Egyptian Egg Ovens, Staying in Syria, and Man Booker Reading Inspiration
Hey everyone!
I would suggest you skip #1 and go through the links first. The life update is a bit heavier brain dump now that this list is made of mostly friends and subscribed readers.
This e-mail has:
- [Life Update] Work in Progress
- [Travel] The Egyptian Egg Ovens Considered More Wondrous Than the Pyramids from Atlas Obscura
- [Tech Tips] [Infographic] Infographic: The Optimal Length for Every Social Media Update and More from Buffer
- [Business] Interview with Steven Chan, Founder of GoodNotes: How He Turned an App Idea into a Profitable Business
- [Inspiration] [Podcast] It’s a Long Story: Marwa Al Sabouni | Staying in Syria and [Inspiration] [Books] The Man Booker Longlist & Shortlist of 2019
1. [Life Update] Work in Progress
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-the-myth-of-quality-time.htmlEven though I basically have 2-3 paid days of work a week, time for the most mundane things, like apartment cleaning, falls by the wayside. Most days, my 8pm “just about done” slips into 11, 12, even 1am before I give up because my eyes ache worse than my muscles ever did during training. It’s probably because I don’t see people enough. I don’t mean catch ups, which are invigorating rather than grounding. Of course, there has to be that initial invigorating exchange — shared values, views, and visions. Still, we do not need an audience for our views on a daily basis. Audiences give us highs while companionship sustains us.
The daily relief of coming home to the smell of dinner, the way we tag along for mundane errands that makes them fun, the photos we take and send off in a message are the steady fuel that keeps us grateful and going. It is my virtual co-working buddy instantly noting a birthday episode when I could not recall what I did this month. Whether in person, on the phone, or over messaging, it is the people who insert themselves into the routine of my life who have me improve my writing recently. But I’m not ready to share it yet. Look out for that in another month or two!
2. [Travel] The Egyptian Egg Ovens Considered More Wondrous Than the Pyramids from Atlas Obscura
The Egyptian Egg Ovens Considered More Wondrous Than the Pyramids - Gastro Obscura
A hatching system devised 2,000 years ago is still in use in rural Egypt.
You’re probably aware that Atlas Obscura has a trove of breath taking feature articles. But my soft spot will always be for low-tech, fine-tuned human engineering for the common folk. Pyramids are a wonder for the eyes, but singularly useless for daily life (alright, modern-day tourism and archeology careers aside). In contrast, the egg ovens don’t look like much, but have survived the succession of Pharaohs, Romans, and Arabs to feed any hungry human equally.
3. Infographic: The Optimal Length for Every Social Media Update and More
Infographic: The Optimal Length for Every Social Media Update
The optimal length for social media posts and all other forms of online content. Get best practices for tweets, posts, blogs, and more.
How can you say no an infographic with animals? It even makes things as technical and dry as social media posts a bit more fun.
4. [Business] Interview with Steven Chan, Founder of GoodNotes: How He Turned an App Idea into a Profitable Business
How GoodNotes’ Founder Turned an App Idea into a Profitable Business
Learn from GoodNotes’ founder on product development and app business. In the interview, he shared how he turns his app idea into a real product & business.
Shameless plug disclaimer: I wrote this profile.
Steven Chan, founder of GoodNotes from Hong Kong has lived one of my favourite business philosophies: revenue-sustained growth. A lot of venture capital fundraising hurts startups because users and investors aren’t always on the same side. Intensive research and (justified) market-building products aside, a product that generates revenue maintains its integrity better. Steven did this from Day 1 and hasn’t taken investment.
The logic is simple: build something useful > people will buy > buyers / not buyers give feedback > you improve the product > acquire more buyers.
I’ll stop there. The piece is more interesting. 🙂
5a. [Podcast] Marwa Al Sabouni | Staying in Syria
It’s a Long Story: Marwa Al Sabouni on Apple Podcasts
Show It’s a Long Story, Ep Marwa Al Sabouni - 1 Apr 2019
I can eat the same lunch every day for two weeks, but a fixed auditory diet of 50 podcasts would clog my mental digestive tract. As usual, I’ve found more than you care to know. But here’s an articulate voice you might want to sit down with: a mother in Syria who decided to stay in the country after the war broke out and her discussion of how architecture determines cities.
Even though what probably got her onto the podcast is that headliner about Syria, I think the highlight was just being schooled in all sorts of topics from city layouts to anecdotal anthropology.
5b. [Inspiration] [Books] The Man Booker Longlist & Shortlist of 2019 is a win for women, translators, and indie publishers
http://translatedlit.com/listology/a-look-at-the-mbi2019-longlist/
Alright, I know many of you are not as fanatical as I am about podcasts. But most of you are curious and omnivorous readers. It seems the sea-change for gender and identity politics has finally reached one of my favourite literary awards, the Man Booker. So click that link to get your fix of new voices and literary teleportation.
Happy reading! Send me anything cool or thought provoking!
Best,
Athena