Wonders Untold

A blog about life, arts and culture

Of life, arts and culture.

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Connemara 12 Y

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Enjoying the Connemara 12 Y this evening.

This particular dram shatters a few perceptions.

Ireland is generally not known for peated whiskies, but it does have some surprises, such as this one.

And there’s also the (incorrect) perception that peated whiskies are generally dark in colour. Not so this one. One of the lightest whiskies I’ve come across.

Peat aside, you also get some citrus notes, plus a bit of green apple.

It’s a gentle whiskey for a quiet Sunday night. Perfect for tonight.

(For more on peated whiskies, see this article over at my other place.)

New MacBook Pros and a Mac mini

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Yesterday, Apple announced the release of two new MacBook Pros and a Mac mini, all with faster processing speeds.

We’re now at the point where these increased speeds would be of benefit only to the most niche of users. The average user of a Mac is already very well served by her machine, and has no need for faster speeds. The current generation of MacBook Pros (before this latest announcement) are already super fast, thanks to Apple silicon. As such, I’m not quite sure what extra benefit these new products will bring.

YouTubers will love them, though. As always, guaranteed acres of new content for those tech channels. Watch out for a slew of videos over the coming weeks.

Foldable phones

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For many years, I have carried two phones – an iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy phone.

At the moment, my main phone is an iPhone 13 Pro Max, and my second phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+.

Samsung has discontinued the Note series. However, its legacy lives on in the Samsung Galaxy Ultra lineup, for example, in the form of the S-Pen, which also works with that device.

I have never been a big user of the S-Pen, but I like the quality of the Note series. And, given that these phones have now been discontinued, I am glad that the Ultra series exists.

I am thinking of upgrading my Samsung phone sometime before the end of the year. Also, having ignored them for years, I am now interested in foldable phones.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 is an impressive phone. I have seen one close up, and spent some time testing it. It is high on my list.

I also like the Samsung Galaxy Ultra 22. It is a great phone, as is the Fold 4. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference. The Ultra has the better camera quality (although the Fold’s cameras are also very good), while the Fold is, well, foldable – if you like that sort of thing. Which I now do.

Actually, by the time I’m ready to get a new phone, both the Ultra 22 and the Fold 4 will likely have been superseded by subsequent models. The Samsung Galaxy Ultra 23 will be released in February, and we may likely see a Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 sometime in the autumn.

Fold 5 aside, there are some other foldable phones knocking about. The Oppo Find N2 looks amazing, but it is not (yet) available for sale in Europe. (It is currently on sale only in China. ) Also, there are rumours about a foldable Pixel phone. I have seen mock-ups, and those look good.

So it might be a good idea to wait a few more months. Perhaps the Oppo foldable will find its way to Europe. (This is doubtful; I don’t think its predecessor ever made it here.) Perhaps the foldable Pixel will blow every other foldable phone out of the water. Perhaps an as yet unheard-of phone will appear, and completely change the game.

I’ll wait and see. Fun times ahead.

Chess

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I played two games of chess tonight, after many months of not playing at all.

I felt quite rusty during the first game; computer won.

I was more in my element in the second game; I’d shaken off the months of inaction. Pulled the game back from the brink; I won.

Decided to call it a night at that point. But I won’t let months pass before I play the next game.

A change of scenery

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I spent today working from my new ‘office’.

I’ve signed up for a subscription that entitles me to several days a month working from my choice of beautiful office buildings in Amsterdam.

It’s a nice way to experience different work environments. This is one of the benefits of the hybrid work culture ushered in by the covid pandemic.

Some days I work from home. Other days I go to my company’s offices. And now, I have a third option – I take my pick from any number of well designed, unique, Amsterdam buildings.

Today, I worked in a building on one of Amsterdam’s most beautiful canals. I was shown to a nice, private office where I worked undisturbed for the whole day. The wifi was excellent, and so my video meetings went smoothly. There was a coffee machine close by, also stocked with decaf capsules. (A plus point in my book, as that is the only ‘coffee’ I drink.)

All told, a lovely day at work. Looking forward to many more.

In praise of Notion templates

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Three cheers for whoever invented the software behind Notion templates, in particular the button that allows you to create your own templates.

I’m a massive fan of this feature. One way I use it is to create a weekly goals sheet, which sets out all the things I want to achieve in any particular week.

My goals sheet has different categories relating to my personal and work goals, and also shows how these tie into my quarterly goals. As this is a document I fill in every week, I have created a Notion template in the form of a questionnaire. At the start of every week, I simply click a link, and a brand new questionnaire automatically appears. I then fill this in with my goals for the week.

Without the ability to create a template, I’d have had to create this questionnaire from scratch every week. I’m glad I don’t have to do that, and can simply focus on filling in my goals for the week.

Notion is an amazingly versatile app, and the ability to create templates does wonders for creativity. Five golden stars for this incredible feature.

Kyrö Wood Smoke

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I’m not at all a fan of rye whiskey, but the Kyrö Wood Smoke is something different.

I like this one. The rye doesn’t hit you in quite the way it normally does. The spiciness is there, but tapers off quite gently. The whiskey is aged in ex-bourbon casks. Perhaps that has something to do with it.

Also amazing is that this whiskey comes from Finland – not one of the big names when it comes to whiskey distilleries, and so a really nice surprise.

Perhaps the Kyrö Wood Smoke will make me revisit my views on rye whiskey. Let’s see how that goes.

End of experiment

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Well, this particular experiment lasted no more than two days.

I don’t think I can restrict myself to reading only one book at a time. I’ve given it a try, but it doesn’t work for me.

I’ve already added another book to the January list – Nicolas Cole’s The Art and Business of Online Writing. Didn’t mean to buy it, but he writes so compellingly. I read the Kindle sample, and have now decided to read the whole book.

I know I won’t be disappointed. And I’m actually happy that the experiment failed.

Madoff on Netflix

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Currently watching the Bernie Madoff documentary on Netflix.

I’m on the second episode, and, so far, I like the series.

It is well made, if a bit slow in the storytelling. Great video and camera footage, does a good job in complementing the narration. They’ve also included a lot of footage of Madoff’s testimony during his deposition. Astounding stuff.

Ridiculous how easy it was for Madoff to get away for many years with such a massive Ponzi scheme.

And it appears that lessons have not yet been learnt. Recent happenings at Theranos and FTX clearly prove that point. One wonders how (over and over again) it is possible for people to commit fraud on such a large scale, and go undetected for such a long time. And we can be sure that there are more cases, yet to come to light.

So what does this say about our regulatory agencies, about the robustness of our financial systems, about our willingness to suspend disbelief when something looks too good to be true?

So much damage caused by the greed of fraudsters. Sympathies for all who have suffered from this.