How are you ?

That's the formal was to say "hello" in Afrikaans. How's the weekend going for you? It's a bit cold and windy in Melbourne today. Perfect time to curl up with a good book (or email newsletter!) and enjoy a cosy day in. There should be a wide variety of interesting things in this week's email so if you have a favourite by the end, be sure to let me know!

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 - We're entombing the Earth in a shell of dead satellites
• Gadgets & things - Peak Design Messenger
• Watch - Monkey MindPong
• Quote - Your diet isn't just what you eat...

Week in the life

The long weekend last week meant that this week has felt super short! I can't actually believe it's Sunday already! Personally, the short week and a few of my surgical lists being cancelled due to school holidays has meant I've had more time to recuperate. Good thing too, since Ramadan is starting next week!

With Ramadan, I'll be restarting my yearly fundraising for helping the homeless. I just have to get around to setting up the GoFundMe etc, but look out for it in next weeks newsletter.

While I missed out on the random government travel vouchers that are springing up to encourage tourism, I did have some other travel vouchers that were expiring. As such I ended up staying at Hotel Rendezvous over the weekend. It's an older property that made me feel like I had gone back in time! It did have a decent view over Flinders Street station and Southbank though!

Because of the cold weather, Gary the cat has taken to sleeping under a throw rug. He definitely looks like a Gypsy cat who's ready to tell you your Tarot future in my opinion!

Chandra is still over in Perth so we're working on finding a time to record the next randInt podcast. Hopefully, once I settle into Ramadan, we can have it out even though it'll be a week or so late.

Not too much more to read about over at the blog, except more cat photos!

Gadgets & tech

Peak Design Messenger

https://bit.ly/3mjbWfk

After the trip to Tassie last week, I was actually thinking about just how much I like my Peak Design Messenger. Mine is the original V1.0 from their Kickstarter and it's lasted me nearly a decade. It's start to wear out here and there but given that it's got a lifetime warranty, I'm sure it'll see me through for many more years. If you're after a messenger or a backpack, well worth a look. I also use their (very expensive) but freaking awesome tripod. Lightweight, compact and unlike anything else out there.

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:

• CHOETECH Wireless Charging pad- Like the Nomad & Zens chargers but far cheaper!
• 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!

Read

We're entombing the Earth in a shell of dead satellites (~5min)

https://www.engadget.com/were-entombing-the-earth-in-an-impenetrable-shell-of-dead-satellites-163002560.html

These days we constantly hear about another space launch or new satellite being deployed. While planning for their launch has always required a lot of forethought, it seems that what to do with satellites at the end of their life hasn't had the same amount of due diligence. The article links to a short youtube video of what the Earth looks like with so many non functional satellites and space debris orbiting our planet.

With the predicted increase in launches, it's going to pose more challenges trying to escape into low earth orbit and beyond...

See Also

• Ingenuity "go" for first flight - the new Mars rover has a drone and it's about to take it's first Martian flight!
• 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.

Watch

Monkey MindPong (~3min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCul1sp4hQ

A few months ago, I shared an old video about the state of the art in terms of neural software/hardware gadgetry. Over the weekend, Elon Musk's Neuralink demoed their protoype of the tech with a monkey playing Pong purely with their mind!

What's amazing is that the research from 10 years ago requires EEG caps and electrodes. Current generation Neuralink is a coin shaped implant. Just goes to show how close we're getting to what was deemed Sci-Fi only decades ago...

Quote I'm pondering

This is from Steven Bartlett's instagram and I thought it followed on from last week's quote about media. I tried a little experiment to see whether or not having "time off" helped me feel more energised lately. While it certainly helped, I found that if I actually spent the time scrolling social media, it wasn't nearly as relaxing as doing nothing and being bored.

I hate to admit it, but boredom is way more restful than even passive amusement that social media and "junk" provides. I feel like a hypocrite writing this since I am quite active on Instragram, but usually it is just to post photos instead of browsing!

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

- Raffy

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