A life ordinary by Amit Sarkar - Issue #32

Welcome to another edition of my newsletter.

And a belated Happy International Women’s Day to all my subscribers.

This week has been an interesting one. We have been busy preparing for Japan even though that preparation has been limited to only a few days of the week.

My blood test results are out and everything is normal except my haemoglobin count. I am borderline anaemic and the doctor said it could be because of my vegan diet as non-heme sources of iron may not be enough. Interestingly my iron levels have gone up since 2020. So doctors suggest it’s because of the diet. Let’s see. I will get another test done in 3 months’ time.

We also did a tour of Bickley Park School near our home. Our son is growing and we need to start looking for options. Our daycare has been really good so far but we want some more structure to his routine and to help him better prepare for his future. Bickley Park School is a private school and this was our first-ever school tour in the UK. We want to view other schools as well near our home and then decide what’s best for our son. Deciding between public and private schools is also important for us financially.

My wife also got a chance to be interviewed at the Women in Tech Forum on International Women's Day 2023. Waiting for the full interview even though I already got a sneak preview.

♾️ Limitless

We watched this series recently on Disney+ and absolutely loved it. It’s about Chris’s journey over a year to help him understand how to increase his lifespan and improve the quality of his life and health.

Each episode talks about a very unique thing -

  1. Stress - How do we brace ourselves to work efficiently under stress or when we are afraid? That is what this episode is about. People like firefighters and navy seals have to take sound decisions under extremely stressful environments. Stress builds up over time within the body and comes out in very negative forms.

  2. Extreme temperatures - How do we improve blood flow and increase the body’s healing process? This episode talks about cold showers and saunas. Something that can help everyone.

  3. Fasting - Intermittent fasting has been rising lately but this episode focuses on what happens to our bodies when we fast longer than a day.

  4. Strength - Strength is important but building strength in every single part of your body is important. Rather than doing isolating exercises focus on full-body workouts.

  5. Memory - Why should we focus on using our mind and memories to navigate the world around us and how does it help increase our lifespan?

  6. Acceptance - Accepting that we are ageing and will one day die is a very important factor in helping us live longer. It helps us to be less anxious and be present in the moment.

👁️ Eye-sight

I recently watched this video and was simply amazed. Makes me want to care for my eyes a bit more.

Over the past few decades, children around the world have been diagnosed with nearsightedness at increasingly high rates. Nearsightedness, or myopia, can stabilize over time, but it doesn’t get better — meaning that myopes will rely on glasses, contact lenses, or corrective surgery to see for their entire lives.

The blurriness associated with myopia is caused by eyeballs that have grown too long; in a stretched-out shape, eyes aren’t able to properly focus images onto the retina. Researchers believe that two culprits are to blame: the lack of outdoor play, and prolonged time doing up-close activities like using digital devices.

In essence, the following factors are responsible for reduced vision in the population -

  1. Increased Screen Time - With the widespread use of computers, smartphones, and other digital devices, people are spending more time looking at screens than ever before. This extended screen time can cause eye strain and other vision problems, leading to the need for glasses.

  2. Ageing - As the population ages, the prevalence of age-related vision problems increases.

  3. Genetics - Some people are genetically predisposed to certain vision problems, such as nearsightedness or astigmatism, which can require the use of glasses or contact lenses.

  4. Environmental Factors - Exposure to pollution, UV rays, and other environmental factors can damage the eyes and contribute to the need for corrective lenses.

  5. Lifestyle Factors - Poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and other lifestyle factors can also contribute to the development of vision problems that require glasses.

Source - ChatGPT

🛠️ Prompt Engineering

I also posted my latest podcast on Prompt Engineering with Rinat Malik. In this episode, we talk about a new role arising from the field of Generative AI that has taken the world by storm since the introduction of ChatGPT.

Prompt engineering involves crafting the input text that a language model receives in order to achieve the desired output.

Language models like OpenAI's GPT-3 can generate text in response to a given prompt or input statement, but the quality and relevance of the generated text can vary depending on the quality and specificity of the prompt. Prompt engineering seeks to optimize this process by designing prompts that are clear, specific, and tailored to the task at hand.

Prompt engineering involves various techniques, such as modifying the prompt to include more context, adding constraints or requirements to the prompt, and using different types of formatting or syntax. The goal is to provide the language model with as much information as possible to generate high-quality outputs that are relevant to the prompt.

Source - ChatGPT

❤️ Things I enjoyed

This section has been inspired by Ali Abdaal’s wonderful newsletter.

🎬 Video - GrammarlyGO is launching. Watch this video to learn more.

🌐 Website - Create a slide using the power of AI at SlidesGPT. By far the coolest use of the recently popular tool.

📱 App - I have been using Sumatra PDF for many years and it’s hands down the fastest open-source PDF reader in the world. Plus it supports multiple formats like .epub, .mobi, .cbr and many more. It can’t edit PDFs though.

👢 Model - Meet the world’s first digital supermodel Shudu. She is part of the world’s first all-digital modelling agency called Diigitals. Is this the future of the modelling industry?

📰 News - I have been a Google One subscriber for a few years now and the most recent news meant that even though I don’t own a Google Pixel device, I can still get all its features related to Photos. How cool is that! And I did try using the Magic Eraser on one of the photos I clicked using my OnePlus 9 Pro.

📝Article - How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results (2023 Edition). The title speaks for itself. What an incredibly detailed article and how this handful of companies dominate and influence us.

Thank you so much once again for reading my newsletter this week. Please feel free to Buy me a coffee if you are enjoying what I am sharing.

Until we meet again next week, go outdoors, reduce screen time, take care of your eyes, and eat well.

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