What a week it's been !

The end of Ramadan was followed by the first Eid with my extended family in ages and so much more. More on those details below...

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In this week's email...

• Week in the Life - read on the blog
• Creative Update - Ramdan22 update
• Gadgets/Tech - Riverside.FM
• Read - Most detailed photo of the sun
• Watch - Where does space start?
• Quote - “Marriage lets you annoy one special person for the rest of your life.”

Week in the life

Well, what a week it has been! To say that the last 10ish days have been an exercise in organising chaos would be a total understatement.

But before that, Eid Mubarak to those celebrating! This year, we raised $750 for those doing it tough on the streets. As you'll see below, hopefully it has some meaningful impact. Thank you to EVERYONE that donated to make this all possible. I'll be matching the funds dollar for dollar to increase the impact as much as possible using charities recommended by the City of Melbourne. I've also donated some of the funds to help those in Ukraine.

Now, for the biggest change in my life since last newsletter: I'm married! But more on that over on the blog...

Creative update

Ramdan22 update

No new video yet, but here's a summary of what we managed to do this year. All in all, we raised $750 dollars which meant I matched another lot for $1500 total.

This means we managed to provide:

• Seven days of crisis accomodation for a family
• a HUNDRED hot showers for those doing it tough
• and a THOUSAND meals
• and some funds for Red Cross to help in Ukraine!

Thanks to everyone who supported the project!

Also, we have recorded the next episode of the podcast but the guest is uploading from WA and it's going slowly. Once it's available I'll edit and post, hopefully in the next 48 hrs!

Gadget/Tech

Riverside.FM

As you know, Chandra and I started the randInt podcast on a whim. Initially we started by recording on Adobe Audition, then over Zoom. Audio quality had always been the issue and the workflow to get it into our podcast platform Anchor. Recently, we switched to Riverside.fm and the audio quality is stellar and the software is super easy to have a group call.

So, if you're thinking of starting a podcast, give Riverside a try - the free plan isn't bad at all!

Other tech & gadgets:

• Silver Birch Fountain Pen - Still my go to fountain pen for day to day work. For the price, it's the best quality I've been able to find.
• Renpho tape measure- I never thought I'd want a digital tape measure until I did and can say it's awesome if you're nerdy and want to track how your body changes with exercise

Read

Most detailed photo of the sun

Given we're not meant to look directly at it, I was quite intrigued to see this photo. I have to say I'm not normally one for astrophotography but this really made me stop and stare for a while...

That ball of exploding gas is keeping the entire solar system the way it is...

Currently reading:

• Three body problem - My swing back into fiction is proving quite addictive!

Watch

Where does space start?

It's probably one of the most common childhood dreams to be an astronaut but I feel fortunate to be living in an age where going to space as the average person might ACTUALLY be possible (if still super expensive).

That begs the question, where does space begin? This quick video is about all the layers that make up our atmosphere.

Quote I'm pondering

“Marriage lets you annoy one special person for the rest of your life.”

– Unknown

Well considering the events of the week, I was pondering wisdom about married life and this is probably the closest to where I currently am at! The entire time I've known my partner, she has always commented that I am a very annoying person, but decided to commit anyway!

The funny thing about the quote is that I find it quite comforting to know that she will constantly annoy me and I'll do the same to her. Weird right? Maybe that's why there's so many things about jetting off to outer space too... 🤣

That's all for another week! Stay 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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