1000 Questions, Griddle, How to Tie Shoes & Radish Village

#54 of 10+1 Things | Abu Dhabi

Content re-imagined in post-impressionist style by DALL-E

Hello! First of all, Happy New Year!

A question for you: how did you spend your New Year’s Eve? Do you prefer being indoors or going out?

What a year 2024 has been. Lots of challenges, new learnings, but I’m excited to see what unfolds in the coming year. I’m back in Abu Dhabi after a few weeks of travel to India and have finally settled in. Looking forward to reading more, learning new things, curating great content, and interacting with more of you.

Also a huge thanks to everyone who supported me last year by buying coffees($1 or ₹75). As a freelancer, your support ,keeps me inspired and helps fund all my writing!

Without further ado, here are 10+1 Things worth sharing:

🎂 One Year, Three Goals

I missed out on this last year, but I love starting the year by reflecting and setting clear priorities. In the past, I made too many plans, and nothing worked out. This time, I’m focusing on just three goals: building stable online income, reducing body fat below 25%, and mastering coding and writing.

As I said earlier, 2024 was quite challenging for me—being unemployed, figuring out new things, and finally finding a foothold in freelance work.

In this short post, I share my goals for the year and a few action items to kick things off.

Do you like my blog?
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I’m truly passionate about personal blogs, and as a freelance dev, I’m taking on 2 clients this quarter.
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⚡️Griddle

I found an interesting game called Griddle, a Wordle-inspired challenge where you guess countries based on their electricity grid mix from 2000 and 2022. Each grid represents the mix of energy sources—pink for nuclear, yellow for solar, gray for fossil fuels, and so on. Even if you’re not an energy enthusiast, you can play an easier version and still discover fascinating facts. For example, did you know over 50% of Brazil’s energy comes from hydro? With hints like energy generation, imports/exports, and per capita usage, it’s a fun and educational game worth trying!

🏘 Radish Village

I came to know about this fascinating concept called Live Near Friends and a community called Radish Village in Oakland. Radish Village is an intentional co-living space where 19 adults and 5 babies share a 6-building compound, built around the idea that we’re happiest surrounded by people we love and admire. The community features shared spaces like a communal kitchen, a firepit for evening hangouts, and even a “Baby Monitor Distance” setup for parents to socialize while keeping an eye on their little ones. Residents swap cars, do laundry together, and often bump into friends just steps away from their homes. What an interesting project!

🎁 I didn’t know I needed that

I had so much fun browsing through this interesting discussion on Tildes about gift ideas where people shared their favorite “I didn’t know I needed that” items! From practical gifts like a warm bathrobe, a good chef's knife, or an electric tea kettle, to unique ideas like meteorite slices or a NASA “boarding pass” to Mars, the creativity was endless. I know the holiday season is almost over, but an interesting thread to look for great gift ideas. This portable coffee maker with reusable mesh looks like a great gift idea!

📚 Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar

I'm currently reading “Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes” by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, and it’s an absolute delight. The book explains complex philosophical concepts through jokes, making it both entertaining and surprisingly informative. From Existentialism to Logic, every chapter uses humor to simplify big ideas, and I’ve found myself laughing while learning. If you’re someone who gets confused by all the deep philosophies but wants to learn more in a lighthearted way, this book is perfect for you!

“The optimist says, "The glass is half full.” The pessimist says, “The glass is half empty.” The rationalist says, “This glass is twice as big as it needs to be.” That makes it clear as glass.”

~ As always, resurfaced by Readwise -Your personal knowledge library. Start remembering everything you read for FREE!

Also, I had so much fun reading this free eBook - Jan Miksovsky's travelogue of his month-long Japan hike in 2023. If you love hiking, check it out!

💻 Raw Materials

I came across this fascinating visualization by Toon Vos, which reveals the raw materials that make up a 1.7-kilogram laptop. The breakdown includes 22.7% magnesium, 9.4% borosilicate glass, 8.8% polycarbonate, and more, each represented by spheres sized to their mass and density. It’s incredible to think about the journey these materials take—from being mined or grown, refined, and designed, to finally becoming part of a device we use daily. A striking reminder of the complexity behind our modern conveniences!

❓ 1,000 Questions

I came across this interesting project called the Save Wisdom Project. It’s a simple yet powerful idea—preserving personal wisdom by answering 1,000 thoughtful questions using a secure, offline voice recorder. The goal is to capture your insights, emotions, and experiences in your own voice, creating a timeless legacy for yourself and your loved ones.

Forget about whether this project will be a success or not—I think these questions are incredible. I wish I had asked them to my grandma when she was alive.

🔦 World’s Smallest Floodlight

I was browsing through Kickstarter and came across the PicoTorch, a tiny but powerful keychain flashlight. At just 33mm tall and 15mm in diameter, it’s small enough to carry everywhere, yet it packs an impressive 215 lumens of brightness. With a built-in magnetic base, it’s perfect for hands-free use—whether you’re tinkering with your car or need extra light in an emergency. The project has already raised over $100,000, smashing its initial goal, and it’s easy to see why. feel the perfect use case for it is when it rains, helping you find your way or your keys without risking your phone

👞 How to Tie Shoes

I stumbled upon this interesting site called Ian's Shoelace Site, a site that delves deep into the world of shoelaces. It features 25 different ways to tie your laces, including the classic "Bunny Ears" knot and the Ian Knot, claimed to be the world’s fastest shoelace knot. Whether you’re after speed, security, or a stylish twist, there’s something for everyone—even fun knots for moccasins or Halloween! The site also offers tips for teaching kids, advice for avoiding the dreaded "Granny Knot," and explores the science and fashion of laces. Who knew shoelaces could be this fascinating?

🎲 Hues and Cues

Last weekend, we were at a friend's place and had so much fun playing a game called Hues and Cues. I’d never heard of it before, but it’s such an interesting concept! The game challenges you to describe colors using just one or two words, while everyone else tries to guess the exact hue out of 480 shades on the board. It’s amazing how differently people perceive colors—or maybe not, because everyone guessed “chilli green” correctly... except me. I completely messed up!

🎨Densest City in the World

I had so much fun exploring the incredible cross-section illustration of Kowloon Walled City by Hitomi Terasawa. Once the densest city in the world, this tiny 2.6-hectare enclave in Hong Kong housed 50,000 people in a chaotic labyrinth of shops, apartments, and factories. With no formal planning, buildings were stacked on top of each other, creating a maze of corridors that felt alive and ever-changing. Before the city was demolished in 1994, a team of Japanese researchers meticulously documented it, and Terasawa’s artwork captures its gritty, cyberpunk vibe in stunning detail. Thanks to Greg Jensen’s high-resolution scan, we can now zoom in and immerse ourselves in this architectural marvel’s fascinating history!

🎬 Waves that Look

Here’s a yet another fun video by Japhy Riddle where he uses audio waveforms to create shapes like fish and cows while sticking to quirky constraints. Using Audacity, he turns these visuals into sounds, blending creativity with audio science. A must-watch for anyone into unique experiments!

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That’s 10+1 Things for the week!

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See you next week!

With Love,
Rishi

“We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing – an actor, a writer – I am a person who does things – I write, I act – and I never know what I am going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.”
- Stephen Fry