Excursions

I am surprised there aren’t more television sets that support Bluetooth to pair the headsets. Why do I have to decide if I want the larger screen or immersive sound? There are times when I want to watch a movie on the larger screen, but alone without disturbing others.

Why do I make things complicated for myself? Why can’t I keep it very simple? There is no need to spend too much time on fighting or working on something that’s not perfect or not exactly the way you want it to be. But it is manageable. Why is manageable not ok for me?

Being satisfied with manageable saves so much time, so much energy. Why do I then waste the time unnecessarily working on finding a solution which anyway won’t be perfect? Sure, may be it would good enough for me. Is that what I want? Manageable, but on my terms? Yep. Absolutely.

I have decided I will learn to live with manageable. At least, attempt to. Somethings are just not worthy enough to spend too much energy to get them perfectly to your liking.

Only a child’s mind can dream up a multiplayer game of Marble Run by stitching Jenga and playing cards together. The family had an evening full of some brilliantly close races!

The only way for you to Indiewebify your WordPress blog is to subscribe to a business plan? That can’t be right because that plan’s not cheap. #indieweb

Can I reset my resolutions that I started the year 2020 with? I didn’t get my full quota of 12 months to royally mess them up like I do every year.

Absolutely loved, loved Onward. Such a simple story, but told with so much affection, so much heart. Pixar is a master at weaving stories around families you start caring about just in 90 minutes of runtime. Exciting action. Brilliant drama. Had a lump in my throat at the end.

With the whole world with their faces behind masks, I’m surprised not enough energy is spent yet on finding ones that let you keep your spectacles on. I’ve tried 3 different types of masks till now and all make my spectacles go foggy just through my breathing. Can’t be just me.

There are three important rules you should live by if you want to survive in this world. First, always look over your shoulder. Second, never trust anyone. And third, never say “sure”.

Not to the shopkeeper that wants you to share your mobile number with him. Not to the neighbour that wants you to help him get some work done in his home. Not to your parents when they message you asking you if they can call now; they tell you it’s not urgent. You should listen to them. Not to your wife that wants you to promise her you would do something for or with her. Not to the politicians that want you to vote for them. Not to the boss that wants you to submit the revised estimates urgently. Not to the friend who wants to add you to a WhatsApp group of batchmates from school.

Because your “sure” is a promise that you know you won’t be able to keep up with. Don’t make any of these promises before you know what you are getting into. Follow their questions with some questions of your own; all should start with a “why”. Get them to be specific. Evaluate and decide what you are signing up for with your “sure”. Never ever lend an easy “sure”.

It is a different sort of day today. Things are very different. I mean what's with the lonliness within? It needn't be this way, but this can't be helped I guess. Anyway.

I am also very much reconsider the way I publish. Am back to thinking the "no-editor" interface is blot is not something I really find attractive at times. Everything is good. But a lack of a nice interface to write and publish does make me look out for alternatives. And WordPress always comes first - mainly due to the web app.

I also looked at Ghost again. This line in its comparison to WordPress left be curios.

If you're looking for a platform that increasingly attempts to do everything and don't mind cutting through the noise to make it work for your publishing needs, then WordPress might be suitable for you.

- Ghost vs WordPress

Is that a positive or negative? Plus according to Ghost, WordPress costs "average managed hosting starts at $115/mo". That sounds too high. Don't WordPress plans start from $5/mo?

Anyway, I will continue to explore stuff. Time for change again, maybe?

Another benefit is edit-on-the-go. Fixing issues with post is so much simpler with WordPress. Not with anything else.

The edit on the go is especially more powerful on desktop! I mean it opens up the editor and you can just add the text. It indeed is very powerful option. The editor is one reason I want to really consider WordPress -- even if I have to pay for it. I haven't finalized it yet though. The biggest deterrent for me is the lack of easy way to add IndieWeb support. I am yet sure if I can live without these -- mainly webmentions and syndication.

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.

My 6-year old casually asked me today, “When I will grow up and go to space, way beyond the sky, will I see God?” I don’t think I have an answer for any that? Go with spirituality or science? And I am completely blown by her cursory reference to the travel to space. She believes it is going to be as easy as buying a ticket and getting onboard a rocket.

She continued, “And when the satellite is this small, why do they have such a huge rocket surrounding it? Why can’t they make just the satellite to fly away?” Any answers of mine did nothing to quench her curiosity.

I firmly believe the curious minds of kids should contribute to defining the next problem statements for science. There would be many that the jaded minds would not have thunk.

If you can write more than 2K words reviewing a small music app, it is the writing part you enjoy more. Start writing fiction.

For every action, there are tens of justifications. For every justification, there are hundreds of questions. Questioning every action of someone else’s is easy. Providing tangible feedback about their action is the hard part.

Whipping cream without an electric beater is not easy. For that matter, any part of cooking is not easy. The finesse, the delicacy needed for the job is beyond my clumsy engineering brain. I have even more respect for my wife and mom; they are masters of this art.

After months in lockdown, the first thing I did today, even before I brushed, was placed a few orders on Amazon! Doesn’t matter if I need all those items — I will cancel later. But I will do anything these days to feel just a tad bit normal.

We are living in a simulation. Some developer has messed up a property on prod and has peacefully gone to sleep. Musk was right.