Annyeong haseyo !

That's Korean for "hello" which I've mentioned in previous newsletters. After watching the phenomenon that is Squid Game, I thought Korean would be an appropriate greeting this week. Have you seen the show? What about Alice in Borderlands? Any thoughts?

As always, a small favour, if I may? Could you forward this newsletter to just 3 people that you think would like one of the articles? 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
• Creative - randInt EP017 - The First Message! (~30min)
• Gadgets & Tech - Tabletop smokefree firepit (~$80)
• Read - Shopping delivered by drone in Australia (~2 mins)
• Listen - Echolily - Mindspin
• Watch - Scanning electron microscope ​(~8min)
• Quote - “I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.”

Week in the life

Another week, another bleak record with Victoria now having the highest daily cases in Australia. That said, our vaccination numbers are picking up so hopefully it means a safe re-opening soon!

One of the things currently allowed is picnics. With the weather being awesome, the parks have been filled with picnic rugs! I ended up at one yesterday and it was probably the most time I spent outside in weeks!

That was probably a good thing because I went to the doctor recently and discovered that my Vitamin D levels were less than half the normal lower limit! At these levels, you can actually start getting tired from it. Here I was due to too much work alone.

I managed to take 2 days off last week and finish some more of the Python course I'm doing. I decided to update my website and add a little section for some examples. It's just so refreshing turning off the medical stuff and learning something new!

The podcast hit a new milestone as did the cats, but more on that over on the blog...

Creative update

randInt EP017 - The First Message! (~30min)

https://anchor.fm/randint

It's finally happened: after 16 episodes, we have our very first voice message! It just so happens to be a challenge no less!

As promised, since we have a message, we also feature a brand new "Growing up Brown/ Parental Paranoia" story in this nice and compact minisode.

Gadgets & Tech

Tabletop smokefree firepit (~$80)

https://amzn.to/3AsxtbH

I was literally talking about something like this a few weeks ago and this product turned up on my feed. Actually, there's a nicer crowd-funded one available, but I'm not confident in recommending that campaign. It looks amazing though, so check it out at your own risk!

I just think it'd be nice to have for ambiance or took marshmallows. Both use smoke/soot free fuel and allegedly can be used indoors

• Menka - This looks like the nicer portable fire. I'm going to watch it for a bit longer and see if it's legit before ordering, but it simply looks so cool!
• NanoPresso Nescafe pod edition - I've started making my coffees with the NanoPresso and noticed they had one where you can use Nescafe pods for even less mess!

Read

Shopping delivered by drone in Australia (~2 mins)

https://www.engadget.com/alphabet-wing-drone-deliveries-shopping-center-rooftops-pilot-130022044.html

When you think of cool new tech, do you think that the trials are going to happen in Australia? And if in Australia, I always think Sydney or maybe Melbourne. Turns out, Googles subsidiary is already doing drone shopping deliveries just south of Brisbane!

What I'm reading

• Storyworthy - I've been finding this a pretty darn good book that has a lot of applications not just for story tellers, but also in offering interesting lenses in how to view your own life...

Listen

Echolily - Mindspin

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/echolily/mindspin

Earlier this year, Michelle aka echolily, burst into the music scene and is back with another single!

I've only heard snippets and it sounds GREAT! The song is technically not out for another few hours so the link should take you to the pre-save area.

Watch

Scanning electron microscope (~8min)

https://youtu.be/QYelIGuyirs?t=33

I saw an article not long ago about some new cell images in super high def scanning electronic microscope imagery, but looks like it hasn't quite made it into the wider internet.

Instead, here's a look at some amazing real SEM images. There's another video showing Covid-19 as it infects human cells too...

Quote I'm pondering

“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.”

– Richard Feynman

In a polarised age, this quote stuck out to me recently from a very interesting theoretical physicist/philosopher/prankster. Richard Feynman was involved in solving some epically difficult problems, but if you read his book, he comes across as the most laid back, fun loving guy.

Through out it all is a sense of irreverence but also curiosity. It's probably worth stoking again in most people because everyone (especially me included) thinks they're right and defends their ideas to the ground. May be it's better to live with some uncertainties than accept poor answers...

Anyway , that's all for this week! What did you think of this week's newsletter? Feedback is always welcome!

Have an amazing week ahead!

- Raffy

PS - What was your favourite part of this email? Let me know with 1 click! I read the survey every week and tweak things as requested!

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