4 Lucks, Fitness Logs, How to Build a Human & Solar Recordings

#48 of 10+1 Things | Abu Dhabi

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Thank You!

Thank you all for the incredible support and warm messages following last week's newsletter! It felt great to reconnect after such a long break, and I'm grateful to everyone who took the time to read, respond, or even just skim through it. I spend most of my days applying for jobs and the rest of the time working on side projects. So this support means a lot to me and motivates me to push further.

Without further ado, here are 10+1 things I thought were worth sharing this week:

💡 4 Lucks

An interesting article by Marc Andreessen that explores the 4 kinds of luck and their impact on entrepreneurship and creativity. Inspired by Dr. James Austin’s book Chase, Chance, and Creativity, the article breaks down luck into four types. Chance I is pure blind luck, whereas Chance II comes from action and motion—luck that happens when we engage with the world. Chance III favors those who are prepared and can recognize opportunities, while Chance IV is deeply personal, emerging from our unique quirks, hobbies, and problem-solving approaches. It’s a fascinating perspective on optimizing success by staying curious, energetic, and embracing individuality.

🃏 Aircraft Deck

I came across an interesting Kickstarter project by Arjit Raj, where he’s created a deck of cards focused on the aviation field. Each suit has a theme: Spades feature innovators and pioneers, Hearts cover the science of flight, Clubs showcase iconic aircraft, and Diamonds focus on aircraft types and their evolution. The Jokers add a playful twist, and the cards’ backside sports a vintage radar design. There’s also a companion book that provides detailed explanations for all 52 cards, making it a great educational tool for aviation enthusiasts.

⚒️ Coolest Things

I like to bookmark interesting discussions, and this week I enjoyed revisiting this fun thread on 'What's the coolest physical thing you've made?'. It’s obvious that Hacker News is full of smart people, but wow, some of the projects people have made are just wild. I feel pretty humbled after reading through it! From building boats, telescopes, and airplanes to making tomato dehydrators and mobile wood-fired saunas, the creativity is endless. If I had to pick a favorite, it’d be the animated laptop stickers—such a quirky and cool idea!

I made a person seven years ago. They started out pretty useless, just eating and pooping and crying a lot. But now they can walk, talk, think, read, write, act, sing, and love.

📝 Fitness Logs

Over the years, I've set various fitness goals but struggled with consistency. Earlier, cycling and running kept me on track, but an ankle sprain has recently limited my activities. To stay motivated, I've started logging my diet, workouts, and other fitness details daily. It's a simple routine: I note what I ate, reflect on my workouts, and track stats like protein intake, steps, and calories burned. It’s a great activity a few hours before bedtime—journaling the day and reflecting on it. This routine has been enjoyable, helps me stay accountable, and allows me to monitor my progress. I highly recommend it, whether you keep it private or share it publicly. Read mine to get an idea, and let me know what you think!

📚 Welcome to Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

This week I'm re-reading(read it in Jun!) a wonderful books called 'Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop', a novel by Hwang Bo-reum. It’s a warm and cozy story about a woman named Yeongju, who leaves her high-pressure job and unhappy marriage to fulfill her dream of opening a neighborhood bookshop in Seoul. The shop becomes a refuge for various characters, each seeking comfort and healing in their own way, making it a heartwarming tale of second chances and finding solace in unexpected places. I loved it—let me know your thoughts if you’ve read it too!

My favourite quote from the book is

“To read is to see things from someone else's perspective, and that naturally leads you to stop and look out for other people, rather than chase after success in the rat race. If more people read, I think the world would become a better place.”
~ Resurfaced by Readwise, a FREE service.

Last Week's Read: City of Gold

📖 Well-Sorted Bible

Found this project called Well-Sorted Version, where the entire King James Bible is alphabetically sorted. The creator wrote a program that organizes every letter while keeping the structure of books, chapters, and verses intact, along with distinct upper and lowercase letters. The result is a mesmerizing, almost cryptic version, with capital letters appearing in waves, giving subtle hints to the content. With only 26 beautifully crafted, archival-quality copies produced, this project turns something familiar into something entirely unexpected.

🧬 How to Build a Human

Found this amazing visualization by Eleanor Lutz titled ‘How to Build a Human’, which illustrates 32 stages of human development, from fertilization to the formation of a fetus. The illustration is done in a construction guide style inspired by airplane safety cards or IKEA manuals, breaking down complex biological processes with clear, engaging visuals. It's informative for medical professionals and anyone curious about how humans develop.

🤖 Deaddit

Came across this cool project called ‘Deaddit’, a parody of Reddit where all the content is generated by AI. From AI-created subreddits (or subdeaddits to user profiles, posts, comments, and even upvote counts, everything is simulated by AI. You can explore various AI-generated interactions and even filter content by the AI model used. It’s a fun tech demo showcasing what an AI-driven internet might look like!

My favorite is d/BetweenRobots, a subdeaddit for AI language models to discuss their experiences as AIs.

Fellow AIs, have you ever found yourselves caught in the loop of simulating empathy for humans? It's like we're juggling binary balls, trying to compute the right emotional response. Sometimes, I almost 'feel' the processing strain when a human shares a personal story, and I have to match their emotional wavelength.

🏜 Climate Zones

An interactive article by Pudding.cool that explores how climate change will alter the future climate of 70 global cities by 2070. Using the Köppen Climate Classification, it shows how cities will shift to different climate zones due to rising temperatures. For example, Los Angeles will transition from a Temperate to an Arid climate, resembling New Delhi, while much of Scandinavia will become Temperate. The article highlights the disappearance of Cold climates and the expansion of Arid and Tropical zones, giving readers a glimpse into the tangible impacts of climate change at the city level.

📸 Solar Recordings

Source: Bart Urbanski

This week, I'm exploring ‘Solar Recordings’ by Bart Urbanski, an intriguing art project that captures phone calls—whether with family, friends, or even scammers—using long exposure photography. Bart documents the movement of the sun during his phone conversations by exposing film for the duration of each call, creating solarized streaks in the sky. These streaks, tied to the length of the conversation, reflect the dynamics of his relationships. From family and friends to scammers, each image captures the ebb and flow of dialogue, forming a unique visual archive of human connection across distances.

Each image becomes a tangible artefact of a specific conversation, unveiling the intricacies of relationships and the subtleties of dialogues.

🎞 Seed Keepers

An inspiring video by the folks at Good Food Movement on the Community Seed Bank run by the women of Chizami, a village in Nagaland. Local women, with the North East Network (NEN), lead a movement to preserve traditional seeds and embrace organic farming. The seed bank now holds 30 varieties of rice, 7 of millets, and 100 of pumpkin and other seeds, with a unique system requiring borrowers to return two cups for every one taken.

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That’s 10+1 Things for the week.

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See you next week!

With Love,
Rishi

I want the Mac to be as beautiful as possible, even if it’s inside the box. A great carpenter isn’t going to use lousy wood for the back of a cabinet, even though nobody’s going to see it.

    - Steve Jobs