Excursions

NYTimes decision to publish an opinion very clearly unfit leaves me uneasy. The publications need not lend a platform for all voices through their editorials; they need not publish all opinions. You need selection/edits - that’s why they are called “Editorials”.

The choice from The Atlantic to only provide annual subscription plans isn’t working well. As much as I respect what the publication reports, I can’t sign up for this long commitment. Plus it becomes costly to get in.

The time capsule tells you so much about how thoughtful the little girl is. Look at all the items she has selected to speak for her. And then the mushy little gems in envelop! Brought a smile on my face.

This is absolutely gold — Building the Perfect Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder

“It also made me realize that even amongst the structures and pavements and powerlines, how interesting nature can be in a single suburban backyard if you really stopped to look.”

The #GeorgeFloydMurder protestors in US are just people, asking for justice. I see no arms with them. Why are police afraid of and hostile to them?

From outside, the protests for “Open America” looked a lot more harmful to me. They were freaking roaming around with guns.

What if we decide that Thrusday is the start of a week and we get two days off in middle of the work week? Will we feel better? I feel by calling it “weekend” we put unnecessary pressure on Friday of reaching a logical closure.

I wonder how easy it is to write with WordPress. I know this is a brilliant platform; one that is used my many writers all over the world.

Oh, yes. You read that right. Not bloggers, but writers. I have no doubt that bloggers are writers. Doesn't matter how they movies.portray them. As Dave Winer says, movies are written by writers and they tend to look at bloggers with total contempt.

I received a call today from an unknown number. The lady at the other end wanted to know if I was interested in a new credit card. I patiently listened as she explained all the benefits I stand a chance to receive. When she was done, I calmly declined. Normalcy felt good.

I have decided to actively be back on Twitter again. In a way, I never was off Twitter; I have been a passive contributor on Twitter for more than a year now. During that time, Micro.blog became the place that I was most active at. However, recently I have found that the platform just doesn’t attract me. It has got nothing to do with the product or the community there. Both remain brilliant. It is the diversity (or the lack thereof) that just doesn’t fit my lifestyle, my routine.

My timeline is never active when I am. Even those who are active in my timezone do not share my interests and my culture. It is frustratingly difficult to become part of this wonderful community.

I had casually pointed out this challenge during my interaction with Jean on Micro Monday. I am afraid the things haven’t improved much in the 18 months since. I have made many attempts to overcome this. I tried to inspire people that I know, that I am friends with to join the service. I built Micro.Threads to check on the conversations that I missed while I was absent. I even tried to change my routine to better fit in. It was this last attempt that made me cognizant of the limits I was going to to just be an active participant at the service.

I know there are people from my timezone, of my interest that are very much active on the service. I am sure there would be a thread somewhere listing all such folks. But that thread cannot be discovered or be searched for. Those folks cannot be easily found. I have come to realize that neither of these is a challenge with Twitter. No doubt, Twitter has its own set of challenges. But, at least, I can participate as per my routine.

Lack of diversity and discovery remains Micro.blog’s Achilles heel. It’s a wonderful community on there; it just isn’t inclusive enough for me to fit in.

The Mystery of the Blue Train is a typical Poirot mystery, just not presented in her signature intriguing style. There are just too many shifts to the points of view of the supporting characters. The clues are perceivable, but they aren’t backed by any information that is revealed earlier. There were many moments when I knew what was being narrated was important, was a clue to something. But I could just not put my finger on why that was so. The resolution towards the end too did not feel very natural; it felt rushed, forced.

With the way the novel is structured, it felt as if Christie began writing this somewhere in the middle when Poirot is introduced, reached towards the end, and began to wonder how to tie the woven mystery up. All the side characters and their backstories were penned at that point and spread across the novel.

As a whole, the story just didn’t feel coherent. It wasn’t boring; I don’t think Christie can write a boring mystery. But it just wasn’t one of her finest works. I have heard even she has acknowledged this fact.