Excursions

Assuming Manton is about to announce some way of emailing posts or digest of post to the subscribers of Micro.blog hosted blogs, here’s how I wish it works. Email is just another cross-posting option. I know it’s tricky, and it will not work that way given Micro.blog, as timeline, also supports feeds from external blogging hosts. But here’s how I hope it works for it to be useful for me.

The writer selects a category (or a group of categories) for emailing. The posts she publishes under those categories are emailed to the subscribers. Subscribers decide whether they want an email for every post or for a digest of the posts (on a defined schedule — daily, weekly).

This would be a good start, everything else can come later. I have no idea if this is even a feature Manton is working on. But he says it’s “totally unique”. So, I am hoping it works very different from typical newsletter services.

Prepend 12ft.io/ to the URL of any paywalled page, and we’ll try our best to remove the paywall and get you access to the article.

Source: 12ft Ladder. I am surprised this still works.

An idea for a service →

I want to build a service that serves static contents for independent blogs. For example, serve all images for your blog posts.

I recently watched two masters, music icons A. R. Rahman & Arijit Singh, have a candid conversation about music. It was wonderful to watch them talk all about their music and the process. We need more such conversations — not interviews about life. But go deep about music.

I am back to using Mach3 by Gillette. Having tried everything, this razor still gives me the most comfortable shave. I don’t love money-hungry tactics of Gillette, but am glad they made this model.

There was a time when I used single blade safety razors. When Gillette launched the dual-blade razors. I thought it’s double the blades, this has to be better. It wasn’t. Later, I could finally afford Mac3, and I used it for the longest period of time. There was no need to shift, it suited me.

Then the craze for Indie, hip brands with products targeting “bros” engulfed India too. Search for a razor on Amazon and you will be bombarded with a slew of funnily named brands selling grooming products for mens. All claimed quality and affordability. Most targeted Gillette. Feeling burdened with guilt of not supporting newer brands, I switched. I started using a 5 blade razor from one such brand. And then kept hopping for a couple of years. Razor shopping soon became a hobby, and then slowly turned into a nightmare.

Eventually, I gave up and went back to Gillette. First to their pricey 5-blade razors and finally to Mach3. I realised something after this period. A razor with more blades doesn’t always mean better shave. More doesn’t always mean better.

So in short, I am done feeling guilty for using a product from a brand that’s hated a lot. It works for me, so I use it.

Whoever wins this India vs New Zealand second test match (looks to be going only one way at the end of day two today), it would be remembered for the spell by Ajaz. He gave a new meaning to carrying the team on one’s shoulder. Bowling almost half the team’s share of overs is no small feat. 🏏

Now that Micro.blog can schedule a post, it supports the bare minimum set of features that a basic blogging system should, according to me. Both this and the drafts filters were easy fixes. It makes using the web interface for posting a lot more usable.

PS: I had scheduled this post to go live at a later time :-)

I’d a calming morning walk amidst a dense fog around me. I love the sweet smell of the fog, it tickles and bring a gentle smile on my face.

I came across the concept of Web3 so often recently that I had to make sense of the why, what and how of this proposed evolution of Internet. So, I started digging and captured my thoughts as I learnt about this.

I finished reading Four Thousand Weeks, a philosophical guide by Burkeman about time. This one is the best time management book that preaches one should not fret too much about managing time. Live life being aware of its finitude. Doesn’t matter how much we try, we can never master time. It reminds you throughout the book that you don’t have time, but time is what you are.

Just like Burkeman did with his previous book, The Antidote, he left with so many profound observations and thoughts. This is not a practical guide of hacks that you could try to follow to improve your life. Rather, it lends an opportunity to reflect on at least a couple of ways you perceive the concept of time, and consequently, lead your life.