100 New Yorkers, Art Thief, Recursive Recipes & Violin Doctor
#60 of 10+1 Things | Abu Dhabi
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The week went by with not much happening as usual. Just the usual grind with finding jobs, working on a freelance project, having second thoughts about whether pushing this hard at gym really matters and so on.
So, someone at my wife's previous workplace had gifted her a plant. She had it for almost three years, and when we were moving cities, she planned to leave it behind since her office had some sort of managed service that took care of the indoor plants. But the overconfident me convinced her to bring it along. And now, here it is, sitting in our new apartment in Abu Dhabi.
The thing is, I'm fairly decent with outdoor plants—thanks to my mom's backyard garden back home in Kerala, where I grew up surrounded by nature. But indoor plants? That's a whole different league.
And now, the bad news: the plant is dying. I'm suspecting root rot, and folks over at r/IndoorPlants seem to agree. The weird part? I don't even know what plant it is. I think it's an 'American Baby Rubber' plant. In a last-ditch effort, I pruned it a bit and repotted it with some fresh potting mixture as per some recommendations on Reddit!
So, fingers crossed. After all, whether the plant survives or not, I've learned that sometimes the best things in life are the ones we fight hardest for—even if we don't always succeed. I hope it pulls through!
Without further ado, here are 10+1 things I thought were worth sharing this week:
💡 Be A Property Owner on the Web
I read this blog post by Den on owning your space on the internet and couldn’t agree more. He talks about how big platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit have taken over the web, making people dependent on their rules and algorithms. Instead of just renting space on these platforms, he suggests having your own website, using email lists, and making sure your content isn’t locked into one place. He also points out that it doesn’t have to be perfect—starting small and growing over time is the key. The main takeaway? Build your own online home instead of relying on platforms that can change the rules anytime.
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🧾Re-viz-iting Receipts
Not sure whether I can call this data visualization, but Susie Lu has tried reimagining the receipt by turning it into something more visual and easy to read. Instead of just listing items with prices, she categorized spending into sections like Meat & Seafood, Produce, and Dairy. At the top of the receipt, she used bubble charts to show how much each category contributes to the total bill—bigger bubbles mean higher spending. Below that, she listed the individual items under their respective categories and added bar charts next to each one, making it easy to compare prices within a category. The most expensive item in each section sets the scale, so you can instantly see which purchases were splurges and which were smaller spends. She even printed the design on a real thermal receipt printer, keeping it in the same familiar format but proving that receipts don’t have to be boring!
🏷 Phototag
I'm a big fan of e-ink displays and couldn't resist sharing this interesting product that popped up on Kickstarter recently. Think of it as an Apple AirTag with a color e-ink screen, meaning you can customize the display with photos, contact info, or designs while keeping track of your belongings. I see this as a great accessory for bags or luggage, but what I really liked was the utility aspect—since it’s dynamic, you could even temporarily attach it to your pet’s collar when letting them roam freely. It works with iOS and Android, has a built-in alarm, lost item alerts, and a 10-month battery life, all packed into a waterproof(IP65) design. Seems like a larger, more fun, and customizable alternative to AirTags!
💬 Weird Flux
I found yet another interesting discussion on Lemmy where people discussed their weird flexes, and it was both hilarious and fascinating. Some people shared impressive skills, like perfectly parallel parking every time or eyeballing the exact size of Tupperware needed for leftovers. Others had bizarre talents, like sneezing with their eyes open, never getting food poisoning, or even contributing code fixes to Microsoft products. There were also extreme endurance feats, from running every day for years to driving 18 hours straight with minimal breaks. A few had strange life experiences, like being featured in movies, getting paid to live in their apartment, or having their code stored in an underground Arctic vault. Overall, it was a fun mix of quirky, unexpected, and a lot of weird ones!
📚 Art Thief
I don’t remember who recommended this book to me, but I’m halfway through The ‘Art Thief’ by Michael Finkel, and it’s absolutely fascinating! It’s the true story of Stéphane Breitwieser(he’s real)!, a guy who managed to steal over $2 billion worth of art from museums across Europe—not to sell, but just to admire in his bedroom at his mom’s house. He pulled off more than 200 heists, often in broad daylight, with his girlfriend acting as his lookout. The way he seamlessly walked out of museums with priceless pieces is almost unbelievable. It’s a mix of true crime, obsession, and sheer audacity, and I’m completely hooked. Definitely worth a read if you enjoy crazy real-life stories!
An interesting quote from the book:
“The carving to him is a masterpiece, just ten inches tall yet dazzlingly detailed, the first humans gazing at each other as they move to embrace, the serpent coiled around the tree of knowledge behind them, the forbidden fruit picked not bitten: humanity at the precipice of sin.”
~ As always, resurfaced by Readwise. If you’re interested, read my review of Readwise.
Last Week’s Read: The Courage to be Disliked
🎻Violin Doctor
An intriguing Chicago Magazine piece on John Becker, one of the world’s most sought-after violin restorers, trusted by famous violinists across the world. From his Chicago workshop, Becker meticulously restores centuries-old Stradivarius violins—some worth over $15 million—charging $125 an hour for work that can exceed 1,000 hours. Musicians fly across the world to see him, knowing that a single adjustment to a sound post or a varnish touch-up could transform their instrument’s voice. Interestingly, despite handling more Strads than nearly anyone alive, Becker has never played one himself—yet his instinct for sound and structure is unmatched. A fascinating look into the man who keeps the world’s rarest violins alive—this is a wonderful read.
📖 How to Make a Miniature Hardback
I found this interesting tutorial by Rokolee DIY on how to make a mini version of a real hardcover book. First, you make the book block by folding small pages and stitching them together using a kettle stitch, which I thought was pretty cool. Then, you create the hardcover using thick paper, fabric, or even recycled cardboard. The guide also shares tips on making the book more durable and even turning it into a keychain or necklace. Overall, it’s a fun and detailed tutorial, but definitely check out the rest of the DIY projects on the site too!
🏃 Green Charter
I came across the Green Charter of the Vagamon Ultra Trail, an ultra marathon in the Western Ghats of Kerala, India, and found it really interesting. The organizers take several steps to reduce the carbon footprint, like offering shared transport, eliminating plastic bottles and paper cups, and using eco-friendly medals made from screw pine leaves or coir. Even T-shirts are no longer a default option to cut waste. The event also supports local communities by hiring local labor and sourcing food locally. Courses are marked with limestone, and ribbons are untied for reuse in future races—while the carbon savings may be small, it’s still something, and more importantly, it sends a powerful message!
🥘 Recursive Recipes
I spent so much time playing around with this website that provides recursive recipes—it’s weird yet thought-provoking. There are sliders to adjust the recipe based on how much time you have. For instance, making Eggs Benedict from scratch isn’t just about cooking—it could take years if you start from the very beginning. You’d need to grow apples for vinegar, raise chickens for eggs, cultivate wheat for flour, and even cure bacon from a pig you raised. The deeper you go, the more you realize how much effort truly goes into food production. It’s a fun yet overwhelming way to rethink what ‘made from scratch’ really means!
🎨100 Newyorkers
I came across this fascinating art installation called 100 New Yorkers by Mona Chalabi and found it really interesting. It’s a data-driven art piece that reimagines New York’s diverse population by scaling it down to 100 fictional characters based on real census data. Each character represents different aspects of life in the city—race, income, housing, health, and more—highlighting how poverty, overcrowding, and inequality shape people’s experiences. The installation was displayed across 22 digital screens at the Westfield World Trade Center, blending art, data, and public storytelling in a compelling way. I love how this project makes complex statistics more human and relatable, turning numbers into people and sparking conversations about life in New York. Prints are also available for purchase on her website.
🎬 Small Town in Japan
I've been following this channel for a while, but recently had fun watching this video about Kofu, a small town in Japan with only 2,500 people. The host spent a week there, talking to locals, exploring daily life, and learning about abandoned homes, a mobile grocery store, and efforts to bring in new residents. It also shows beautiful scenery and how the town is adapting as its population shrinks.
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That’s 10+1 Things for the week!
Which one was your favourite this week?
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With Love,
Rishi
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”
- Mark Twain