Happy Ramadan !

It happens to me every year where I know that Ramadan is coming and I say to myself that I'll start preparing, but next thing you know, it's here! So Ramadan is the name of a month in the Islamic calendar which is considered holy and it's also when most Muslims fast from first light til sunset. If you want to know a bit more about the month, ABC Australia has a pretty good summary article.

Now, a small ask (as always!). If you have a friend who you think would enjoy the this email, maybe forward it on? It helps A LOT! If you're the friend reading this, click the link below to join! Glad to have you here!

In this week's email...

• Week in the Life - read on the blog
• Read - Whitest paint ever could help cool the Earth
• Gadgets & things - Multi-USB Charging cable
• Watch - Sindhu Vee Live at the Apollo
• Quote - ‘I don’t have time’ is just another way of saying, ‘It’s not a priority.'

Week in the life

This week has mostly been playing catch up. Monday was another on call and was also the first night/morning for me to get up early before first light to eat. It seems every Ramadan I'm on call the night before!

Like the previous 2 years, I'll be using this month to try and help those less fortunate by raising money and awareness for the homeless in the community, especially as Australia heads into a cold winter. If you'd like to donate, please head over to the Ramadan21 Chuffed page. I'm trying to break last year's raise and am matching any donations up to $1500. So far we're about 10% of the way there!

On another note, after being in Australia for decades, this is the first time every that I've seen the grocery chain put up decorations for Ramadan! They have a little section near the front and so far have had Chinese New Year, Easter but now Ramadan too. I only saw it at the end of my grocery trip and took a video instead of a photo so here's a terrible screen grab from that...

I also went to an Iftar party yesterday but I was a bit too hungry (and running late!) so I didn't actually take any photos! Iftar is the name of the meal when you break fast at sunset and it's quite common in Muslim majority countries to get invited to Iftar parties. In Australia, I've only really been to ones that my extended family have organised. This one from a friend was nice since it featured Turkish cuisine instead of curry!

I managed to fit in an ill timed staycation at the Doubletree, but more on that on the blog...

PxR/randInt update

Photos x Raffy Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/photosbyraffy

This week has been all about resetting into Ramadan mode! With that, comes setting up the fundraiser and... starting the Ramadan vlog. The new episode for this year isn't up yet (I'll be editing it just after I finish this email) but hopefully, it'll be less frequent but better and more entertaining. On a side note, I finally uploaded the last video from last year just a few days ago. Nearly a year after originally intended!

On the podcast front, we should actually be recording a new episode tomorrow or the next day. I was hoping to get it done earlier but...logistics...

Gadgets & tech

Multi-USB Charging cable (~$12)

https://amzn.to/3mWK4yA

This is a bit random, but I was setting up a charging station for guests at the entrance of my apartment and wanted a simple solution for various connectors and I found this cable.

I've hooked it up and it works great! I haven't got an iOS device to confirm with but if you wanted 1 cable to carry for various devices, this could be it. Just remember - this just charges. It doesn't do data transfer.

PREVIOUS/OTHER PRODUCTS

Some people keep asking about previous recommendations etc so I'm going to link a few that have come up in conversation in the last week below:

• Sennheiser Momentum 2 - Probably the best sounding in-ear headphones with noice cancelling currently available!
• DJI Mini 2 - It's easy to fly and takes excellent pics. Best of all, it charges over USB-C so no need for a ton of chargers!
• LuminarAI - Fastest photo editing software for beginners onwards!

Read

Whitest paint ever could help cool the Earth (~5min)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/15/whitest-ever-paint-could-help-cool-heating-earth-study-shows

When you think about technology do help global warming, do you ever think of...paint? Material science is gaining increasing prominence especially with battery technology, but there's innovation on such simple things as paint.

It turns out that producing this pigment might be super useful in a multitude of ways especially considering that it seems to be able to lower the temperature under the paint below ambient temperature - something most other paints cant brag about

Current book that I'm reading:

• Guns, germs and steel - It took a while to get started but it's been such a good book to learn about history and how we likely transitioned from hunter gatherers all the way to where we are now. Current chapter on the evolution of disease and pandemics is especially interesting given the current world.

Watch

Sindhu Vee Live at the Apollo (~8min)

https://youtu.be/u-YgKtSzdlM

This week, here is something more lighthearted: some comedy! I've been going through more light-hearted stuff this week while waiting to break fast and this old set came up. After the more politically charged comedy of Hasan Minhaj and other American late night TV shows, this was great at making fun of Indian stereotypes but without the guilt!

Quote I'm pondering

‘I don’t have time’ is just another way of saying, ‘It’s not a priority.'

- Naval Ravikant

This one really hit close to home for me. I'm someone who very often says that I don't have time but as most productivity gurus point out, everyone has the same 24 hrs. What matters is the priority you put on specific tasks.

I'm going to start thinking "things aren't a priority" instead of just saying to myself that I'm busy because I think it'll help reframe the question and to also see if my priorities are correct or not.

That's all for another week so stay safe and stay random!

- Raffy

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