Happy September, and welcome to the 39th issue of ‘How Curious!’ ✌️ I had Covid-19 five months ago, a
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September 3 · Issue #39 · View online
A short monthly newsletter packed with awesome new discoveries and personal recommendations!
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Happy September, and welcome to the 39th issue of ‘How Curious!’ ✌️ I had Covid-19 five months ago, and recently got another antibody test to check my levels. I’m happy to report that my antibody levels are still relatively high. I’ll continue testing every 3 months to keep track of these! Highlights from last month included two socially distant gigs and stand-up paddle boarding. The gigs were quite surreal and it really hit home that this may be our reality for the foreseeable, but it’s certainly progress! 🎸🏄
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The most civilised gig I've ever attended!
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A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it. – Albert Einstein A wise old owl lived in an oak, the more he saw the less he spoke, the less he spoke, the more he heard, why aren’t we all like that old bird? Our lives are not the days that have passed, but the days we will remember for ever.
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It’s been awhile since I’ve had recommendations worthy of the ‘Cool Tech’ section, but now it’s back with a bang! 💥 Podcast fans, brace yourselves…
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Airr (iOS only for now) - Highlight & share the best moments from podcasts.
Airr is a podcast app that lets you highlight and share moments from episodes. When I hear an insightful moment in a podcast I can now save a short audio clip by triple tapping my airpods. The app sends my saved highlights, the podcast transcript and any notes I add to Readwise. I was a fan of the Breaker podcast app but have now transitioned to Airr. This is easily my favourite tech of 2020 so far! 🏆
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Narro - Convert articles, pdfs & videos to a podcast
Narro is a text to speech tool which converts web articles, pdfs, youtube videos and more into a podcast. The AI voices which narrate the text are more than suitable for the short articles I listen too. This is a great way to listen to text or video content as a podcast in your favourite podcast player!
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After my recent deep dive into the freight industry I’ve now decided to explore the oil industry. My kindle tells me it will take me up to 40 hours to read this 900 page monster, but I’m enjoying learning about history through the lens of the oil companies and characters that dominated the industry.
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The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power: Yergin, Daniel
No other business so starkly and extremely defines the meaning of risk and reward—and the profound impact of chance and fate. Pithole returned to silence and to the wilderness. A parcel of land in Pithole that sold for $2 million in 1865 was auctioned for $4.37 in 1878.“
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View my digital bookshelf here and my 11,500+ book highlights here.
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361- Built on Sand | 99% Invisible
Sand is so tiny and ubiquitous that it’s easy to take for granted. But in his book The World in a Grain, author Vince Beiser traces the history of sand, exploring how it fundamentally shaped the world as we know it. “Sand is actually the most important solid substance on Earth,” he argues. “It’s the literal foundation of modern civilization.”
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Diamond Wars | The Diamond Rush | 1 | Business Wars
It’s 1869 and diamonds have been found in Cape Colony. Now, diamond hunters from across the world are heading to this remote British outpost in southern Africa, seeking a glittering fortune. And among them are two wide-eyed hopefuls: streetwise Barney Barnato, who hails from the London slums, and Cecil Rhodes, a vicar’s son with a head full of imperialist daydreams. When the diamond rush turns to bust, Barnato and Rhodes embark on a quest to conquer the mines. But only one man can win.
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Solidarity Is Not A T-Shirt: Coronavirus, Loststock and #PayUp with Ayesha Barenblat | Remember Who Made Them
People may love clothes, but it’s important to remember who made them. In this podcast Venetia, Swatee, Devi and Ruby introduce their fashion solidarity campaign born out of the global pandemic’s impact on garment workers and the fashion industry. They discuss charity t-shirts, Forever 21’s Pride Campaign, Loststock and Venetia chats to Ayesha Barenblat, founder of Remake to learn about their incredible #PayUp movement.
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BBC Two - Mediterranean with Simon Reeve
I rarely watch TV but recently discovered Simon Reeve’s travel documentaries and I’m addicted! Unlike most travel shows he focuses on the key societal issues facing each country he visits. These shows are super insightful! So far I’ve watched his trips to: The Americas, The Caribbean, The Mediterranean, and Ireland!
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Visualping: Website change detection, monitoring and alerts
This nifty tool lets you monitor changes in webpages. It takes screenshots of webpages at regular intervals and emails you if it detects any changes. Super useful to be the first to know about ticket releases, price changes and appointment/grocery slots. Kudos to Dan for the recommendation!
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Fluent (Chrome extension) - Intuitive way to practice a new language. Only French for now.
A chrome extension to help you learn a new language as you browse the web. As you view a webpage it converts some words on the page to French. You can click on the words to hear them pronounced in French and also view the English translation. I love this concept and hope they release a Spanish version soon!
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Indie Hackers: Work Together to Build Profitable Online Businesses
Connect with developers who are sharing the strategies and revenue numbers behind their companies and side projects. I recently shared what I’m working on to get feedback. We’re now looking for early adopters to try our instant, secure and anonymous video calling product. Reply to this email to get beta access! 🚀 Kudos to Ken, Shmavon and Wally for doing the heavy technical lifting so far!
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Writer Maya Angelou on complaining: “Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards, and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this… So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
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Scale matters!
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View all previous newsletters here and all previous newsletter links here.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, feel free to forward this email to a friend or reach out with feedback and suggestions for the next edition! ✌️ - Peter Duffy
Disclosure - I only share products I use or believe in. In this edition I use my Amazon affiliate code for the book The Prize. It costs you the same but I may get a tiiiny kick-back. Thanks 🤑
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