Guten tag !

That's German for "good day" by the way. It's been another relaxing weekend for me after declining to do extra work. I was very much a needed time off after how busy the end of the week prior became.

Just a reminder that there's about a week or so to go for the competition to win my 3 favourite books from the last year. Enter now and let your friends know too. Much appreciated!

As always, a small favour? 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 - Best books I've recommended in the past year
• Gadgets & Tech - Inkbird Sous Vide (~125)
• Read - Vantablack? Meh. Meet the Ultra-Black Vantafish (~5 mins)
• Watch - Why aren't planes getting faster? (~5min)
• Random fact - Does water swirl in opposite directions in the 2 hemispheres? (~2mins)
• Quote - “Nothing which life has to offer is worth the price of worry.”

Week in the life

This past week, I made a conscious decision to be a bit more restrictive with my work schedule just to have a bit of a breather. Geez, can I feel the difference! This is the second week in a row where I haven't worked on the weekend and it's just refreshing! I'm told most people do this routinely! 😂

I spent the time actually resting, playing with the cats and spending way too much time playing a computer game called DotA 2 (please don't get hooked) and loving the intentional lack of productivity.

This is my favourite cat photo from this week: Luna sitting expectantly at the table as if waiting for a meal!

Melbourne has also been incredibly foggy. I'll share some fog photos from this morning over on the blog...

Creative

Best books I've recommended in the past year

https://raffyhalim.medium.com/best-books-ive-read-recommended-in-the-last-year-2021-edition-e300ce82b6dd

My second article on Medium was inspired by compiling the book recommendations from the previous year but sorted by fiction and non-fiction and with an expanded explanation too.

Going forward, I'll try to have at least 1 new creative task completed per week, be it writing or editing a photo or video. I'm trying to get consistency back into what I do outside of just working!

Gadgets & Tech

Inkbird Sous Vide (~125)

https://amzn.to/2TP3mvT

I mentioned this device a few months ago and mine arrived not long after. I took it for a spin yesterday and it did not disappoint! Even with setting the temperature a bit too high, the steak I cooked was quite delicious.

I'll be experimenting with the temperature and duration in the weeks to come. With such a compact design as compared to my old big clunky machine, I can just pack it away when done.

PREVIOUS/OTHER PRODUCTS

Some previous things that have been featured:

• Silver Birch Fountain Pen - My favourite "cheap" fountain pen find from recent times. It's pretty good quality for the price and these have become my daily go to pens.
• Nord VPN - Keep safe on the internet with a secure VPN. This is the cheapest but still reliable VPN that I've tested.

Read

Vantablack? Meh. Meet the Ultra-Black Vantafish (~5 mins)

https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-ultra-black-vantafish/

Lat year, I linked an article and video about the blackest paint every made called Vantablack. It's so absorptive to light that BMW made a car that basically looks like a silhouette!

Turns out that certain deep sea fish were doing this all along! Because it's so dark down there, they were kinda hard to find.

Book I'm reading:

• The Beginning of Infinity - This is taking me the longest time to get through a book, but it's just so full of new ideas that I have to take it slow and digest it. It's very much a dense "stop and think about what's being said" kinda book and I'm really enjoying the directions it's made me think so far.

Watch

Why aren't planes getting faster? (~5min)

https://youtu.be/hd8tYiLSmn0

With everything else in the world getting faster and smarter, it seems that airplane trips should be doing the same. Turns out it isn't so at all.

This is a nice summary of the issues with hypersonic flight and why plane trips have actually gotten a bit slower.

Random fact

Does water swirl in opposite directions in the 2 hemispheres? (~2mins)

https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/does-water-go-down-the-drain-counterclockwise-in-the-northern-hemisphere-and-clockwise-in-the-southern-hemisphere/

Ever since watching that Simpsons episode, I always thought that the answer was settled. Turns out I was wrong! While there is a force known as the Coriolis force, it supposedly isn't strong enough to work on water bodies encountered in the everyday...

Quote I'm pondering

“Nothing which life has to offer is worth the price of worry.”

- Napoleon Hill

Probably not surprising to hear a quote like this from the original self-help guru, but plenty of others have said things in similar veins. I'm sure everyone an relate to having many worries, but I think if you were to catalogue them all, it'd be pretty apparent that the number of worries greatly exceed the actual problems you face generally.

I'm writing this to take it advice for myself - stress less about the things you can't control and focus a bit more on the enjoying.

Well, , that's all for this week! Hope you have a wonderful week ahead and hope to see you next week. Don't forget to enter the competition!

- Raffy

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