Howdy, ,

When I wrote the email last week, the world seemed like a totally different place. I genuinely thought that humanity had put behind unprovoked violence to the annals of history, but here we are. Even with the chaos unfolding overseas, this may still be the most peaceful time in history. Though it doesn't feel like it at present, does it?

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In this week's email...

• Week in the Life - read on the blog
• Creative Update - What's on the channel?!
• Charity - How to support Ukraine
• Read - How to fight lies, tricks and chaos online (~6mins)
• Watch - Peace? (~18min)
• Poem - First they came... by Pastor Martin Niemoller

Week in the life

It took me a while to figure out why the Ukraine situation in the past week has been on my mind so much rather than any other conflict of recent times. I think the main reason is this: this was a clear unprovoked act of aggression and violence. I'm not an expert in the situation and there maybe more to the story, but by and large that's what I can make of it.

I was taking a photo of the city last night and couldn't help but think that about a week ago, people over there were probably doing just not realising just how different things would get. Looks like this sort of thinking has infected most of the people that follow me on Instagram too.

As I started writing this, another thing made it hit so much closer to home. I edit some of my photos using apps by Skylum software who make Luminar Ai/Neo. I normally get emails about upcoming features etc since I'm a beta tester/affiliate. The email I got today was this:

The people who make that software are right there in Kyiv, currently getting bombed! Even then, they're apologising about not being able to deliver product features on time! In this globally dependent world, things that you and I use are produced by people all across the globe and things are never too far from home.

Other stuff over on the blog...

Creative update

What's on the channel?!

The last few videos I uploaded really didn't have a lot to do with photography at all and hence the whole Photos x Raffy YouTube channel started to feel a bit...misleading.

I originally had a channel with my name on it and thought I'd start to upload the random videos to that instead. Here is my take on a channel trailer (and a very bad thumbnail - haven't gotten that advanced on the thumbnail game yet!)

Charity

How to support Ukraine

I decided that instead of gadgets and tech, I'd rather link to ways to support the people of Ukraine instead. NPR compiled a list of verified ways of supporting the people over there.

Also, any funds from affiliate links etc from this newsletter for the next month will be donated to one of the causes listed on that article.

Read

How to fight lies, tricks and chaos online (~6mins)

One interesting thing I found about the conflict in Ukraine was that even the legitimate sources were asking for the sharing of verified information.

Dis/misinformation is an incredibly big and increasing problem and this guide from The Verge is pretty darn good as a primer for how to spot and do due diligence on what you see.

More and more I think this sort of stuff should be getting taught at schools as I can't see this subsiding anytime soon.

Watch

Peace? (~18min)

This video summarises the general history of conflicts in the world and even with everything going on, I found it important to remind myself that WE ARE heading in the right direction. Not always linearly, but the trend is down.

If like most of the people who answered on Instagram, you too are feeling odd about everything, this might give just enough reason to be hopeful. Though not exclusively about peace, Sapiens and Better Angels of Our Nature has some more data to be hopeful too.

Poem I'm pondering

“First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me”

– Pastor Martin Niemoller

I was surprised to see some prominent Fox News hosts and political candidates basically supporting Russia recently. I saw this poem and felt like it was a good summation of why "he hasn't personally they haven't done anything personally to me" as a reason didn't really stand up to scrutiny...

Wow, this week's newsletter took quite a sombre turn, didn't it? If like me, you're also feeling fairly unsettled about the Ukraine situation, as per the Instagram poll above, you're not alone. May be follow some of these suggestions? Hopefully where ever you're reading this from, you're staying safe!

- Raffy

PS - What was your favourite part of the email this week? Do you like/dislike the subtle changes this year? Let me know with 1 click! I read the survey every week (& keep tweaking things with your feedback!)

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