Good day, !

That's what "tere päevast" means in Estonian. It's been a rainy weekend but nice sunny vibes right now in Melbourne! This week, I've been slowly going through one of the best podcast episodes I've heard about a few future facing topics, but more on that later...

Before I go on, a reminder... 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
• Gadgets & things - Ecovacs Deebot 920
• Read - Balaji Srinivasan's blog
• Listen - Tim Ferriss Podcast - Balaji S: The Episode of Everything
• Watch - Nigel Stanford - Cymatics
• Quote - The future depends on what we do in the present.

Week in the life

After a very relaxing week last week, this week (thankfully) has been fairly chilled out too. A few things that I ordered for myself for my birthday started arriving including...

That's right! I have my very own electric scooter! I loved riding around in Vienna a few years ago and have wanted one ever since. That said, I don't think I'll be using it that much so managed to get this one on special. It's the Xiaomi 1S and goes on special not infrequently on eBay.

One of my friends also sent me the following t-shirt as present:

Thanks Dr Pham! Now I too can walk around supporting Rudy Giuliani! 😂

I also just went and received my second Pfizer shot, but more on that and some cool apartments on the blog...

Gadgets & things

Ecovacs Deebot 920

https://amzn.to/2PxQ2cE

So I've tried robot vacuum cleaners since last year and I thought my last one was great. It did the job and generally made sure my house was relatively clean with 2 cats.

Recently, I was given one from my wish list from my parents for my birthday and holy moly it's so much better. My last one basically bumped around the house and did an ok job getting everywhere. This one uses LIDAR to map out your house (or multiple levels) and accurately creates a floor plan!

This means, not only is it faster, but it basically guarantees it wont miss a spot. Also, this one can make virtual walls/zones so tiled areas can be mopped and carpetted areas can be vacuumed.

There's other brands out there too, but this one seems like the cheapest one currently with the best combo of features (hence it was on my wishlist!)

• Lumos Ultra Helmet - Along with the e-scooter, this helmet with built in stop light and headlamp should make my bike trips much safer.
• Floately levitating plants - still one of my most prized home decorations. I have some succulents suspended in mid-air as you walk into the apartment and I love them!
• Terraplanter - Cool porous planters that simplify indoor plants! I'm still waiting for my original Kickstarter ones to arrive but looks like they've started taking orders for future batches!

Read

Balaji Srinivasan's blog

https://balajis.com/content-archive/

I have only just discovered Balaji's work recently from the podcast mentioned below and it has been one hell of a ride!

This blog post of his is like a springboard into various things he has written/talked about in the past and is a great resource to have while you digest the podcast below since his interests are WIDE including: technology, crypto, healthcare, finance, politics and human evolution.

It's dense so I suggest picking an article that interests you. The podcast below is (in my mind) a more accessible starting point.

Listen

Tim Ferriss Podcast - Balaji S: The Episode of Everything (~3hrs)

https://open.spotify.com/show/5qSUyCrk9KR69lEiXbjwXM

It's not often that a podcast episode is long, dense but also so thought provoking. This conversation highlighted jut how much I didn't know about the bleeding edge of technology and just how close it is to coming to influence our everyday lives.

I've been listening to this over the last week and it's changed my priorities of what I should be learning and spending my time on.

If you want a window into where the world is and where we're like headed in the tech/politics/finance aspects, this is a VERY good primer.

Watch

Nigel Stanford - Cymatics (~6min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3oItpVa9fs

I had seen those science experiements where sand or water over speakers create interesting vibration patterns but this video essentially takes that, adds a ton of production value and makes it into a whole music video!

If you ever wondered what would happen if a science nerd was good at music AND video production, I believe this is a pretty good answer.

Quote I'm pondering

'The future depends on what we do in the present.'

- Mahatma Gandhi

After all the future looking reading/listening this week, the quote from Gandhi seemed appropriate. We all seem to look forward to the future but it's dependent on what we do today. Since the internet brought so many changes, it looks like blockchains and crypto will be doing something very similar.

I suppose the question in a way becomes how much do you want to participate in building the future?

Hope you enjoyed the Sunday Surprise! As always, stay safe and stay random!

- Raffy

PS- Crypto fever has taken over the world it seems. I have personally avoided it. Should I look into it? Do you have any thoughts? Email me!

Sunday Surprise uses affiliate/referral links in the newsletter. While this does not influence the product recommendations or verdict, if there are any that are likely to lead to Photos by Raffy receiving any sort of compensation from, they will be marked in orange. Non affiliate links will appear as blue.