Excursions

I spent a wonderful evening with close friends yesterday whom I met after a long period, some after more than 10 years. It’s remarkable how time can’t slacken some threads, lost possibly in the dull grinds of the life. You pick these threads from where you left them. As you remember the memories of yesteryears, you can laugh at them — or be affected by the updates from people that are not around you at this moment.

You know your bond with a few folks is strong when they can lend the present moment innate warmth. You feel a deep kinship, regardless of how much time has passed since you last met them. Yesterday evening was one such occasion, when we tickled many old memories and made a few new ones.

Gruber says, and many have observed the same.

The iPhone 13 Mini has longer battery life than last year’s regular iPhone 12. That’s a game-changer for those who want the Mini size.

Yep, it makes the mini iPhone a lot more appealing.

I joined Literal yesterday — I am @amit there. I also have three invites to share. So, if you are tired of Goodreads or just want a new service to play with, please use the share link.

I believe I don’t know how to use a browser. There are just so many features in every browser that make no sense to me. And the list keeps getting growing. Tab pinning. Tab Groups. Tab Management. Reading Lists. Password Managers. Reading Lists. I use none.

Austin Mann’s reviews of iPhone cameras are absolutely brilliant each year. And this year’s one for iPhone 13 Pro is no different. All shots are gorgeous. Even the video shot completely on iPhone is stunning. These devices are smartphones, no longer. These are “smartcameras”.

I love the 120-Hz display. Because I can then read the text while scrolling.

A comment from one of the iPhone 13 reviews. Sigh, levels we will go to justify the trivial upgrades in gadgets.

In reply to micro.blog/ronguest/…

Thank you, Ron. I will pass on your feedback. She doesn’t care much about anything other than creating, but still would love to hear anyway. 🙂👍🏼

After a two-weeks break away from all the timelines, it was good to scroll through a couple of them today.

The break also made me realise that I have made a few new friends online, especially from the wonderful community at Micro.blog. I missed the interactions with these folks. Each one of them is a brilliant creator in his or her own way. Bloggers. Photographers. Writers. They all are natural. They all inspire me.

I feel at home here, feel am part of this community. Not a feeling many platforms online can cultivate within you. It’s wonderful to be back and read through the lively discussions. The growth hasn’t dented the warmth, something that is pretty palpable here.

I published the 20th issue of my newsletter yesterday. Though I am proud that I have stuck with this hobby of mine, I would also love to get some feedback, some critique. I don’t care about numbers — that’s another reason I have disabled the analytics. But I do love to hear from you.

I have got a few via emails and I have loved each one of them. It has improved each issue.

• If you like something, I would love to read. If you don’t like something, I would love to read that more.
• In case you prefer email, do subscribe. If you prefer RSS, do let me know. There’s that too.

After a year of recording and sharing videos with the closed family, my daughter requested for something I knew she would one day, her own YouTube channel. After putting all the checks in place, here’s her video for Kids published on the Web.

Cambridge scientists might have possibly detected presence of dark energy.

About a year ago, the XENON1T experiment reported an unexpected signal, or excess, over the expected background. “These sorts of excesses are often flukes, but once in a while they can also lead to fundamental discoveries,” said co-author Dr Luca Visinelli.

It’s curious to read about the scientists talking about their experiments. Their palpable excitement is always contagious.

Earth’s mysterious red glow, explained →

In 2009, a satellite circled Earth, scanning and sorting the wavelengths reflecting off the planet’s surface. Researchers noticed something baffling: an unexpected wavelength of unknown origin. They tried looking at Earth with only this wavelength, and saw the planet covered in a red hue of varying intensity. So, what was going on?

Isn’t it fascinating that there are two services so similarly named, Discourse and Discord, being used by different platforms as discussion boards for their users? I always get confused between the two. I like one, I hate the other.

Gabriel wonders how all write emails, specifically two questions — where to draft and how to review.

I love writing emails, I wish I knew more folks who enjoy my enthusiasm for emails. But my process of doing so is simple. I use the email client to draft the email. If I ever want to get it reviewed from someone else, I will just mail them with the draft or temporarily share the device.

There’s another reason why I don’t use any text editors for emails. Because if I do, I will start writing in Markdown and eventually hate my email client for not growing up.

If you like ebooks, great. Enjoy your dim, gray screen in peace. If you hate them, don’t worry about it. Who says everything must involve a computer?

I love physical books, but I prefer reading the ebooks. I hope the distinction is clear enough. If I could afford, I would purchase both the physical and digital version of a book. Read the digital version, carry around my library in the Kindle always. That affluent me then can gawk at the beauty of the physical book and stack it in his self-designed library.

Source: The Atlantic — “Why Are Ebooks So terrible?”

It’s curious to watch Gruber on CNBC TV, something doesn’t feel right. I can’t put my finger on what, but I guess I just am not used to seeing him in such formal settings. Plus, he being referred to as “expert” and “blogger”.

“Erased From the Internet” - now that’s one phrase that I never thought I would hear. But I knew if I ever did hear that, one key option would be China.

I love to scroll through this 360-degree panoramas feature at National Geographic about Everest and its surrounding peaks. All the shots are breathtaking, especially the sunset view!

Apple and other companies need to stop delivering these pre-recorded overproduced keynotes. Without live demos and hands-on reports, they are no longer mediums to introduce their gadgets. They simply are extended advertisements, or short films featuring devices in lead roles and executives in supporting roles.

There’s so much of coverage for Colossal — a firm that plans to resurrect the Woolly mammoths. I have made an entry in the diary. We will remember this day as one when the curious scientists planted the seeds for the massacre at Jurassic Park.

I have heard many good things about Derek Siver’s new book “How To Live” from a few people I trust. So, it was instinctive of me to purchase the book the moment I saw Derek announce it is launched. I had missed purchasing this when Derek shared a preview link — no idea why.

Anyway, I am excited to read this, both as a reader and as a writer.

I had no idea the president of Guinea is named “Alpha Condé”. Wow! What a great name. No surprise he, eventually, started acting like an ass. With that name, he had to be a saint to keep his cool and stay down to earth.

PS: I know, am bad at keeping up with world politics.

I updated my Now page today, the weekly reminders help. Sure, I don’t update the page every week. But I am doing that way frequently than what I would otherwise.

Why’s the colour of everything marked unisex so bland? Who decided that mens don’t like any colours other than black or grey or silver? Or who decided that women will only like pink or purple? Why can’t I go on to a street carrying any non-black coloured umbrella and not get stares that judge me?

Some might say it’s trivial, yet I find this behaviour extremely frustrating. We claim we are making progress on multiple levels, yet we continue to stick our age-old presumptions of choices among sexes. And you know what, I have a theory why the choices of colours specifically are advertised in a way they are.

Professional places are bland — colours aren’t professional. Life and playfulness is colourful. So, who do we see as a professional? Well, of course, men. And who’s all about play? Right? Right?

Do you want to test this hypothesis? Here are Google Image searches for “man with umbrella” — how many blacks do you see there? Now, here’s the results’ page for “woman with umbrella”. Same question, how many blacks do you see there? Plus, what other commonality do you see among the images that are on the page? What’s the look that men are flaunting? And what about women? The industry is infuriating. Sigh!

By the way, here’s a meta update which I forgot to put out there. I have ended the trial of the Glass app — the subscription price was hefty for my usage. I am not a photographer, you see. So, I did not fit there. At the same time, I decided to pay for Ulysses and Reeder. I love both the apps, and they reduce that slight friction from the two activities that I love doing.