Hej !

That's "hey" in Swedish. How very Ikea of me! It's been a week of slowly getting back to work and also playing tour guide with family from America. One interesting thing has been going to places that are lovely but I never visit anymore, but more on that below...

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In this week's email...

• Week in the Life - read on the blog
• Creative Update - 5 speeches that will change your life.
• Gadgets/Tech - ResQMe
• Read - Four Thousand Weeks
• Watch - Australia's insane plan to green the Outback
• Quote - “Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent”

Week in the life

This week's email has been the most delayed in ages! I thought I was basically back to normal after being unwell 2 weeks ago but it seems like that's not quite the case. I had a REALLY long 18 hr long day on Friday with even more airport drop offs that meant I left for work at 0715 and finally got to bed around 0330 the next morning. Normally, 1 long good sleep in and I'm good to go. This time, I was feeling absolutely rotten for days! I feel like I'm finally back into the swing of things now.

The week has included many MANY activities with the family, but more on that over on the blog...

Creative update

5 speeches that will change your life.

Finally back on Medium again with another short listicle article. This time, I'm summarising things you've already seen over the years on this newsletter: the most impactful speeches I've seen.

This list has the ones I still watch every so often because the lessons inside are pretty darn amazing.

Gadget/Tech

ResQMe

For some reason, my news feed is always filled with car crashes both electric and non electric where someone is trapped inside and no one can break the glass.

This little device is for exactly those situations where for whatever reason, the seatbelt is stuck or the door cant be opened. It's a spring loaded pin that shatters automotive glass easily. I've ordered a few for the cars in the family.

Other tech & gadgets:

• Zyron GaN USB-C charger - Tiny charger that has
• Microwave rice cooker - I don't like having too many kitchen appliances so this device to cook rice straight in the microwave is AWESOME!

Read

Four Thousand Weeks

Current non-fiction book of choice for me at the moment. Unlike other non-fiction productivity books which advocate for constant hustle, this one is more the opposite.

The central thesis is that the majority of people only get about 4000 weeks to live and our current culture focuses too much on the immediate clearing of the inbox rather than focus on the longer term projects that bring us meaning.

Watch

Australia's insane plan to green the Outback

I had no idea that such a impressive nation building exercise was even in consideration! This ambitious plan was to try and recreate the prehistoric inland sea that existed in Australia to change large swathes of desert into land for agriculture and become "food bowl".

With the effects of climate change and growing world population, allegedly it's getting another look!

Quote I'm pondering

“Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent”

– Steve Jobs

Looking through a few of the old talks has me going over Steve Jobs quotes. It's interesting just how accepting he was about his mortality after his diagnosis. I found that quote an interesting one given that since the beginning of time there has always been a desire to attain immortality. The quote suggests maybe that's not the wisest thing to attain given the cycle of life is what allows change and new ideas to come into being.

I wonder if we did somehow achieve immortality, would ideas become more stagnant or would people attempt grander designs because the time horizons would be so vast?

Thanks again for joining me in another newsletter of random! Stay safe out there!

- 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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