Excursions

As much as I love Ghost as a blogging platform, I hate maintaining an additional platform. I needed to keep it on because it provided a wonderful way to deliver newsletters as an extension to a regular blog. Another reason I used it was the editor — it is hands-down the best web editor interface out there. But, I never draft my newsletter posts directly in the web interface anymore. I use Ulysses for all forms of writing, and I love it.

With Micro.blog supporting the email newsletters, I can again bring all my writing to a single place. That will be one less platform to manage and to pay for. So, the Slanting Nib newsletter shifts to Micro.blog now.

Today, I unintentionally delivered an email newsletter from Micro.blog to my subscribers. While importing the older posts to the new system, even a post with earlier date got scheduled for email delivery. Thankfully, it was a single post. Need to be wary now while importing.

An easy upgrade to Micro.blog premium just for email newsletters. Plus it’s in line with what I wanted. Feedback to follow. For now, the plan is to email long-form posts to the subscribers. I will move Slanting Nib posts and subscribers here. I would love if you join the group.

Every single problem proposed to be solved by blockchain hits up against three fundamental technical limitations that inescapably arise from economic or legal concerns.

Source: Web3 is Bullshit

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. 🏏