love my coffee. That’s my I thought I’d come to Melbourne CBD and try my favourite coffee shop and some others around the area and give you a list of some of what I think are the best coffee shops around.

tobys-estate

Tobys Estate Flinders Lane

Now this one is a little gem, which over the last couple of years has grown into something even better. Initially I came here for the coffee which by far is the best I have had. What made me stay and keep this coffee shop as one of my favourites is the customer service. Everyone is friendly and they make you feel welcomed as any guest. And did I mention their coffee is the best?

dukes-coffee-roasters

Dukes coffee roasters Flinders Lane.

I had only been To dukes coffee once, and initially I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. And the coffee was really great. When talk about brownie points for a cafe, atmosphere is one of the things I look at. I really enjoyed the atmosphere at dukes Dukes’ and it’s has style, although not much room to sit as it is set up narrow and long.

bar-ampere

Bar ampere Russell​ place

I love this place, it’s hidden away and from afar it looks like it might be a hole in the wall. The place is tiny but far from having no charm. As you walk in the walls are lined with graffiti, and inside the glass doors vintage absinthe bottles surrounds the seating area. Apart from the great coffee, bar ampere specialise in absinthe. And is a fully licensed bar with a kitchen in the back, so even if you get hungry they’ve got you covered.

little-rogue

Little Rogue Drewery Lane

This is another one that is literally a hole in the wall, but figuratively speaking it is tiny little shop with barely any external signage. So you won’t spot it easily. This is for you guys up the northern part of the city. It’s a tiny contemporary place with a vintage twist it’s cozy so seats are scarce. It might not the type of place where you can sit there for a long time. But no biggie because you can just take the coffee with you and walk, it’s better for you anyways.

 

Well there you have it, a list of some of the places I like to have coffee. And some that I discovered while walking around Melbourne. The list is in no particular order of best to least best. Get out there and try them for yourself if you get a chance, you might like them as well.

crush-it-book-review Book Reviews

Crush It! – Book Review

  • by Kon

crush-it-book-review

Crush it!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Veynerchuck

My thoughts

Crush it was published in 2009, about 8 years ago. First and foremost. It is still relevant in todays landscape because the underlying fundamental aspect of what this book is about is still applicable.

Its not an overly long book at one hundred and forty two pages, you can read it in a couple of afternoons.

This book is meant to show you how you can cash in on your passion using free and available resources, and it is what Gary pretty much preaches on every one of his #AskGaryVee and DailyVee shows.

In essence crush it is about finding your passion, what ever that is. And work to build a personal brand around that passion then monetise that passion through social media. Putting emphasis that content is king, and creating new content every day is critical to having any success on building your brand.

Reading the book in 2017 has content that is out of date naturally as it was written at the time when Facebook and youtube was still new. Both these platforms had yet to position themselves as the industry leaders in content and social media. There’s mention of other platforms like viddler and FriendFeed some have evolved and some have merged with others, in the evolution of social media.

Last thoughts

Overall in my opinion Crush It! is a solid book to read if you’ve ever thought of opening a business, or if you have a hobby that you want to eventually learn to make money from it. It shows you what you need to do to achieve that. The examples shown in this book are not a way to get rich quick. There is lots of work ahead of you if you want to follow Gary’s advice, but worth it in the end.

every-day-carry Lifestyle

Every Day Carry – what’s in your pockets?

  • by Kon

every-day-carry

What do I carry with me everyday or EDC, heres list of things whats in my pockets every day.

Phone – iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 6s Plus, I pretty much don’t go anywhere without it. As well as yourself don’t go anywhere without your phone. Usually pocket space is sparse, so I opted in having just my phone in any note taking and a quick drawing that I need instead of carrying a notepad and pen as well. The phone is used in any quick videos that I need to take, as well as running my Facebook pages to working on this very website. A lot of power in the space of a pocket, and I sure don’t need to tell you its something that needs to be part of your everyday carry, as you probably do already.

Beard Comb

Being the editor and chief bearded bro, it’s a no brainer that I need a beard comb to be part of my every day carry, It’s small and light and slips away in your breast pocket if you have one or your back pocket, and the clip keeps it in place., and tames your follicles right.

Watch

Swiss Military Hanowa – SWISS RECRUIT PRIME

I bought this watch when I was traveling though Europe, and I never leave the house with out it. Its Swiss made through and though. Formal style with the metal band, and somewhat ruggedness with a sapphire glass. This is a good one for all you minimalists out there, as it has a pretty simple watch face. Simple yet functional. Having a watch stops you from reaching for your phone all the time when you need to see the time which I think is a bad habit, also the less time you look at your phone the battery will last longer. 

Wallet

JAG Wallet

I have has this walled for a long time, It’s a mini/small JAG wallet. Made out of leather and its stood the test of time ten years strong and still going,

Keys

Basic set of keys here, Cant leave without them, as I’ve got my car keys on there. A good idea is to have a small USB thumb drive, you never know when you might need to transfer some things or copy some files from a friend, a handy addition for you everyday. The big red tag Is a replica of an aircraft tag, serves as a way to see the days from a distance.

Tablet

Acer Android Tablet

This is not something I carry with me every day, as it doesn’t fit in my pocket. But it is a basic 8” android tablet, and I use it as an ebook reader. I always try to read when I get a chance. And reading ebooks is the easiest, who wants to lug books around when they don’t have a lot of space.

And there you go, nothing spectacular but I am a minimalist at heart.

things-every-man-should-do Lifestyle

3 Things every man should do daily

  • by Kon

things-every-man-should-do

Read Books

Do you want to know one habit of really successful people?

They read.

Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates they read at least 1 book a week.

And you can too. There’s so much knowledge that comes from reading books, and it’s also a way to relax and unwind. It’s important that you look at books that interest you. If it’s a new topic that you might want to learn about give it a try, it’s the only way you’ll know if you’ll be interested or not. I myself try to read at least one book per fortnight and it’s something you should aim towards. If you can’t read one book per week, try one per month. Twelve per year is better than zero.

Set Goals

Every man should set goals, and goals are not a set and forget kind of deal. You need to visit the list all the time and continually achieve and re set. Now what do i mean by that. You have to usually start from the long term goals and work backwards. First you need have your long term goals. They are the five to ten year timeframe. Usually where you want to be professionally and personally, i.e. Starting a business, or wanting to save x amount of money, or buying a house. Basically anything that you want to achieve in the next five to ten years.

Next is your short to medium term goals. That is usually six months to one year. This is usually when you look at your long term goals and break down what steps need to be taken to accomplish those. For example If you want to start a business in the next five years, you write down take a business course as an example. Whatever your long term goal is you break that down to find the step that needs to be taken to accomplish it. Now this is the best part, short term goals are what you work with on the daily grind. These are the weekly to monthly goals that you set that need to be accomplished. The kind of goals you can set are, reading your book for the month, or setting up a savings account to start saving money. It’s the work that needs to be done at the bottom of the steps that start you off to get to the top.

Go to bed a little wiser every night

This point kind of ties the two top points together. You want to be hungry and always learning, that’s how you reach to the top of your game or field. Now I think reading books and setting goals go hand in hand. When you read you want to be retaining the information you get. And by getting a little wiser every day you will slowly but surely elevate yourself to the next level to where you want to be. Reaching closer and closer to your long term goals.

growing-beard-how-to Grooming

Growing A Beard – Basic Tips

  • by Kon
growing-beard-how-to
Growing a beard.

Lots of guys I talk to about beards always ask me “how do you grow a beard like that”? First and foremost, time is your friend here the longer you can refrain from shaving at all the better for your future beard.

Here are some things that I learned while growing my beard that can help you grow yours.

Do not cut or trim

Lots of guys don’t shave for one or two weeks, then complain that they cant grow a beard. From the start of your journey, you want to grow for at least four weeks before you think about trimming or shaping your beard. The reason is because you need to get some length first, once you do then you can shape to compliment your face shape.

Be committed to your beard

When you start growing your beard, you need to be fully committed to growing it out. In the first 1-5 months, you will be on the brink of looking like a homeless man. But alas after the 5 month mark after you trim it you will have the look and style you need to carry yourself, like the badass you are.

There isn’t much to it when it comes to growing out your beard apart from patience and time, albeit your genetics work with you and not against you in this instance. If this list is not enough for you. Have a look out our reasons as to why you need to start growing a beard. Now get out there and grow what your father gave you.

Conversation

Beards though time – A retrospective look

  • by Kon

When you think of beards you’re usually think of a simpler time, a time of bush rangers, presidents and kings. No need to be royalty to enjoy yourself some facial shrub. We will look at five historical men with their style and look of beard.

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Ned Kelly

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Kelly is one of Australians most known outlaws. He is also known for his inventiveness by creating metal body armour when he faced the police in a fierce gun battle in 1880. His beard style is defined as the all out bush ranger style, weathered just enough to handle Australia’s roughest terrains. Kelly still remains a cultural icon that still inspires the beards in all of us.

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King George V

George V is one of the last kings of England to sport a beard and moustache combo. He ascended the throne from the 6th of May 1910, till his death on 20th of January 1936. George appeared as a simple and hardworking man. He reflected upper middle class values of the time, which people admired him for.

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Abraham Lincoln

Ask anyone to name a well known American president with a beard, and what you will heard is Abraham Lincoln. The man abolished slavery in the USA and fought a war to keep it that way. Although, the 16th president of the USA beard style is more sideburns and neckbeard, and lacks the moustache, its an iconic beard nonetheless, that is instantly recognisable.

charles-darwin

Charles Darwin

Darwin was a naturalist and geologist, that is most known for contributing to the science of evolution, and the author of “On the Origin of Species”. A theory outlining evolution and natural selection. He grew his famous beard between 1862 and 1866, and it was fist photographed in 1868. Darwin had a full bushy beard, you could say it was full of knowledge. It would have aided in his search for the evolution of species.

edward-john-smith

Edward John Smith

Also known as the the captain on RMS Titanic. Became the most experienced captain on the white star line of ships. At his height of his career, Smith was responsible for operating all the flagships of the line. And eventually captain of the RMS Titanic on it’s maiden voyage. His beard was not long at all, it stood on it’s own as a full beard and had a timeless feel of the time. A beard like this doesn’t take much effort to pull off.

There you go, a list of prominent Australian bush rangers. Kings, presidents and scientist that could and did grow beards. Hopefully you can take inspiration to grow your own beard out, and in time will look just good as these men did with theirs.