Ni Hao {{contact.first_name}}, ready for this week's Curious Curations? 7th Feb 2021
Feb 07, 2021 2:27 pm
Ni Hao !
That's "hello" in Mandarin. It's already the first weekend of February. Can you believe it? This year is speeding by! Looking at the results of the survey, Curious Curations seems to be in the lead as the name for this newsletter. If you have a differing opinion, I'll keep the form live for another week, so vote below:
Before I go on, 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 - The Pirate Problem
- Gadgets & things - Insta360 X2
- Watch - Why steam pours NYC streets
- Quote - David Foster Wallace
Week in the life
After the last minute deadlines of last week, it took me most of the week to recover. Every few months, the hospital I work at does a theatre education morning where the whole team gets to have the morning to learn/plan/do group activities. Like everything else, this was on Zoom this year but it was a nice chance to take stock of the insanity of 2020.
I thought we did quite well as a department pulling through and we learnt quite a bit about moving fast in a crisis. Hopefully we'll take the best bits and improve upon them as time goes on.
On the non-work front, it's been extra time with the cats and also organising next week where I have a few days off! I'll be off to a tiny house somewhere in the Yarra Valley so will be sure to take lots of photos and also to record the next randInt podcast episode.
In the meantime, here's a photo of Luna learning to play dead...
PxR update
How I Edit: Sunset/Twilight Shots
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6sHNuuYnTM
I've posted up another "How I edit" video on Youtube, this time using Snapseed, which is a great free app on your phone.
Gadgets & tech
https://www.insta360.com/sal/one_x2?insrc=INRN4SM
I used the Insta360 X and they have recently released the X2 with an upgraded sensor and a mini preview screen. Their range is probably the one I'd recommend to anyone trying out 360 cameras after trying a whole bunch myself including 360fly, Kandao (though not the Enterprise edition) and the Theta S. The insta360 has a good balance of features and great stabilisation including being able to pull off the Matrix bullet time effect! For advanced editing, it is a bit fiddlier than the Theta S, but that's not hard to overcome.
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:
- Bolt heated coffee mug- Like the Ember mug, but without needing an app and also dishwasher safe!
- AA USB Rechargeable battery - This looked pretty neat: a battery that has an USB plug to recharge! The capacity seems a bit low, but it is a lithium battery so should technically last more recharge cycles. Will be interesting to try out!
- Lumos Ultra Helmet - Along with the e-bike, this helmet with built in stop light and headlamp should make my bike trips much safer.
Read
The Pirate Problem (~7mins)
https://alexdanco.com/2021/02/02/the-pirate-problem/
I know close to nothing about that side of finance and after seeing the whole Gamestop fiasco, this was an entertaining exposure into how different my world is to theirs.
Watch
Why steam pours NYC streets (~10mins)
So if you've ever wondered the same, this video is for you! It does make me wonder how different the world would look if (for whatever reason) electricity wasn't the main form of energy transmission...
Quote I'm pondering
“Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping.
Everybody worships.
The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship—be it JC or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you.
On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness.”
– David Foster Wallace, This is Water
Just sharing because it came up in conversation recently from his excellent speech, This is Water.
That's all for another week so stay safe and stay random!
- Raffy
PS- Have you ever stayed at a Tiny House? I'll be doing that this week and if you have any tips, 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.
