Kia Ora, !

That's the informal Kiwi greeting in New Zealand for "hello"! How are you on this foggy/smoggy day in Melbourne? I decided to go on a road trip yesterday since my original travel plans were cancelled and hence the email is coming a day later, but more on that on the weekly summary...

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 - randInt - S02E05 - Travel impediments & what is CST?
• Monthly wallpapers - download now
• Gadgets/Tech - Line a day: 5 year journal
• Read - The Changing World Order
• Watch - Is Hypnosis fake?
• Quote - Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.

Week in the life

The last week has been tumultuous at best. As I write this, I'm meant to be in Singapore but due to the complexities of travel during an easing pandemic, I couldn't make it due to how long some of the processes take.

Not that it was going to be a "fun" trip, but it was disappointing none the less. It's given me an appreciation of how well most things run when they're running well. So much what we have to do is streamlined and user friendly that it requires an event that hasn't happened in nearly a lifetime to send things awry!

Instead I went to Castlemaine with my parents. More on all that over on the blog...

Creative update

randInt - S02E05 - Travel impediments & what is CST?

It's already time for another episode of the randInt podcast! After starting the season, we've spent much of the time with minisodes and our first interview.

What we haven't done is a catch-sode. In this episode, we do just that and have a recurrence of our long running segment "Growing up Brown".

Also, if you get a moment, please leave a review of randInt on Spotify (needs mobile app) or on Apple Podcasts. It helps a lot!

Monthly Wallpapers

March 2022 Wallpapers

It's time for some fresh new wallpapers, so here are 4 new ones for this month!

As you might notice, quite a few are from the drone flights with the new Mavic 3.

Hope you like the wallpapers and if you decide to use them, please send me a screenshot or tag me @photosbyraffy on instagram!

Gadgets/Tech

Line a day: 5 year journal

While I couldn't find the exact one I was given as a present, this is essentially what I've started using. It's a diary where you pick the date, write down the year and have just enough space for a sentence or 2 to describe the day.

There's enough space to collect 5 years worth so you can look back and see what you were up to on a given day in the years prior. I tend do journal most days anyway and am already looking forward to next year to look back at 2022. Also, having to summarise a day into a short sentence/paragraph really forces you to think about the highlights, like an exercise from the book Storyworthy.

Other gadgets

• Coffee Warmer Mug - As we head into the cooler months, nothing like having a cup that keeps your hot beverage nice and steamy!
• ZeroCo - All the house essentials without the plastic waste! Made by an Aussie company to boot!

Read

The Changing World Order

I just finished the book after watching the video and talking about it in last week's newsletter. I have to say, for a book that focusses on the financial side of things, I found it equally fascinating to see the cycles applied to great powers over time.

The swings in populations in terms of preferences from right wing to left wing, democracy to autocracy and back are all things I didn't expect to be in a finance book! Given all that's happening around the world currently, this is an unique look as to another cause of the current arc of the world. Well worth a read!

Watch

Is Hypnosis fake?

I saw this video a while ago but somehow it come up on my feed again. We've all seen clips about stage hypnosis and this is similar yet different.

This talk was done at a TED conference and explores what we know about hypnotism and how the field originated. If nothing else, it's an entertaining video!

Quote I'm pondering

“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road.”

– Stewart Brand

While recording the last podcast, Chandra and I were talking about crypto and blockchain programming. While I know the basics of Python and Flutter, I haven't done any formal programming since I was in primary school learning Logos via Logowriter (strangely, have discovered that the "turtles" from there are used in Python!) and hence feel like technology has left me behind.

As things start to accelerate, I think it'll be harder than ever to keep abreast of all technologies, but easier than ever with Youtube, Udemy, Skillshare etc to get quick primers on what's out there...

While the quote above seems menacing in a way, I think it's a useful reminder that progress is constant and you don't HAVE to be the steamroller for everything. After all, we all drive cars, benefiting from the roads, but haven't had to build a road ourselves.

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

Take care!

- 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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