Author: Paul

  • Plus Codes are the addresses you didn’t know you have

    Plus Codes are the addresses you didn’t know you have

    I’m fascinated by Plus Codes, a @googlemaps initiative to give people without conventional street addresses, a GPS-based address that can be used to receive mail or assistance when they need it. I’ve noticed #PlusCodes in Google Maps, and didn’t really explore them further. Take this one as an example. It’s apparently a beautiful hiking spot…

  • The amazing technology in our hands

    The amazing technology in our hands

    Every now and then I look at my very mid-range phone, and I'm just amazed that we have this technology in our hands. I still remember when the Nokia N97 was the most advanced device I had seen. Of course, the phone I remember the most fondly was the Nokia 6310i. I had the silver…

  • How I use Obsidian for Dungeons and Dragons games

    How I use Obsidian for Dungeons and Dragons games

    After exploring Notion and Dynalist for my game preparation for Dungeons and Dragons games, I’ve settled on Obsidian for Dungeons and Dragons games, as my preferred tool. There are other amazing tools for sure. This is the one that best fits how I like to prepare my games, and I thought I’d share that in…

  • Choosing Signal over WhatsApp is about personal agency

    Choosing Signal over WhatsApp is about personal agency

    Reframing the WhatsApp privacy debate It is tempting to frame the discussion about WhatsApp’s privacy policy change that enables WhatsApp to share your profile data with Facebook (even though it’s been doing this for some time without being clear about this) as being about Facebook being able to read your WhatsApp messages. That interpretation is…

  • Why I prefer to use Signal, and not WhatsApp

    Why I prefer to use Signal, and not WhatsApp

    What’s going on with WhatsApp? WhatsApp recently notified users that we will need to agree to changes to the WhatsApp privacy policy that enable Facebook to access our WhatsApp profile data, or we will need to stop using WhatsApp. This prompted a number of renewed calls for people to switch to alternatives such as Signal,…

  • Receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

    Receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

    As you may have seen in the media, Israel has been vaccinating citizens with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Because I’m diabetic, and over 40, I qualify for earlier access to the vaccine. I was finally able to make my appointments for the two doses. Photo by CDC on Unsplash

  • My first half marathon

    My first half marathon

    I ran my first half marathon this morning as part of my Garmin 10k coaching plan. I had to leave really early to give myself time to complete what turned out to be a 22km route around my city. I felt pretty good for the first two thirds of the run, and started to feel…

  • My longest run so far

    My longest run so far

    I’m on week 10 of my 10k coaching plan with Garmin. As part of that plan, I ran my longest run so far, yesterday. It was an “easy” long run of about 17.7km (not counting warm up and cool down). I stepped out just after 6am, and set out on my route that would take…