NL41 - A happy new year
Most things are still the same. AI roundups. Good things happened in 2024.
Hello and happy new year! I am still in Matinkylä and this is still NordLetter. This is edition #41 of NordLetter, a weekly newsletter on living and walking in Finland. Each week I share some of the interesting things I found on the web. Previous editions can be found here.
Work continues on 'A year of mornings', my poetry collection. I continue working on the book. Self-publishing involves a lot of these admin types of tasks, getting the ISBNs, figuring out the description, getting things ready on KDP, creating the cover, formatting the book for the different formats, and so on and on and on. I am mostly there. I should have more to share in the next NordLetter.
Yearly Review and Setting Goals
Prerna and I completed our yearly review. We started this practice last year. We mostly look back at the year that was, some of our favourite memories from the year gone by, the places we visited, the things we did. And, simultaneously looking ahead. Setting some goals for the coming year.
It is also a time to review. I looked at some of my professional goals from last year and thought, wow was I hopeful. I had hoped to complete AZ-104 by February, 2023 for example. That did not happen. I think the benefit of these things comes after doing these for a few years. Then, you get the patterns. I do recommend it. It is fun when you find out how long a time a year can be. And how short!
Celebrating New Year
We spent the new year visiting the ISKCON temple in Helsinki. This was our third time visiting the temple. We had visited once during Janmashtami and once earlier than that. The temple is open during 5-7 PM on weekdays. We left home aboard the M1 till Sörnäinen and then took the #73 bus to the temple.
It had snowed in the morning and there was snow everywhere. It was snowing as we got off the bus. We left our boots and jacket outside, which made everything super cold when we left the temple. A lot of other people had the same idea that we had as there were many people at the temple. The priest acknowledged the same while wishing us all a happy new year, after reading a few verses from the Bhagavad Gita.
We sat, meditated, listened, and chanted for a bit. It was peaceful being in the space. I like temples like that. We went to Ravintola Parikar after that. It was a brisk 1.5 km walk from the temple. We were cold by the time we reached the restaurant. We ordered momos, Kadhai paneer, and veg kofta. The naan was good.
Highlights of 2024
Clinical experiments show that something as simple as having a vase of unscented roses on your desk, for instance, can significantly lower your blood pressure and bring about physiological and psychological calming. So too can having leafy plants in your home and office, particularly those with green and yellow foliage.
The Verge - Volkswagen had a massive data leak exposing location data
The register - Salt typhoon breach for AT&T
Wired - 24 things that made the world a better place in 2024
Few highlights for me: Simon's roundup of LLMs in 2024
These are the posts I’ve written this week. Click the links to read them. If you enjoyed reading this, and know someone else who might, please consider forwarding this to them. It would help this grow and make me happy. 😄 Until next week.
