Howdy, !

Sorry for seemingly sending the email twice - I quickly realised that some links were broken! Apologies for that! Blame it on my birthday brain!

Before I go on, a shameless request! 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 Update - Reels: Have you had Fried Chicken like this? & Medium: 6 gifts for the hipster geek
• Gadgets/Tech - Word clock
• Read - BBC: My city's being shelled but my mum won't believe me
• Watch - The Genius of N95 Masks
• Quote - 'If China’s got a state-controlled press, America’s a press-controlled state.'

Week in the life

It was my birthday this weekend and I was treated to a wonderful getaway in a lovely country cottage in Daylesford, Victoria. Even though it's only about 90mins away from Melbourne, I had never been there before! It's a well known location to visit from Melbourne, so I was a bit surprised to find that it wasn't full of tourists or too busy on the weekends.

The weekend consisted of an amazing dinner at Sault, walks by the lake and more food. Pics and the "present" left by the cats over on the blog...

Creative update

Reels: Have you had Fried Chicken like this?

Ok so I enjoyed myself a bit too much this weekend and managed to edit 1 thing of many. However, the reels itself is very me: it involves fried chicken and technology. 😂

Honestly though, I had no idea that this restaurant utilised this tech. I really wonder how the next 5 years will look given that this isn't a super high end expensive restaurant! If this is affordable to these kinds of shops, imagine what you home is going to look like soon...

Medium: Six gifts for the hipster geek

I have no idea why but these gift idea articles seem to be my most popular ones over at Medium.

I suppose going through and recommending products on this newsletter does mean that I get to see a range of different things. So if you're curious on what to get the more "hipster" of your nerd friends, this would be a place to start!

Gadgets/Tech

Word clock

Over 10 years ago, the QlockTwo came on the designer interior scene and redefined a talking piece clock. Looks like after a decade the generic version are arriving!

I've always wanted this and the ClockClock 24 but the original are so darn expensive that I'll just wait til a similar but cheaper one like this ones comes about!

Other gadgets

• MonoPrice Mini - The inner nerd in me is glad that these 3D printers are slowly coming back into stock. It's something I really haven't dabbled in but can see being quite fun and also useful around the house...
• 66w GaN USB charger - These have to be the most under-rated inventions of the last few years. One charger for everything from laptop phone and so on! Super compact and light weight to boot.

Read

BBC: My city's being shelled but my mum won't believe me

Given the ongoing atrocities happening in Ukraine, this article seemed appropriate in highlighting just how prevalent propaganda is inside Russia.

While I'm all for holding media to account for fair and balanced reporting, even the current state of very much slanted media still has elements of the truth in it, unlike the pure propaganda that can be circulated when none exists...

What I'm reading now

• Q Anon and on - I've been reading this in spurts here and there and hope to actually finish it soon. It's an interesting look into the bizarre conspiracy theories that seem to be propagating in the world now...

Watch

The Genius of N95 Masks

Given the pandemic has rolled on for years now and PPE, social distancing and N95's have entered our vocabulary, I thought this video would be a good one to see just what an N95 is and how it actually works as compared to every other mask that you could be wearing.

Turns out, it uses a few different science principles to pull off what it does. I was surprised at how many different "tricks" that could be done with particle considering it's just a few sheets of material after all!

Quote I'm pondering

“If China’s got a state-controlled press, America’s a press-controlled state."

– Balaji S

I've mentioned Balaji S multiple times on this newsletter and this quote of his very much is stuck in my mind. While it references America, the same is true for many countries in the modern day.

Character assassinations, allegations and gossip in media goes a long way in tainting the public perception of a person or topic. While media does play a very important role in holding those in power to account, one has to also ask, who is the media accountable to?

If you're intrigued by this topic, have a listen to his chat with Tim Ferriss where he discusses the implications more broadly.

, that's your dose of all things random for another week! Hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter. Please let me know via the link below what you thought!

Toodles!

- 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!)

Sunday Surprise uses affiliate/referral links in the newsletter. This does not change the recommendation/verdict but may result in Photos by Raffy receiving a small commission and will be marked in orange. Non-affiliate links will appear as blue. Prices recorded may vary.