I missed posting the weekly notes for the twenty eighth week. This update is also a good two to three days old.
I was sorry to see the series, The Blacklist (English) end on Netflix.
I did no writing other than work-related writing over the last two weeks.
I was reading/listening to:
I missed posting the Weekly Notes for the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth Weekly Notes.
I’ve watched:
I had a lot of end of the quarter deliverables at work that I completed. This was at the cost of some other thinking and writing. After a brief pause because of fever, I got back to writing excited by the Chandrayaan 3 launch date confirmation. I wrote:
After Threads launched, I signed up immediately. I posted this:
There is no sane way to process the amount of information that we are hit with every day. Trying to consume it all only left me with no time for family, friends, etc. So, I went back to digital subscriptions for The Hindu, Frontline, The Scroll, and The News Minute.
I read The Hindu for a general awareness of stories. I read Frontline for some in-depth reading of certain stories. I read The News Minute for coverage related to Kerala. I read the Scroll for some of the book excerpts and investigative news coverage.
For stuff related to work (technical writing) and interests (Space and Zettelkasten), I follow people on social media specific to these interests.
I have been trying it out for a month and so far, it seems to be helping.
The Weekly Notes seems to be the only blog post that I have been consistent with recently. All the other writings are cooling their heels in my draft folder. Many of the things that I began recording here have fallen to the way side and recollecting them has not been important.
I had a section for what I read or listened to this week. I have mostly been re-reading Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method. I am reading it keeping in mind the stuff I read of Scott P Scheper on his ANTInet. This is to sharpen the Zettlekasten system inside my bullet journal.
I had a section on badminton and cycling. All the equipment related to these pursuits have begun gathering dust in different corners of the house.
I am embarking on a couple of courses related to the work that I do as a technical writer that will keep me occupied at home during the monsoon.
I am currently reading/listening to:
I have been busy with professional commitments this week but was very happy to be able to write two posts on my blog:
The book, Trackside got my writing and reading started again this week.
I did not follow any new spirals this week. Most were continuations from the ones last week.
I stumbled on Neeldhara’s tweet about a resource she created on note-taking on her blog.
FP mentions that he backs up his notes digitally. Presently, he does them on Obsidian.
Frontline has a nice interview with Ananyo Bhattacharya, who is the author of The Man from the Future, a book about John von Neumann. I plan to get this book.
I argue that another of von Neumann’s contributions to computing, specifically his insistence on putting everything into the public domain and preventing the computer from being patented, has also had an enormous impact. He is the godfather of the open source movement, which is incredibly important today.
Ananyo Bhattacharya, Frontline
Some of the smartest people in technology say they are worried that AI is worse than pandemics and nuclear weapons. What I worry about is not AI extinguishing humans, but our humanity.
Om Malik, Your Weekend AI reader
Across India, there’s a new kind of tourism that’s seeing a boom- astrotourism. Amateur astronomers, citizens building telescopes, hobbyists, and private companies are organizing dark sky tourism with nightly sky watching and fun daytime experiences.
Sandhya Ramesh, India’s new tourism boom is in the sky
I am currently reading/listening to:
I finished listening to Pacific Edge by Kim Stanley Robinson and reading Trackside by Bharath Moro. I have updated the books list on the blog, accordingly. I was stuck in a reading rut for a long time. Trackside helped me break out of it.
I have also started reading The Hindu e-paper and Frontline magazine again. I am sharing articles that I like on my Twitter and Mastodon feeds. I might add them here in future editions of the Weekly Notes.
I watched:
Spirals are what you would call rabbit holes today. Perhaps they are much more deeper? I hope this section clarifies what I meant by the title of this blog, Parallel Spirals?
Commonplace Books
I have mentioned Megan Rhiannon’s videos in the YouTube section of my previous post. She integrates her planner, commonplace book, etc. into one document. She includes stickers and cut-outs in her commonplace book. This got me interested into commonplace books. I watched many videos on this, but these made sense:
I discovered another person who used a notebook instead of a phone for a period of time, while searching about commonplace books. The last time this came up on my radar was on Weekly Notes 02/2023.
Religion
I had gone through some reading on Indian philosophical traditions last year. The YouTube algorithm suggested a video about the Kashmir Shaivism’s poet Lal Ded. I enjoyed the videos from the Let’s Talk Religion YouTube channel. Watching Acharya Prashant’s interview had diverted my focus towards Vedanta. Three specific videos on the Let’s Talk Religion spends time on the three schools under Vedanta that caught my attention.
Nikhil Kamat
I enjoyed watching all episodes of the podcast hosted by Nikhil Kamat. But, I liked this episode the most.
I think Varun Mayya’s explanation (of which there is a clip) of how ChatGPT works may be better than Cal Newport’s explanation.
Antinet/Analog Zettelkasten
I found Scott P. Scheper’s YouTube channel through watching Morgan’s YouTube channel. She has been explaining how to setup a physical Zettelkasten to her mother and mentioned Scott’s YouTube channel as an inspiration.
I found Scott’s method more thorough. But, before I got there I went through videos by Nicole van der Hooven for more ideas on digital Zettelkastens. Her video on why she personally used Obsidian over Roam, has had me open Obsidian after a very long time:
I even sampled Tiago Forte’s video on visual note-taking and signed up for Milanote. I might use it to write my first sci-fi novel.
This brings us back to Scott:
Graphene
An editorial written by a former Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar in The Hindu sent me down the materials spiral. I was once (around 2007-08) interested in material sciences. I watched a few videos on NPTEL on material sciences and specifically on graphene and Carbon nanotubes.
WordPress
I attended the 20th anniversary celebrations of WordPress in Pune. I had thought that I joined WordPress in November 2006, but it seems that I had actually joined WordPress in June 2006.
I was on Blogger before I was here. I had started blogging around 2005, if memory serves me correctly. But, as you can see above, I could be wrong.
I wrote one blog post. No newsletter edition.
I am currently reading/listening to:
I watched the following on OTT:
I watched a lot of YouTube this week. I am not able to watch so many videos.
I missed sending out Weekly Notes 16/2023, as I was not well.
I wrote one blog post.
I wrote one newsletter edition.
I am currently reading/listening to:
Writing at work was good.
I wrote a blog post on the tree walk I went with my daughter.
I wrote the 50th edition of my space newsletter, since July 2019.
I read/listened to:
I did not cycle nor play badminton because of a muscle spasm in the back.
I watched:
Soviet Rocket Engines
P Sainath
What does a Quantum Computer look like?
IndieWeb
Writing at work was good.
I wrote the newsletter, Pradeep’s Space Newsletter #49. 49 posts since July 2019.
I read/listened to:
I had a back injury. This allowed me just two days of playing badminton this week.
The same meant that no cycling got done either.
Another week where most of the writing was focused on work. I did not get any other writing done.No blog posts. No newsletter post.
I read/listened to:
I got back to playing badminton this week. I got the badminton racket gutted again.
I got no cycling done this week.
Parallel Spirals 