Author: Kapil Bulsara

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Uncategorized

The Morning Rush : AeroPress recipe for Medium-Dark Roast Coffee

Although I am generalizing here, every coffee’s ‘medium’ or ‘dark’ roast will be different. This particular recipe, is my favorite one for the Tim Hortons’ Original Blend coffee. Check out my previous blog post about Tim Hortons (the good, the bad and the ugly) . I recently bought a pack just to try and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

Since this is pre-ground coffee, you cannot control the coarseness, but you can control the temperature and brew time and technique. First I tried brewing this coffee with a Hario V60 with boiling water. Then I dialed it down to 85C, and the results were much better. The end result was a cup that had some sweetness, bitterness that was not overly harsh, and also some acidity which I was quite surprised by.

Then I tried brewing with the Aeropress and the result was even better. In my experience Aeropress performs a bit better and consistently with darker roasts than the Hario V60.

Overview:

  • 60g:1L ratio (12g of coffee to 200g of water)
  • 85C water
  • inverted method
  • no bloom required

The winning recipe

I call this recipe “The Morning Rush” because I think it is simple enough to use even when you are in a rush in the morning, and yet can produce a consistently good cup.

  • place the Aeropress in inverted position
  • add 12g of coffee
  • Add all 200g of water
  • stir it 10 times
  • place the cap with filter (no need to rinse if in a rush)
  • wait for 2 minutes
  • press excess air out
  • invert and press coffee into your favorite cup
  • Enjoy!

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Uncategorized

Tim Hortons – The Good, the Bad and The Ugly

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons#/media/File:Tim_Hortons_(30341105726).jpg

UPDATE: After writing this post, I was challenged to look further into Tim Hortons. The original post, which mostly painted a rosey picture of the brand remains mostly unchanged, however, I have included some additional information which I uncovered during my research which shows that the beloved Canadian brand might not be all that great as it once may have been.

Tim Hortons is the quintessential Canadian coffee experience. Although, it must be noted that it is not technically Canadian owned anymore. Burger King purchased Tim Hortons in 2014 and the two chains are subsidiaries of a Canadian-American holding company Restaurant Brands International which is majority-owned by a Brazilian investment firm.

Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton (January 12, 1930 – February 21, 1974) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played 24 seasons in the NHL. He was also the co-founder of the Tim Hortons restaurant.

But even though that is the case, when you think about Tim Horton’s you think Canadian, and this is the same whether you are Canadian or not. Tim Horton’s is a Canadian icon. It is so Canadian that if given the choice, Canadians would much rather pledge their allegiance to the timbits and the Double Double than the Royal Family (This is a joke.)

Some facts about Tim Hortons and Coffee in Canada

  • Tim Hortons (the company) was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton (1930–1974) and Jim Charade.
  • Canadian Business magazine named Tim Hortons as the best-managed brand in Canada in 2004 and 2005.
  • In the mid-2000s, their slogan was “Always Fresh. Always Tim Hortons.” (false advertising in my opinion because their doughnuts are frozen, packed and delivered to store locations)
  • Tim Hortons is Canada’s largest quick-service restaurant chain, with 5,352 restaurants in 15 countries, as of June 30, 2022.
  • Canada is one of the top 10 highest coffee-consuming nations per Capita and the only country outside of Europe in that list
  • Canadians consume the most doughnuts per capita
  • Canada has the most doughnut stores per capita
  • In 2022, the average price of 340g (~ 12oz) of roasted or ground coffee in Canada was $6.11. The average price of specialty coffee however is around $20.

Personal Experience

Does anyone want anything from Timmie’s?
2 medium double doubles
a box of timbits

Any Canadian would know what that means:

  • Timmie’s/Tim’s is Tim Hortons
  • Double double is a coffee with 2 portions of sugar and 2 portions of milk or cream
  • Timbits are doughnut holes

I, just like many others in Canada have had moments at Timmie’s. In my teens and 20s, I remember hanging out with friends, having coffee-dates, early morning breakfast runs, sometimes even business meetings, doing assignments, studying before tests, and late night revisions before an exam. Many working folks head to Timmie’s for a quick lunch break. Also, there is always a Tim Hortons nearby that is open late for club goers to sober up, or to take hard look at their life choices.

Not only that, everyone has a favorite Timmie’s. Conversely, there is also that one Tim’s that they hate to go to. As people grow older and can afford ‘better’ coffee, they start to complain about Tim Horton’s coffee, and yet they still go there.

The usual coffee comparison is between Tim’s and Star Bucks. I do have to agree to some extent; Star Bucks does offer a better selection and their customization is unmatched. As to Star Bucks having ‘better’ tasting coffee, I think that is relative. In many cases I would tend to agree that star bucks beverages do tend to taste better than Tim Hortons, however, that is not always the case, and this has become quite apparent to me recently.

Controversies

“Always Fresh”

In the mid-2000s, their slogan was “Always Fresh. Always Tim Hortons.” Which is ironic because it was around that time that they switched from doughnuts that were made at night to be ready for the morning rush to partly cooked and then frozen and delivered to every location in Canada.

Minimum Wage Increase and the Brand Downfall

In 2018, minimum wage in Ontario was increased from $11.60 to $14 an hour. While McDonald’s, Cara Foods (Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s and The Keg), and Starbucks allowed franchisees to increase menu prices, Restaurant Brands International (parent company of Tim Hortons) did not. Tim Hortons franchisees, many of whom are small business owners, responded by cutting employee benefits and health plans. There were demonstrations held across Canada which was mostly likely the cause of the downfall of the Tim Hortons brand.

Usually placing in the top 10 of the Leger research poll for the top 10 companies or brands in Canada, Tim Hortons dropped from 4th place in 2017 to 50th in 2018. In the same year, the Reputation Institute reported that Tim Hortons had fallen from 13th to 67th in its study of Canada’s most reputable companies.

Plastic Pollutants

Tim Hortons was one of the top 5 plastic polluters in Canada in 2018, and 2019. Tim Hortons accounted for about 11% of branded plastic waste collected by Greenpeace Canada from rivers and beaches.

Tim Hortons still uses plastic lining in their cups which makes them non-compostable.

Tim Hortons App and Privacy Violations

In 2022, Tim Hortons violated Canadian privacy laws by tracking highly personal information including users location even when they were not using the app.

The company knew when and where users went. This means they know where you live, where you work, where you buy your groceries from, where and when you go for your coffee or how often you go out for walk. Knowing the location and time tells them if you were jogging or walking.

Is Tim Hortons Better now?

Yes,… and no

I had not been to Tim Hortons since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic. In fact before the world went to sh!t, I drank coffee once every couple of months. With nothing better to do and being locked up inside, I took up coffee as my new hobby and for better or for worse, I am hooked. During the lock-down, I got super into it; as in weird nerd level into it. Eventually, I found myself in the world of specialty coffee for which I am glad. I went from hating coffee to loving it.

In autumn of 2022, I decided to give Tim Hortons another try. I had been drinking Star Bucks coffee from time to time, but mostly brewing specialty coffee at home. But this was the first in my recent history that I went to Tim Hortons.

To my surprise, Tim Hortons’ menu has changed dramatically. They now have a huge variety of things. They offer hot or cold espresso beverages like lattes, cappuccinos, americanos.

Screenshot of Tims Hortons’ menu for Toronto locations taken from timhortons.ca

Their lunch and dinner menu has expanded with various wraps, salad bowls, burgers, grilled sandwiches and potato wedges. My favorite so far is the Veggie Cilantro Lime wrap and their potato wedges.

Not only has their lunch and dinner menu expanded, but Tim Hortons now provides non-diary/vegan options like almond, soy and oat milk.

I do not know if I am imagining it, but I believe their coffee has also improved. I cannot get myself to like their store brewed coffee because even their original blend is just way too roasted for my palate. However, their hot chocolate which once tasted like a blend of cardboard and rubber now actually tastes better; even better than Star Bucks! In fact most Tim Hortons’ vegan options taste better than Star Bucks offering!

Also, their packaged coffee tastes even better! I assume it is the same coffee that they brew in stores. However, in their stores, coffee is probably brewed at a very high temperature, and what I have noticed is that I can get dramatically better tasting cup at home, if I reduce the brewing temperature to somewhere between 85C to 90C. I thought I was imagining things because everyone in my circle tells me that Tim Hortons coffee sucks.

James Hoffman, the self proclaimed ‘weird coffee person’, reacts to Tim Hortons coffee being his number 2 pick in a blend taste of grocery store coffees.
Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfqvTCgglYA

But then one of my coffee idols, James Hoffman, the self proclaimed ‘weird coffee person’ did a blind taste of grocery store coffees in which Tim Hortons coffee came out to be his number 2 pick! I was shocked and so was James. That confirms my suspicion. Tim Hortons is doing something different with their coffee – they have some how managed to improve it.

… and no

Although Tim Hortons may have improved their lunch and dinner menu, and perhaps even improved their quality, there are still outstanding controversies. The recent mobile app privacy scandal, and their continued use for non-compostable cups leaves a deeper bitter taste than their dark roast blend.

Conclusion

My original post painted a very favorable picture. Although my most recent experience at my local Tim Hortons restaurant was much more pleasurable than my previous experience in recent years, my research on the controversies surrounding this beloved Canadian brand has left me in a dilemma.

Their lunch and dinner items taste good and fresh for a change. Their in-store coffee still tastes burnt and wood to me; but that may be because I am a weakling that cannot stomach bitter taste. Their packaged coffee surprisingly tastes great (with a roast level that, to me, feels dark even though they mark it as medium). If you brew it the ‘right way’. You can find my favorite medium-dark roasted coffee recipe here.

I will finish that one packet of Tim Hortons Original Blend that I current have, but I would have to see more positive changes towards their environmental responsibilities before I drink more of their coffee. I might still be tempted to buy their lunch menu items because frankly I like it.

As far as coffee goes, I will continue to support local specialty coffee shops because of traceability and the variety of interesting flavors.

I hope you liked this post, and if you did please feel free to leave a comment and share it with your friends.

Categories
Holiday Celebrations

The Best Espresso with an AeroPress

It is Christmas eve and I just made (in my humble opinion) the best espresso with an Aeropress.

If your in the mood for some espresso or a latte, try this recipe out. It’s great for cold winter days and for the holiday season. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Although this is not ‘true espresso’, this will get you is a very delicious cup of espresso-like result which you can have straight, or add water to dilute it to have something like an americano or make a milk drink like a cafe latte.

Overview

It is best to use freshly ground darker roast coffee for this recipe, preferably a coffee that is meant to be used for espresso. My personal favorite is Turbo Espresso from Propeller Coffee in Toronto.

  • dark roast coffee
  • ratio of 1:5 coffee to water (e.g. 10g coffee to 50g of water)
  • grind settings slightly courser than espresso (14 clicks on Comandante c40)
  • 93C filtered water
  • Aeropress in inverted position
  • 2 Aeropress filters rinsed

Recipe

  • add coffee to the Aeropress
  • add water 2 to 3 times the amount of coffee (20g to 30g in this case)
  • stir to soak all the coffee grounds
  • let it bloom for 30 seconds
  • quickly add remaining water (total of 50g)
  • stir 10 times
  • start timer
  • add cap
  • press excess air out
  • at 30 seconds flip it over a cup
  • gently swirl the aeropress
  • press hard and fast
  • Enjoy

You can now enjoy this as is, or dilute it with some water to get an americano or add milk to make something like a cafe latte.

Categories
Uncategorized

Leaning in

Ten years ago I sent a video message to my future self. For the past 10 years, I have lived precariously close to jumping off with my whims, but I held onto the ladder. But of what use is climbing on a ladder if it is leaning against the wrong wall?

So I have decided to lean into rather than away from my whims. It may not be for the next ten years, it may be for the next two, or for a life time, but what I do is that I do not want to keep living this way. If I go back further in time then this is not the life my seventeen year old self would have chosen. Listening to a seventeen year old for life advice may not be the most adult like thing to do, but then who said that the adult thing to do is the right thing to do anyway. That seventeen year old self was the no nonsense, fearless, careless and naive young man who had more to look forward to in life than his future self. I have shut him up and imposed rules and restrictions on him long enough.

I quit! I am done! Imagine having a harpoon stuck between your ribs. That is what it has felt like. It is time for me to let go of a life which I never wanted.

I am closing my business, Okinara Consulting Services for good. It started as a ‘for the time being project while I figure things out” after a failed start up. This side quest has lasted over 10 years. A side quest that in all honestly has had at best moments of “I guess this is okay”. If you spent too much time on side quests, your main story line remains incomplete.

It is safer to remain in your comfort zone goes the feeling for most people. Your job, your business, your career becomes a means to an end. Have-tos and need-tos govern most of our lives. Ironically staying in my ‘comfort zone’ has been the most unbaringly uncomfortable thing that I have ever done and I have been doing it a large portion of my life; time that I will never and can never get back.

As for what my ten-years-younger-self said to me, most of the things that he thought would have happened, never did. But I also realize how different my priorities were. I no longer want some of those things. There are still things that I do want. To quote myself.

No matter what you have achieved up until now in 2022, know that you must keep going on. You get only one chance to live so live it fully. Over the years you may have lost touch with yourself. I hope you have not. But if you have, you can reconnect to yourself, with your true nature again. Remember you are here to help others. You have a purpose to be fulfilled. I hope you are fulfilling your purpose. There is so much you have to do. Keep on going. Just keep swimming. Keep on going. I hope you have lived your life with passion and honestly. Satyameva jayate.

This abstract concept of purpose is something I no longer believe in. We are a product of cause and effect and other random events. There is no purpose in life. There is no purpose of life. It is a lie that we tell ourselves because that is what gives us meaning. Purpose of life would mean an intention. No one intended life to begin. It happened because a random series of events occurred in that specific order.

I do believe that there are true natures to people. What you decide to do with that nature becomes your purpose. Purpose is decision, not destiny.

So here I go, leaning into my every whims.



Categories
Software Web

Why do I Recommend using Firefox? (2021)

I like to try different things when it comes to technology, but I do have a sweet spot for certain things. For example I like trying different operating systems and I use them according to my needs, but I will always have a sweet spot of Linux and specifically Ubuntu. Same goes for browsers. I have tried different browsers and over the years my primary browser has changed multiple times.

There was a time when I was primarily a Firefox user, and then Google Chrome, even Edge( the old edge) – most people do not give credit to Microsoft, but I thought it was a very good browser that brought things that other browsers did not have. I had short lived enthusiasm for Opera and Vivaldi and even Safari…LOL just kidding; Safari is the browser that you use to download other browsers. The last time I used Safari was more than 5 years ago, so things may have improved over the years, but the last time I used it, there was nothing likeable about that browser.

I had tried Brave browser before, but then stopped using it because of the company’s business model. Couple of months ago, I decided to give it a try again because Firefox was constantly a memory hog and Brave now includes a synchronization feature which is quite unique. You do not have to open an accounts or provide an email address. The synchronization happens only between Brave browsers or rather different user profiles on Brave browsers on different devices. I thought that was pretty cool and also Brave in my experience has been the most stable and the fastest browser on Windows, Linux and even on Android.

I switched (temporarily) to brave because I was getting frustrated with Firefox’s slow speed and memory usage. But after about two months of using Brave, I am moving back to Firefox because in my view pros clearly outweigh the cons. So here is why I am recommending Firefox in 2021:

Add-ons

There are plenty of add-ons and themes available on Firefox. You want a dark theme, sure. You want a Marvel superhero theme, yup, there is one. You want dark mode, there is an add-on for that. Ad blocker, Multi-account containers, YouTube downloaders, you name it and there is an add-on for it.

Privacy and Security

With Firefox, you can share as much or as little as you want to the developers and with websites that you visit. By default Firefox blocks third party tracking cookies, cryptomining scrips and social trackers. In addition, there are plenty of add-ons available to increase your privacy and security.

You can even set a master password to protect your local Firefox data such as bookmarks, history, password etc. This can be helpful if you share your computer with other people.

Firefox Monitor alerts you in case your email address has been a part of any online data breach.

Trust

I have been using Mozilla products for a very long time. For the majority of my adult life, I have used Thunderbird, even when Mozilla had announced that they were going to stop new development for it. Sure, I did use other email clients from time to time, like Apple Mail or Windows Mail. I am currently using mutt/neomutt – more on that in a later post.

I have used Firefox on and off for a very long time too.The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that I trust. Their products and services are focused on creating a good balance between privacy and functionality and user satisfaction.

I was using Google Chrome as my primary browser for several years until an update automatically logged me in to google services when signing in to the browser to sync my browsing data. That was the last time I used Chrome. Not to mention incognito mode was not really incognito. Now, I am aware of the concept of “I got nothing to hide”. But the point is not about having or not having anything to hide, the point is about trust. This point is something that I recently realized after reading about view points on privacy practices of tech giants when it comes to handling user data.

Brave browser is a very private and secure browser, but its business model essentially takes ad revenue from other ad networks and pushes its own ad network.(Things are a bit more complicated than that but this is the gist). There are some positives to its business model too, mainly that users can support individual content creators and websites. I will get into this in a later post.

Not based on Chromium

Firefox is one of the very few browsers available today that do not use the Chromium code base. There is nothing wrong with Chromium. In fact it is open source and it is a great open source software project that has pushed internet browsers into the ‘future’. However, if you want to use something other than Chromium, for whatever reason that you may have, the only truly viable option is Firefox.

Features for Power Users

Search

If you are a power user, Firefox has some truly powerful features built into its core. The browser has a default search engine just like every other browser, which you can of course change. However, you can also quickly switch between search engines on the fly directly from the address bar by selecting one of the search engines under “This time, search with:”

If that is not enough there are shortcuts for search engines. For example if you want to search with Google, just type @google ‘search phrase’, or @amazon ‘product name’ etc..

If you do not like the default shortcuts, you can even customize it with something like @g ‘search phrase’. If that is still not enough, you can even easily add websites like IMDB to search engine list.

keyboard only browsing

If reaching for your mouse to click on a link is beneath you, you can even do a quick search with ‘/’ and then hit enter when you reach your target link and Firefox will take you do that linked page.

and even more add-ons

Yes, I know that I have already talked about add-ons, but if you are not satisfied with the default features of Firefox, there are plenty of add-ons to increase your productivity.

wait… one more thing about add-ons

So far, I have been all for add-ons, but I in fact use very few add-ons. And a word of warning when it comes to add-ons is that you should be careful about what you install on your browser. Do your due diligence before adding any add-on.

So, this are the reasons why I wold recommend that you use, if not at least give Firefox a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Categories
Uncategorized

Canada Day 2021 – A day Difficult to Celebrate

I did not celebrate Canada Day this year. I did not wish anyone Happy Canada Day, I did not have a BBQ or go out for picnic. I have mixed emotions about this year’s July 1st. I just got a second shot of vaccine and although I do not feeling 100%, I can take comfort in knowing that I am doing my part to protect myself, my family and my community. The restrictions due to the pandemic are starting to easy, so I can be happy about that too. Canada has a great health care system, that is free and accessible to all; I can be thankful for that. Easy access to fast internet meant that everyone who had to work from home was able to for the past one year or so. I can be thankful for all of that and more.

I am trying to look for things to celebrate, and be thankful for to be a citizen of this country. But just like many Canadians who are mourning the tragedy that is in the history of this country, I too feel pain, embarrassment and shame. Unmarked graves of children who were part of the Indigenous residential school systems have been discovered in the hundreds, and it has brought to light the dark history of this nation.

From the 19th century until the 1990s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded schools in a campaign to forcibly assimilate them into Canadian society. Abuse was rife at the schools where thousands of children died of disease, neglect and other causes.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/30/canada-first-nations-unmarked-graves-indigenous-residential-school-british-columbia

It is not only the death of individuals, but of future generations. The pain was not only caused to those individuals who lost their lives, but also to the families who had to endure their lose,and now after generations, the entire country morns.

No amount of social progress can ever replace or hide nor should it ever the dark history of this country. I was aware of the unjust treatment of the native population in the past, and the present neglect that the indigenous people of this country face, but this just shatters the very foundation of what makes a country great. Today when I look at my country’s flag, I find it difficult to see the beauty in its simplicity of white and red, and the iconic maple leaf. I cannot help but see the blood of innocent children in the red of this flag.

I cannot help but feel that the road that I drive one, the pavement that I walk on, the floor of my home that I stand on was built on the foundation of bones of the innocent.

Categories
Psychology

The Compass

In my previous post I talked about the 3 principles which I believe will change the way you live life, hopefully for the better. The 3 principles are:

  • Be responsible (for your experiences)
  • Be present (in the now)
  • Let go (of expectations and attachment)

But the question that one must ask is, if I responsible for my own experiences than how do I control this responsibility. If I am to focus on the present, what exactly am I to focus on? What do I let go?

Know Thyself

It is my belief that if you are to chose your primary goal in life, it must be only one thing; understanding your true nature, everything else secondary. Two simple words “Know Thyself”, yet truly living by it can do wonders and neglecting it can be lead to a world of pain and suffering.

You can try to make logical choices when it comes to the three principles, but the effort it requires is monumental if you do not fundamentally know who you really are.

Define Yourself

Knowing yourself is as much an endeavour of discovery as it is an effort of creation.

I would prefer to call this concept, “Define Yourself” rather than Know Thyself”, as we are culturally programmed to think that knowing something is a matter of discovering something that already exists, but more dangerously, whatever that thing that exists is immutable, unchangeable.

Knowing your natural characteristics or characteristics that you may have acquired over the course of your life through experiences is a great place to start. And that is it, ‘a start’. If there are things about yourself that you do not like, you can make effort towards changing them.

Conversely, if there are things that you do like about yourself, you can work towards enhancing those specific characteristics.

Knowing yourself is difficult enough, how do you you even go about defining yourself?

Values

Your values define you are you. Knowingly or unknowingly we are making decisions based on your values.

Ask yourself what do you value most in life? Ask yourself about your values in different aspects of you life. What do you think is good, what do you think is bad. What do you want more in life, what do you want less in life? Are there things that you stand for? Are there things that you stand against?

If you do not know your values, you can define them. This is a start to defining who you are as a person. I will give you my own example. About a year ago, I started asking myself these questions and one of the values that I decided that I will stand for is non-violence. This led me to adopting a vegan lifestyle. Another thing that I value in life is environment friendliness and sustainability.

These values help me make decisions in life. Of course it is not always easy, but it does help you steer towards your values more than away from them once you choose to define your values.

I have either sold or recycled old laptops by turning them into routers and servers. I started wet shaving with either straight razors or safety razor and soap, instead of using refillable cartridges.

My values do not make them any better or worse than yours, because that is the whole point of defining your values. They help you define who you are as an individual and help you make decision by acting as your compass.

Blueprint of Your Compass

There are many times that we get stuck on making decisions in life. It could be as simple as what to have for lunch or as pivotal as changing or choose a career path.

Priority

The more you know and define your value the easier it can get when it comes time to making importantly decisions in life. It is simply not enough to decide or discover your values, but you must also prioritise them. You may value a lot of things in life, but how important is each of those values? That is a key question that will help you make decisions in life.

But even after you have spent ample amount of time defining and prioritising your values, you may still feel stuck in making certain decisions in life. Ever wondered why?

The reason is conflicting values. This happens when you have two values that are opposite in nature. What do I mean by that?

Say one of you values is non-violence and because of that you decide to adopt a vegan lifestyle. However, your other value is variety in food. You value different cuisines, and like to try and experiment different dishes, flavours, textures and tastes etc… These two are fundamentally different. Sure you can think of creative ways of making vegan food taste great and believe me it does. However, if you want to try and eat exotic animals, you will suffer much anguish because two of your values are in conflict. What you end up doing will depend on the priority of each individual value.

What is worse when you have clash of the titans. This is when you have two values that are either opposites or simply not compatible and both are of equal priority.

Crafting Your Compass

As you can see it is important to evaluate your values and weed out conflicts prior to facing them in life altering situations. The easiest way to start is to check whether your values are contradicting each other. If they are you must decide on which values will have a higher priority and which ones will have a lower priority.

Of course, you do not need to eliminate your values, it is fair to give them different priorities, and yes, you have the right to choose them as you wish.

Once you have spent ample amount of time defining and prioritizing your values, you must visit them often, ideally at regular intervals to evaluate and make changes if and where necessary. Do not fall into the trap of rigidity.

The best way to maintain integrity with yourself and your values is it to write as much of this down as possible. This gives you something concrete to look it. It will almost feel like your values have been giving life.

You can then refer to what you have written to remind yourself about your values and also to give you the opportunity to reevaluate them and make necessary tweaks.

Using your Compass

I want to reiterate, these 3 principles have mentioned here and in my previous post together with the concept of the compass is a tool, a mental tool just like the technology that surround you like your phones, tables and computers, and the Internet, the cars that you drive, or refrigerators for cooling and so on.

We are so dependent on technology, and I do believe that such technology makes our life easier and in many ways helps us making decisions better. But no technology is worth a dime if you do not know how to use it.

Likewise, with your values as a compass you can navigate decision making, become responsible for your experiences, draw yourself into the present and focus on what is important to you, and find balance by detaching from unwarranted expectations.

Categories
Philosophy

These 3 Principles will Change The Way You Live

I am not a religious person. I am also not a spiritual person, and quite frankly, I never really understood what that meant (being spiritual). I admit to being philosophical. I love dwelling into philosophy, and thus, sometimes expression of my ideas encroach into the realm of religion or “spirituality”, because religion is mostly steeped in philosophy.

I do not claim to perfectly live by these principles, and I have had no sudden epiphanies about these. Each principle was revealed so to speak over time and contemplation. Somehow I knew for a very long time and we all do in some form or another. However, it is funny how the mind works; when we see or hear ideas that have always been floating around in our heads, we finally “see” or realize.

What I ask of you is to ponder upon these principles, and try to start applying them slowly and see how they change the way you live.

You are Responsible for Your Experiences

Whatever you have experienced, are experiencing or will ever experience is your responsibility. Your thoughts, your choices, your actions that were made by you, led you to experience each and every event that has happened in your life. The same will be true for anything and everything that you have not experienced.

I know that this becomes tricky when people start giving counter arguments like, “Oh what about that car accident?” Or “What about the hurricane that destroyed my home?” or some other negative or bad thing that they experienced.

Has anyone ever blamed anyone or anything for something good happened to them? When good things happen, it is always, you worked hard, or you are smart, or it is your abilities, or your luck made it happen. If you are not responsible for all the bad that happens to you then you are also not responsible for anything good that happens to you.

This principle is not about blaming the victim, but empowering them. Accepting that all your thoughts, actions, choices and decision led you to that specify point in time and space to experience that event, releases everything and anything that you do not have direct control over. Moreover, accepting and knowing that you are responsible for what you experience, you can choose what to experience next. You become the master of you destiny so to speak. You are in the driver seat; not your mother, father, friend, lover, boss, weather, stock market, or anything.

There is the physical aspect of an event, and then there is the after effect of that event. The event itself you may not have control over, however, how you experience that event is up to you. I will give you an example of what I mean by that.

There are two people at a concert. One person is annoyed that they did not get the seats that they wanted, that people are jumping around and blocking their view and it is too loud or not loud enough. This person will have a completely different experience then the other person who is filled with joy because they are at a concert of their favorite band, they do not care about where they are seated because they just wanted to be at that concert, and enjoying the fact that there are other people who love this band just as much as they do and they are enjoying the experience together.

These two people are in the same event in time and space, but their experiences of that event are drastically different.

So there are two distinctions of this principle. One is that your thoughts, actions and decisions bring you to an event in time and space. The event that occurs is something that may not have control over, because the chain of cause and effect was already set in motion. Second, although you may not have control over the actual event when it happens, what you experience because of that event is because of you.

Be Present

There is a theory that time is such that everything that has happened in the past, is happening now and will happen in the future is happening all at once. I am not going to get into that.

What I mean by being present is to have your focus on the present. Do not live in the past, do not live in the future; just be present.

This is very important in relationships. Every relationship has ups and down, there are arguments and there are differences. What most people tend to do is bring out the past. Because 20 years ago someone said something that offended you, you decided to get back at them by doing something else.

A lot of times, you keep dwelling on your past mistakes and because of fear of making the same mistake again, you fail to move forward in life. Or that feeling of, ‘oh things were so great. I was so good in basketball, or I wish I could go back to being young’ or something of that nature.

By being in the past and dwelling on what could have, should have, or would have been, you forget to live in the present. On the other side of the spectrum are futurist who keep living in the future. “When this happens, I will do that.”

Some might feel that if you do not look at the past, how will you learn the lessons of the past? For this I will remind you of the first principle, which is you are responsible for what your experience, and so it is important if you want to change your experiences in the future, you must learn from your past and then make changes so that you have a different experience in the future.

When watching a TV show, you watch a recap of what happened in the previous episodes and then you continue watching the show. Do you keep watching the previous episodes again and again without moving forward to the next episode?

Learning from your past is vital to have the optimal first principle, which is “You are responsible for your experiences”. But dwelling on the past is disservice to your experience.

Likewise, planning for the future, and setting goals is vital for your experience as well. If there is something that you would like to experience in life or also importantly not experience in life, you must plan and set goals for the future accordingly. But once that is done, your entire focus must be on the present.

Truly experiencing the present sets you free from the past and future and in my opinion of the ultimately way of living.

Let go

The third principle may seem like a direct contradiction to the first principle. Before that, what do I mean by “let go”?

Let go is the concept of letting go of expectation, of control, desire, hate, bad feelings and even good ones. It is a form of detached way of living. It should not confused with the idea of letting go of all your possession and relationships and duties and responsibilities so that you can go live in a forest, or high up in the mountains. I am very much against that way of “letting go”.

Let go has more to do with letting go of expectations. You are responsible for your experiences and thus you have a right to want to experience certain things in life and for that you must be present and work on those goals. However, you must not be attached to events that either fulfill those experiences or go contrary to desired experiences.

Letting go also applies to the other two principles. Sometimes, you may not be able to focus on the present. Sometimes an event forces you to focus on the past or the future. You must not become angry with yourself for losing focus on the present. You must not be attached to the outcome, do not expect that you will always be able to focus on the present, doing so will create anger and frustration, and this will then affect what you experience.

Likewise, after accepting that you are responsible for experiences, you must let go. Do not keep holding onto the thought because if you do, every little action, every little thought is going to force you evaluate whether or not it is going to start a chain of cause and effect which will ultimately lead you to have a good experience or a bad one.

Being attached to these principles must also be abandoned. These 3 principles must be kept as a reference, as a guide that you keep to remind yourself about what is important in life.

Letting go of expectation in work, business, sports, and especially relationships will bring a serene kind of balance which will be hard to experience without this principle. You have the right and ability to chose your experiences and work towards them, but you do not have the right or power over the faculties of other people and things, and therefore, the only solutions is to let go.

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Technology

Apple WWDC21 : IOS 15

So, yes, I was wrong, very wrong about my predictions for Apple #WWDC21. But if there is any consolation, I was not as wrong as so many tech youtubers and reviewers and so called insiders. There were rumours about new hardware; new macbook pros, macbook air, mac minis, and new 27 inch iMacs, featuring new Apple’s silicon, dubbed as M1X or M2.

None of that came true. I was was not holding my breathe of new hardware, but I surely expected some news about running MacOS apps on the new M1 iPad Pro. But surprisingly, there was nothing. That is not to say that there was no big news. Of course, there were some very interesting things shows. And in retrospect, I think there was more than enough software news that new hardware announcement would not have worked at this even, after all this is a developer conference. However, majority of the announcements in the keynote was geared towards end users. But of course, since this was a developer focused even, all developer sessions came following the days after the main keynote.

Here are a few things that I am excited about.

IOS 15

Facetime

Spacial Audio

This is basically surround sound for voice chat. You will hear voices from the direction of their chat window of the person that is speaking. So if the person is on the right side of the screen, you will hear their voice coming from right.

Voice Isolation

This one I like in particular. What they showed was impressive, but how well it works in real life is to be seen. When facetiming, your voice will be isolated from all the background noise. This is a feature that supposedly can be turned on and off with a single button tap.

Portrait Mode

This is similar to how there is portrait mode on cameras on most phone. The background will be blurred to give attention to the person in the voice chat. I’m surprised this was missing from Facetime. I think teams and zoom already have a feature to blur the background. But now you have it on Facetime.

Facetime on Android and Windows! – (kind of).

You can now invite friends and family over to your facetime sessions with facetime links. This is obviously in response to zoom. So, although technically not on android or windows as a dedicated app(do not think that it will ever happen), android phone users and windows 10 PC users will be able to join facetime sessions from the browser. The fact that this is even happening is a big deal.

This is again in response to zoom, and I think Apple realizes how crucial video chats have become because of the pandemic.

Share Play

This again is in response to the pandemic. There was a need to have social interactions in the era of social distancing. It fills the void of movie time with friends.

Shareplay allows users to watch movies and listening to music together. Not only that, Apple has an API that developers can use to implement share play in their own apps. Facetime on android is a great update, but I think the tight integration of share play is going to let developers create some very interesting interactions with their apps. I am really looking forward to what developers do with this feature.

There was always the option of screen sharing and video conferencing while watching. But tight integration with apps and the operating system is brilliant.

Messages

Shared with you

Shared with you brings all your photos and links shared with you by friends on Messages to one place, so you can easily catch up or go back to your photos and links and continue the conversation. This again is a another social interaction enhancement. Because sometimes you may be too busy to watch, or read or view what your friends might have sent you, and when you do get the time, the messages that you are looking for are buried deep somewhere making it hard to find and continue the conversation.

Notifications – Focus and Do not Disturb

Focus is basically an enhanced version of ‘do not disturb’. This is not something new, but it has a few Apple-centric enhancements.

You can create profiles for work and home so that different priority is given to different apps accordingly.

Do no disturb also reminds people messaging you that you have your status as “Do not Disturb”. I can see this being helpful in professional settings and acquaintances. Most friends and family, probably will not respect this. (LOL)

If you are in the Apple ecosystem, your Focus and Do not Disturb status gets activate on all your devices when you activate on one device. This is what Apple is good at. And this is what Apple customers have come to expect. But, unlike Microsoft and Google, Apple as a complete ecosystem and that is how Apple can easily pull this off.

Live Text

Live Text – or what Android users will call “We already have that on Android – it’s called Google lens”. Live text converts any picture with text into actual text on your phone which you can then copy, change, search, and even perform actions like call a number.

Keys and IDs

How about turning your phone into keys for your phone and car? How about turn your phone into a passport or your ID, by storing you government ID on it?

When I hear about these things, all I can think about is the great iCloud hack the exposed very private photos of celebrities. Three words – No, Thank you!

But, I might sound like a hypocrite to some of my friends. Back when I was working on my first startup, I had a vision. At its core it was a social media platform, but my vision was much deeper. I remember talking about having bank account information on this app so you can buy and sell things, send people money. Not only that, using your social media id to identify yourself and then linking it to your government ID, to provide seamless transaction and access to places, whether it be private or government facilities, or accessing information about you through your university. My friends of course laughed it the whole idea. And yet, here we are 10 years later.

The point is not that I had thought of this before Apple, the point is ideas are a dime a dozen. It is not the idea but the execution that matters. Because I am sure many people have brilliant idea that were later turned into billion dollar companies by someone else.

Of course, my focus and values have changed over the past 10 years and I am more focused on privacy or rather the lack of.

Maps

Maps now has better graphics. I do not know what else to say. Google Maps is still king and I do not think that Apple or …er..Bing is going to dethrone this king.

Globe – google earth
transit ride – google maps has it
live tracking of your transit ride – again google maps has this
night mode – …okay, good, I guess.

But what I do like about the new update is that, Apple maps will alert you when your ride is near, or has arrived. I have not used Google maps in over a year, but I am sure Google will bring this to Android sooner or later.

Air Pods

Air pods may not be the greatest sounding ear buds, but it is hard to argue against the convenience factor that they have. Being an android user, I envy iPhone users and their instant pairing with air pods, the remove one pod to pause and the stylish white sticks on my ears…umm..actually cross that one out.

Air pods now have conversation boost acting as hearing aids in a noisy environment. The technology allows air pods to convert the voice of the person you are talking to into somewhat of a beam so the speakers voices gets enhanced while other noise gets reduced. It sounds cool, but I’ll believe it when i see it in real life.

So these are some of the highlights of IOS15. I do not have an iPhone. The last iPhone I used was iPhone 3G. I have been a long time Android user, but I do like progress in technology in general. In some ways Apple is only catching up with things like widgets, and in other ways, Apple is paving the way with privacy. I have been using a Note 8 for almost 4 years now and it is still going strong without any hiccups. But when it comes time for an upgrade, who knows, maybe I will jump ship to an iPhone.

This has been my take Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference 2021. What’s yours?

Categories
Technology

MacOS apps on iPad OS at WWDC21

For me personally, I love the idea of different operating systems converging into one which can then be used on a laptop, desktop, server, mobile device, watch, toaster, fridge, TV, car…or whatever.

So far, the only operating system that is able to do that is Linux. Linux is the de facto operating system for servers, and enjoys a enthusiast and pro level status on desktops and laptops, and sort of a fringe super enthusiast/tinkerer choice for mobile devices. But you are not here to read about Linux.

Apple to Allow Running MacOS Apps on iPad OS

I think apple is going to be releasing a toolkit that will allow developers to port their MacOS apps to iPad OS.

The biggest clue for that to happen is of course the new iPad Pro running the M1 chip which is the same chip that is on all new macs – the macbook air, macbook pro, mac mini and iMac.

iOS apps can already run on Macs now. And of course, there is nothing stopping Apple from doing things the other way. Will they actually do it? Not directly, but they will make it easier to developers to port their MacOS apps to iPad OS, as long as the iPad have an M chip.

Final Cut Pro on iPad Pro

Not only that, I think Apple will release a version of Final Cut Pro that will run on the new iPad Pro, to show case what can be done to improve the workflow with a combination of the iPad Pro and Mac.

Also, I think there will only be one license for Final Cut, so if you already own Final Cut Pro on your Mac, then you automatically get one for the iPad Pro for free.

Caveat to running MacOS apps in iPadOS

There will only be one caveat to running MacOS apps on iPadOS. It will only run on the iPad Pros that have the M chip. This is not only going to be this generation of iPads. I think this is going to be for all iPads going forward. There will iPads with A chips which will only run iPad OS apps and then iPad Pro with M chips which will allow for some MacOS apps to run on the iPad Pro, but only if the developer chooses to develop for it.

So this will be kind of like how iOS apps now run on Macs. There will difference is that Mac apps will not just suddenly start working on the new iPad Pro. Apple’s new development tool kit will make it easier for developers to port their apps to the iPad Pro.

I usually do not do these kind of things, but I think what Apple is doing is significant and slightly scary at the same time and I am very much looking forward to WWDC21.