Excursions

It was exactly a year ago that I had given up on Stoop, the newsletter app. I had a smaller device, an iPhone SE, and I didn’t like the app then. Today I find it so useful, not sure if it’s due to the larger display of my OnePlus or the testing times we are living through.

In today’s time of confusion and uncertainty, safety of the food, our essential need, is equally important. Serious eats has a brilliant essay on just this topic. I think the writer or me are not alone who are troubled with all these concerns, and the essay is must read in that regard.

Even so, plenty of folks—myself included—have been confused or curious about the safety of allowing restaurants to continue preparing and serving food. Is it actually safe? Should I reheat the food when I get it home? Is it better to support local businesses by ordering food, or am I only putting workers and delivery people at risk? And if I’m cooking my own food, what guidelines should I follow?

E-paper (or e-ink) displays have the unique property of not needing power to maintain an image. Once a charge blasts across the display and correctly aligns pixels full of black and white balls, everything will stay where it is when the power turns off, so the image will stick around. You might not have thought about it before, but in addition to data, NFC comes with a tiny wireless power transfer. This display is designed so that NFC provides just enough power to refresh the display during a data transfer, and the e-ink display will hold onto the image afterward.

Fascinating use of available technology. This would be brilliant for passive viewing - for dashboards or billboards or all sorts of boards that do not need regular change of content.

I feel too stressed out these days. It is not from the pressure of work. Or from the fear of getting infected by Coronavirus. But from the factors that I have no control over.

How people I do not know just refuse to behave in the larger interest of the community. Or how media ignores being responsible in covering the biggest tragedy the world is facing in a long time.

Or how few people are taking the pandemic too lightly. So much so that they are putting the lives of many at risk, even their near and dear ones. Or how few people are taking the same pandemic way too seriously. So much so that they have simply stopped living. Obsessing non-stop over the negativity and gloominess all around.

Where do I fall? I realized today that the inner turmoil has started to affect the way I behave. The way I express. The way I carry myself. I better find a solution, a distraction. Soon.

I missed a final “feed is shifting” post before I consolidated all my posts at one place. So, for those subscribed to my blog through RSS, these are the new feed urls - RSS, JSON Feed

PS: Still not sure how this post will reach all old subscribers. Just hope it does.

I watched Contagion - I still can’t believe a movie was made that so closely foretold the present we’re leaving today. I couldn’t go to sleep with the thoughts of how bad it can get.

So I watched Chef then. I can’t believe such a simple movie can be made. And still be good.

Ruth Marcus has written a wonderful opinion piece at The Washington Post on how this latest global tragedy, the pandemic feels a lot more life-altering. Social distancing enforced by the ways the Coronavirus spreads has affected us a lot deeper than what we initially thought.

How much the virus has reminded us of the mundane pleasures we take for granted — walking down the well-stocked shelves of our local supermarkets, chatting idly with our co-workers; kissing a friend on the cheek when we meet for lunch. Oh, to hug again without having to calculate the inherent risk: My mother? My daughters?

When I venture out to walk the dog, there is a grim camaraderie with those we encounter. The dogs, heedless of contagion, sniff away, and while their humans maintain a sober distance, even strangers inquire after one another’s well-being. In the barren aisles of the market, at least the last time I risked a visit, there was an air more of solidarity than panic

So true. What we thought was normal is dreaded now. And it the normalcy that we yearn for now. Together as a society.

When it is dark outside, lighten yourself from within. And there is no easier way to do so than to spend quality time with family. Make games together. Play games together.

I can attest to this study on how CarPlay and Android Auto can impair driver’s reaction. I have experienced how distracting it is to work these systems on the touch screen of the car. I have stop using them.

Even the touch screen without these are bothersome while driving.

I was completely surprised and equally frustrated, to read the only NYTimes reporting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation. “PM urged citizens to stay at home to dissuade Hindus Pilgrims to flock to the sacred site of Ayodha,” the report read.

Here’s the full transcript of the PM’s address to the nation. I do not find any political or religion-based overtones in the speech. Why, then, should you report as if there is?

The PM called for “resolve” and “restraint” from citizens. I think same is needed from publications. These are not the times to be on the left or the right of the political spectrum. Let’s all first come out of this pandemic together as unscathed as possible. There would be a lot of time again for the political debates.