Howdy !

This week's Sunday Surprise was always going to be a bit delayed so instead of rushing to finish it, I thought why not take it easy and mix it up a bit again and send it on a Monday? Which do you prefer? After the attempts at changing the name failed last time, maybe I should just keeps things as they are...

As always, a small ask, if I may? 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 - Whitest paint ever could help cool the Earth
• Gadgets & things - Multi-USB Charging cable
• Watch - Sindhu Vee Live at the Apollo
• Quote - ‘I don’t have time’ is just another way of saying, ‘It’s not a priority.'

Week in the life

The week just gone had me working every single day, but for good reason! I find that if I'm just at home, I feel much more hungry and constantly think of when the time to eat at the end of the day. Doing lists here and there keep my mind off it. I've finally settled into a rhythm for Ramadan which is far more than I can say for last year!

As you may or may not know, I keep a logbook of cases I do since last year. Given we're about a quarter of the way through the year, I noticed that I had ticked over the 400 cases mark. Which means unlike last year, where I did just over 1000 cases, I might be over 1500 by the end of this year. I assume this is closer to what a "normal" year is meaning that since my time as a trainee in anaesthesia, I'm likely to have crossed the 10000 case mark at some point! Random milestone, but I had always wondered when that would've happened...

On the Ramadan21 Fundraiser, we're at 20% of the goal to raise money for the homeless with about 2 weeks to go! If you're thinking of contributing, head on over to the Chuffed fundraising page. I'll be matching each donation up to $1500 to double your impact!

On another note, here's why the newsletter got delayed yesterday- I broke fast with friend at an Indian restaurant. The subsequent carb coma was a bit too much for me!

Tiny bit more and cat photos over at the blog...

PxR/randInt update

Photos x Raffy Youtube (~7min)

https://youtu.be/7HIlX5xFy-c

The first video is up for this year's Ramadan vlog project! I'm trying to make less videos, but make it a bit more entertaining and also cohesive in terms of actual dialogue rather than the random snippets from every other year. Do you think I'm succeeding?

randInt podcast EP006: Journals to start-ups & anime to design (~56min)

https://anchor.fm/randint/episodes/EP-006---From-journals-to-start-ups--anime-to-design-evg1q2

The latest episode of the randInt podcast is also out now! This one is a bit long, but hopefully interesting in exploring the random events that have changed the course of our lives for both Chandra and myself.

In the future, we want to look at random events in world history that have had a significant impact on how things turned out. What do you think of that as a segment?

Gadgets & tech

I didn't stumble onto anything amazing worth sharing this last week. Here's a few gadgets from the past issues:

• Sennheiser Momentum 2 - Probably the best sounding in-ear headphones with noice cancelling currently available!
• DJI Mini 2 - It's easy to fly and takes excellent pics. Best of all, it charges over USB-C so no need for a ton of chargers!
• Aeropress Go - Make an awesome cup of coffee with an Aeropress that fits into a coffee cup!

Read

2034: A novel of the next World War

https://amzn.to/32JHa74

This novel had the first 3 chapters released as a special Wired magazine issue and I'm glad they did! I'm not one who typically likes these kinds of war stories, preferring non-fiction, surreal works like that of Murakami or sci-fi. This was SUCH an intriguing look into how a potential conflict between the US and China could arise that I just kept reading and then bought it on Kindle.

One thing I really found fascinating is the slow burn towards conflict with both sides not really wanting to escalate but many factors not allowing a backing down. With retired military people writing, it seems to know the subject matter well and shows how the world may get itself dragged into another mass conflict. Not the typical book I'd recommend, but so far it's been great!

Current book that I'm reading:

• Guns, germs and steel - In the last leg of this book now in between 2034 (as above). It's pretty meaty so it has taken me a while to get through and to understand some of the subtleties, it requires a bit of focus to "read" as an audiobook. I'm listening at a slower pace to digest what it has to say, but well worth it for the different perspectives.

Watch

Google Earth Timelapses (~12min)

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLW-qoCMKQsxa40eB1YUuSs3MKaYvd53b

Google Earth has always been a fascinating piece of software, but with the new timelapse function, it's even more enthralling.

The link above is to a small playlist of various videos that the Google team made with Google Earth. Probably the most striking is the one showing the melting of the glaciers in Greenland and the rise of Dubai.

The timelapse is of a few decades but goes to show just how much change is happening on our planet in such a short time frame...

See Also

• Google Earth Timelapse Engine - you can watch timelapses right in your browser! Just click on the various ones put together by the team and hit play.

Quote I'm pondering

‘Ideas are just a multiplier of execution'

- Derek Sivers

I saw this one on Derek Siver's blog a while ago and thought it was an interesting way to look at things. As someone who has too many ideas that I don't execute on, I always feel like the ideas are the "gold". His article has a nice way of showing that actually, the execution may matter more. It's arbitrary numbers at the end of the day putting chatting to friends who have gone on to do business-y things, it seems like it's quite true...

That's all for another week so stay safe and stay random!

- Raffy

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. Prices written may differ since writing as this is at the discretion of each retailer.