Excursions

Since I downloaded and started using the Arc browser, I haven’t gone back to the other browsers. It has allowed me to stay on a website for longer and not get distracted by the bookmarks. Or shortcuts. And I don’t even use the marque features of the browser.

I read a flash fiction I wrote 5 years ago – it was a time when I was experimenting a lot with what I was writing. And I still love every word that I wrote then.

For the last few days, I have been away from all the social timelines. No specific reason, just that life happened.

I liked this article from Monica Chin at The Verge, where she talks about what makes a good laptop. Though the answer to that question usually is “well, it depends why you need it”, I agree with all of the must-meet criteria that she lists down – good RAM, good display, good keyboard (with backlight), good connectivity and good battery life.

In addition, portability and form factor matter to me. Too thick, large or heavy, and it no longer is a laptop in my eyes.

I don’t get Apple’s iPhone 14 lineup. Let me be upfront and say I have no intention of being an asshole. Or to troll Apple. I am genuinely curious if Apple has improved iPhone 14 (non-Pro) in any significant way over the last year’s model. Even S models from yesteryears had more significant upgrades. If I am wrong, I must have missed reading something between the line.

If there ever was a generation of iPhones that the previous year’s model could be recommended over, this lineup has to be the prime candidate.

I didn’t follow the Apple event live – I was sleeping peacefully, unaware of what Apple was announcing. I’d also skipped the WWDC and Google I/O keynotes. Knowing that the improvements will only be incremental, my excitement for these tech events has dwindled in recent years.

My daughter recently participated in a three-legged race during the festive period. Though she wasn't too excited to put herself through the challenge, knowing her close friend would partner her through the race made her sign up. Before the race, she and this friend walked together with their legs tied across the neighbourhood. Of course, they were laughing and having fun. But more importantly, they were getting used to this way of walking.

This practice continued for an hour; the actual race lasted for 20 seconds. But that hour had made them habitual of putting their three legs work together in harmony. No doubt, they won the race. While other kids struggled to put their legs in sync, these girls walked with ease.

They had made the new way of walking a natural. Practice is known to do that. I agree with Paulo Coelho when he says, "To become really good at anything, you have to practice and repeat, practice and repeat until the technique becomes intuitive." With practice, you fight the competition by not fighting it but by internalizing the rules. Even in life, you can get bogged down by the many curveballs that life hurls at you or decide to internalize the rules. The choice is individual.

Longer rallies in racquet sports tend to have a slightly different effect. For instance, my friends and I are incredibly competitive whenever we play a game of badminton. We want to win a point against the folks on the other side of the net as quickly as we can. So our rallies are usually short. But every time a rally lasts long, we subconsciously stop playing against one another - instead, we start to play together against the shuttlecock. So, we invariably want the rally to last even longer.

Isn't it funny how a situation at a point turns the very rules of the game on its head? How your competitor momentarily changes mid-match when it is competitor no more?

I love the visits to the library with my daughter. She loves spending time amidst the books – strolling through aisles, looking excitedly at the varied genres of books. Of course, she hasn’t read them all (duh!), but making her choose her book for the day is a difficult task.

I finished reading Think Again by Adam Grant today 📚

Though the book is in no way short, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Grant presents numerous ideas across sections and chapters – some focused on individuals, others on teams. Some on one’s personal life, others on the professional one. Given the recent trend of expanding trivial ideas into a book, I admire the depth Grant attempts with this book.

Sure, not everything works for me. Not all suggestions are practical. A few chapters and their conclusions contradict the more significant point being made. Some sections just have no relation to the central premise of thinking again. The conclusion sounds weakest as if it was added after the thought (something that Grant acknowledges in the Epilogue).

As I struggle today with forming opinions amidst the information overload, this was an essential read. Every help I get to think better is welcome.

Unless you have skipped a lot of school, or work, or both – or you live in the USA – you have probably used an A4 sheet of paper before now. Have you ever wondered why it is the shape or size it is? Time to dust off some high-school level maths to investigate.

Source: Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size →