Excursions

I have always disliked the apps that provide you with a 15-minute summary of the books, usually non-fiction books. Such services are reviewed well and people seem to be paying for them. For example, Blinkist. Here’s whom this service claims to be built for.

Perfect for curious people who love to learn, busy people who don’t have time to read, and even people who aren’t into reading.

I don’t get this. What’s the fun in listening to a 15-minute summary of books? Even podcasts, they claim?

It’s okay to not be into reading books. One isn’t really missing anything if they don’t read books – the information will find its way to reach them. Why, then, the farce of reading books through summaries?

With the rise of ChatGPT and likes, services now don’t even want people to read articles on the web. For example, the latest update for Arc browser launched a new feature called 5-second preview where one can “press Shift and hover over any link to generate a summary of the webpage, without a single click”. This is not good as it can potentially kill people’s (already dwindling) interest in visiting other websites.

Why are we so against any form of reading in the original voice?

I do not know how, but my blog's single-post template is broken. I don't recall any changes that I have pushed to the theme. Hmm. Do I need to fix it now? Sigh!

Every day that I don’t write makes writing again more difficult. I don’t because I convince myself what I write next needs to be significant. I don’t have anything meaningful to talk about. Why does it need to be meaningful? And meaningful for whom?

The most meaningful thing I do is live my life. Isn’t everything happening to me, around me, of the most importance? Why won’t, then, #writing about it be meaningful? It is to me and that’s all that should matter.

I don’t write for readers to find meaning in what I have written. I write to calm myself down. I write to focus.

No surprise then that every time I stop writing, I am more unsettled. The restlessness is not the cause of my block. It’s the effect.

Burger - eat it cold or microwave it?

After days of hot weather, it is raining again. I love rain. But this year, this incessant dampness is tiring now.

Panorama #mbsept

Well #mbsept

“No is a complete sentence” - such a powerful quote. Source unknown.

Is it true? Is it necessary or at least useful? Is it compassionate or at least unharmful?

A sign on Ursula Le Guin’s desk. h/t: Seth Godin →

It was painful to watch Afghanistan falter after getting so close to beating Sri Lanka. Almost eliminating them from Asia Cup. Such heartbreak for players and fans alike 🏏