It started when I began using speech-to-text apps like WisprFlow. I quickly speech-to-text is probably one of the best interfaces with a computer (well, the only thing that beats that is directly connecting to the brain like Neuralink, but we are a bit far from that commercialization). But as I dug deeper, I realized that we don’t need WisprFlow. We can have a complete audio platform in a single app that does most things locally (yes, speech models can run locally on today’s hardware) and doesn’t require subscriptions (Who here likes monthly subscriptions? I don’t.).

Enter VoxBee.

An audio super app made for MacOS and Linux

Try VoxBee, free for 14 days.

The average human typing speed is 40 to 70 words per minute, where 70 is really advanced. Whereas after using VoxBee, you’ll quickly notice that the average human speaking speed is 125 to 150 words per minute. So, if you are speaking instead of typing, you get around 3-4x the speed on average.

For example, I’ve spoken 22.4k words at an average of 124 wpm, with over 9 hours and 30 minutes of typing saved.

If you can convert your speech to text easily, then you can now do things even faster.

But that’s not the only thing it can do.

It’s an all-in-one audio platform with multiple capabilities:

1. Converts speech to text in multiple languages on any browser or application, anywhere.

2. Autocorrects grammar when you are speaking English.

3. Add domain-specific dictionary words so it can auto-correct them.

4. Transcribes a recorded audio file to text. You just need to upload a file, and voila, you see the text.

5. Transcribes YouTube/X, etc., podcast videos into actionable insights with summaries.

6. Record online and offline meetings non-invasively with a single click, and once you stop the meeting, it will summarize everything from the call.

7. And much more soon.

How is it different from other tools out there?

1. It’s not a subscription service, so you don’t have to pay every month. You just pay once and use it forever. All updates and fixes are shipped directly to you for free.

2. It’s not just speech-to-text; it’s turning into an audio platform. So one app to rule them all.

3. We care about privacy, so your speech or text doesn’t leave your machine.

4. You can work on it even if you are offline.

Recently, I shared a video on how to use the podcast summary feature on VoxBee. Check out the 3-minute video below and follow my channel for more videos, tips, and tricks on using VoxBee.

If you want to elevate your day-to-day work, try VoxBee for free for 14 days and see how it makes you more productive.

Try VoxBee, free for 14 days.

During this time, I’ve created two complete consumer products that are live and generally available.

1. Real Food App - Measure how whole or processed your food is

2. VoxBee - A local, privacy-first speech-to-text app for MacOS and Linux

They’re not groundbreaking ideas, but I wanted to strengthen my ability to build a product from start to finish that anyone can use. As we know, with all the progress in AI, coding is nearly a solved problem — but launching a full product still requires time and skill with the available tools.

There are many things you need to figure out—like hosting, CI/CD, payments, email providers, databses and more. So, yes, I’ve gone down this rabbit hole of developing end-to-end applications, and I thought, hey, this might help others build in the same way. Here’s a useful list of what I’m using:

1. Hosting Platform: Vercel (mostly for small projects), Hetzner for one-off VPS, GCP for some production enterprise stuff (yes, I’m building with a friend here).

2. Object Storage: Cloudflare R2 (for storing my VoxBee MacOS app packages and failed images for Real Food App). It’s cheaper than S3 and follows the same API conventions, so it’s better.

3. Vibing tool: Claude Code (orchestrated by Conductor), ChatGPT (for all deep questions), Gemini. Although I feel there’s a better editor than Conductor to be built, I am thinking of one. I will keep you posted.

4. Agent Skills: skills.sh, I have also created my own skills here that I use extensively. It’s available for free via skills.sh. I also Anthropic’s frontend design skill to work on UI.

5. Web Search API: Brave Search API (There is a free tier), Perplexity (Pay per use)

6. Emails: Resend (really good service; I use the Pro subscription that supports 10 domains and cost $20/month).

7. CI/CD: GitHub Actions. If you’re using Linux machines, the free plan should work fine, but if you’re on a Mac while building a Swift App, it can be more costly, and you might need to pay extra. I had to set aside some money for billing.

8. Payments: Stripe, Polar, Dodo Payments—pretty standard stuff.

9. Support emails: Zoho (I find it really useful that you can have a primary inbox and aliases; it costs just $1/month).

10. Speech-to-text tool: VoxBee (created by me, available for MacOS and Linux). I used WisprFlow, but its monthly subscription is quite costly, and I highly value speech privacy. Using speech-to-text has greatly boosted my productivity. If you haven't tried it yet, give VoxBee a try.

11. Databases: Neon (easy to set up, free 0.5GB per project). Pretty soon, I will need to switch to a paid plan since I expect the DB size to grow.

12. Analytics & SEO: Google Analytics for Webpages, Ahrefs (I’m on a $20 Ahrefs subscription and haven't used it extensively yet, but we’ll see), PostHog for client-side telemetry.

13. Apple Developer account: VoxBee is available on macOS, so you need this if building for macOS. It costs $99/year.

14. Domains: Vercel domains.

I haven’t really started using any marketing or video-making tools yet, but I know there is CapCut.

If you are a fellow solo builder or founder, what tools are you using to build and improve productivity? Share your stack in comments.

I have been obsessed with clean, whole foods for a long time, but there wasn’t an easy way to find them on the go. So, as I built this app for myself, I also started making it available to others. During that process, I started getting some good feedback from early users, which I would like to share in this post.

But first, a few points about why I am building this and what the idea behind it is.

The core idea of this app is not only to explain what macro- and micronutrients are, but also to show that they’re secondary. It’s about determining how real or whole the food is. I believe that’s a far more important metric than macros/micros. A 2019 study confirmed that, when calories, energy density, macronutrients, sugar, sodium, and fiber are held constant, an ultra-processed food diet leads to weight gain.

Even excessive consumption of ultra-processed protein bars to meet your protein needs could harm your body

The proliferation of processed foods and foods with more than 3-4 ingredients has increased significantly over the past 40 years.

The fact that they are easy to package, market, and sell to users makes them part of the problem. And when companies realized people were more focused on macros/micros, we got those highly processed protein bars.

This is directly correlated with an increase in obesity around the world. (Of course, this is one factor, and abundance is another reason, which we will discuss at another time)

Subscribe now

And that is why it is super important that we go back to core principles and understand what is in our food. In our busy modern lives, we do not have time to cook everything ourselves, so we rely on packaged food. The point is not to avoid packaged food entirely, but at least to know what is in the food, make educated decisions, and use the recommendations to compare.

After I opened this platform to users, I received some really good initial feedback, which I am sharing below in 3 important points.

Transparency is important.

What you see is what you can make decisions about. One of the challenges of clean eating is that people are overly focused on macros. They only look at how much protein this bar has. But I think being transparent about the actual ingredients gives them an edge. Also, the first rule of thumb — the higher the number of ingredients in your food, the more likely it is to be worse. If you see any ingredient label, you don’t know what it is because there are so many variations. So if we could see those easily, we could make decisions quickly.

Users want recommendations on how much to eat.

Even though many people eat for taste and nostalgia, they want to avoid overdoing it. They want guidance on how much to eat, like once a week or once a month. This is the principle I also like - eating in moderation. Once in a while, you can enjoy that sweet ultra-processed snack. It’s OK. We don’t all have to be Bryan Johnson from day one.

Users want recommendations for healthier alternatives.

In the abundance of types of drinks, protein bars, etc., it’s really hard to find what is actually good. So users looking at a product want alternative recommendations on which one is relatively better and why. That is why we built the recommendation feature on our platform, which recommends based on the food's wholeness rather than just macros.

This is what is driving the core features now, and as I get more and more feedback on what would help users, we will keep iterating

If you are in the same boat, trying to eat clean, check out the Food Realness platform. When you sign up, you get 5 free credits to analyze.

One of the hardest parts of being healthy is controlling our food intake. It has one simple rule: if you eat good food in moderation, you will eventually be healthier than you are now. But this simple rule is hardest to follow.

Why is it so hard?
It’s because there’s so much hype around fancy healthy products (high protein, low fat, low carb) that we forget a simple metric of healthy eating. The more processed the food is, the worse it is for us. It’s also intentional that all these big companies are trying to make you submit to decision fatigue and make worse food choices.

Subscribe now

When we go to the grocery store, the general habit is to look only at how much fat or protein it has and make a quick decision based on that. BUT what we overlook is what the ingredients in food are and how processed they are. And that is where the real challenge lies. How do we know what ingredients are real and what are ultra-processed?

That’s why I built a Food Realness checker. It started because I wanted something to help me make better food choices quickly, and now I am sharing it with everyone.

So how does it work?
You are at a grocery store, you pick up a snack, and you just snap a photo of the front page. This will identify all ingredients used in this snack and analyze them, providing detailed information about each. If it doesn’t find it, you can scan its barcode, or if that doesn’t work either, just click the photo of the front page and the ingredients section, and voila, you should see some useful analysis of the snack.

Try to create a full analysis here. It’s free to sign up.

What’s next?
So now that you know what not to eat, how do you know what to eat? We are working on providing an alternate recommendation for the food you scan. This will close the loop on making your daily life healthier with better eating habits.

Since this product is in beta stage, if you find anything broken, please reach out to me here or here. If we all collaborate and help each other, we can live cleaner, healthier lives.

It’s been a long time I have used StackOverflow for coding — says almost every programmer nowadays

bootstrap

I remember when I got my first job at Microsoft back in 2016 - you join the company, have the orientation, and then you join your team and start looking at code. For the first few weeks, you’re trying to read and understand the existing code, trying to figure out what’s going on, and maybe adding some missing tests. It takes a good amount of time to read, understand, and then contribute to the codebase.

That was the pre-LLM coding era. Fast forward to today, everything has changed. We’re now in the post-LLM coding era.

You don’t really need to spend a lot of time understanding the code by yourself. You can just direct tools like Claude or Cursor to read the code, summarize the architecture, and voilà you already know how it works at a high level. You’re ready to make contributions in a matter of hours.

understanding

In the pre-LLM era, you needed to understand the code you were writing while you were writing it. But now, you actually write the code first (well, you ask your agent to write it), check the functionality, and then maybe read the code to see how it’s done.

If you’re shipping to production, you still need to understand the code. But gone are the days when you knew every single line you wrote.

If you’re just building a PoC or MVP, there’s no need to look at the code at all. Just verify the functionality, iterate until it works the way you want, and you’re done.

debugging

What if you have a bug?

In the pre-LLM era, you’d trace the code paths manually and figure out where the bug came from (and we all know logging is never complete enough to immediately show the issue). Then you’d find a fix, sometimes searching around for answers if it was language-related.

In the post-LLM era, you just chat with your agent. It finds multiple solutions, and you pick one and it even implements it for you. You don’t have to go through all the lines of code to figure it out yourself.

system design

Even in system design, these agents are your first level of interaction. Give them a vague problem to solve - say, in Claude’s code-plan mode or ChatGPT - and they’ll come up with multiple design options. You can refine and iterate until you’re satisfied. You no longer have to spend hours reading and researching before getting to a decent initial design.

Even though all these tools make the dev cycle much faster, if you’re shipping production-level code, you can’t vibe-code it all the time. Understanding the code still gives you a real advantage. In my opinion, people who understand code can use these tools far better than those who don’t.

A real-life example: I was at HackMIT a few weeks ago mentoring and judging. A hacker came to me for help debugging something. I asked him if he knew where the logs came from, and he said, “No idea this is what Cursor coded.” At that moment, I thought, if he just knew how to read a bit of code, he could’ve figured out the issue himself (or at least known what to prompt Cursor next).

The Future

Programming has become easier than ever, and I can’t imagine what comes next. Tools like WisprFlow are already making it possible to build without typing. You can just speak to your agent and get it done.

We should be excited about this. These tools let us build faster and cooler things than ever before — and the best way to use them is to embrace them while still keeping our understanding sharp.

you eat the pizza.

the next morning you lace up, hit the gym, and slide right back into your routine. one planned slice doesn’t derail the journey; it actually helps you carry it forward, sustainably and sanely.

why i swear by cheat meals

cheat meals, handled well, are rocket fuel for long-term consistency. but, like any powerful tool, they need guardrails.

properties of a good cheat meal

• portion-controlled, not a free-for-all

• scheduled sparingly, about once every 7–10 days

• something you truly enjoy (the bigger the smile, the better the refill)

why they matter

motivation alone fades fast; habits keep us in the game. a strategic cheat meal helps you build those long-term habits while letting you enjoy time with family and friends without stressing over your progress.

cheat meals are the five-minute pomodoro break after a 25-minute sprint.
they’re the weekend away from the day job that prevents burnout.
they’re the 5 % “yolo” money that lets you manage the other 95 % responsibly.

as with most things, it’s all about balance. if you’re chasing a long-term, sustainable fitness journey, a disciplined cheat-meal protocol can preserve momentum and push you closer to the goal line.

personally

i’ve been tracking macros and running a calorie deficit for the past five months. i’ve hit my goals and plan to keep improving, yet i still eat out once a week or so - pizza, ice cream, even greasy comfort food. sticking to the properties above means those treats haven’t hurt my progress one bit.

There are moments in life when you find yourself doing things you never imagined you would. Suddenly, someone presents you with an opportunity, and you decide to take that leap of faith. Only then do you realize the challenge is far greater than you initially thought, but sticking with it leads to growth and improvement.

A similar scenario unfolded for me at the beginning of this year. One day, my CrossFit coach approached me during class and said, “Hey, we think you'd make a good CrossFit coach. Would you like to try it?” Despite having trained consistently at my gym for almost four years, this thought had never crossed my mind. I was taken aback and told my coach I'd need time to think about it. After discussions with other coaches, my wife, and friends, I decided to give it a try.

This decision opened up an entirely new world for me. Before coaching independently, I had to complete a seven-day internship where I trained in one class, then coached the next class while the head coach observed and collected the feedback.

What happened during those seven days was transformative—I discovered things about myself I never knew before.

Growing up, I had never experienced anything quite like this.

Additionally, teaching in a language other than your native tongue presents its own unique challenges. Although I grew up speaking English in school and college and have lived in the United States since 2014, English remains my second language. Coaching a diverse group in my second language added another layer of complexity and personal growth.

Now, having coached for nearly two months, I'm continually learning and improving. Here are a few lessons I've learned that apply broadly to many fields:

• Maintain Eye Contact: When you're nervous, it's natural to avoid eye contact. Consciously making direct eye contact boosts your confidence and strengthens connections.

• Minimize Filler Words: Words like “umm” and “aaaa” slip out unconsciously. Being mindful and deliberate when speaking significantly reduces their frequency and improves clarity.

• Keep Explanations Concise: One valuable piece of feedback I received was to be concise. People often lose interest if explanations become too lengthy. Clear and crisp communication is far more engaging.

• Find Your Coaching Voice: Everyone has a unique voice that reflects their personality and confidence. Many experienced coaches advised me to discover and embrace mine, and I'm still in the process of doing so.

• Observe Actively: Observation is key. The more attentive you are to others, the better you understand their needs, allowing you to coach effectively.

These past two months have been incredibly enriching, and I'm confident that the future holds even more growth. I am genuinely glad I took that leap of faith.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Last year I wrote my year in review for the very first time.

What didn’t I achieve from what I planned last year?

• Did not spend enough time building side projects

• Wrote less than I thought I would

• Did not go on enough hikes

Even though I did not achieve some of what I planned, it was still a great year of learning and exploring.

Continuing the tradition for 2024 with this post.

Personal

The most exciting and impactful thing this year (and probably for life) was getting married. I had a great time with family and friends back in India. As you all know, an Indian wedding is full of tradition, food, and almost a week of unlimited celebration. My wedding was exactly like that.

Job

I am still working and enjoying the company I was at when I wrote the 2023 review. We have grown a lot and the work has been super fun. The mission and the people of the company keep me going and with all the ups and downs it is becoming one of the most exciting journeys of my career. After joining this company I had to force myself to work out in the morning but I think now it has become a habit. Amazing how habits change if there’s enough reason and time given to them.

Being Active

In 2023, I completed 215 CrossFit sessions, but this year, I only managed 146. While I did incorporate other types of workouts during my travels, this was undoubtedly the low point of 2024. Upon reflection, the frequent traveling (details in the next section) significantly disrupted my workout routine. Although I’m not thrilled about this decline, it presents an exciting challenge for 2025: finding creative ways to stay consistent with workouts, even while on the move.

I’m particularly inspired by Keith Rabois’ end-of-year workout update, and I plan to channel that inspiration into building a travel-friendly fitness routine that keeps me on track, no matter where I am.

Even though I worked out less my average step count increased from last year. It’s not 10k steps a year but I am happy with the progress

Also, I completed my goals for all the months except one. It tells you when I got married.

Personal PRs this year

• 1 rep Deadlift @ 255 lbs (up 20# from last year)

• I got 50 unbroken double-unders

• 1 rep Squat Snatch @ 110 lbs

• 1 rep Thruster @ 135 lbs

Travel

This year was surprisingly a bunch of travel, both work and personal.

As part of my annual trip to Alaska, I visited Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the United States. One of the highlights was exploring McCarthy, a remote and charming town within the park with a population of just 150. It was a unique experience that showcased the rugged beauty and seclusion of the area.

I visited India twice, which is great as I had never been to India twice in the year after I moved to the US back in 2014. Fortunately, it was during the festivals of Holi and Diwali, so I got to celebrate those with my family.

I ended the year with a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was my first time visiting Mexico, and the experience was nothing short of amazing—beautiful, relaxing, and the perfect way to close out the year.

Other places included Nashville, Syracuse, New York, Denver, Indianapolis, Bangkok, Houston, Austin, and Galveston.

Newsletter

This year was also not a good year for writing. I only wrote 6 articles. I guess this year, I need to put more effort into writing. My subscriber count did grow to 188 from 83, which is pretty decent.

Books

I read some pretty interesting books this year. Some of them I am listing below as my recommendations

• Same as Ever by Morgan Housel

• More Than You Know by Michael Mauboussin

• The Courage to be Happy: True Contentment Is In Your Power

• The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down

• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

As always, I will strive to read more this year and share what’s most interesting.

Podcast

I kept listening to the podcast I listened to last year but added some new ones:

• Lex Fridman

• Tim Ferriss

• Econ 102 by Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg

• Pirate Wires

• Sherlock & Co.

What’s cooking for next year?

• Read / Write more

• Workout more (coming soon with some interesting update)

• Travel more (do not skip workouts while traveling)

• Spend more time learning new technologies

• Building side projects (I am gonna try harder this time)

• Meditate daily

To everyone reading this, I hope you had a great last year and know what you can improve this year even if it is small. Stay safe, stay healthy, and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.

I’ve been doing CrossFit for over four years now, and this past week I found myself reflecting on how it has positively impacted my life. This reflection also led me to think about how we can take lessons from any area of our lives and apply them to other aspects.

As I began to write down some of the changes I’ve noticed in myself—not only as a person but also as a friend and partner—I realized just how far-reaching the benefits of this journey have been.

Persistence

When I first started CrossFit, I couldn’t do a single double-under. It was one of my biggest weaknesses. It took me over two years of consistent effort to finally get the hang of it. Every workout that included double-unders had to be scaled, but I never stopped attempting them. Almost every time, the rope would whip against my calves when I failed, leaving red scars that lasted for days. But I didn’t let that discourage me.

Gradually, I started seeing improvements. Today, I can sometimes string together 50 unbroken double-unders. While I’m still working on achieving consistent predictability, the progress I’ve made reminds me of the power of persistence.

The lesson: There are many things we don’t know how to do—or don’t yet have—but persistence over the years can lead to significant improvement, even if mastery feels elusive. There are no shortcuts, but the journey is worth it.

Discover the root cause

While working on my double-unders, I spent the first year and a half using ropes provided at the gym. At the time, I didn’t realize that not all ropes were the same. Even though I tried to pick one that suited my height, sometimes I ended up with a heavier rope and other times a lighter one. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference to my progress.

One day, I asked one of my coaches for advice, and she suggested that I buy my own rope. Voila! That was the game-changer. Once I addressed the root issue, everything clicked, and I began making significant progress. And now, here I am.

The lesson: The first step to solving a problem is identifying its root cause. Once you understand what’s truly holding you back, finding the solution becomes much easier.

Share

Get up and move

Anyone who has done deadlifts knows how injury-prone this movement can be. I remember one time I injured my back while lifting just half of my max weight at the time. During a warm-up set, I felt my back pop—a moment that taught me a hard lesson.

Over time, I’ve come to understand that injuries are a part of the journey. Instead of giving up, I focused on recovery, started back at square one (lifting much lighter than before), and worked diligently on improving my form. With patience and persistence, I not only recovered but eventually broke my personal record with far better technique.

The lesson: Every time you fall, get back up. There’s no shame in starting over—what matters is that you keep going.

Trust the process

One of the scariest movements for me in CrossFit has always been the squat snatch. When I first attempted it, I was terrified of falling backward with the bar overhead. Only recently—after more than four years of practice—have I started feeling comfortable with the movement.

It took guidance from several coaches and countless hours of practice to learn how to get under the bar properly. But even more than the physical training, overcoming the mental block was the biggest challenge. Training my brain to trust my form and the process took just as much effort as mastering the movement itself.

The lesson: Trust the process. Training your mind is just as important as training your body.

Respect and Cheer others

One of the most amazing things about CrossFit is being surrounded by people with diverse experiences and abilities. In any given workout, someone will lift heavier weights or finish the WOD faster than others. But what stands out is the culture of encouragement—people are always cheering for each other. Everyone respects where others are in their journey and genuinely appreciates the effort they put in.

If I finish my WOD before others, I make it a point to stay on the gym floor until everyone is done, cheering them on as their biggest supporter. This simple act helps create a positive and healthy gym culture, where everyone feels supported and motivated.

The lesson: Everyone is on their own journey in life. Respect where they are, and don’t hesitate to cheer them on, no matter what stage they’re at. Supporting others not only uplifts them but also enriches your own life experience.

Stop comparing to others

This ties closely to the previous point: your only true competition is yourself. Each day, you wake up striving to lift more than yesterday, to be a better version of yourself. In CrossFit, there’s always healthy competition with others, but the primary focus is on self-improvement. The goal is to become a fitter, stronger version of you.

That doesn’t mean you can’t draw inspiration from others—far from it. Being inspired by someone else’s achievements can be motivating, but only if it fuels your own growth. Over-focusing on how much better others are, however, is a recipe for frustration and failure.

The lesson: Focus on becoming a better version of yourself rather than trying to become someone else. Stop fixating on what others are achieving. Instead, aim to make yourself 1% better than you were yesterday.

Take a break

A valuable rule of thumb I’ve learned from CrossFit is that sometimes you need to take a break. You can’t always be at your best, nor can you maintain peak productivity every single day. There are times when I don’t feel like lifting heavier or pushing myself to 100%. And that’s perfectly okay.

I’ve learned to listen to my body. On days when it doesn’t feel right, I treat it as a lighter day—I’ll lift less, scale the workout, or do whatever it takes to avoid overdoing it. Sometimes, I even take a break for a few weeks to rest and recharge. This time off allows me to come back stronger, both physically and mentally.

The lesson: You don’t have to be productive every day. When it doesn’t feel right, take a break, recharge, and trust that you’ll return stronger and more prepared to tackle your goals.

Everyone has something in their life that they can strive to do better. The key is to look within and help yourself grow. One of the most effective ways to elevate your life experiences is by transferring the lessons and skills you’ve gained from one area to another. You don’t have to apply everything exactly as it is, but you can draw inspiration from your experiences and use it to enhance your overall well-being.

If you have similar experiences that have helped improve your lifestyle, don’t hesitate to share them in the comments. Your story might inspire or help someone else reading it.

I land at Wiley Post-Will Rogers Airport after flying for almost 12 hours. It’s a tiny airport with even fewer people. I started in Seattle and after two hops at Anchorage and Prudhoe Bay Airport, I reached my destination where I will celebrate the 4th of July of 2019. This was my 3rd trip to Alaska and the first solo trip that I made on a whim.

My obsession with exploring Alaska started back in 2017 when a bunch of us decided to travel to Alaska in the summer. Even though the visit was quite what anyone does when they go to Alaska, camping in Denali National Park, doing a glacier tour in Whittier, driving to Hatcher Pass, etc, the rugged terrain and sheer volume of amazing mountains and wilderness caught my attention. I live in Seattle, a city surrounded by the majestic Alpine ranges of the North Cascades, the Olympics, and Mount Rainier National Park. Yet, despite this stunning landscape, the untamed beauty of Alaska has a way of drawing me back, making me want to visit again and again.

The next trip in the summer of 2018 led me to Kenai Fjord National Park in the Seward area, where we hiked up near Exit Glacier on a trail called Harding Icefield. The hike was a total of 8 miles out and back with 3k feet of elevation gain. When you are on the trail, it’s like just another trail (except you need to carry a beer spray just in case) but the moment you are on top of the trail you see an icefield miles and miles in distance. It just doesn’t end. That one view makes your hike worth it.

We also had the opportunity to hike on the Matanuska Glacier, located just a 1.5-hour drive northeast of Anchorage. This was my first experience hiking on the glacier. Wearing crampons, and carrying a hiking stick and ice axe, it was a fun experience of traversing on a glacier where we saw a bunch of crevasses that could go beyond 150 feet deep. Imagine taking a wrong step there. The short hike ended with us encountering an ice cave where we could go a bit inside and explore.

In 2019 I wanted to visit Alaska but didn’t know where to go so I opened up the map and looked at how north I could go. So I saw this place Utqiagvik and started reading about it. It used to be called Barrow and has a point called Point Barrow, which is the northernmost point in the US. It is closer to going to the North Pole from there than to Seattle. I got super excited and immediately decided to go there. It was over the long weekend of the 4th of July and somehow my friends were not available so I decided to do it solo. I landed at the Airport and funnily enough my hotel was 10 minute walk from the Airport. Barrow at that time only had 2 hotels, I stayed at the cheaper one. Those 4 days were some of the most memorable as they involved spending time with the local Eskimo community and celebrating the 4th of July in their traditional way. It did not involve lighting fireworks because there was no sunset in that season. I also got to do a polar dip in the Beaufort Sea, visit Point Barrow, see the natural permafrost refrigerator, etc.

In 2020 COVID hit, and I didn’t get a chance to visit Alaska. But I still wanted to.

Share

I had always visited Alaska in summer so I thought it would be cool to visit in winter and maybe see the Northern lights. Luckily I have a friend who is from Wasilla, which is an hour north of Anchorage. He and his to-be wife, both my good friends, were staying in Wasilla at that time therefore I visited and stayed with their family for 10 days. This trip was filled with playing around in deep snow and watching Northern lights while the outside temperature was -23 degrees Celsius.

This trip was followed by another trip to Wasilla next year for their Wedding. I attended the Alaskan wedding which was super fun. One of the guests flew into the wedding via their Sesna place. How cool!

The next two trips were probably two of my most memorable national parks as they were remote and allowed me to explore the extreme and pure Alaskan wilderness.

The first one was Katmai National Park in July 2022. The only way to get there is by taking a seaplane from this small town called King Salmon. The reason it attracts a lot of people who are interested in wildlife is because it has a higher density of Grizzly bears than humans. A cool thing about the bears is that they don’t present any danger to humans as there is enough supply of Salmon migrating upstream. We witnessed an abundance of bears feasting on fresh salmon throughout the day as they fattened up in preparation for their winter hibernation.

This summer I visited another national park called Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Fun fact about this park on average only ~70k people visit it each year vs 600k to Denali National Park. It’s the largest national park in the US but one of the least visited due to its remote location. We visited a town called McCarthy whose population is around 115 people. The exciting part of the trip was a 70-minute plane tour which showed amazing glacier views. We saw at least 13 glaciers up close from the plane. I had never seen glaciers that way and it was mesmerizing. We also visited the historic Kennecott Mines, the 800-mile Trans Alaska gas pipeline, and the beautiful city of Valdez and rode the sled dogs of the famous Iditarod race.

I have been fortunate enough to visit Alaska 7 times in the last 8 years and I can say that if you are in the US and never visited Alaska, you should. If you are not in the US and visit the US in the future, I would recommend spending some time in Alaska. With its pure raw wilderness, rugged mountains, and amazing historical value, it’s a magical place to visit.

Due to the vastness of Alaska, there are so many places I have not got a chance to yet but hopefully that will change in the future. A few of them which I am excited to visit are

• Nome

• Wales and Little Diomede island where you can see Russia

• Gates of the Arctic National Park

• Drive on the Dalton highway

• Kodiak Island

• Alaska State fair to view giant size vegetables

• and many more…..

“When you travel in Alaska you are humbled by its size and wildness, awed by its beauty, inspired by its original peoples whose culture is still deeply rooted.” – David Roberts

Occasionally, I come across a podcast so captivating that I want to drop everything and listen to it in its entirety. I've never been a fan of seeing wildlife in captivity and always prefer observing animals in their natural habitats. This particular podcast intrigued me for that very reason. Although I wanted to listen to it in one sitting, I ended up spreading it over 2-3 sittings since it's a 4-hour podcast

If you are interested in learning about the Great Amazon and excited to learn from first-hand experience of what can you expect in deep Amazon, this podcast is for you.

This podcast was recorded in the depths of the Amazon rainforest. I have to commend Lex Fridman for having the courage to explore the Amazon and record this podcast. He is one of the podcasters I truly admire.

This is the tweet he wrote before going into the rainforest that kept me on my toes until the podcast came out.

Why is this podcast so interesting and captivating?

The Amazon rainforest is home to millions of species found nowhere else in the world. For these species, survival is the top priority. Every day, they must venture out to find food while hoping not to become prey themselves.

The jungle is really just a giant churning machine of death and life is kind of this moment of stasis, where you maintain this collection of cells in a particular DNA sequence and then it gets digested again and recycled back and renamed into everything.

It gives you a perspective of how vast and interesting this world is and there are places in this world where species wake up and think about whether they will survive to see another day.

Some of the other topics discussed in this Podcast

• Who is the Apex predator in the rainforest? (this is what I found most exciting)

• What is it like to go into an actual deep rainforest and how to survive?

• Aliens, Elephants, Mammals, Piranahas.

• How do we protect and think about the longevity of rainforests? Why is it important to protect them?

• Other explorers around the world

To fully enjoy this podcast, I recommend watching the video version. Seeing the joy and passion on Paul Rosolie's face as he speaks enhances the experience tremendously. It truly elevates the podcast.

Don’t miss the section where a small snake suddenly appears from the tree and they talk about it.

Last year I wrote about my first Murph workout

For those unfamiliar with the Murph workout, you can learn more about it here. Every year on Memorial Day, CrossFit gyms across the United States participate in this workout.

tl;dr

1-mile run
100 pull-ups
200 pushups
300 air squats
1-mile run

My time last year was 50 minutes and 10 seconds. I could not beat it this year and added 2 minutes on top of it. This year my time was 53 minutes and 30 seconds. Even though I felt stronger this year, I think I have gained some weight that contributed to it. Murph is a total body weight workout, and having less weight is an advantage. My weak points in this workout are mostly the pushups and the second mile run. I plan to work on these areas over the next year.

I am committed to working harder this year to increase my body strength and return stronger next year to break my personal record.

As a reader of this newsletter, I encourage you to find something you can look forward to each year. This practice helps with long-term learning and improvement.

As we all know, In March 2020 COVID hit, and almost all the working population was forced to work remotely. We thought it would be over quickly but it lasted over two years. What was the effect of this? Remote work became a norm. Employers and employees (especially in tech) realized that working remotely is a good idea. It works for both employees and employers.

Even after the world returned to normal, my company remained remote, foregoing the transition back to in-person work. To be honest, I did enjoy working remotely. I get to choose when I work when I can go to the gym, or do my chores. One of the biggest benefits was there was no commute. If you reside in one of the major cities in the US, you can understand the challenges posed by commuting and parking. So this was all good. But over time I realized something was missing in remote culture. When I went to multiple company offsite I met a bunch of colleagues in person. We had a lot of great discussions, knowledge sharing, and of course social hours. Over those few offsites, I realized I love working in person since it helps me resolve my issues faster and I tend to learn more.

So as I was looking for new jobs, one of the criteria was to work in person. It did happen that I joined a company local to where I live and it was just 15 15-minute bus ride away (It was pure luck). 10 months later, after working in person I realized I was right on how I would love working in person again.

Share

Working in person has its perks.

One of the most important things is the relationship I developed with my peers. While working remotely, I have not experienced that sort of trust between coworkers. It helps to develop that part where you can physically see and understand a person by seeing their body language instead of just their face in Zoom or Google Meet.

Conflicts are resolved faster as you can understand a person’s body language way better than you can do on Google/Zoom etc.

You can learn new things on those random coffee chats

For many people, remote work offers the advantage of avoiding daily commutes while also allowing them to schedule their day according to their family's needs. But I feel if you are a young fresh grad, going remote from day one is not a great way to start your career. It’s quite hard to learn actual people skills, which you need to excel in your career while working remotely. The learning you get by going to the office in person is incomparable if you work remotely.

I used to go to India every year back before COVID-19 but somehow have not been able to go that frequently after that. This time I visited India after more than 2 years. I just visited for 2 weeks but it was a great experience of what has changed in India (And what has not).

What has changed?

I live in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan so the nearest International Airpot is in New Delhi. After landing in Delhi, I took a cab from Delhi to Jaipur instead of a flight due to the timing and extra luggage issues. There is a new Delhi-Mumbai expressway that has been built and Jaipur is on the way. I was surprised at how good the highway was. Before the highway, it used to take around 5 hours to reach Jaipur but now it took less than 4 hours. They are also building a pass directly to Jaipur that will reduce that time to 3 hours. This was a mind-blowing development. I was talking to the driver and he told me that Delhi to Mumbai will take just 12 hours. Even trains used to take 18 hours back in the day. After poking more, the driver told me a lot of other highways are being built which would cut the time taken by a lot. If you compare, one of the reasons America is successful is due to its amazing highways and connectivity. I feel the same is happening in India. This kind of connectivity will boost everything from trade to travel and to many other things. I can’t wait to see how to push the economy further.

One of the days, I asked my brother if I needed to buy a deodorant and he said I would order and I was like sure it would come the next day. My brother came to me after 6 minutes and gave me the deodorant. I couldn’t believe it. I was amazed by how fast it just came. Even if I wanted to buy it myself it would’ve taken me at least 20 minutes to get out of the house go to a shop, buy, and come back. This was just magical. It was not only this incident. Blinkit practically delivers most things that fast. My faster delivery was 4 min 30 seconds. It was just wow. I have never seen this fast delivery anywhere ever. Although I am not sure how profitable this business is, amazingly, it works.

Restaurants. The world revolves around food and the same goes for India. The immense growth in coffee shops and restaurants is quite a feat. A lot of new restaurants with all kinds of food have been opened. You can see people working in coffee shops and hanging out. This says a lot about how the purchasing power of individuals has increased recently. A lot of people eat outside or order from outside.

Apps Apps Apps. One of my friends who recently moved from the US to India showed me his phone and there’s an app for everything. There’s an app for the community, an app for very specific kinds of food, an app for permitting say Amazon delivery guy to get in, etc, etc. I feel India has overtaken the West in terms of digital transformation for daily use. Everything has an app plus it’s all very fast. Everyone has internet access.

Share

Payments. Of course, we all know about UPI and how it’s processing billions of transactions and making payments easy. Everyone used an app based on UPI and made the payments.

One thing I saw when I was coming back was Digiyatra. I couldn’t experience that but the contactless flying experience looked cool.

What has not changed?

Pollution. I feel the pollution is still crazy. Once you land you can smell it. It’s understandable that given the population it will be crazy but I think this is something that needs to be tackled. I know a lot of EV effort is being taken to tackle that problem but I feel it will take quite a lot of time.

People. Even though a lot has advanced, I still feel people's mindsets are the same as they used to be. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up there. I am one of them. But breaking lines, not following basic civic etiquettes, etc is still there. It’s changing but again it takes time so I am positive about that change.

Overall I am quite bullish on India and think it’s going in the right direction. Only time will tell the future but I am excited. You can also read a lot of good insights on this Noahpinion for more detailed stuff.

Noahpinion

Here...comes...INDIA!!!

The United Nations estimates that India has now surpassed China as the world’s most populous country — or, as we colloquially say, the world’s “largest” country…

Read more

3 years ago · 650 likes · 269 comments · Noah Smith

This is my last writing of 2023. So I thought I would share some of the interesting things I did/learned, some wins, and some improvements going into the new year.

Job

I left my job at Coinbase in June to start working at an early-stage startup called EigenLayer. I always wanted to work for a smaller size company and this was the time I just went for it. It has been great going to work in person (travel time is just 15-20 min each side, so yay) after working from home for almost 3 years. I have to say I missed working from the office as you get to interact with so many people and have random conversations.

The current job is demanding and hence less time to do side projects or writing but I can still keep at it.

Since I have started going in person, my sleep schedule has changed. Since I don’t know when I will come back home from work, I had to move my gym timings to mornings so I have now become a morning person waking up at 6.30 am. It is hard for someone who has not been a morning person ever.

Being Active

This was one of the best years for my gym workouts. I have been doing CrossFit for almost 3 years now and this was the best year yet. I attended 215 CrossFit classes this year which is a great achievement and it’s the first time I have been this active consistently.

Being consistent at the gym changes your body and I can feel it. Well for one, your body is always sore but you get used to it.

Personal PRs this year

• 1 rep Back squats @ 200 lbs

• 1 rep Deadlift @ 235 lbs

• 1 rep Power Clean @ 160 lbs

• 1 rep Front Squat @ 165 lbs

• 1 rep Clean & Jerks @ 155 lbs

• 1 rep Power Snatch @ 110 lbs

I did injure my back in one of my deadlift cycles and was reminded that technique goes a long way. So few months of recovery, I worked on improving my form and I am better now.

Hopefully, I can maintain this next year. One thing I want to do in 2024 is to have more Yoga workouts paired with CrossFit to maintain flexibility in my body.

Newsletter

This is the year I started this newsletter and I grew my subscribers from 0 —> 83 (as of 12/27). This is not much but I have never written this consistently in my life so this was a good new thing I did this year and hope to continue next year. The inspiration for writing came to me when I stumbled upon DHH’s writings which are so fascinating and pure. I even sent him an email thanking him for inspiration to which he was kind enough to respond and this response will stay with me forever.

Also a very sincere thanks to all my subscribers for reading and engaging with my writing. Hope I have not bored you :)

Even though I strived to write one article every week, I could only reach a count of 38 (which is way better than last year of not writing anything). Let’s try to beat this in 2024

Books

I love reading and I read some really good books this year. For someone who’s looking for books to read over the holidays or next year, here are some good ones I read this year.

• What’s Our Problem by Tim Urban

• Antifragile By Nassim Taleb

• Courage to be Disliked by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi

• Dameon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez

• Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish

Books are something that has changed my life and I continue to read more and more different kind of books that helps to broaden my mind and take me to places which I have never been before.

Books I am looking forward to reading next year

• Same as Ever by Morgan Housel

• The Begining of Infinity by David Deutch

• More Than You Know by Michael Mauboussin

• and a lot more…

Podcasts & Audiobooks

I wrote about it previously but there’s one more addition to it. These are some great podcasts that I hear when I am commuting to work or cooking/cleaning.

• Lex Fridman

• Tim Ferriss

• Econ 102 by Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg

• Chip War by Chris Miller

In addition to the podcast by Noah Smith, you should check out his newsletter. This is one of the best writings I have read in 2023.

Noahpinion

Economics and other interesting stuff

By Noah Smith

Side Projects

This is the place where I didn’t make much progress and needs work next year. I have always been a fan of side projects and I did build some things but not enough. I think this is partly because of the demanding job schedule but I think if I focus more and spend less time being lazy I could build and ship more. In 2024 I will try to do exactly that.

Areas of improvement for next year

• Write more

• Build and ship side projects. Learn to market and sell

• Watch less TV/Social Media

• Go on more hikes

• Talk to family and friends more

To everyone reading this, hope you had a great year and you know what can you improve next year even if it is something small. Stay safe, stay healthy, and a Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.

This tweet by George Hotz hits home as I am someone who has been experiencing this VISA process for years now.

Let me give you an example. If you are an Indian Citizen who has studied in a pretty good engineering college in India and wanted to come study and/or work in the US, the process is quite intimidating and it doesn’t end. First, you get an F1 visa for studying and then once you graduate first you work on OPT (which has certain years you can work on) in parallel, you apply for your H1B, which is a lottery-based system, which is capped at 85000 per year (60000 for general and 20000 for higher education). Close to 500k people apply each year for H1B.

Now once you have an H1B, it’s not over because it’s only valid for around 3 years. Every 3 years you have to renew - submit a lot of documents and if you go out of the US, you have to get a stamp on your passport. This process is so painful since you have to fill out online forms every time.

And if you change your job, your visa needs to be transferred to the new company. H1B is tied to your employer.

Ok, so what about Permanent Residency? If you are an Indian in an EB2 category, you can forget about getting a green card. Legally on H1B, you can’t earn money from other jobs and if you get laid off, which has been happening quite frequently, you just have 2 months to find a job otherwise say goodbye to your American Dream.

In addition to all of this, you are always tense about your visa status, travel, etc.

Even though I just described how the process is for Indians, I think the general work VISA process applies to a lot of other countries.

Now why am I talking about the VISA process? Well, people want to come to America to pursue their dreams for multiple reasons: Good quality of life, access to capital, hustle culture, and a lot of great diverse-minded people to work with. So even though the VISA process is so stressful and painful, people still want to come here and build great things.

But recently the rules of the game have been changing. Why?

• General globalization and access to most things over the internet

• COVID-19 pandemic has proved that people can work remotely and they don’t need to physically be present in the office to be successful

• The rise of countries like India and China has seen capital moving toward Asian countries

Share

Because of the changes, people have started evaluating that is the process worth the pain or if they can achieve whatever they want in their home country or any other country. The rules of the game are changing and the US Visa process to let people come in is still old and not keeping up with the pace of the changing world. Particularly somehow it’s becoming hard for people who are highly skilled to have more opportunities.

There are also some concerns about more seamless immigration

• What happens to the American people? Do they lose their jobs?

• People only immigrate to only few cities like San Francisco, New York, Seattle, etc., driving the prices up and pushing the less skilled people out of that area

I agree those are valid concerns but the solution is to not make high-skilled immigration hard. America is the land of immigrants. Maybe government should try to incentivize people to move to tier-2, and tier-3 cities and provide good infrastructure for someone to up their skills. With a lot of issues bubbling up with respect for China, maybe America can bring up more manufacturing industries.

Let’s be clear about one thing - the world works on survival of the fittest. If an adult person doesn’t up their skills game (considering government provides enough access to good infrastructure) then they will not survive. If America doesn’t attract highly skilled people from all around the world to come work in America, sooner or later innovation will move out.

I think it’s worth making sure America remains what is has been, a place for great technological innovation. I believe America does needs a lot of great leaders in higher government positions who, instead of stopping finding ways to curb the speed of innovation, can push innovation faster. The world will not stop and America needs enough manpower to roll with it.

If you enjoyed reading this you may be interested in following me on Twitter and Medium. 

Recently I saw this tweet and I had a realization that this kind of politics can have (already having) a negative impact on the future of any country.

Even before I share my view, I am not attacking a political party, I am attacking this message in general and what impact it can have.

In case you don’t know what IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) are, they are one of the premier government engineering institutes in India. They are like the Ivy League of India. Getting admission into IITs is probably one of the toughest entrance admissions in India so definitely it attracts a lot of smart people around the country. In January 2023, in the IIT mains examinations, more than 800k people appeared for the exam. I am pretty sure a lot more of them prepared for the exams. Out of these students, only 10-15k people get selected every year to join IITs. So basically the conversion rate is quite low.

In India, there are reservations in these institutions for SC, ST, and OBCs which is a system of affirmative action in India towards historically disadvantaged groups. This is also present in IIT entrance examinations.

Now back to the tweet. The tweet specifically mentions that there are only 2% of SC, ST, and OBCs faculties in the top 5 IITs in India. So what is the issue? Given that it’s mentioned by a political party’s account it definitely has to do with, the message is quite clear - why don’t we have more faculty of these casts in the IITs? It clearly serves as a vote bank politics where parties are trying to get votes from people of certain casts.

Essentially nowadays a lot of institutions around the world: public or private are criticized for not having enough diversity (can be based on anything: sex, caste, religion, race, etc). This concept can be termed as Equality of Outcome.

Why is Equality of Outcome bad? Equality of outcome says that we should have an equal number of all kinds of people in these jobs or schools. This creates immense pressure on institutions to get away from their merit-based policies and adopt an equality of outcome approach. What does it lead to?

• Imagine a government hospital following this and don’t have competent doctors.

• Imagine an airline company that follows these rules and doesn’t have competent engineers.

• Imagine a premier engineering institutes where faculties are decided by equality of outcomes and not merit.

• Imagine if a country’s military does that and now admits people based on diversity but not merit.

What would that world look like? There will be more accidents, more plane crashes, less technological innovations.

Share

This also has a very negative effect on the people who are actually smart in these underprivileged communities but due to these policies, they are forced to believe that they are not smart so they can get reservations. They are eventually also looked upon thinking that they just got hired or admitted due to a quota.

I do agree that there could be something that could be done to make sure that historically disadvantaged communities get equal opportunities. I am in favor of giving equal opportunities in terms of, for example maybe giving more resources for education, financial support for education, etc. But selection should be merit-based.

The focus should be on Equality of opportunities instead of Equality of outcomes.

People who consistently advocate for equality of outcome are quite short-sighted. You can see this in the United States and in India. The longer-term effects of these are very bad and you can have unqualified people in the workforce which can lead to the decline of an organization/country.

Coming back to the original tweet, If IITs start focusing on Equality of Outcome in hiring faculties, that can lead to a very bad outcome in terms of the level of education the institute provides.

This week, I decided to change the format a little bit. I spend a good amount of time on Twitter so I thought why don’t I share some tweets I found interesting and helpful

Great tweet by Louie, on how we can start very small. I feel this is the best way to start something, This also helps you get rid of your fear of showing yourself. And even if you fail at something, failure at very small levels doesn’t discourage you, it actually makes you strong and able to handle any new failures that can come in the future.

A very controversial tweet by Daniel went viral and got a lot of comments for For and Against. In my opinion, I think you need to understand what you are going into. I don’t think you should not join YC, but I do think you should know what you are getting into. Daniel has explained a lot of things in this tweet but again I think conscious choice is more important than following anybody’s advice. Do what is best for you and prioritize based on what you want.

This tweet by Issac is pretty interesting. I think this was the thinking of a lot of people. When Elon, increased the tweet length and started accepting long-form text, a lot of people, including Issac, were really critical and actually said that it would destroy Twitter. But that changed when they started seeing the impact of those long forms. I think there is a very good learning in that. I think sometimes following your guts, and not getting affected by negative comments from the public helps a lot and in the end, if it’s really a good decision, it pays off.

This was probably the most funny and unexpected tweet I saw this week. Hassan actually submitted a one-page book to the Kindle bookstore and if you follow the tweet, it got accepted too. This is quite funny. Well if you want to try and sell a book with one page, you technically can. Try it out.

Seattle saw a pretty cool Solar Eclipse this week. Here’s a photo I really liked. Even though it was partly cloudy, a lot of people saw a good crescent eclipse.

That’s all for this week folks. I hope this was interesting and if you have any comments or other interesting things to share, feel free to put in comments

Do you like magic? If your answer is yes, then you should try reading if you don’t. Now one can say, everyone reads something? What I mean is, that you should read books (fiction and non-fiction), articles, etc.

Now why did I ask about magic? Well, let’s see how.

What is one of the most mindblowing magic?

Teleportation.

I am pretty sure you have seen the magic, where magician teleports themselves or their support staff from one place to another. Seems pretty interesting right that you can get teleported to a different place. Reading is the same.

You are reading a Harry Potter book, and now you are being teleported to a magical world of wizardry where everything is different from your world and you can experience that just from the words written in the book.

You are reading some historical fiction book where you get to time travel to the past and experience the events that have taken way before you were born.

You are reading some futuristic Sci-Fi and now you are time traveling into the future where you can experience things that will be present 1000 years from now.

You are reading a biography of Steve Jobs or Albert Einstein and you get so immersed in their life that it feels like you were there when they grew up, you knew them and the people around them. You somehow become a part of their life.

You live in America and you read about India and even though you have never traveled to India, you can experience what is it like to live in India, and what is it like to be an Indian.

Isn’t that just pure magic?

I discovered this magic too late in life but when I discovered it I never looked back. Growing up, I was not into books since I felt they were too big with no pictures, how boring is that? But right before I finished my undergrad studies, I somehow started reading books. I started with fiction (I must admit: my first set of books were Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat and Tell Me Your Dreams by Sidney Sheldon). Then over time, I picked up more non-fiction books and that helped me shape my thinking and perspective. I didn’t restrict myself to any genre. Heck, I tried to read Godel, Escher, Bach and after reading 150 pages which took me a few months and then I gave up (One day I will try again or maybe ask ChatGPT to summarize).

So quick advice to someone who wants to start reading books but is a bit scared, just start with a very small fiction story maybe, and give reading that a try. Even though you are a slow reader like me, take your time and don’t rush. If you don’t like it, find some other genre, don’t restrict yourself. Over time you will find something interesting that will change your perspective and you will travel to a world that you would’ve never imagined.

As Navel Ravikant has said

Alex and Books has amazing recommendations for books. Take a look. Enjoy.

US Speaker ousting

In a surprising turn of events, the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, was ousted from his position as he was voted out 216 to 210. This was the first time any speaker had been removed day. This just comes after the US House narrowly avoided a potential government shutdown. The interesting part is, that he was removed due to forced voting from the far-right representatives from his own party. Rep. Matt Gaetz for Florida forced a voting and got him out. Matt Gaetz accused Kevin McCarthy of making a secret deal with President Biden on Ukraine aid.

This says a lot about tensions in the Republican party right now. Even when the speaker was getting elected it took 4 days and 15 voting to get him elected which was already very unusual and said a lot about the divide in the republican party from the start.

So what does that mean for the vacant position of the Speaker of the House? According to CBS:

The rules of the 118th Congress state that "in the case of a vacancy in the office of speaker, the next member" named on a list submitted by McCarthy to the clerk of the House in January will become speaker pro tempore until a speaker is elected. A House reading clerk announced immediately after the vote that Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina was the first name on McCarthy's list and therefore was appointed speaker pro tempore.

"Pending such election, the member acting as speaker pro tempore may exercise such authorities of the Office of Speaker as may be necessary and appropriate to that end," the rules state. The requirement of a list appears to have originated with the 108th Congress that convened in January 2003.

After the speaker pro tempore takes over, "presumably, the next order of business would be to choose a speaker," Green said. He pointed out that "it's unlikely the House would continue to operate as usual without a new speaker being selected."

So I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens next and who will run for Speaker next. It’s a very grim moment in US politics and I feel the US government is the most divided I have ever seen and there is a lot of internal drama which is affecting the current functioning. Even the shutdown has not been averted and can happen, which will be disastrous.

Asian Games 2023

The 19th Asian Games which were held in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China ended today after 14 days.

Here are the medal standings:

India has touched a historic 3-figure 107 medals on Day 14, which is far greater than any of the previous Asian Games and it’s a great testament to how sports have been improving in India. People often ask me questions as to why, with so much population India is not good with sports. This is true, but it has been changing. Even the World Athletic Championship performance was pretty good this year. With respect to sports infrastructure, it has been improving and people are getting more into sports other than cricket. So I feel it’s a great sign for India in the world of sports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Indian players for this great feat.

Nobel Prize 2023

The Nobel Prize was announced this week and I thought it would be great to know who got this year in what field. So let’s go through it.

Nobel Prize in Medicine: Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman

The US-based duo won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on Monday for research that led directly to the first mRNA vaccines to fight COVID-19.

Nobel Prize in physics: Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier

The trio won the prize in physics on Tuesday for conducting experiments that produced pulses of light so short that they were measured in attoseconds, or one-billionth of one-billionth of a second. Their research can help provide images from inside atoms and molecules.

Nobel Prize in chemistry: Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov

The trio won the award in chemistry on Wednesday for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. Quantum dots are particles that are so small that their properties are determined by quantum phenomena.

Researchers believe that this technology can pave the way for the development of flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communication.

Nobel Prize in Literature: Jon Fosse

The prize in literature was awarded to the Norwegian author and dramatist John Fosse on Thursday.

Fosse was recognised by the Swedish Academy “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”

Nobel Peace Prize: Narges Mohammadi

The Iranian rights activist won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. She was chosen from 351 nominees.

Mohammadi, who has been has served multiple prison sentences for the past two decades, is best known for her fight for freedom and against oppression of Iranian women.

Book: Shane Parrish recently released his new book called Clear Thinking. If you don’t know he is the author of an amazing blog called Farnam Street. I have been reading that for so long now and it has been really useful and eye-opening on certain aspects of life. That’s why I am excited to read that book next.

David Perell recently talked to Marc Andreessen about how to think, learn, read, research, and write. This tweet beautifully summarizes what Marc talked about.

You can watch the full video below and I am 100% sure it’s worth your time.

Two tweet by Anu Atluru really hit home

I read the above tweet after I published my article about Retirement and it really made me think more.

We are often taught to never quit things but this is a very different perspective of how to think about time and quitting is not entirely bad if you want to make a conscious choice. I think time is very important and it’s fine to quit.

Spotify New Feature: If you are a Spotify Premium user, you will now be able to read Audiobooks. I am a big fan of Spotify and definitely going to use this.

That’s all for this week folks. I hope this was interesting and if you have any comments or other interesting things to share, feel free to put in comments