# Journal J > Musings and verses by Jatan, a slow thinker, web wonk, and human. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### Welcome to Journal J URL: https://journal.jatan.space/about/ Last updated: 2026-05-17T07:34:59.000Z ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/01/jatan-blogs-rss-icon.jpg) ## Hi, I’m Jatan, a slow thinker, web wonk, and human Welcome to *Journal J*. While I’m a [space writer](https://jatan.space/about) by passion and profession, this blog is where I share musings about the Web, life, writing, technology, and more. Sometimes as verses. This blog is my calmer place to be, express, and interact rather than dealing with the slurp and slop of social media. If you’re new to this blog, start here. ☕️ - [Embracing a simple but effective digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) - [I published 10 poems as part of a poetry challenge](https://journal.jatan.space/global-poetry-writing-challenge-2026/) - [Yes and No](https://journal.jatan.space/yes-and-no) - [Intriguing insects of Jakkur](https://journal.jatan.space/insects-of-jakkur) - [A little bit about me as a human being](https://journal.jatan.space/this-human) - [Common writing mistakes to avoid](https://journal.jatan.space/common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/) - [The one app to read them all](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/) - [Introducing a network for thoughtful conversations](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk) - [A list of good enough blogging platforms](https://journal.jatan.space/good-enough-blogging-platforms/) [Explore the blog →](https://journal.jatan.space/start/) ## Follow If you like what you read on this little corner of the human Internet, you can subscribe to get new posts in your inbox for free. Subscribe [via email](https://journal.jatan.space/subscribe): [or use RSS →](https://journal.jatan.space/feeds) ## Connect with me Email remains the best medium on the Web to deeply connect with people. Write to me to say hi or share your thoughts: [Email me: hey@jatan.space](mailto:hey@jatan.space) You can also Signal me at [moonmehta.17](https://jatan.space/signal) --- Like what you read on this little corner of the Internet? You can [tip me](https://journal.jatan.space/tip) to celebrate human writing. ### Follow my personal blog via RSS URL: https://journal.jatan.space/feeds/ Last updated: 2026-03-27T14:00:53.000Z RSS feed aficionados, you can subscribe to new posts from [my personal blog](https://journal.jatan.space/about) in any supported reader of your choice via this RSS feed link: - If you don’t know what RSS is, here’s an [intro and how it would benefit you](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss). Use the buttons below to add my blog to your reader instantly: > *Web readers* [Inoreader](https://www.inoreader.com/feed/https://journal.jatan.space/rss) [Feedly](https://feedly.com/i/discover/sources/search/feed/journal.jatan.space/rss) [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com/?subscribe=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) [NewsBlur](https://www.newsblur.com/?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) [Feeder](https://feeder.co/discover/a71fa537b1/journal-jatan-space) > *Apps* [Unread](unread://feeds?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjournal.jatan.space%2Frss) [Reeder](reed://https//journal.jatan.space/rss) [NetNewsWire / News Explorer](feed://https//journal.jatan.space/rss) [Tapestry](tapestry://feedfinder?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) [Readwise](wiseread://add?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) [Fiery](fiery://subscribe/https://journal.jatan.space/rss) > *More* > [CommaFeed](https://www.commafeed.com/rest/feed/subscribe?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [WordPress Reader](https://wordpress.com/reader/feeds/170026242) • [Qi Reader](https://www.qireader.com/discover?query=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) > [Feedland](https://feedland.com/?feedurl=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [Minifeed](https://minifeed.net/blogs/kS8S4U) • [Artemis](https://artemis.jamesg.blog/add?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [FeedCity](https://feed.city/feed?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [Fraidycat](https://fraidyc.at/s/#!/add?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) > [follow.it](https://follow.it/journal-j?pub) • [FeedHQ](https://feedhq.org/subscribe/?feeds=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [BazQux](https://bazqux.com/add?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [Good News](https://goodnews.click/add?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [Rivered](https://www.rivered.io/add?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) • [The Old Reader](https://theoldreader.com/feeds/subscribe?url=https://journal.jatan.space/rss) Thank you for using the best, most ethical reading technology on the Internet. 🤓 --- **Feed links for key post categories:** - [Essays & Musings](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/essays/rss) - [Links](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/links/rss) --- More blogs I recommend reading: [Good reads ✨](https://journal.jatan.space/blogroll) ### Explore Journal J URL: https://journal.jatan.space/start/ Last updated: 2026-04-12T18:16:02.000Z - [***About***](https://journal.jatan.space/about) - ***Special pages*** - [](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/reading)[*Books*](https://journal.jatan.space/books/) - [*Essays & Musings*](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/essays/) - [*The blogging life*](https://journal.jatan.space/blogging/) - ***Explore by theme*** - [*Digital detox*](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) - [*Life philosophy*](https://journal.jatan.space/life-philosophy/) - [*Writing tips*](https://journal.jatan.space/writing-tips/) - [*Social media sucks*](https://journal.jatan.space/social-media-sucks/) - [*On open technologies*](https://journal.jatan.space/open-tech/) - [*App thoughts*](https://journal.jatan.space/app-thoughts/) - [*Verses*](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/verses/) - [*Links*](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/links/) - ***Etc.*** - [*Referrals*](https://journal.jatan.space/referrals/) - [*Travels*](https://journal.jatan.space/travels/) - [***All posts***](https://journal.jatan.space/) - [*Search*](https://journal.jatan.space/search) --- ## Subscribe for free Get new articles I publish in your inbox. Subscribe [via email](https://journal.jatan.space/subscribe): [or use RSS →](https://journal.jatan.space/feeds) --- Like what you read on this little corner of the Internet? You can [tip me](https://journal.jatan.space/tip) to celebrate human writing. ### Celebrate human writing URL: https://journal.jatan.space/tip/ Last updated: 2026-04-30T11:48:10.000Z While I love [writing professionally](https://jatan.space/about) about space, I also like to muse on life at large over on this personal blog [Journal J](https://journal.jatan.space/about). If you enjoy reading my little corner of the Internet, you can celebrate personal blogging and human writing wth kind tips. ***Note:** *If you came here to support my space writing instead, visit* [**jatan.space/support*](https://jatan.space/support) **Payment options:** - [PayPal](https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/R5VYVPJ2UYE88) - [UPI](https://www.upi.me/pay?pa=moonmehta@ybl&am=500&tn=Buy%20Jatan%20a%20book.%20Celebrate%20human%20writing.) (for Indians) | ID: moonmehta@ybl - [Donorbox](https://donorbox.org/journal-j) - [Wise](https://wise.com/pay/r/Jpg8k4AVn6X0-X8) *If you are facing issues,* [*get in touch*](https://jatan.space/connect)*.* ## Kind gifters Thank you to each of these kind souls for supporting and celebrating human writing on the Web. - [Gauri Datar](https://muktapravah.wordpress.com) - [Mia North](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mia-north/) - [Jamie Thingelstad](https://www.thingelstad.com) ### Books to remember URL: https://journal.jatan.space/books/ Last updated: 2026-06-30T13:17:45.000Z > What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. **– Carl Sagan,** [**Cosmos**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55030.Cosmos) --- ## Reviews and thoughts ### [Book review: Those magnificent women](https://jatan.space/book-review-those-magnificent-women-and-their-stories) In this century, women have been assuming increasingly higher positions inside India's premier space organization, ISRO. This was not an overnight development. This book profiles some of the underrepresented Indian women scientists who enabled the country to send a mission to Mars. ### [How science fiction helps us contemplate reality](https://journal.jatan.space/how-sci-fi-helps-us-contemplate-reality) ### [How Isaac Asimov used science fiction to point out our biases](https://journal.jatan.space/using-scifi-to-point-our-biases) ### [Plunge, hope, and rise—poetic perspectives](https://journal.jatan.space/plunge-hope-and-rise-poetic-perspectives/) ### [Indie Microblogging](https://journal.jatan.space/indie-microblogging-by-manton-reece-book-review/) ### [Reading life in a nutshell](https://journal.jatan.space/life-in-a-nutshell/) --- ## Favorite highlight > The threat of nuclear holocaust fosters pacifism; when pacifism spreads, war recedes and trade flourishes; and trade increases both the profits of peace and the costs of war. Over time, this feedback loop creates another obstacle to war, which may ultimately prove the most important of all. The tightening web of international connections erodes the independence of most countries, lessening the chance that any one of them might single-handedly let slip the dogs of war. Most countries no longer engage in full-scale war for the simple reason that they are no longer independent. **– Yuval Noah Harari,** [**Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind**](https://micro.blog/books/9780062316103) I hope this stays true. --- ## A book I recently enjoyed reading ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/08/me-cubbon-reads-three-body-problem-1-1.jpeg) [The Three Body Problem](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem) --- ## People recommend Here are links to book-profiles of some friends and people I know who read well and provide great recommendations. - [Abhishek Shetty](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/12548167?shelf=favourite-books&view=covers) - [Awais Ahmed](https://awaisahmed.com/my-library/) - [Karan Maindan](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/37233730-karan-maindan) - [Dhvanil Patel](https://dhvanil.com/bookshelf), and his cool book recommendations website [Read Next](https://next-book.netlify.app) - [Anik Ghosh](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4055405-anik) There are some more friends who are avid readers but aren’t on Goodreads or any book network for me to be able to link to them. So this is an open invitation to them to get their book recommendations online in any form on any website, and let me know! Feel free to [recommend me](https://jatan.space/connect) a book or two. I generally enjoy Science fiction, History, Future, Productivity, and Popular Science. If a book is a mix of science fiction and dystopia, like [1984](https://micro.blog/books/9788193545836), even better. Reading is beautiful. ### Referrals URL: https://journal.jatan.space/referrals/ Last updated: 2025-08-20T06:11:14.000Z Here are referral links to some products and services I recommend. If you sign up for any using their respective links below, you might get a decent discount and I’ll be rewarded with some credits. - **Start a free blog+newsletter** [**on Substack**](https://substack.com/refer/jatanmehta) ([here’s why](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain)) - **Start a paid blog+newsletter on Ghost** [**via MagicPages**](https://jatan.space/ghostreferral) **for $4/month** - My own professional website [jatan.space](https://jatan.space/) is hosted and run this way - **Make a simple yet elegant website** [**using Carrd**](https://try.carrd.co/uncertainquark) - **Buy a domain from** [**BigRock**](https://www.bigrock.in/) - Enter jatan.space as the coupon code to get up to 20% off - **Take organized notes** [**using Workflowy**](https://workflowy.com/invite/7de5cf84.lnx) - Here’s [how I use it](https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-organize-notes-for-writing-an-article) as a writer - [**Get a bunch of cool Web services**](https://home.omg.lol/referred-by/moonmehta) from the aptly named omg.lol ### Digital detox URL: https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/ Last updated: 2025-09-21T17:09:57.000Z Looking for inspiration to regain control of your digital life? Don’t want to [drown in the slurp](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent)—and now slop—of social media? Here are some of my methods and digital detox experiences. - [**Embracing a simple but effective digital life**](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox-story/) - [**Yes and No**](https://journal.jatan.space/yes-and-no/) - [**A focused phone experience with Archaic Intelligence**](https://journal.jatan.space/a-focused-phone-experience/) - [**Arguments against “I have nothing to hide” on digital privacy**](https://journal.jatan.space/arguments-for-digital-privacy/) --- - [Realizations about actually avoiding social media](https://journal.jatan.space/realizations-about-actually-avoiding-social-media/) - [Switching to WhatsApp for Business](https://journal.jatan.space/switching-to-whatsapp-for-business/) - [Levels of achieving world(ly) peace](https://journal.jatan.space/levels-of-achieving-worldly-peace/) ### Travels URL: https://journal.jatan.space/travels/ Last updated: 2025-09-19T07:18:19.000Z - [A slice of Hyderabad’s history](https://journal.jatan.space/a-slice-of-hyderabad-history/) - [Trains over planes](https://journal.jatan.space/trains-over-planes/) - [Life update: I’ve moved to Bengaluru](https://journal.jatan.space/mumbai-to-bangalore/) - [A day out in Indore](https://journal.jatan.space/a-day-out-in-indore/) - [The Museum of Possibilities](https://journal.jatan.space/the-museum-of-possibilities/) - [Places I’ve published Moon Monday editions from](https://journal.jatan.space/published-moon-monday-from/) ### Philosophy on and from life URL: https://journal.jatan.space/life-philosophy/ Last updated: 2025-09-19T07:29:28.000Z - [**Embracing a simple but effective digital life**](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox-story/) - [**Yes and No**](https://journal.jatan.space/yes-and-no/) - [**Quotes to live by**](https://journal.jatan.space/quotes-for-life/) --- - [Being able to watch a sunset](https://journal.jatan.space/being-able-to-watch-a-sunset/) - [I do (not) care](https://journal.jatan.space/i-do-care/) - [Plunge, hope, and rise—poetic perspectives](https://journal.jatan.space/plunge-hope-and-rise-poetic-perspectives/) - [Reading life in a nutshell](https://journal.jatan.space/life-in-a-nutshell/) - [Cycles and fluctuations](https://journal.jatan.space/cycles-and-fluctuations/) ### Writing tips URL: https://journal.jatan.space/writing-tips/ Last updated: 2025-09-19T14:51:26.000Z - [**Common writing mistakes to avoid**](https://journal.jatan.space/common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/) - [**Science writing tip: Unlearn academic verbiage**](https://journal.jatan.space/unlearn-academic-writing/) --- - [How I organize notes for writing an article](https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-organize-notes-for-writing-an-article/) - [Talk: How to become a science writer](https://journal.jatan.space/talk-how-to-become-a-science-writer/) - [Talk: Career options in science writing and communication in India](https://journal.jatan.space/talk-scicomm-career-opportunities-in-india/) ### On open technologies URL: https://journal.jatan.space/open-tech/ Last updated: 2025-09-21T16:26:56.000Z - [**Interviewing Miron Livny, whose open computing system contributed to two Nobel Prizes**](https://journal.jatan.space/miron-livny-interview/) - [**My contributions to elementary OS as a non-coder and how you can too!**](https://journal.jatan.space/contributing-to-elementary-os/) - [**The one app to read them all already exists, and it’s called RSS**](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/) --- - [For the love of RSS feeds, simplify your blog’s subscribe page](https://journal.jatan.space/simplifying-blog-subscriptions-via-rss/) - [Imagine – Free(dom) Software version](https://journal.jatan.space/imagine-free-software-version/) - [Tired of social networks? Here’s why you could be Fediverse curious](https://journal.jatan.space/welcome-to-the-fediverse/) ### App thoughts URL: https://journal.jatan.space/app-thoughts/ Last updated: 2025-09-21T16:54:57.000Z - [**The one app to read them all already exists, and it’s called RSS**](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/) - [**In praise of Bear**](https://journal.jatan.space/in-praise-of-bear/) - [**How I use Workflowy to organize article notes**](https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-organize-notes-for-writing-an-article/) - [**App subscriptions and Yoghurt**](https://journal.jatan.space/app-subscriptions-and-yoghurt/) --- - [The overblown fact of having to buy Microsoft Office on a Mac](https://journal.jatan.space/you-dont-need-to-buy-msoffice-on-mac/) - [How to find a good podcast app?](https://journal.jatan.space/how-to-find-a-good-podcast-app/) - [Why I love elementary OS’ file manager](https://journal.jatan.space/why-i-love-elementary-os-file-manager/) ### The blogging life URL: https://journal.jatan.space/blogging/ Last updated: 2025-09-23T18:14:09.000Z - [**The story of my blogs**](https://journal.jatan.space/the-story-of-my-blogs/) - [Life update: Embracing a simple but effective digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox-story/) - [**How to feel at home on the Internet**](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/) - [A list of good enough blogging platforms by price if you just want to write](https://journal.jatan.space/good-enough-blogging-platforms/) - [Responding is better than replying](https://journal.jatan.space/responding-is-better-than-replying/) - [Is Substack really bad for the culture of Blogging?](https://journal.jatan.space/substack-is-not-bad-for-blogging/) - [Medium, Wordpress.com and social platforms are siloes you should try avoiding](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/) - [**The one app to read them all already exists, and it’s called RSS**](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/) - [For the love of RSS feeds, simplify your blog’s subscribe page](https://journal.jatan.space/simplifying-blog-subscriptions-via-rss/) - [**Colored vs. underlined links, or why the latter is better**](https://journal.jatan.space/colored-vs-underlined-links/) - [**People on podcasts versus articulate articles**](https://journal.jatan.space/podcasts-vs-articles/) ### Social media sucks URL: https://journal.jatan.space/social-media-sucks/ Last updated: 2025-09-23T18:16:49.000Z - [**Why are we living an internet without intent?**](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/) - [**LinkedIn Newsletters are spam and a scam**](https://journal.jatan.space/linkedin-newsletters-are-spam-and-a-scam/) - [**Is instant publishing and reach incompatible with stopping misinformation?**](https://journal.jatan.space/instant-publishing-and-misinformation/) - [**Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets**](https://journal.jatan.space/patreon-cuts-deep/) - [**Why do you need (my) Instagram?**](https://journal.jatan.space/say-no-to-instagram/) --- - [Why you shouldn't link to Instagram anything anywhere](https://journal.jatan.space/never-link-to-instagram/) - [Reinventing the wheel](https://journal.jatan.space/reinventing-the-wheel/) - [Rules to effectively use social media](https://journal.jatan.space/rules-to-effectively-use-social-media/) - [What will make me take LinkedIn seriously](https://journal.jatan.space/when-to-take-linkedin-seriously/) - [Mastodon and the Fediverse is too noisy. Why?](https://journal.jatan.space/mastodon-and-the-fediverse-is-noisy/) ## Posts ### Linkteresting #3: Reading, writing, webmarks, and life notes URL: https://journal.jatan.space/linkteresting-03/ Last updated: 2026-09-04T15:05:25.000Z Hello again webmates! Below are some notable things I’ve read, written, and consumed lately. Click links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. ☕️ ## Reading - [***The colors of my heart***](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL36677446M/The%5FColours%5Fof%5FMy%5FHeart) *by* [*Faiz Ahmed Faiz*](https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL2665577A/Faiz%5FAhmed%5FFaiz)*:* A collection so good I can neither comprehend nor soak its intensity in a single reading. With revolutionary spirit, Faiz expresses discontent of both the heart and mind. His verses introspectively reflect on the innate nature of the human condition, both as individuals and as collectives. The expressions feel timeless because they are. I will have to return to the collection again for a deeper dive. P.S. The book has English translations by [Baran Farooqi](https://siyahi.in/authors/baran-farooqi/) as well as the original poetry in [Hindustani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani%5Flanguage) as English transliterations. > Speak, for your lips are free > Speak, for your tongue is still yours > Your upright body belongs to you > Speak, for your soul still is yours > Look, how in the blacksmith’s shop > The embers are hot, the iron glows > The mouths of the locks are being opened > Chains lengthen their reach > Speak, for the little time that you have is sufficient > Before the death of body and tongue > Speak, for the truth still lives > Speak, say all that is to be said - [***Orbital***](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL48260102M/Orbital) *by* [*Samantha Harvey*](https://www.samanthaharvey.co.uk/)*:* Her prose throughout the book is almost poetic, as remarked by [Alexandra](http://alexandrawitze.com/) when she first suggested Orbital to me. The words are also rightfully poignant in many places. At first it seemed to me that the book has a plot but that confusingly wasn’t the case. My friend [Anik](https://blog.anikthink.com/), who kindly lent me the book without asking and thereby recommended it, characterized Orbital’s writing as a stream of consciousness, which is true. It took me a while to get into the groove, which is when I realized and relished its true plot: Earth itself. If you want to visualize our dazzling Earth as experienced by astronauts in dizzying pace, including what the complex maps of orbital ground tracks humanly translate into, Orbital is for you. > They look down and they understand why it’s called Mother Earth. They all feel it from time to time. They all make an association between the earth and a mother, and this in turn makes them feel like children. In their clean-shaven androgynous bobbing, their regulation shorts and spoonable food, the juice drunk through straws, the birthday bunting, the early nights, the enforced innocence of dutiful days, they all have moments up here of a sudden obliteration of their astronaut selves and a powerful sense of childhood and smallness. Their towering parent ever-present through the dome of glass. ## Writing - [Exploring the marvel that are mountains on the Moon](https://jatan.space/exploring-moon-mountains/) ⛰ - [The fiery origin of our Moon tied to Earth](https://jatan.space/origin-of-our-moon-and-earth/), as unraveled by scientists through Apollo and now modern missions 🌖 > A titanic collision took place 4.5 billion years ago, when the planets had just formed in a [still-chaotic Solar System](https://jatan.space/solar-system-history-101/). A young Mars-sized planet, named Theia, slammed into the newly born Earth. The blistering impact ejected a colossal amount of material. While some of this material escaped to space, the rest stayed in orbit around Earth and coalesced to form our Moon. - [Rocket equation 101: Revealing our Moon’s value as a launchpad](https://jatan.space/the-moon-as-a-rocket-platform/) - Poem: [On the edge](https://jatan.space/on-the-edge/) - A garden does not save the forest: [Skyroot Vikram-1, the least worst case scenario for India’s launch crisis](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-41/) > Both for this decade and the next, [India’s manifest leans squarely on the heavy-lift side](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-39/) in terms of mass. Even ISRO’s medium-lift PSLV rocket, with its six to seven times greater lift capacity than Vikram-1, can only cater to a smaller fraction of these mass-heavy launches. In the age of literal Moonshots and satellite constellations, the need for Vikram-1-class rockets is largely on the margins for achieving sovereign space prowess. ## Webmarks - Watched [**Foundation**](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804484). Unlike the [screen adaption](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13016388) of amazing [The Three-Body Problem](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL36327337M/Three-Body%5FProblem%5FSeries) novels, I did not find Foundation to be terrible. And the graphics are great, bringing some of Asimov’s ideas to the screen. It’s not a replacement for [the books](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46390W/The%5FFoundation%5FTrilogy?edition=key%3A/books/OL48566815M) but a worthy watch in itself if you’re into classic Sci-Fi. - [Calm technologies that excite me](https://abhi.now/blog/calm-technologies/), by Abhigyan. Me too, brother. > I believe that technology should be an enabler, not a subjugator. The tinkerers that love messing with dials and diving into code should continue to do so. But otherwise, technology should help you do a thing and then stand back as you hold the reins of your human experience. - [Refining humanity](https://pluralistic.net/2026/06/05/defining-humanity/) > If we thought that some activity was unique to humans, or to living beings, and we manage to get a machine to replicate that activity, we should revise our view of the activity—not our view of the machine. Creative breakthroughs in chess are not “a thing that requires a human mind,” they’re “things that can be done by human minds *and* by machines.” - [A thank you to journalists supporting the Wayback Machine](https://blog.archive.org/2026/05/11/a-thank-you-to-journalists-supporting-the-wayback-machine/) - [Farther than the stars 🎸](https://web.jatan.space/farther-than-the-stars) ## Life notes - A microblog is reborn: [Jatan the human](https://web.jatan.space) (My [life slices](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/life-slices/) go here now; follow if of interest somehow) - [Life ki chore-y](https://web.jatan.space/life-ki-chore-y) - [Gallery of signs in public washrooms](https://web.jatan.space/gallery-of-signs-in-public-washrooms) - [Not hiding the ugly sides of space from the future workforce](https://web.jatan.space/not-hiding-the-ugly-sides-of-space-from-the-future-workforce) --- Did you read a book or article lately that intrigued you? Message me: [Share a good read 📖](https://jatan.space/connect) ### Linkteresting #2: Reading, writing, and webmarks URL: https://journal.jatan.space/linkteresting-02/ Last updated: 2026-08-13T05:27:40.000Z Hello again webmates! Below are some notable things I’ve read, written, and consumed lately. Click links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. ☕️ ## Reading - [***What if? 2***](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL43456867W/What%5FIf%5F2?edition=key%3A/books/OL38244192M) *by Randall Munroe:* It’s just as funny and nerdy as the [first one](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL17095301W/What%5FIf?edition=key%3A/books/OL28375725M). The two books are by the creator of [xkcd](https://xkcd.com) comics, and share the subtitle of “serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions”. That’s exactly right. If I had these books in college, physics would’ve been even more fun! It’s hard to choose the *most* destructive scenario in the books hell bent on breaking things but [Proton Earth, Electron Moon](https://what-if.xkcd.com/140/) probably takes the prize. > In the case of an electron Moon, the energy from all those electrons pushing on each other is so large that the gravitational pull wins, and our singularity would form a normal black hole. At least, "normal" in some sense; it would be a black hole as massive as the observable universe. - [***Poetry by T. S. Eliot***](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/t-s-eliot/poetry)*:* Some of his verses strike eerily even for events and themes of the world today. I won’t point fingers but this one’s pretty telling: > We are the hollow men > We are the stuffed men > Leaning together > Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! > Our dried voices, when > We whisper together > Are quiet and meaningless - [***The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories***](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19576831W/The%5FPaper%5FMenagerie%5Fand%5FOther%5FStories?edition=key%3A/books/OL36217116M) *by Ken Liu:* The explorations in this collection are brisk and punchy. I could see what Liu means when he says fiction is a fluid genre for him instead of its usually assumed divisions of science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, etc. Below are stories from the collection I particularly liked, with links to read most of them officially for free online: - [*The bookmaking habits of select species*](https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-bookmaking-habits-of-select-species/)*:* If you love Sci-Fi and books, this fusion is for you. - [*Simulacrum*](https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/simulacrum/)*:* It reminded me of [Black Mirror](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085059). - *The paper menagerie:* Heartbreaking - *The waves:* A very interesting exploration of relative aging in a spacefaring species. - [*Mono no aware*](https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/mono-no-aware/)*:* A beautiful story of grace and sacrifice. - [*The man who ended history*](https://kenliu.name/binary/liu%5Fthe%5Fman%5Fwho%5Fended%5Fhistory.pdf)*:* Literally sheds light on history, with brilliance. > But the past is consumed even as it is seen. The photons enter the lens, and from there they strike an imaging surface, be it your retina or a sheet of film or a digital sensor, and then they are gone, stopped dead in their paths. If you look but don’t pay attention and miss a moment, you cannot travel farther out to catch it again. That moment is erased from the universe, forever. - [***There will come soft rains***](https://www.libraryofshortstories.com/onlinereader/there-will-come-soft-rains) *by Ray Bradbury:* A fun little Sci-Fi story shared by a friend. It’s inspired by a [poem of the same name](https://poets.org/poem/there-will-come-soft-rains) by Sara Teasdale. Quoting the poem: > And not one will know of the war, not one > Will care at last when it is done. > > Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree > If mankind perished utterly; > > And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, > Would scarcely know that we were gone. ## Writing - [Achievements and shortfalls in global lunar exploration](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-282/) this half year (plus lunar poetry!) - Special page: [Explore our Moon](https://jatan.space/our-moon/) 🌙 - [Our Moon is two-faced](https://jatan.space/the-two-faced-moon/). Science missions unravel its layers. > Researchers think Earth may be responsible for lending the Moon’s nearside a thinner crust than its farside. When the Moon coalesced as a molten body from leftover debris of Theia’s collision with Earth, it was about 15 times closer to us than it is today. It became tidally locked soon after, likely within \~100 days, a time that barely registers on geologic timescales. - The Moon’s south pole is a place of promise and perils. [Effective data sharing will benefit and save everyone](https://jatan.space/the-lunar-south-pole-needs-global-data-sharing/). > Despite facing a whole new plane of challenges, the global rush to the Moon this century is grander in ambition than even Apollo. Countries and companies wish to repeatedly land more humans and robots than before, operate for longer than past missions have, and eventually construct and operate Moonbases that can harvest local resources like water ice and oxygen & metals in lunar soil. In the meanwhile, the budgets available are far less than half of Apollo for Artemis as well as programs globally. Moreover, about half the world’s robotic lunar landing attempts still fail. - Collection: [Slightly different articles on Mars and missions to it](https://jatan.space/mars-articles/) ## More links - Watched [For All Mankind S5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7772588) and [Star City](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32140872). The two are from the same alt-history universe where the Soviet Union lands humans on the Moon first. I found them a bit too dramatic but entertaining nevertheless. - [Please use AI](https://joatkinspotts.substack.com/p/please-use-ai) (shared by [Abhigyan](https://abhi.now/)) > *Why struggle* > *for the right words* > *when a machine can give you* > *beautiful ones?* - [Accepting tradeoffs](https://manuelmoreale.com/thoughts/accepting-tradeoffs) - Fun things: [Photo-graph-ie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=444g48CUfzU) by [Rasagy](https://rasagy.in), and [e-mail.wtf](https://e-mail.wtf) shared by [Yash](https://yashgarg.dev) --- Did you read a book or article lately that intrigued you? Message me: [Share a good read 📖](https://jatan.space/connect) ### Life slice #3: What an eventful month June has been URL: https://journal.jatan.space/life-slice-03/ Last updated: 2026-07-09T14:39:10.000Z Okay, turns out many of you liked those life updates from the previous [Newsletter for friends](https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-08/) sends so it’s now morphed and split into both [Linkteresting](https://journal.jatan.space/linkteresting-01/) and [Life slices](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/life-slices/). June was an incredibly productive and good month for me. - I taught my parents how to do some basic things on a laptop I gifted them. It’s their first laptop. It [runs Android](https://shop.primebook.in/products/primebook-2-neo) so they can easily adapt their familiar touchscreen interactions from their phones over to a touchpad & keyboard paradigm. My Mom learning to use a computer is making me happy. And for my Dad, who already uses Windows at work, I’m hoping a laptop will lead him to start blogging. He writes beautiful things in Gujarati, which can become nice web posts that add his voice to the Internet collective. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/IMG_4918-1.jpeg) - On the work front, I’m satisfied with having completed my 5-part series on [India’s rocket launch crisis](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-39/). The set has taken me about a year of work to research and publish. Even though the writing is critical of ISRO, in a journalistic manner, the reception from readers has been really good. The research for the same also made me realize the true gravity of the situation, which I thought I understood before but vastly underestimated. This kind of work, which reveals new ground truths about space, is something I enjoy being immersed in. - I created a special page for anyone to [deep dive into India’s Chandrayaan Moon missions](https://jatan.space/chandrayaan/) to understand its scientific, technological, and geopolitical outcomes from one place. You can probably spend hours on this if the subject intrigues you. Click for curiosity. - The Bangalore International Center [hosted](https://bangaloreinternationalcentre.org/event/to-the-moon-and-beyond/) a [talk & panel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70REk8%5F60vw) on the geopolitical contest between spacefaring nations around the near future use of space resources, which would start with the Moon. I was happy to be a part of the discussion alongside Professor [S. Chandrasekhar](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/28366983.S%5FChandrashekar) of ex-ISRO. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/07/bic-blr-to-the-moon-and-beyond-alongside-prof-chandrasekhar-1.jpeg) Image: Bangalore International Center - I visited ISRO’s Headquarters for work, part of which involved helping the think tank [Spaceport SARABHAI](https://www.spaceportsarabhai.org) record a monologue of the former ISRO Chief S. Somanath. Here’s [Part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3FgR4tcpgo) and [Part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UeQ2-yzTPs). While at ISRO HQ, it was also interesting to learn how their library system for ISRO employees works. - ***Blogging:*** [Ankur](https://ankursethi.com), [Tanvi](https://tanvibhakta.in), and [Abhinav](https://abhinavsarkar.net) had asked me if I’d like to conduct and moderate a [discussion meet](https://underline.center/t/indiewebclub-28/817) of [IndieWebClub BLR](https://blr.indiewebclub.org), based on my proposal of sharing challenges non-tech folks face in being part of the independent Web. We did that, and I’m happy that many people actively participated, shared lots of anecdotes, and also blogged based on related prompts I gave. Ankit [blogged his overview](https://ankit.earth/blog/indiewebclub-28/) of the event. Aeishna [wrote on all three prompts](https://aeish-world.neocities.org/blog%5Fpages/blog-20-06-26). Some [shared](https://sobagirl.mataroa.blog/blog/my-indieweb-failure/) their IndieWeb [failures](https://barsinger.mataroa.blog/blog/why-have-i-never-written-a-blog/) while some [stories](https://medium.com/@rallrajveer/ankoor-warikoo-got-me-to-write-a-blog-9d1e72256d1a) of their [blog’s origin](https://abhinavsarkar.net/notes/2026-indieweb-start/). Some [started to blog](https://ascelpius.mataroa.blog/blog/why-this-blog/) after the session. To me, the highlight from the discussion was hearing about ⁨[Abhigyan⁩’s](https://abhi.now) grandfather’s blog [prembrij.in](https://prembrij.in). It’s so wonderful. During the session, we all agreed on the difficulty of deciding on and getting a custom domain, which someone said is like “getting a permanent tattoo”. I really enjoyed hosting and moderating the meet. A big thanks to Ankur, Tanvi, and Abhinav for their help. - I’ve also been reading interesting things during the month, which I shared on [Linkteresting #1](https://journal.jatan.space/linkteresting-01/). And based on conversations with [Anik](https://blog.anikthink.com) and some other reader friends, I added many interesting sounding books to my reading list even though I know I won’t get to many of them. Our “**Want to read**” lists should really just be called “**Known Universe**”. - Something liberating happened in June that I’m so happy about. - I also identified issues in my diet that need work which I’m addressing. - I re-started going to parks to read under open skies, the morning Sun, and chirping trees. 🌳 --- I’m grateful that I can continue embracing a [calmer digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) on here while staying connected with people directly instead of [drowning in the slurp](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent)—and now slop—of social media. ### Linkteresting #1: Reading, writing, and web places URL: https://journal.jatan.space/linkteresting-01/ Last updated: 2026-08-11T15:09:49.000Z Hello webmates! [Newsletter for friends](https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-08/) is now morphed to **Linkteresting**, which is exactly what it sounds like. Below are some notable things I’ve read, written, and consumed this month. Click links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. ☕️ ## Reading - [***The Three-Body Problem Series***](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL36327337M/Three-Body%5FProblem%5FSeries) *by Cixin Liu:* Finished the trilogy this month. All of it is equally terrific and terrifying. What I love most about it is that the author goes straight for the heart of physics. I’ve read plenty of Sci-Fi stories, including many classics, and this series comes right at the top. It definitely has flaws, technical and social, but the sheer scale of thought makes up for everything. It’s also a breath of fresh air when compared to a singular kind of nature of Western Sci-Fis. If you’re into science fiction, this is a must-read. > This is the journey that must be made by every civilization: awakening inside a cramped cradle, toddling out of it, taking flight, flying faster and farther, and, finally, merging with the fate of the universe as one. - [***White Nights***](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL166952W/Белые%5Fночи?edition=key%3A/books/OL39470213M) *by Fyodor Dostoevsky:* I found the perspective of being inside the mind of a dreamer interesting. It allowed the author to say things that would otherwise be quite questionable even for the 19th century. But I did not like the book as much as many people seem to. Perhaps I preconditioned myself to expect something incredible but all I got was something non-tangible. This part stays though: > A whole minute of bliss! Is that really so little for the whole of a man’s life? - [***The Last Answer***](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL45819218W/The%5FLast%5FAnswer) *by Isaac Asimov:* If you pick this up after enjoying the perennial [*Last Question*](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL31840207M/The%5FLast%5FQuestion), you will be disappointed like I was, in that it wasn’t a follow up at all. Well, The Last Question doesn’t need one. By itself though, The Last Answer is a decent short story that makes you curious about beings of eternity. > For what could any Entity, conscious of eternal existence, want—but an end? ## Writing - Special page: [Deep dive into India’s Chandrayaan Moon missions](https://jatan.space/chandrayaan/) - Completed my 5-part series on [India’s rocket launch crisis](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-39/), which has taken me about a year of work to research and publish - [Blue Origin’s failure](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-277/) and [shortfalls in Artemis III](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-279/) - [The time NASA figured out our Moon is cratered all the way down](https://jatan.space/its-craters-all-the-way-down/) - [Lessons on lapses in lunar missions operations from the 20th century](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-281/) ## More links - Interactive: [Can you terraform Mars?](https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-01978-8/index.html) - [Cool websites I’ve found through IndieWebClub BLR](https://journal.jatan.space/cool-websites-via-indiewebclub-blr/) - Watched [Gen V](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13159924) S2 and [The Boys](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190634/) S5\. I liked the former better but since I’ve invested in this whole universe for its reflections on the dystopian reality of power abuse, the latter was enjoyable enough to watch as well as the series came to an end. --- Did you read a book or article lately that intrigued you? Message me: [Share a good read 📖](https://jatan.space/connect) ### Life slice #2: Reading science fiction and talking rockets URL: https://journal.jatan.space/life-slice-02/ Last updated: 2026-05-16T19:21:48.000Z - Inspired by NASA’s [404 page](https://www.nasa.gov/404), and ESA’s [404 page](https://www.esa.int/404) too, I edited my space blog’s not found pages to show something nerdy and lunar themed: [jatan.space/404/](https://jatan.space/404/) 🕳️ [![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/05/404-jatan-space.jpg)](https://jatan.space/404/) - I watched [Project Hail Mary](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730/) this week, partly because of all the hype surrounding it. The movie was alright. The visuals were good but the rest was just okay. I also couldn’t switch my space and physics brain off so I kept finding flaws. I’d argue finding major scientific flaws in science fiction is fair game. I’m sure [the book](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary) will fare better here. I intentionally didn’t read the book before watching the movie because I knew I’d be disappointed with the movie in such a case. Now that I’m disappointed anyway, I think I saved myself extra disappointment. - I started reading the third book of the Three Body Problem series: [Death’s End](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25451264-death-s-end). I’m enjoying it so far, like [the first](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem) and [second one](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66562105-the-dark-forest). The sheer scale of thought in the series is simply amazing. - It was good to catch up with a few friends this week. - I left most of the few WhatsApp groups I was on to be more discerning about whom I give my attention to or for what, and to simply reduce my stress levels. - I’m giving a [lecture on space rockets](https://pintofviewclub.substack.com/p/coming-wednesday-indias-most-renowned) for [Pint of View BLR](https://pintofview.club) coming Wednesday. Come nerd your brain out 🤓. Journalistic disclaimer: My honorarium for the talk is the same regardless of the number of tickets sold so there’s no incentive for me to share this and sell more. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/05/pint-of-view-it-is-rocket-economics-may-2026.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/05/it-is-rocket-science.jpg) There’s more [where that came from](https://jatan.space/space-memes/). 🌝 - [This week’s Moon Monday](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-274/) is about Artemis updates as well as interesting new Japanese lunar missions. --- *This post was written based on one of the blogging prompts at an in-person* [*IndieWeb Club meet*](https://blr.indiewebclub.org) *in Bangalore.* ### I published 10 poems this month as part of a poetry challenge URL: https://journal.jatan.space/global-poetry-writing-challenge-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-30T14:39:52.000Z April is [Global Poetry Writing Month](https://www.napowrimo.net/about/). Everyone participating from around the Web is encouraged to write a poem a day, optionally based on [each day’s prompt](https://www.napowrimo.net/2026/04/). It was my first time participating in this challenge. My goal was not to pen a poem a day for the sake of it but to write verses which express what I think and feel about various things. The collective challenge helped catalyze the process, just as the [photoblogging challenge](https://journal.jatan.space/first-photoblogging-challenge/) did in 2022\. I ended up publishing 10 pieces of poetry this month, all listed below. It includes two poems written in [Hindustani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani%5Flanguage), which was part of [my writing goals this year](https://journal.jatan.space/writing-goals-2026/). One poem I dedicate to my father, and one to my mother. ## On life - [***Ars poetica***](https://journal.jatan.space/ars-poetica/) - [***Resilience***](https://journal.jatan.space/resilience/) - [***Muskān / मुस्कान / Smile***](https://journal.jatan.space/muskan/) - [***For every child***](https://journal.jatan.space/for-every-child/) - [***Rare lights***](https://journal.jatan.space/rare-friends/) - [***So can you***](https://journal.jatan.space/so-can-you/) ## On space (and life) - [***Selene, smashed not shattered***](https://jatan.space/selene-smashed-not-shattered/) - [***Back to the Moon..***](https://jatan.space/back-to-the-moon/) - [***Don’t screw up the Moon***](https://jatan.space/dont-screw-up-the-moon/) - [***Antariksh ki pyaas / अंतरिक्ष की प्यास / The thirst for space***](https://jatan.space/antariksh-ki-pyaas/) Do read the appended notes for each poem. If you resonated with any poem or verse in particular, you can [let me know](https://jatan.space/connect) or [tip me](https://journal.jatan.space/tip/) to celebrate human writing. ^\_^ --- *If you liked these verses of mine, read* [***Seven uni-verses***](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry/)*, my globally published poetry pamphlet.* ![](https://jatan.space/content/images/2025/11/share-seven-universes-poetry-qr-3.jpeg) #### Seven uni-verses (booklet) By [****Jatan Mehta**](https://jatan.space/about). Poetry on all that space evokes. [About & Read →](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry/) ### Ars poetica URL: https://journal.jatan.space/ars-poetica/ Last updated: 2026-04-29T10:55:08.000Z *Strip it down* *make no sound* *touch the truth* *feel its fruit* *Here brevity* *retorts on humanity* *with sobering clarity* *and bittersweet gravity* *Telling terse truths* *of our bare beings* *Here speaking skies* *and its lent hand and eyes* *make the Moon walk* *and its tides talk* *They preserve love* *or touch a nerve* *and rumble revolutions* *Telling terse truths* *of our bare beings* *This is the terse verse* *sparing in words* *but not inwards.* --- **Notes:** This poem is an ode to poetry itself. It’s written for the [Day 26 prompt](https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-six-12/) of the [Global Poetry Writing Month](https://www.napowrimo.net/about/): “Ars poetica”, a Latin phrase meaning the “art of poetry”. A friend recently asked me, “where does your love for poetry come from?” Here’s the answer: My desire for poetry stems from the desire to express fundamental emotional states that life makes you go through, and the desire to capture observations & experiences of the human condition and our very beings. ### Poem: Muskān / मुस्कान / Smile URL: https://journal.jatan.space/muskan/ Last updated: 2026-04-29T10:58:28.000Z Original in [Hindustani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani%5Flanguage), as English transliteration and in देवनागरी, followed by an English translation (not as lyrical): ## Muskān *Maa teri muskān* *Kaisi hain itni nādān?* *Ekdam saral si* *bacche jaisi* *Narm si behti huin* *nadiyon jaisi* *Chaandni si khilne vaalīn* *suraj ki kiranon jaisi* *Is muskurāhaṭ* *me naa koin rukāvaṭ* *naa koin duniyaan ke daagon ki chaahat* *Samay ho sang* *ya fir berang* *naa uljhe teri pyaari patang* --- ## मुस्कान *माँ तेरी मुस्कान* *कैसी हैं इतनी नादान?* *एकदम सरल सी* *बच्चे जैसी* *नर्म सी बहती हुईं* *नदियों जैसी* *चाँदनी सी खिलने वालीं* *सूरज की किरणों जैसी* *इस मुस्कुराहट* *में ना कोई रुकावट* *ना कोई दुनियाँ के दाग़ों की चाहत* *समय हो संग* *या फिर बेरंग* *ना उलझे तेरी प्यारी पतंग* --- ## Smile *Tell me mother,* *how is your smile* *so innocent?* *So pure and simple* *like a child* *So soft in its flow* *like serene rivers go* *Like the Moon-like bloom* *of the Sun’s rays in your room* *In your smile* *there’s neither friction* *nor desire to find a worldly limitation* *Whether time is with you* *or not yet due* *your kite knows no blue.* --- **Notes:** This poem is for [Day 25](https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-five-12/) of the [Global Poetry Writing Month](https://www.napowrimo.net/about/). I previously wrote a poem in Hindustani [dedicated to my father](https://jatan.space/antariksh-ki-pyaas/). This one’s for my mother. 💛 ### Poem: Resilience URL: https://journal.jatan.space/resilience/ Last updated: 2026-04-22T17:13:17.000Z *Bent, not broken* *twisted, not turned upside down* *dragged down, not drowned* *Trembled, not tamed or tattered* *weathered, not withered* *hurt, but holding up* *Agonized, but alive* *traumatized, yet tender* *lingered on, yet loving* *Agitated, yet aspiring* *exhausted, but full of ember* *burnt, but blazing.* --- **Notes:** This poem is for [Day 22](https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twenty-two-12/) of the [Global Poetry Writing Month](https://www.napowrimo.net/about/). To whoever needs to hear it. ### Poem: Rare lights URL: https://journal.jatan.space/rare-friends/ Last updated: 2026-04-29T10:56:05.000Z *They care* *not because they have to* *but because they want to* *They converse* *not to reply* *but to listen* *They mediate* *not to tighten their connections* *but to save and foster existing ones* *They employ leverage* *not to be blatant* *but to be subtly considerate* *They accept* *your shortcomings* *with sincerity and sorrow* *They untangle* *knots with patience,* *not with invasions* *These are the rare lights* *who make life less lonely* *for everyone they know* *without knowing it themselves.* --- **Notes:** This poem is for [Day 12](https://www.napowrimo.net/day-twelve-14/) of the [Global Poetry Writing Month](https://www.napowrimo.net/about/). I dedicate it to rare souls spread across the world who radiate the warmth of empathetic human connection and hold its fire in an [ever increasingly distant world](https://journal.jatan.space/what-are-we-doing-in-the-name-of-progress/). Thank you, even if you don’t know it’s you. ### Poem: For every child URL: https://journal.jatan.space/for-every-child/ Last updated: 2026-04-04T11:18:08.000Z *For every child that dares to dream* *and every spark of curiosity within* *For their bold endeavors in jest* *and that one kid’s flying quest* *Persist your passion to build their nest* *for the world rumbles them in unrest* *Swivel their failings with your empathy* *and rivet their pursuits like a fall under gravity* *A future needs to be built,* *one without ethical guilt* *Go build a world that’s green* *And satiate your world within.* --- **Notes:** This poem is for [Day 3](https://www.napowrimo.net/day-three-12/) of the [Global Poetry Writing Month](https://www.napowrimo.net/about/). I dedicate it for teachers everywhere, including my friends and teachers, who have been mentoring the world’s future through acts of enabling. ### Poem: So can you URL: https://journal.jatan.space/so-can-you/ Last updated: 2026-04-02T17:29:38.000Z *The Moon still exists dear,* *Earth’s still blue as rivers cry* *while the avians still fly.* *Not a single day goes by* *when they don’t try, so can you.* ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/04/moon-bird-sunset-sky.jpeg) [Image: Jatan Mehta](https://journal.jatan.space/about) --- **Notes:** This poem was written for the [Global Poetry Writing Month](https://www.napowrimo.net/about/). The [Day 1 prompt](https://www.napowrimo.net/go/) encouraged posting in the Japanese poetry form of [tanka](https://poets.org/glossary/tanka). The poem reflects on the overlapping feelings around existing, weeping, and flying that many of us feel these days amid war and claims of technological utopia. Even as NASA has finally [launched astronauts towards the Moon](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/liftoff-nasa-launches-astronauts-on-historic-artemis-moon-mission/) for the first time in over five decades, its juxtaposition with the ongoing US and Israeli military strikes [killing and displacing children in Iran and the Middle East](https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/humanitarian-crisis-children-deepens-after-one-month-war-middle-east) does not reinforce the slogan of “going to the Moon for all humanity”. I know many of us would’ve been way more excited about Artemis II if it also didn’t overlap with a million children weeping. If this was any other space power, the media would not have hesitated to contrast the double standards. ### Life slice #1: Space for inspiration URL: https://journal.jatan.space/life-slice-01/ Last updated: 2026-05-17T05:13:37.000Z - This quarter I met an 👨🏽‍🚀, one whose flight I’ve [previously written about](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-29/). 🌏 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/me-shubhanshu-shukla-meet.jpg) - I also gave a talk about lunar exploration at a concert space in BLR for [Pint of View](https://pintofviewclub.substack.com) because let’s be frank the Moon rocks. 🪨 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/pint-of-view-moon-lecture-2.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/pint-of-view-moon-lecture-2-b-1.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/pint-of-view-moon-lecture-album-cover-style-photo-1.jpg) Audience tuned into Moonlight. Cool t-shirt thanks to [A47](https://a47.in/collections/isro-1), who sadly don’t sponsor my [Indian Space](https://jatan.space/tag/indian-space/) blog & newsletter. - I picked up a paint brush after two decades, thanks to an informal [Kuch Bhi Art](https://www.instagram.com/kuchbhi%5Fart) (Anything Art) session. Guess what I painted.. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/dont-screw-up-the-moon-painting.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/dont-screw-up-the-moon-painting-me.jpeg) Of course, it was about the Moon. Dear humans, do not screw up our Moon. - The Moon still exists and birds still fly. So can you. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/moon-bird-sunset-sky.jpeg) Looking up remains hopeful. ### Bombay food, a location-agnostic procedural guide URL: https://journal.jatan.space/bombay-food-a-location-agnostic-procedural-guide/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T14:07:37.000Z **Note:* This guide is NOT for fellow Mumbaikars. It’s to help people coming from outside make good decisions regardless of which part of Mumbai (BOM) they visit. As someone born and brought up in this cherished, energetic city, I can recommend things here with good confidence. This might just be the most important post I’ve written for Indians and India-visitors so bookmark it.* --- ## Vada Pavs ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/bombay-vada-pav.jpg) Cross section of a vada pav; not visible are the chutneys The most authentic way to have the iconic Vada Pavs in Mumbai is to spot small Maharashtrian street stalls or food carts instead of shops. Usually they *won’t be* making Samosas. Only Vada Pavs and Pakodas/Bhajjis, and sometimes potato-bread cutlets. If they’re making Samosas too, avoid the vada pav there. Also, do not have vada pavs at restaurants. If you’re unsure of the hygiene of the stall you stumble upon, there’s a branded option with street-food-like taste. Mumbai is famous for its efficient local railways. You probably will end up experiencing one. Outside most stations is this branded shop called [Jumboking](https://maps.app.goo.gl/yKbxRYNmHE1YDqDUA). Grab only the “Classic” vada pav from there. The rest are burgers; avoid ruthlessly. If you really want to avoid street food and street shops, the costlier but still authentic option is to go to franchise outlets across the city like [HAS South Bombay](https://maps.app.goo.gl/fNaA7Axeasbv2zBz7), which offer some of the best vada pavs, and [Kailash Parbat](https://maps.app.goo.gl/Wo9xxV11U8MoboBG9). ****P.S.** We need a Vada Pav emoji because 🍔 doesn’t cut it. ## The Bombay Sandwich ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2026/03/bombay-sandwich.jpg) Cross section of a Bombay masala toast sandwich The rule of going to street stalls or shops, not restaurants or brands, applies to the famous Bombay Sandwich too. A telltale sign of authenticity is they will typically have packets of *Wibs* bread loafs lined up on their counter. Specifically, ask for: 1. Veg (cheese) toast sandwich, or 2. Masala (cheese) toast sandwich (I love this one even more) These venerable Bombay Sandwiches are filled with more sliced veggies than every other sandwich in existence. It’s filling, and tasty in layers. No Subway sauce can beat the Bombay Sandwich’s green coriander-mint chutney and butter duo. The bang to buck ratio of the sandwich is incredible. 5/5 ⭐️ for the concept and execution. 🥪 🥔 🌿 Note: A Bombay Sandwich is not supposed to be a grilled sandwich. If any “Bombay sandwich” is being offered grilled, stay away. If you don’t like toast as a concept itself, get the non-toasted “kaccha” version which preserves all the other fractions as intended. ## Chaats For chaats, dedicated shops are the best instead of street stalls or restaurants. They tend to be more hygienic too, an important consideration considering the nature of chaat ingredients. The Bombay *sev puri*, *pani puri*, and *ragda patis* are a must. To identify authentic dedicated chaat shops, look for packets of puris hanging on shop counters. If restaurants with chaat counters do the same, avoid them. The aforementioned [Kailash Parbat](https://maps.app.goo.gl/Wo9xxV11U8MoboBG9) has decent but pricey chaats if you want a branded non-street experience with hygiene assurance. It’s also a decent place to have Pav Bhaji. But the best Pav Bhaji palette is, of course, found at dedicated stalls in areas like Borivali and Vile Parle. ## Chai Roadside chai shops that have local, unbranded biscuits on display tend to be the authentic ones offering firm masala chai. Another indicator of authenticity is if they offer a ‘cutting’ (half portion) chai option. Among branded outlets, any [Tea Post](https://maps.app.goo.gl/TPXuFxNiLBJr2dF27) will serve you an excellent kadak masala chai as well as its spiced or tempered variations. You can also visit a [Chaayos](https://maps.app.goo.gl/V4wzuvsMV4FH9no86) if you know exactly what you want because here you can customize every single bit of your chai. ☕️ **Irani Chai & Bun Muska**: South Bombay is famous for its smooth Irani chai. Pair it with a Bun Muska at [Kyani & Co.](https://maps.app.goo.gl/1tyygUqJzsj9HnJfA) in Marine Lines. Mumbai trains make it quite easy to reach this place from nearly anywhere in the mega city. ## Bonus: Bombay-infused Western cafe If you want a break from the local food, here’s a one-of-a-kind western cafe to relax in. The [Bombay to Barcelona Library Cafe](https://maps.app.goo.gl/cAarer94JQSywrv17) in Andheri offers the standard cafe menu but with additional variations infused with Bombay vibes. What makes this cafe really special though is its model of [employing previously homeless people](https://www.bombaytobarcelonalibrarycafe.com). The owner, who was once homeless too, provides such staff shared homes, and trains them in cooking and general professional conversation, helping them be employable in long run beyond the cafe as well. I quite like the cafe’s garlic bread and Cafe Bonbon. --- Did you bookmark this peak pragmatic post already? ### 4/5 ⭐️ - Indie Microblogging by Manton Reece URL: https://journal.jatan.space/indie-microblogging-by-manton-reece-book-review/ Last updated: 2026-02-26T15:48:29.000Z Read for free at [****book.micro.blog**](https://book.micro.blog/) or download the [****Epub**](https://book.micro.blog/indie-microblogging.epub) (official link) This book is a good history of publishing and sharing on the Web, particularly through blogging, and how related web technologies evolved. It also places them in the context of social media. The author [Manton](https://www.manton.org), creator of the thoughtful service [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog), drives home the point that blogs contribute to the Web by being independent, openly connected without any giant centralized third party platform in between. If you want to understand why having a personal website or blog on your own domain—[your own digital house address](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/)—is linked to saving the Web itself, read this book. Some quotes from the book below. > There weren’t enough blogs back in 2002, and there aren’t enough now. I have no doubt that some of the blogs created today will be important in the years ahead, maybe contributing to a debate on politics, or showcasing new writing or art, or serving as an archive that reflects today’s culture. Personal blogs are independent by default. They are separate from any one platform. --- > The web was always meant to be a read-write medium. Not just browsing, but posting too. When Tim Berners-Lee developed the first web browser on his NeXT workstation, he also developed a way to edit web pages. Tim would write in his book Weaving the Web: My vision was a system in which sharing what you knew or thought should be as easy as learning what someone else knew. --- I’m a child of the open Web, and I’m driven by the fact that [my blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs/) help create and sustain that Web itself. I can’t code and I still create the Web. It’s important for more people from all walks of life to actively participate in this shared global resource by looking outside the silos of social media. Which is why I like how Manton emphasizes two things in the book: 1. Even micro posts belong on your blog, on the open Web. > Millions of tweets are created every day. These are short posts, links, and photos. If we redirect even a small amount of that effort to instead start with indie microblogs, it will be an explosion of new growth for the open web. It will accelerate the maturation of IndieWeb standards. This is why we should start with short posts. They represent the majority of content on silos like Twitter and Facebook, and they’re easy for anyone to create, without the often daunting task of thinking about a whole web site. With better tools and platforms, people can have their own website as a default outcome when microblogging, rather than as a chore and technical hurdle. 1. Owning your place on the Web is not about the technology stack or tools you use but just about having a bunch of words on your domain name. It doesn’t require having any elaborate technical knowledge. > I think in the tech world—and especially as programmers—we tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. We know too much about content ownership, most of it irrelevant for mainstream users. \[...\] Controlling the writing and photos you post online isn’t about open source or the technical experience to run a server. It’s about using domain names for identity, so that you can move your data in the future without breaking URLs. I wrote [something on the same topic](https://journal.jatan.space/substack-is-not-bad-for-blogging/) back in 2022, which I’m a little surprised that it has largely stood the test of time. Overall, I find [*Indie Microblogging*](https://book.micro.blog/) to be a great read for anyone interested or invested in the Web itself. > Social networks come and go. Protocols evolve. What always remains is your blog, based on open standards: HTML, DNS, and IndieWeb formats. It is always the right time to invest in the open web. ### A list of good enough blogging platforms by price if you just want to write URL: https://journal.jatan.space/good-enough-blogging-platforms/ Last updated: 2026-02-19T04:06:32.000Z *`First published: March 2025 / Updated: Feb 2026`* So you have decided to write a blog. Maybe you too are tired of cramming your thoughts in tiny social media posts [for the cold algorithm](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/) and [deleting all nuance](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk/) in the process. You want to share your real expertise with the world, or maybe just some organic human thoughts and experiences. You don’t want to figure out which is the “best” blogging platform. You don’t know what is a good design for your blog. You don’t want to worry or bother about SEO. You merely want something that [just works](https://journal.jatan.space/substack-is-not-bad-for-blogging/). Something that would [last a while](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/). Something that might even feel like [your home on the internet](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/). Something that lets you advance your [writing goals](https://journal.jatan.space/writing-goals-2026/). And you know what you’re willing to pay for it—even if it is $0. This curated list of *good enough* blogging platforms sorted by price range is for you. It’s not for someone who already knows their tech preferences and wants to maximize every single aspect of their blog. The list is for people who want something great at whatever price they pick without having to do much else but write. For every blogging platform I suggest, I’ve linked to two example blogs hosted there so you can see how your blog might look and feel. You’ll notice that even with minimal differences, blogs can have a dash of personality that you can never get in the infinite sameness of Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles. My advice for people new to blogging: just pick any platform in your price range, and write your first human post on the world wide web. It’s all that matters. ## Free blog! ### [*Pika*](https://pika.page/) - Beautiful themes, simple interface, 50 posts for free. - Example blogs: - [acutewhispers.pika.page](https://acutewhispers.pika.page) - [cartography.pika.page](https://cartography.pika.page) ### [*Mataroa*](https://mataroa.blog) - Write in markdown, newsletter integration, fast and barebones. - Example blogs: - [ludic.mataroa.blog](https://ludic.mataroa.blog) - [nutcroft.com](https://nutcroft.com) ## $10-30/year ### [*Pagecord*](https://pagecord.com) - Post by email, good online editor, newsletter integration, analytics, your domain. - Example blogs: - [olly.world](https://olly.world) - [sylvia.buzz](https://sylvia.buzz) ### [*Micro.one*](https://micro.one) - Quick posting like social media, extendable like blogs, your domain, good community. - Example blogs: - [links.houseofkyle.com](https://links.houseofkyle.com) - [micro.welltempered.net](https://micro.welltempered.net) ## $35-60/year ### [*Bear Blog*](https://bearblog.dev) - Multiple blogs, great community, your domain, write in markdown, retro themes, long-term archive. - Example blogs: - [blog.avas.space](https://blog.avas.space) - [notes.jeddacp.com](https://notes.jeddacp.com) ### [*Pika Pro*](https://pika.page/) - Powerful yet simple editor, newsletter integration, fun guestbook, easy theming and layouts, your domain. - Example blogs: - [anniemueller.com](https://anniemueller.com) - [wrywriter.ca](https://wrywriter.ca) ## $100-150/year This category intentionally has just one recommendation because with the highest pay, you should get the best in terms of features, polish, and support. ### *Ghost* [*via MagicPages*](https://jatan.space/ghostreferral) *(referral link, only because I* [*personally use it*](https://jatan.space/about) *happily)* - All core features from above, top notch performance & support, best newsletter integration, document uploads, beautiful themes, full site search. In my opinion, this is ideal for serious writers who want an archive and home for their words. - Example blogs: (Ghost blogs look similar wherever they’re hosted) - [citationneeded.news](https://www.citationneeded.news) - [werd.io](https://werd.io) - [404media.co](https://404media.co) - [jatan.space](https://jatan.space) 🌝 --- ### Some notes - If your blogging platform lacks newsletter integration, you can copy-paste your blog posts on free newsletter platforms like [Substack](https://substack.com), [Beehiv](https://www.beehiiv.com) or [Buttondown](https://buttondown.com/pricing?count=1000). This allows readers to subscribe to your posts via email—a medium everyone uses, and the [connection of which you own](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/). - You can copy-paste your blog posts on [Medium](https://medium.com/) or other such reading networks too for potential discovery. - If you’re curious, Manu has created a [big list of blogging platforms](https://manuelmoreale.com/blog-platforms), which is what partially inspired this post. --- Hope my curated list helps you start a blog and write your first post. When you do, maybe [share it with me](https://jatan.space/connect)? ### My writing goals and methods this year URL: https://journal.jatan.space/writing-goals-2026/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T18:04:34.000Z February is a sane time to set new year resolutions and goals instead of January. During my year-end break in December, I’ve had a good opportunity to muse about where I want to steer my writing at large, and where I want writing to steer me. Here are the resulting goals and methods. ## Goals 1. **Nurture evergreen writing 🌱.** Continue the transition I started in 2025 of writing [longer longform articles](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-33/) on [my space blog](https://jatan.space/about). Keep doing more pieces that will retain utility over time rather than newsy posts with short lifecycles. News as a hook with added context and analysis, like on [Moon Monday](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday), is better than news relayed for the sake of it. 2. Publish at least one booklet globally on space exploration, building on and refining [the foundation](https://jatan.space/presenting-seven-uni-verses-poetry/#merging-the-worlds-of-blogs-and-books) I laid with my [space poetry pamphlet](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry/) last year. 🌙 3. Transform this blog, [Journal J](https://journal.jatan.space/about), into a better home for my refined words and verses on all things non-space. Share [interesting links](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/links/) there too. I’m excited about this. 4. Write freely for the self. 5. Draft poetry in [Hindustani](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani%5Flanguage) (Hindi-Urdu) instead of just English. 6. Build the courage to publish some things I normally wouldn’t. ## Methods 1. Continue curating, tracking, and absorbing longform web writing [through an RSS reader](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/). Ruthlessly cull all shortform feeds. Tune into interesting websites and blogging philosophies by participating in [IndieWeb Club BLR](https://blr.indiewebclub.org) meets. 🤓 2. Read more books but choose carefully. Attend book clubs & events at [Atta Galatta](https://attagalatta.com) in BLR. 3. Continue to not use AI/LLMs to write a single word. It would kill my brain and soul. 4. [Keep avoiding hot takes](https://jatan.space/how-i-avoid-hot-takes-and-speculations/) and largely speculative coverage 5. Stay [inactive on social media](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox-story/), especially to not pollute my thinking and writing. 6. **Stay quietly connected.** Have my own blogs on my own web domain be enabling spaces to interact with readers via [emails and DMs](https://jatan.space/connect) instead of using terribly [context-deprived](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk/) and [noisy](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/) social media. 1. Reach out to others directly as well. People remain the best signal to noise filters. 2. Extend the philosophy experimentally to [Fediverse replies](https://journal.jatan.space/one-sane-fediverse-profile-to-rule-them-all/), [Webmentions](https://alistapart.com/article/webmentions-enabling-better-communication-on-the-internet/), and other direct means. --- I might not achieve all of these goals or necessarily always stick to each method but they will remain my north star. What are your writing goals and methods for this year? [Let me know](https://jatan.space/connect). Blog about it! ### One sanitized and sandboxed Fediverse profile to rule them all URL: https://journal.jatan.space/one-sane-fediverse-profile-to-rule-them-all/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T15:49:58.000Z After [musing over](https://journal.jatan.space/your-social-web-on-your-blog/) having my social web presence on my own domain thanks to the book [Indie Microblogging](https://book.micro.blog/), I’ve decided to try having such a profile on [the Fediverse](https://journal.jatan.space/welcome-to-the-fediverse/) for a year. But Mastodon and the most of the Fediverse platforms are [too noisy](https://journal.jatan.space/mastodon-and-the-fediverse-is-noisy/) by default, having borrowed likes, boosts & reposts, follower counts, and hashtags from traditional social networks without re-assessing their utility for supposedly non-algorithmic community building. I want something that can connect to the Fediverse in a quieter way. My attention first turned to [Ghost](https://ghost.org/), which already powers my flagship [space blog](https://jatan.space/about) as well as [Journal J](https://journal.jatan.space/about). But Ghost’s Fediverse integration is too basic as of now. More importantly, it still has noisy likes, reposts, their notifications, and follower counts & suggestions like a micro-posting network despite being a longform publisher platform. Their Reader section is good, and the only saving grace, but I’m disappointed that Ghost did not build a Fediverse experience that’s longform-focused first and foremost. So I decided to use [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog/) as the foundation of [my Fediverse profile](https://jatan.space/fediverse) because it offers several advantages: - No support for likes and boosts/reposts, stripping them off the UI completely. - The notifications area contains just a feed of Mentions and Replies from others, with an added indicator for Direct Messages. - No follower notifications or counts. I have no clue who follows me unless they engage, which is great. - No hashtags. In fact, Micro.blog will try to hide the spammy hashtags at the end of posts. Good riddance because I hate hashtags. - No trending posts or suggested followers section. That Mastodon has these bad network effects is puzzling. - Posts from [all my blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs/) get auto-shared to my profile thanks to Micro.blog’s feature to pull from RSS feeds of your blogs. - Relatedly, I don’t like small post editors that limit in feeble amounts what I write and how I think. Which is why it’s great that Micro.blog allows you to automatically show entries from your external blogs in apt ways in the Timeline! So that’s the route I took. - There’s an option to hide Replies from the Timeline, making it cleaner while still retaining the ability to open any conversation. - Micro.blog offers RSS feeds of my Timeline, and even of individual profiles, so I can [use RSS](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/) to follow the Fediverse instead of relying on inferior apps to sort, filter, and search posts. Mastodon does support profile RSS feeds as well but using Micro.blog means I can strip off noisy boosts and reply posts. These should make the experience clean and focused. Lastly, I used [Bridgy Fed](https://fed.brid.gy/) to enable Bluesky integration, saving me the hassle of having to keep around yet another social media account. I actually have [been off social media](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) since last year. Admittedly though, a Fediverse account on my own domain does makes fundamental sense to try breaking big tech and [social media jails](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent). But it still feels like [breaking the law](https://journal.jatan.space/realizations-about-actually-avoiding-social-media/) when blogs over the web are social by themselves. However, [Webmentions](https://indieweb.org/Webmention) are simply too complicated for me to even understand properly, much less implement and deal with for my blogs. That’s why I’ve decided to try this Fediverse experiment in a sanitized and sandboxed way as a middle ground. Feel free to [follow me on Fedi](https://jatan.space/fediverse), but remember that I won’t see that you followed or be notified of likes and reposts. I only see replies and mentions. 😌 If even after all these guardrails, the Fediverse turns out to be more noise than signal—because, humans—I shall go back to not existing on digital socials. ### Your social web on your blog URL: https://journal.jatan.space/your-social-web-on-your-blog/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T15:49:17.000Z I’ve been reading the book [Indie Microblogging](https://book.micro.blog/) by [Manton Reece](https://www.manton.org/about/), and really enjoying it. It’s an interesting view into the history of blogging and related web technologies. Among other things, [there’s a chapter](https://book.micro.blog/your-blog/) on the intersection of having a blog and it also being your social web presence through [Fediverse/ActivityPub](https://book.micro.blog/mastodon/) instead of you signing up for social media accounts elsewhere on centralized or community servers that you don’t control. The chapter speaks to its importance: > With Mastodon, you usually have a mix of Twitter-like instances based on ActivityPub, each one holding many users, often thousands. \[…\] Instead of multi-user instances, a more distributed web should contain many solo instances, each a blog for just one person with their own domain name. \[…\] ActivityPub is now widely deployed and makes a great addition to most blog platforms, as long as there’s a solid foundation first with personal domain names, feeds, and IndieWeb standards. I’ve noticed in my own usage of Mastodon that while your account followers are portable to other servers, your username is not and neither are your posts. The Fediverse is therefore anything but like blogs, where your domain and posts [both persist](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/) across platforms. Manton thus has a Fediverse presence through his own blog on his own domain at [@manton@manton.org](https://micro.blog/manton?remote%5Ffollow=1). Ghost is [offering the same](https://ghost.org/help/social-web/) for blogs. It’s a sensible idea. Do you have your independent Fediverse presence too? I’m [interested to hear](https://jatan.space/connect) how and where you set it up. ### Apps and digital tools I liked in 2025 URL: https://journal.jatan.space/default-apps-2025/ Last updated: 2026-01-21T15:42:55.000Z So [Robb Knight](https://rknight.me) started [this trend](https://defaults.rknight.me/) wherein people list apps they use or prefer for various purposes. Here are the apps and digital services I used and mostly liked in 2025, grouped by category for convenience and linked for curiosity & context. Hope you find something interesting or useful in here to improve your digital life. ### People - 📨 Mail, Calendar, and Contacts: [iCloud](https://www.icloud.com) - 💬 Chat & Messaging: [WhatsApp](https://jatan.space/whatsapp), [Signal](https://jatan.space/signal) and [Slack](https://slack.com) - 🤡 Social media: [Obviously none](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/), just read [my blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs/) ### The Web - 🌐 Browser & Passwords: [Safari](https://www.apple.com/safari/) and [Firefox](https://www.firefox.com) - 🔍 Search engine: [Kagi](https://kagi.com) - 🧩 Extensions: [AdGuard](https://adguard.com/en/adguard-mac/overview.html), [Open Access Helper](https://www.oahelper.org), [StopTheMadness](https://underpassapp.com/StopTheMadness/) and [Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org) - 🛜 VPN: [Mullvad](https://mullvad.net/en) and [Proton](https://protonvpn.com) **Related:* [**App subscriptions and Yoghurt*](https://journal.jatan.space/app-subscriptions-and-yoghurt/) ### Work - 💻 Laptop: [MacBook Air M1](https://support.apple.com/en-us/111883), the trusty - 📁 Files & Media: [Finder](https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-studio/apddf030866a/mac) and [iCloud](https://www.icloud.com) - 📄 PDFs & Images: [Apple Preview](https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/preview/welcome/mac) - 🤓 Productivity: [macOS Spotlight](https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mchlp1008/mac), [Supercharge](https://sindresorhus.com/supercharge) and [Maccy](https://maccy.app) - 📊 Spreadsheets, Slides, and Documents: [Apple iWork](https://www.apple.com/iwork/) and [ONLYOFFICE](https://www.onlyoffice.com/desktop) ### Reading - 📖 Longform: [Kindle Paperwhite](https://ebookfriendly.com/kindle-paperwhite-6-8-2021-specs-comparisons/#regular-specs) - 📰 The Web and News: [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com), the best (please [use RSS](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/) too) - 🔤 Dictionary: [Apple](https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/dictionary/welcome/mac) (English, Thesaurus, Hindi-English, Chinese-English) - 📑 Read articles later: [Instapaper](https://instapaper.com) - 📚 Bookshelf: [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/moonmehta) ### Writing - ✍🏼 Drafts: [My blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs/) and [Google Docs](https://docs.google.com) - 📝 Notes and To-Dos: [Bear](https://journal.jatan.space/in-praise-of-bear/) - ‣ Outliner: [Workflowy](https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-organize-notes-for-writing-an-article/) (get more storage with [my referral](https://workflowy.com/invite/7de5cf84.lnx)) - ✨ To publish [my poetry](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry/): A combination of [Apple Pages](https://www.apple.com/apps/#pages), [isbn.gov.in](https://isbn.gov.in/), [IngramSpark](https://www.ingramspark.com), [Draft2Digital](https://draft2digital.com), [Pothi](https://pothi.com), [Google Play Books](https://play.google.com/books/publish/), [Internet Archive](https://archive.org), and more. - ⤵️ Notes importer: [Klib](https://en.toolinbox.net/Klib/) ### Blogging - 🛰️ [Space](https://jatan.space/about) and [Personal](https://journal.jatan.space/about) Blogs: [Ghost](https://ghost.org), via [MagicPages](https://jatan.space/ghostreferral) (referral link because I [use it happily](https://jatan.space/about)) - 📈 Website stats: [Umami](https://umami.is/) (privacy respecting) - 🕸️ Domain: [BigRock](https://www.bigrock.in/) - 📇 DNS: [Cloudflare](https://www.cloudflare.com/application-services/products/dns/) **Related:* [**Why get a blog*](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/) | **Here’s a* [**list to start one*](https://journal.jatan.space/good-enough-blogging-platforms/) :) ### Etc. - 🎶 Music: [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com) - 🎙️ Podcasts: None (here’s [why](https://journal.jatan.space/podcasts-vs-articles/)) - 🚈 Local life (pun intended for Mumbaikars): [PhonePe](https://www.phonepe.com), [Rapido](https://www.rapido.bike/Home), [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps), [](https://www.uber.com/in/en/)[Playo](https://playo.co), [](https://www.uber.com/in/en/)[DigiLocker](https://www.digilocker.gov.in), and [Mumbai One](https://apps.apple.com/in/app/mumbai-one/id6478221525) - 🛫 Travel: [MakeMyTrip](https://www.makemytrip.com) and [Booking.com](https://www.booking.com) So that was my digital lifeOS for 2025\. Blog about yours! Did you particularly enjoy an app or web service this year or found something in this list useful? [Let me know](https://jatan.space/connect). ### Moon samples, poetry, and community | Newsletter for friends #08 URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-08/ Last updated: 2025-12-26T16:02:53.000Z Hello friends, I’m writing to you from my beloved home city Mumbai, where I’ve *at long last* come to rest and enjoy some time with my parents. I hope you’re having a refreshing break as well this year end. It’s once again been three months since I dispatched the [previous newsletter](https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-07/). Life has been incredibly productive and satiating on some fronts; below is a snapshot of some notable things I’ve been up to alongside some pictures from my trip to Hong Kong. I’m grateful that I can embrace a [calmer digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) on this personal blog of mine by connecting with people directly instead of [drowning in the slurp](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent)—and now slop—of social media. Click the links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. :) ## Liked reading - Sci-Fi: [The Dark Forest](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23168817-the-dark-forest) > He was won over by their expressions, because he knew that the eyes of ordinary people were the best reflection of the level of civilization in a time and place. - Poetry: [Gitanjali](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66414.Gitanjali) > The child who is decked with prince’s robes and who has jeweled chains round his neck loses all pleasure in his play; his dress hampers him at every step. In fear that it may be frayed, or stained with dust he keeps himself from the world, and is afraid even to move. > Mother, it is no gain, thy bondage of finery, if it keep one shut off from the healthful dust of the earth, if it rob one of the right of entrance to the great fair of common human life. - [The story of how RSS (feeds) beat Microsoft](https://buttondown.com/blog/rss-vs-ice) - [ChatGPT’s Atlas: The browser that's anti-web](https://www.anildash.com//2025/10/22/atlas-anti-web-browser/) - [How we lost communication to entertainment](https://ploum.net/2025-12-15-communication-entertainment.html) - [Joel Mokyr, Gita Chadha, Lawrence Krauss, Joseph Vijay](https://rootprivileges.net/2025/12/15/joel-mokyr-gita-chadha-lawrence-krauss-joseph-vijay/) - [The Zomato ad and India’s hustle since 1947](https://rootprivileges.net/2025/08/16/zomato-ad-india-hustle-1947/) ## Poetry on Space I celebrated 5 years and 10,000 subscribers of my [Moon Monday](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday) blog+newsletter with [globally published poetry on space](https://jatan.space/presenting-seven-uni-verses-poetry/). 🌙 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/share-seven-universes-poetry-qr.jpeg) #### Seven uni-verses (booklet) By [****Jatan Mehta**](https://jatan.space/about). Poetry on all that space evokes. [Read for Free →](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry-read/) Publishing *Seven uni-verses* in an independent manner has also helped me lay the foundation for the next phase of my space writing: [Merge the worlds of blogs and books](https://jatan.space/presenting-seven-uni-verses-poetry/#merging-the-worlds-of-blogs-and-books). ## Writing - [Achievements and shortfalls in global lunar exploration in 2025](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-255/) - [Lunar sample science updates straight from Hong Kong](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-252/) - [A giant leap in orbital imagery](https://jatan.space/we-need-a-giant-leap-in-lunar-orbital-imagery/) will unlock advanced Moon missions - [Prepping to live on Luna via analogs on Earth](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-251/) - [ISRO and India had a mixed year in space in 2025](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-34/) - A space program can only move as swiftly as its rockets. [It’s India’s time to act on that](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-33/). ## Space, personally - [I got to see Moon samples!](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-253/) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/chang-e-6-sample-hku.jpeg) Roughly 2.8-billion year old lunar sample brought to Earth by China’s Chang’e 6 mission in 2024\. Image: CNSA / CAS / HKU - People have been buying print copies of [my poetry booklet](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry/)—despite the ebook [being free](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry-read/)!—and sending me pictures along with their thoughts and even [reviews on Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8078463424). ^\_^ ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/60778be8-0553-4a42-a47b-c66679e0a656-1.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/cb87bd89-deb6-4bb8-ae5e-d549aa9731b3-1.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/IMG_3529-1.jpeg) My personal favorite is people reading my ebook on e-paper devices like the Kindle. - I made some original memes about my poetry booklet: ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/suckbucks-vs-my-poetry-booklet.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/legal-z-library-uploads.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/me-nerding-out-about-my-space-poetry-and-our-moon.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/levels-of-self-publishing.jpeg) 🤓 I created these not just to promote the booklet’s [open access approach](https://jatan.space/seven-uni-verses-poetry/#values) but to also have some fun. After all, [I write for you, not social media or SEO](https://jatan.space/i-write-for-you/), so why not be more humanly whimsical sometimes? **Related:* [**Fun with Moon exploration headlines*](https://jatan.space/fun-with-moon-exploration-headlines/) *and the Moon Monday* [**which starts with a meme*](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-248/) ## Life and Pictures - Bangalore has great communities around human micro-cultures, which make the city’s growing woes bearable, and sometimes worth it. Reading at the beautiful Cubbon Park as part of [Cubbon Reads](https://www.instagram.com/cubbonreads/), participating in blogging meets at [IndieWeb Club BLR](https://blr.indiewebclub.org), and attending bookclubs & events at [Atta Galatta](https://attagalatta.com) have become my monthly doses of sanity, serenity, and community. - [Poem: Words](https://journal.jatan.space/words/) - You don’t peek at Hong Kong, it peaks at you: ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/towering-1.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/towering-2.jpeg) - There are natural vistas at the edges of Hong Kong: ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/nature-blend-hk-2.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/me-hong-kong-2.jpeg) - The crescent Moon gracing the Hong Kong skyline, making some humans happy in the process. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/moon-hong-kong-skyline-1.jpeg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/12/moon-hong-kong-space-museum.jpeg) --- So these were highlights from my very happening last quarter of the year. What have you been up to? Did you read something nice lately? Reach out to me. [Share a good read 📜](https://jatan.space/connect) ### Poem: Words URL: https://journal.jatan.space/words/ Last updated: 2026-01-04T14:59:12.000Z *Hey you,* *like words, don’t you?* *What an invention,* *second to none* *Thoughts that live on,* *even after one is gone* *They can speak volumes,* *without making a sound* *No wonder then* *that you like to read* *between the lines* *and write on empty spaces* *Here’s to many more* *orbits around our Sol* *For the more you get old,* *the more words work* *to keep your soul* *Thank you then* *for sharing your words* *with me* *and everyone else.* ### Week notes inception URL: https://journal.jatan.space/life-slice-00/ Last updated: 2026-05-17T05:14:41.000Z This week has been nice. A list of notable events below; some photos follow. - Gave a public talk about our Moon and its exploration to people having beer. The talk series it was part of is aptly named [Pint of View](https://www.instagram.com/pintofview.club/). It was great to have an extremely engaged audience. - Went to [Cubbon Reads](https://www.instagram.com/cubbonreads/). Reading at the beautiful Cubbon Park has become my weekly dose of sanity and serenity. ^\_^ - Attended a [talk and discussion](https://bangaloreinternationalcentre.org/event/reaching-for-the-stars/) around a [book on Vikram Sarabhai](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35509114-vikram-sarabhai), the founder of India’s space program as well as many more things related to India’s holistic development post-independence. It was good to see an approach to profiling Sarabhai from outside the organizations he was associated with. - Discovered a nice and nestled [Thai café in BTM layout](https://maps.app.goo.gl/6XMZWW6FKJ7rVsDg6), Bangalore with friends. - Participated in the [latest IndieWeb Club meet](https://underline.center/t/indiewebclub-11-with-ankur-and-tanvi/556) in Bangalore. It was on week notes, thereby prompting this week note. Let’s see how it goes. - Spent a lot of time figuring out the nuances of the logistics of self publishing books (I’m not writing a book yet but was curious). - [Published](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-244/) the usual Moon Monday, which always feels worthwhile. - Continued work on my next edition of [Indian Space Progress](https://jatan.space/tag/indian-space/). --- ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/10/IMG_2709.jpeg) Bangalore metro train information displays seem to work on Windows 7.. in 2025. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/10/pint-of-view-moon-talk.JPG) The Moon has talked to many drunk people since the dawn of civilization but here I am talking about our Moon and its exploration to room full of people about to go lunatic either way with my Pint of View. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/10/pint-of-view-moon-talk-audience-reactions.JPG) Audience captured in Moonlight 🌝 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/10/pint-of-view-moon-talk-group-picture.JPG) --- Have you been up to something interesting lately? [Let me know](https://jatan.space/connect)! ### Newsletter for friends #07: Life has changed URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-07/ Last updated: 2025-09-30T05:01:31.000Z Hello friends, ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/09/me-cubbon-reads-three-body-problem-3.jpeg) Reading at the beautiful Cubbon Park, my new weekly dose of sanity and serenity. ^\_^ In the more than three months since I sent out the [previous newsletter](https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-06/), life has changed. Between reading more of longer longform, ditching social media [completely](https://journal.jatan.space/levels-of-achieving-worldly-peace/), stepping out more, writing better on my space blog, and reorganizing [my personal blog](https://journal.jatan.space/start/), life has improved, calmed down, and become more clear. Here’s a snapshot of some notable things from the past three months. Click the links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. :) ## Liked reading - Sci-Fi: [The Three Body Problem](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem) - Poetry: [Iron Draped in Silk](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228388580-iron-draped-in-silk) - Re-read: [What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21413662-what-if) - [The rise and demise of RSS (feeds)](https://twobithistory.org/2018/12/18/rss.html) - [Is the decline of reading making politics dumber?](https://archive.ph/2025.09.04-153642/https://www.economist.com/culture/2025/09/04/is-the-decline-of-reading-making-politics-dumber) - [Gaining context on China and its rise (Good reads)](https://journal.jatan.space/read-context-on-china-and-its-rise/) ## Writing I’m so happy that I’ve been publishing many feature stories lately. It really feels good to have been this productive while spanning distinct space developments. 🚀 - [Achievements and shortfalls in Moon exploration this half year](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-231/) (by country or region) - [We’re building future technologies for the Moon without closing missed milestones](https://jatan.space/pitfalls-in-lunar-exploration/) - [Our Moon is valuable even beyond itself](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-239/) - [China’s bags many milestones in getting humans on the Moon](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-237/) while [Artemis slows down](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-240/) - Indian space - [Was Shukla’s Axiom-4 flight to the ISS worth it for ISRO?](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-29/) - [Chandrayaan 4 will bring unique Moon materials](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-241/)—and maybe a giant scientific leap for India - [Notable nuances about NISAR and how it flows into planetary science for NASA and ISRO](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-30/) - [On SpaceNews going paywalled, and the broader disregard for archiving in journalism](https://jatan.space/paywalled-spacenews-and-disregard-for-archiving-in-journalism/) ## Visual posts! [![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/09/chang-e-6-basalt-sample-under-a-polarizing-microscope-3-1.jpg)](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-233/) [****Visualize a new Moon based on scientific discoveries by Chang’e 6**](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-233/) [![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/09/hell-q-lro-2-1-1.jpg)](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-234/) [****Explore our Moon’s wild places and wonderful samples**](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-234/) ## Space, personally - Welcomed [Open Lunar Foundation](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-233/) and [Astrolab](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-236/) as continuing sponsors of my Moon Monday blog+newsletter - Fraser Cain of Universe Today [recommended my blog & newsletter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pygx-mseIZY&t=1022s) on his YouTube channel! ## Life - [Took the day off against my will, and thankful for it](https://journal.jatan.space/take-that-day-off/) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/09/lunar-eclipse-duotone.jpeg) A contrasting view of the total lunar eclipse of September 7, 2025 as seen from Bangalore, India. [Image: Jatan Mehta](https://jatan.space/about) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/09/bandra-worli-sea-link-dusk.jpeg) Dusk at Bandra-Worli sea link, Mumbai --- I’m grateful that I can continue embracing a [calmer digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) on here while staying connected with people directly instead of [drowning in the slurp](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent)—and now slop—of social media. Have you been reading something interesting lately? Reach out to me. [Share a good read 📜](https://jatan.space/connect) [Buy me a book 📖](https://journal.jatan.space/tip/) ### Cycles and fluctuations URL: https://journal.jatan.space/cycles-and-fluctuations/ Last updated: 2026-03-07T11:29:58.000Z Humans invent technology. It eases their lives. Then it becomes their lives. Those who wield the tech then control and influence these lives. Eventually, unrest unearths in the background. An alternate rises over the horizon. People break through the mould to the open skies of new technolgy. That world though is now a new mould. For power wields it to its shape as well. Across millenia, human nature and dynamics haven’t changed. New outliers, new fluctuations in the system, new slivers of hope—but ultimately all abstracted away to influence. Each abstraction stacked atop the last one. Is technology the solution when being free means using it to deprive others of the right? --- *This post is my submission to the* [*IndieWeb Carnival*](https://indieweb.org/IndieWeb%5FCarnival)*’s theme for November 2025: Cycles and fluctuations, hosted by* [*Alex Sirac*](https://alexsirac.com)*. It was written based on encouragement at an in-person* [*IndieWeb Club meet*](https://blr.indiewebclub.org) *in Bangalore to participate in this global blogging festival. As for the meet itself, hearing people speak and understand the same language as you for once was happiness. Thank you* [*Ankur*](https://ankursethi.com) *and* [*Tanvi*](https://tanvibhakta.in)*.* ### Reading life in a nutshell URL: https://journal.jatan.space/life-in-a-nutshell/ Last updated: 2025-08-17T10:37:28.000Z 1. Go to a book club meet 2. Gain inspiration and insight 3. Add good reads to your list 4. Realize you can’t read most of them, ever 5. It then sinks in that it’s an amplifying loop 6. Feel unproductive despite growth ### Levels of achieving world(ly) peace URL: https://journal.jatan.space/levels-of-achieving-worldly-peace/ Last updated: 2025-08-01T13:10:56.000Z 1. Delete all social media apps 2. Disable all like notifications at source 3. Stop posting on every social network 4. Make all social media profiles private 5. Log out of all accounts I just turned 5. ### Gaining context on China and its rise (Good reads) URL: https://journal.jatan.space/read-context-on-china-and-its-rise/ Last updated: 2025-07-28T15:32:03.000Z Between China’s [rise in lunar exploration](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-231/#china) and [my visit to the country](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-206/#my-experience-at-the-galaxy-forum-in-china) last year, I’ve grown more curious about how the Chinese collectively think and work. So I set out to gain some high-level context of Chinese policies and history, which have now helped me identify specific areas to dive into over time. If you too find yourself in a similar situation, and want something more grounded than biased pictures from Western media, here are some good links with excerpts. ### [China is the world’s sole manufacturing superpower](https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/china-worlds-sole-manufacturing-superpower-line-sketch-rise) *– Richard Baldwin* > China’s industrialization is unprecedented. The last time the ‘king of the manufacturing hill’ got knocked off the throne was when the US surpassed the UK just before WW1\. It took the US the better part of a century to rise to the top; the China-US switch took about 15 or 20 years. China’s industrialization, in short, defies comparison. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/07/top-countries-gross-production-comparison-1995-2000.jpeg) Comparing gross production shares of top countries during the period 1995 to 2020\. [Image: OECD TiVA database (2023)](https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/china-worlds-sole-manufacturing-superpower-line-sketch-rise) --- ### [How did China become a manufacturing superpower?](https://yogesh-upadhyaya.medium.com/how-did-china-become-a-manufacturing-superpower-7322c3058d8) *– Yogesh Upadhyaya* > China has kept most of its commodity and energy producers in the public sector. What is more, the prices that these businesses can charge have been regulated. This meant that the terms of trade were favorable for manufacturing companies using these commodities. Many authors describe how China has resisted pressure to go to a system of ‘market prices’ for such inputs. > \[...\] > A high level of support can make entrepreneurs complacent. This has not happened in China. One of the big reasons is fierce competition. The decentralized nature of the country’s governance and the entrepreneurial nature of the society means that there were hundreds of companies in many sectors. --- ### [China shows science is not dependent on liberal democracy](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/09/10/china-shows-science-is-not-dependent-on-liberal-democracy/) *– Caroline Wagner* > Since 1990, China’s national spending on research and development increased at a rapid clip. From less than 0.6 percent of GDP in 1990, in 2023, China spent over 2.2 percent on R&D. --- ### [The short march to China’s hydrogen bomb](https://thebulletin.org/2024/04/the-short-march-to-chinas-hydrogen-bomb/) *– Hui Zhang* > China formally codenamed its first nuclear bomb “device 596” to commemorate the date of June 1959 when Moscow sent a letter to Beijing informing that it would not provide the promised atomic bomb model and data. --- ### [Notes on China](https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/notes-on-china) *– Dwarkesh Patel* > We really need to do a better job with Chinese students studying abroad in America. These students will likely end up in influential positions back home, yet colleges treat them basically like cash cows. They often arrive bombarded with propaganda about America, which is reinforced by the prevalent discourse at universities. And they find themselves isolated by language barriers and cultural differences. Giving these future leaders a genuinely positive experience in America might be the best thing we can do to improve US-China relations in the long run. --- ### [Ancient China](https://www.worldhistory.org/china/) *– Joshua Mark* > The Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) is considered the 'golden age' of Chinese civilization. Gao-Tzu prudently maintained and improved upon the bureaucracy initiated by the Sui Dynasty while dispensing with extravagant military operations and building projects. With minor modifications, the bureaucratic policies of the Tang Dynasty are still in use in Chinese government in the modern day. By the time of the rule of Emperor Xuanzong (712-756 CE) China was the largest, most populous, & most prosperous country in the world. --- Do you have recommendations for what I should read next to better understand China’s growing and leading technological capabilities? [Email or DM me](https://jatan.space/connect). ### For the love of RSS feeds, simplify your blog’s subscribe page URL: https://journal.jatan.space/simplifying-blog-subscriptions-via-rss/ Last updated: 2025-06-27T10:28:42.000Z I love reading blogs, newsletters, and virtually anything else on the Web through [RSS feeds](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/). As a [space writer](https://jatan.space), it’s the best way for me to keep track of, read, and search what hundreds of sources publish every week. And, I proactively offer my own readers an option to subscribe to [my blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs) through RSS. Even though I have thousands of email subscribers, I care about this option because it provides people a private and reliable way to read my blogs without having to trust me with their email IDs. Why offer anything less than what you prefer yourself? However, most people don’t know what RSS feeds are, and how feed readers can benefit them. I wrote an [accessible article about RSS](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/), which anecdotally made some headway within my friends and little network of humans. But even then most people have a notion that RSS is complicated to use. These notions carry terse truths. Compared to the ease of following someone on social media or subscribing to a newsletter, it’s far from obvious what you’re supposed to do when you encounter an RSS feed icon or link. Even for people who do know about and use RSS readers, it’s still a chore to manually hunt, grab, and add RSS links to their feed readers. How do we simplify this? I redid my space blog’s [**RSS feeds page**](https://jatan.space/feeds/) to offer big buttons for people to subscribe to my posts on every feed reader I could think of. Did you check the page already? Clicking or tapping on any button on that page does one of these two things: 1. If you already use that particular feed reader service/app, you can add my blog to it in two taps. Bam. 2. If you don’t use that reader, most of them will present you with a login & signup option. This way people can directly use a feed reader with at least one blog added instead of having to imagine and figure out what they are and how they work. Isn’t this solution better than the status quo? At least fellow netizens [James](https://jamesg.blog/2025/05/31/announcing-subscribe-openly) and [Ashur](https://multiline.co/mment/2025/05/request-for-feed-reader-app-developers/) agree. I went ahead and added these two-tap buttons on my personal blog’s [feeds page](https://journal.jatan.space/feeds/) as well. 🤓 These direct-subscribe links work based on [special dynamic URLs](https://feedbin.com/help/how-to-subscribe/#url). I’ve hunted down special URLs for more than 20 feed readers for my feeds pages. Very few RSS readers are missing from the list, and that’s only because they don’t support such a URL structure or scheme—as far as I can tell. I’ve reached out to various such developers to add support for the same. I’m hoping to add direct-subscribe links for [Reeder Classic](https://reeder.app/classic/), [Feedgrab](https://feedgrab.net), [Miniflux](https://miniflux.app), and popular Android-only apps. Any tips you have for me to add those or other RSS apps/services are [welcome](https://jatan.space/connect). --- **P.S.** I absolutely know that many people will still find RSS confusing and just won’t use it. That war is for another day—perhaps if and when the Web is about to come full circle to blogs from the [clutches of social media](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/)? For now, I’m happy to have made the RSS situation at least a little better than I found it. This is the kind of post which is so niche that most people will wonder what I’m even rambling about. But I don’t care because it has made me happy. ### Took the day off against my will, and thankful for it URL: https://journal.jatan.space/take-that-day-off/ Last updated: 2025-06-18T18:36:12.000Z I’ve been quite productive this month, chief of which has entailed publishing a spree of long articles. Notably, all of these pieces have been on different topics, each concerning an unusually important development in its own niche within the space industry. Because of their very newsy nature, it wasn’t possible to not write about them. Such is the nature of journalism. And I wasn’t content with writing about them the way it was already covered either. And so I ended up with concerted back-to-back efforts in publishing my analysis and commentary on [NASA’s abysmal budget proposal](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-227/), India’s [PSLV rocket’s failure](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-28/), ispace Japan’s [crash landing](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-228/), and China’s [growing lead in lunar orbital infrastructure](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-229/). Today I woke up, freshened up, and began the work day like I would usually. But I just couldn’t get meaningful thoughts to exist, much less flow. Giving the brain more time and trying to catalyze the process with good reads or music did not work either. Every end was dead. Clearly, the streak of articles had taken their toll at last. One of the few perks I do get as an [independent writer](https://jatan.space/about) is to be my own boss. I don’t use that privilege loosely, and much prefer to set scheduled tasks for each day of the work week. But today my mind was just frozen. There weren’t any immediate self-imposed deadlines, and so after some initial reluctance, I decided to just let it be and called off the work day. I slept through the afternoon, then walked in the park, had a nice butter vada pav, did some physical and digital chores, and then read a bit on my Kindle over a big cup of chai (tea). One of those reads was about the fascinating problem of [character amnesia in China](https://globalchinapulse.net/character-amnesia-in-china/). Allow me to quote the very first para which will make you click with intrigue: > During a visit to Beijing many years ago, I was having lunch with three PhD students in the Chinese Department at Peking University, all of whom were native speakers of Chinese. I happened to have a cold that day and was trying to write a brief note to a friend to cancel an appointment that afternoon. I found that I could not recall how to write the Chinese characters for the word ‘sneeze’. I asked my three friends to write the characters for me and, to my surprise, all three simply shrugged in sheepish embarrassment. Not one of them could correctly produce the characters. I end the day writing this blog post, which has brought back my fluid thoughts. And now I can sleep in peace. And, maybe this post provided you some perspective for when you find yourself in a similar situation? ### Newsletter for friends #06: Time flies URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-06/ Last updated: 2025-09-24T08:13:32.000Z Hi friends, It’s again been over three months since I sent out the [previous newsletter for friends](https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-05/). And once again, a lot has happened in life. Here’s a small snapshot of some notable things you might like to browse. Click the links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. :) ## Loved reading - [Lyrical poems](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59849330-lyrical-poems) by Aurobindo > [Friendship is no longer seen as an integral part of daily life, but rather something we squeeze in when all our other responsibilities have been met.](https://www.happiness.hks.harvard.edu/february-2025-issue/the-friendship-recession-the-lost-art-of-connecting) - [People aren’t mean to talk this much](https://archive.ph/Bwzu0) - [Twitterlike is a bad shape](https://osteophage.neocities.org/essays/twitterlike) ## Writing - China selecting [international researchers to study Moon samples](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-223/), demonstrating [automated navigation at the Moon](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-222/), and [welcoming India](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-225/) to cooperate on Moon missions - On the [immense success of Firefly’s Moon lander](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-218/#firefly-deserves-an-unusual-kudos) but also the disappointing failures of landers from [Intuitive Machines](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-216/#tipped-intuitive-mooncraft-dies-with-none-of-the-net-130-million-worth-of-payloads-deployed) and [ispace Japan](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-228/) - On India’s joint ISRO-JAXA [Chandrayaan 5 / LUPEX mission](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-25/) and the [PSLV rocket’s failure](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-28/) - Trump’s [proposed budget cuts and changes to NASA’s Moon missions](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-227/) - [Why Moon missions need their own Wikipedia and beyond](https://gckh8z.fk79.fdske.com/e/c/01jx0014ze14pgh7nfvdcrxxhd/01jx0014ze14pgh7nfyyjc4qyp) ## Space, personally - Joined Open Lunar’s orbit as [their Science Communications Lead](https://jatan.space/joining-open-lunar-as-their-science-communications-lead/) - A [story about open knowledge sharing](https://moonmehta.jatan.space/posts/a-story-about-open-knowledge-sharing-in-space) in space - Welcomed [Catalyx Space](https://www.catalyx.space/), [The Orbital Index](https://orbitalindex.com/) and [PierSight Space](https://piersight.space/) as yearly sponsors of my space writing - I had fun moderating a [rather stellar panel](https://www.iafastro.org/events/global-series-conferences/global-conference-on-space-exploration-2025/programme/plenary-programme/friday-9-may/iaf-gnf-session-iloa-ilewg-galaxy-forum-international-newspace-to-the-moon.html) on global Moon exploration at the international GLEX conference. [Watch the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mWvT1o-hQ4). 🌙 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/06/glex-2025-global-lunar-exploration-panel.jpg) [Yours truly](https://jatan.space/about) speaking at GLEX 2025. ## Thoughts - [Utterly fascinated by dinosaurs—want to launch them to space](https://journal.jatan.space/fascinated-by-dinosaurs/) - Made a list of [good enough blogging platforms](https://journal.jatan.space/good-enough-blogging-platforms/) by price if you just want to write - [In which AI kills the human Web, or at least its spirit](https://journal.jatan.space/in-which-ai-kills-the-human-web-or-at-least-its-spirit/) ## Life and Pictures - [App subscriptions and Yoghurt](https://journal.jatan.space/app-subscriptions-and-yoghurt/) - [Visited the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort](https://personal.jatan.space/visited-the-taj-mahal-and-agra-fort) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/06/taj-mahal-across-yamuna-river-pre-sunset.jpeg) The Taj Mahal from the other side—across the Yamuna river from the “Moonlight garden” ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/06/qutub-minar.jpeg) Qutub Minar, Delhi ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/06/niece-tatsu-planetarium.jpeg) Took my niece to the planetarium. She went around saying “amazing” for every space thing that captivated her, especially during the sky theater show. 🌌 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/06/onion-pakoda-1.jpeg) Pleasures of a drizzly, windy day. Onion pakoda. --- I’m grateful for this space where I can embrace a [calmer digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) and connect with people directly instead of [drowning in the slurp](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent)—and now slop—of social media. Have you been up to something interesting lately? Want to share a good read? [Message me](https://jatan.space/connect). ### Plunge, hope, and rise—poetic perspectives URL: https://journal.jatan.space/plunge-hope-and-rise-poetic-perspectives/ Last updated: 2025-06-01T13:42:53.000Z I recently read [lyrical poems](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59849330-lyrical-poems?from%5Fsearch=true&from%5Fsrp=true&qid=MioaSyD7br&rank=1) by [Aurobindo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri%5FAurobindo), an Indian freedom fighter, philosopher, and writer. Some of his verses capture deep views on life, and you can almost live through the emotional cycle of progress. ## The fall > But suddenly there soared a dateless cry, > Deep as Night, imperishable as Time; > It seemed Death’s dire appeal to Eternity, > Earth’s outcry to the limitless Sublime. *– The Life Heavens* --- ## Gathering hope > The day ends lost in a stretch of even, > A long road trod — and the little farther. > Now the waste-land, now the silence; > A blank dark wall, and behind it heaven. *– Journey’s End* --- ## The rise > Who art thou that camest > Bearing the occult Name, > Wings of regal darkness, > Eyes of an unborn flame? > > Like the august uprising > Of a forgotten sun > Out of the caverned midnight > Fire-trails of wonder run. > > Captured the heart renouncing > Tautness of passion-worn strings > Allows the wide-wayed sweetness > Of free supernal things. *– Who art thou that camest* --- I happened to pick up this book during my recent solo trip to Puducherry. It was well worth it. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/06/puducherry-rock-beach.jpg) From [Rock Beach](https://maps.app.goo.gl/jbBeBMZEi5BFNGhZ8), Puducherry ### Utterly fascinated by dinosaurs—want to launch them to space URL: https://journal.jatan.space/fascinated-by-dinosaurs/ Last updated: 2025-05-25T16:03:14.000Z Lately I’ve been watching [Prehistoric Planet](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10324164). I’ve always been fascinated by dinosaurs but the show’s visuals and explanations are so good that they help you get a sense of how the dinosaurs might have spent their day-to-day lives. And now I’m even more curious about them. The second episode of the second season is focused on dinosaurs in India, some 90 million years ago when [it was an isolated island](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LateCretaceousMap.jpg) not connected to the Asian mainland. Many lived in the harsh volcanic landscape of the Deccan plateau, with the top predator being an Indian T-rex rather aptly named [Rajasaur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajasaurus). \[Raja is Hindi for King\] ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/05/rajasaur-illustrated-prehistoric-planet.jpg) Image: Prehistoric Planet [Pterosaurs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterosaur) could fly, [T-rexes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus) could swim, and massive [Titanosaurs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanosauria) could walk across active volcanic lands. Think about it. Dinosaurs existed in and dominated so many different environments on Earth for almost 200 million years. That’s close to 100 times longer than we humans have dominated the planet. What’s not to like? Well, ultimately what killed them was a [giant rock from space](https://jatan.space/when-to-worry-about-an-asteroid-strike/). And that, my dear friends, is also why you need a space program. Not that evolution is necessarily convergent on conscious intelligence—as far as I know—but imagine if dinosaurs had evolved to have intelligence like us and could build rockets. Firstly, their rockets would be huge, considering the average size and weight of dinosaurs compared to humans. Dinosaurs might hit [the limit of chemical rockets](https://jatan.space/the-moon-as-a-rocket-platform/) faster than us purely because of that. Of course, what their rockets might look and be like would depend a lot on their socioeconomic structures but here’s some food for thought. The most powerful rocket in operation today, NASA’s [SLS](https://www.nasa.gov/reference/space-launch-system/), can lift a mass of nearly 95,000 kilograms to Earth orbit. You’d need that for the titanosaurs as each one weighed some 70,000 kilograms. Now, cramming their 37-meter long body in the 8.4-meter fairing of the SLS is another matter. As is fitting an environmental control and life support system on the rocket for the dinosaur. So maybe the larger dinosaurs were doomed regardless. ### In which AI kills the human Web, or at least its spirit URL: https://journal.jatan.space/in-which-ai-kills-the-human-web-or-at-least-its-spirit/ Last updated: 2025-05-14T14:14:09.000Z - Here’s a [depressing roundup](https://thelibre.news/foss-infrastructure-is-under-attack-by-ai-companies/) of how the bottomless greed of AI companies is utterly destroying the Web all of us grew up with. I’m furious. - There’s also irony in the fact that [open access publishing is under threat](https://www.citationneeded.news/free-and-open-access-in-the-age-of-generative-ai/) from people responding to AI by closing the very doors that keep things open. - Next up, from [AI in search is a trap](https://onemanandhisblog.com/2025/03/ai-take-a-guess/): > You can get an LLMs to write an article, but if you care about little things like facts and truth, as I hope anyone reading this does, then you’re going to spend as much time fact-checking as you might have done writing. Thus, your time savings are minimal, if any, for a worse product. In this depressing death of the human Web, there’s at least one silver lining: [Using AI to throttle AI](https://www.theverge.com/news/634345/cloudflare-ai-labyrinth-web-scraping-bots-training-data) ### App subscriptions and Yoghurt URL: https://journal.jatan.space/app-subscriptions-and-yoghurt/ Last updated: 2025-03-08T13:29:48.000Z I recently researched and replaced many paid web app subscriptions I had with free alternatives that either perform the same function or come close enough. Here’s the list of which service I replaced with what. 1. [Micro.one](https://micro.one) → [flipboard.social](https://flipboard.social) (for the [Fediverse](https://journal.jatan.space/welcome-to-the-fediverse/)) 2. [Inoreader Pro](https://inoreader.com) → [Inoreader Free](https://www.inoreader.com/pricing) (second [feed reader](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/)) 3. [Pika Pro](https://pika.page) → [Pika Pup](https://pika.page/#pricing) (for my third blog) 4. [EchoFeed Pro](https://echofeed.app) → [EchoFeed](https://echofeed.app), [MastoFeed](https://mastofeed.org), and [Social Champ](https://socialchamp.com) (to autoshare my blog posts on some social media) 5. Old blog on Ghost via [PikaPods](https://pikapods.com) → [DigitalPress](https://www.digitalpress.blog) (to maintain backwards compatibility for [my space blog](https://jatan.space/about)) 6. [Umami](https://umami.is) via PikaPods → [Umami Cloud](https://umami.is/pricing) (for blog stats) 7. [Linkding](https://linkding.link) via PikaPods → [Raindrop](https://raindrop.io) and [Anybox](https://anybox.app) (for bookmarking and PDFs) 8. [ArchiveBox](https://archivebox.io) via PikaPods → [Wayback browser extension](https://web.archive.org) (for webpage archiving) So how much money did I save by not continuing these subscriptions? **$20**, or nearly **₹1800** a month. That may not seem like a lot. But consider that for people like me who don’t live in the US or Europe and are affected by purchasing power parity, it’s not a small amount either. While the paid services above were all great, and Pika in particular is quite lovely, neither of them were essential for me. The alternatives I replaced them with do nearly the same work for all practical purposes, with only little manual intervention needed. More importantly, $20 is roughly what I spend every month on greek yoghurts as part of my meals. Yoghurt is essential, and it directly maintains my health. I’d rather spend my 20-odd dollars to get the best of that. Especially that sweet organic mango yoghurt now that the crazy summer is here. 🥭 ### Newsletter for friends #05: Too many things happened lately URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-05/ Last updated: 2025-02-22T17:15:01.000Z Hi friends, It’s been over three months since I sent out the [previous newsletter for friends](https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-04/). Usually I share every month’s key things as a linked list, which includes what I liked reading, professional space writing I published, some non-space thoughts I blogged about, and notable life events. The past three months have been too busy and too eventful, and it’s hard to give you a sense of it all without spewing out a robotically long post. And so instead this newsletter is a condensed list of things you might like to browse. Follow along the links you’re curious about—that’s what the Web is for. :) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/me-sanya-linchunling-forest-park.jpg) In December, I rode a high-speed train for 320 kilometers from Haikou to Sanya for this trek in the Linchunling Forest Park whose reward was a sweeping view of the city. I was back to my stay in Haikou on the same day! This experience took my preference for [trains over planes](https://journal.jatan.space/trains-over-planes/) to another level. ## Loved reading - [We owe each other](https://blog.avas.space/kindness/) - [Why blog if nobody reads it?](https://www.andyhawthorne.co.uk/why-blog-if-nobody-reads-it/) > [Like newspapers, blogs change from timely to a time capsule.](https://rubenerd.com/is-it-worth-saving/) - [o(m)g:image](https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2024/omgimg/) - [Disrupting my reading habits to read more of what \*I\* want](https://tracydurnell.com/2025/01/04/disrupting-my-reading-habits/) ## Writing - Published the [200th edition](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-200/) of my Moon Monday blog+newsletter! 🚀 - Created a huge, curated linked list of [the state of global lunar exploration in 2024](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-206/) 🌙 - Shared [my experience speaking in China](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-206/#my-experience-at-the-galaxy-forum-in-china) on Moon exploration and Indian space as an invitee - [How ISRO et al. laid the groundwork for a decade of Indian space ambitions in 2024](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-23/) 🇮🇳 - [How Chandrayaan 1, 2 and 3 leveraged their view from the Moon](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-22/) - [Celebrating two years and 7500+ readers](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-24/) of my monthly Indian Space Progress blog+newsletter - [What makes a Moon landing mission successful?](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-208/) - This article got republished on Jeff Foust’s revered publication [The Space Review](https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4933/1), and was [featured](https://medium.com/predict/what-makes-a-moon-landing-mission-successful-6ba3bee3fb35) by Medium’s Editorial. ✨ - [Critical scientific documents go missing from NASA community website](https://jatan.space/scientific-documents-go-missing-from-nasa-lunar-community-website/) - Sharing my approach to [avoid hot takes and speculative coverage](https://jatan.space/how-i-avoid-hot-takes-and-speculations/) - [How to follow CLPS Moon mission updates](https://jatan.space/how-to-follow-nasa-clps-updates/) - A [long march of lunar papers](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-211/) from China ## Space, personally - [Fun with Moon exploration headlines](https://jatan.space/fun-with-moon-exploration-headlines/) - [The story of my blogs](https://journal.jatan.space/the-story-of-my-blogs/) - [Places I’ve published Moon Monday editions from](https://journal.jatan.space/published-moon-monday-from/) 🌙 - [An unexpected Moon Monday story](https://journal.jatan.space/an-unexpected-moon-monday-story/) - I got a friend to publish a blog post [sharing insights previously missing](https://demuxdthoughts.substack.com/p/analyzing-effects-of-isros-nvs-02) from the public web. I’m going to elevate the space industry’s public knowledge one blog post at a time. 🤓 - I’m pleased to share that [ISRO’s webpage](https://www.isro.gov.in/UnionCabinetApprovesIndiasMission.html) on details and scientific context of the Chandrayaan 4 lunar sample return mission plus their Venus orbiter cites my blog as well as my work for The Planetary Society as references! ^\_^ ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/isro-chandrayaan-4-post-references-my-blog.jpg) Screenshot of [ISRO’s webpage](https://www.isro.gov.in/UnionCabinetApprovesIndiasMission.html) on the Chandrayaan 4 and Venus Orbiter missions. ## Thoughts - [The media and arbitrary ethics](https://journal.jatan.space/the-media-and-arbitrary-ethics/) - [Responding is better than replying](https://journal.jatan.space/responding-is-better-than-replying/) - If I was born and brought up in the time of modern social media, [would I even blog?](https://journal.jatan.space/would-you-blog/) - [Reinventing the wheel](https://journal.jatan.space/reinventing-the-wheel/) - [Realizations about actually avoiding social media](https://journal.jatan.space/realizations-about-actually-avoiding-social-media/) ## Life and Pictures - [I do (not) care](https://journal.jatan.space/i-do-care/) - I finally found a great place for my daily meals. They make such homely food. The sabzis, rotis, and their amazing daal suit my taste preferences and portion sizes. The place is clean. And it doesn’t break my wallet. The best part is it’s a two-minute walk from my place. My life has stabilized and upgraded due to this. 😋 - I had fun spending the end-of-year holidays with my parents visiting me in [Bangalore](https://journal.jatan.space/mumbai-to-bangalore/). Gave them a taste of the city and its food. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/IMG_1479.JPG) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/IMG_1476.JPG) Isn’t this picture lovely? - **China:** Honestly, every stranger person there I interacted with was very nice to me, and patient with translations. Can’t say the same for Luxembourg, where some would visibly judge or ignore me because I look different than them. Not so with people in Hainan. 微笑 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/hainan-high-speed-train.jpg) High-speed train in Hainan, China ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/sanya-linchunling-forest-park.jpg) Sanya and the seashore from the top of the Linchunling Forest Park I went on a solo trip to Puducherry. Their museum is fantastic. I saw locally excavated human artifacts about a million years old, things traded with the Roman empire 2,000 years ago, and ancient peri-mineralized tree trunks as well as over 200 rocks and minerals sourced from Puducherry and nearby areas. That’s one hell of a value for ₹10 ($0.12). ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/IMG_1701.JPG) The Puducherry museum rocks ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2025/02/puducherry-dusk-sky-moon-mars.jpg) Our Moon, and Mars. At dusk, Puducherry, India Shortly following this view was a dark windy seashore you could hear more than see. A crescent Moon, red Mars, bright Jupiter and Venus, and stellar Orion hung above. Moving wave crests were lightly lit by ambient light. What a lovely experience of breezy serenity. 🌊🌌 --- So that was my long overdue newsletter for friends. I’m grateful to have this space where I can embrace a [calmer digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) and connect with you directly instead of [drowning in the slurp](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent)—and now slop—of social media. I’d [love to hear](https://jatan.space/connect) what interesting things you’ve been up to. Don’t know what to say? [Reply](https://jatan.space/connect) with an interesting read! ### Realizations about actually avoiding social media URL: https://journal.jatan.space/realizations-about-actually-avoiding-social-media/ Last updated: 2025-03-09T17:21:23.000Z I’ve had or re-had a few realizations lately that have helped me greatly: 1. Crossposting to or across social media is counterproductive if doing so to avoid social media. Applies to [POSSE](https://indieweb.org/POSSE) too. 2. Having a domain for micro thoughts, day-to-day photos, comments, and random musings is a waste of time and effort. Not all links need to be permanent. 3. I’m better off avoiding all social media timelines even if I may have followed all the “good” people on not-evil, non-popular social networks. Mastodon, Bluesky, Micro.blog—it doesn’t matter, it’s all the same in the end. I want non-social-media versions of people so I can continue liking them. 4. I’m [not giving a single dollar](https://journal.jatan.space/app-subscriptions-and-yoghurt/) for social media related posting or consumption. 5. My posts not going viral on social media is great. It means I’m expressing organically and choosing reality. 6. Reading only one longform blog post that turns out to be of minimal value is better than reading a hundred random microthoughts. I’ve been trying to avoid living [an internet without intent](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent) by embracing a [simple but effective digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) since the last year. It’s been working wonders but there are moments every week where I fallback to bad habits. These realizations above might just be the final piece of the puzzle. ### An unexpected Moon Monday story URL: https://journal.jatan.space/an-unexpected-moon-monday-story/ Last updated: 2025-02-15T16:31:56.000Z Something unexpected happened recently. I had covered someone’s published research on my [Moon Monday](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday) blog+newsletter. I don’t know the person but they saw that and so reached out to ask if I would write a recommendation letter for their visa application abroad. After some thought and basic checks, I agreed and did so. I never thought I could help people with my work this way as well. Some might say: why would I do this without expecting anything back? Well, because I can. My goal with Moon Monday is to advance [lunar exploration globally](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-206/), and I think this does just that. ### Responding is better than replying URL: https://journal.jatan.space/responding-is-better-than-replying/ Last updated: 2025-01-23T14:20:13.000Z The other day I [posed a question](https://journal.jatan.space/would-you-blog/) on the Web that has (gladly) initiated a string of responses from people. And by that I do not mean comments on social media but entire blog posts. Before sharing a few thoughts on that and making it all meta (the good kind), here are links to all the responses (I know of) along with some quotes pulled out that I’d like to highlight. --- First up, my response to my own question..: [If I was born and brought up in the time of modern social media, would I even blog?](https://journal.jatan.space/would-you-blog/) --- Jamie Thingelstad’s [response](https://www.thingelstad.com/2025/01/12/if-i-was-born-and.html) included a good analogy of renting apartments versus owning your house to convey his point: > Having a blog is like having a single family home. Want to remodel? Okay. Want to play your stereo? Okay, within the noise ordinances. Want to change the way the living room is laid out? Fine, none of our business. This is why I have a blog. I want to have my own space, and do my own things, and not be under a landlord. That also means I have to mow my grass, tend to the rain gutters, and manage the upkeep. And just like houses some take more of that than others. Incidentally, I’ve offered a similar analogy in an earlier article on “[how to feel at home on the Internet](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/)”. --- Then there’s Manu with an [interesting take](https://manuelmoreale.com/bloggers-at-the-right-time): > The vast majority of people on social media won’t move to blogging because what they get out of social media is not the same thing you get out of blogging. I think it’s a false equivalence. > > Blogging is primarily a solitary, output-driven, activity. People have blogs because they want to share, they want to express their thoughts and feelings. Social media is instead driven by consumption. Sure, some people are power users and post 5000 times a day, but the vast majority of users are lurkers who just scroll their timelines, follow other people and their interactions are limited to likes and the occasional comment. I think this dovetails with what I’ve long considered to be two separate challenges: 1. Empower people to [own their reading experience](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/) on the Web 2. Enable them to [write and share independently](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/) People doing one may not need, or feel the need, for the other. --- [Hedy’s thoughts](https://hedy.bearblog.dev/would-i-still-blog-if-i-was-brought-up-with-todays-social-media/) resonated for me: > I would write down my thoughts in what my friends back then would call the "essay format" and post those big walls of text instead. Pictures and media alone didn't appeal to me as a medium for expressing my thoughts a lot of the times. As I expected, barely anyone cared, and posts with media got the most engagement. > > Naturally, I drifted away from posting to socials, using these platforms just for catching up with friends. I started to write elsewhere, and eventually turned to blogs. --- Lucio [said things](https://lucio.boxofcox.org/2025/01/13/i-am-right-here-guys/) I found funny—because it’s true for me too: > The reason why I do \[blog\] is, frankly, because I am a nerd with way too much free time on my hands who loves to put unnecessary amounts of effort into things I cannot put in my resume. Well, true for me except for the free time part. After becoming a working adult, I have no clue how seven years have passed. --- Matthew, a writer by choice, [responded in another direction](https://starbreaker.org/grimoire/entries/i-would-not-blog/index.html): > In a world where nothing really happens to you unless you’ve documented it for the entertainment of strangers, I would insist on an undocumented life. --- Ava [touched upon](https://blog.avas.space/would-i-blog/) why many write: > I also wrote very very long texts all day long to online friends in direct messages or chats. It wasn't that I had seen it and emulated it, or was surrounded by an online culture normalizing it \[…\]; it came from within me no matter what anyone else was doing. I used it as therapy, to get things off my chest, to get help and advice and sort my thoughts when help wasn't available in real life. So I think even if I was born later when the big socials already existed and favored short form content, I would still blog. As someone who also prefers to write to sort out and structure my thoughts, I could relate with her approach. --- Note again how these responses are entire blog posts and not micro comments or replies on my social media. You know what I love the most about them? Other than Manu, I didn’t know any of these people. And yet their responses are personal reflections. They have the momentum of thoughts gathered over days. It’s something you can never get with the transient nature of social media. While these responses may be scattered across the Web, they are also independent and interconnected thanks to the Web itself. It’s like conversing on email but in public. Thank you to each of you who wrote and shared your thoughts. ☺️ I love [talking in links](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk). This is the way. ### I do (not) care URL: https://journal.jatan.space/i-do-care/ Last updated: 2025-01-22T16:18:41.000Z I don’t care if you like or react to my posts on social media. I’ve hunted down and turned off all such notifications everywhere possible so I barely know you liked them anyway. ​I don’t care if you don’t read my blogs even though my writing is integral to my identity. ​I don’t care if you wish me on my birthday. I actually prefer you don’t. ​I don’t care if most people don’t call me to their weddings. ​It’s only good food that I’ve lost then. ​But I do care if you don’t respond to me by yourself. I do care when you don’t do what you said you would for things that involved me. Not just the big things but especially the day-to-day stuff. Make those traits a habit and then even if you appreciate me in public, I’d feel distant from you anyway. To me, how you treat me in daily life is what matters. ### If I was born and brought up in the time of modern social media, would I even blog? URL: https://journal.jatan.space/would-you-blog/ Last updated: 2026-03-07T11:11:33.000Z This was the question I asked on the Web yesterday, and people had [interesting responses](https://micro.blog/moonmehta/54791540). Imagine you were born and brought up in a time where Twitter and Instagram always existed. Would you still blog? Many said no, which I find to be an interesting conclusion especially for people who do blog right now and encourage others to but aren’t from this time period in question and so haven’t experienced the Internet the way younger people have. For my own response to the question, I found myself thinking about it more than I expected. It’s honestly difficult to really know, especially because [my space blog](https://jatan.space) is my profession right now, and [my personal blog](https://journal.jatan.space/)—which you’re reading—is integral to my identity. That said, here’s my response: > Even if I grew up with Twitter and Instagram as something that always existed, I might have still blogged when I needed to express something longform. Hopefully, LinkedIn wouldn’t have been the tool of choice for that. I think I would end up avoiding it for sure if I was writing about something non-space especially. But I also think that the form and extent to which I’d blog may have been less intense. I may not have had a domain name to begin with because I would’ve had an app-based upbringing rather than through the fundamentals of the browser. And maybe I would settle for one of those LinkTree websites—ugh—to present the [portfolio of media outlets](https://jatan.space/published) I’ve written for. > > I think a major reason why I still would’ve eventually started a newsletter is [Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter](https://www.theverge.com/c/23972308/twitter-x-death-tweets-history-elon-musk). The resulting scattering of people across platforms, having to rebuild all of those connections, and still losing out on readership anyway due to algorithmic changes would’ve burnt me and taught me the value of [owning the connection](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/) to my audience as a writer and journalist, which in actuality I learnt much before. And if not for X, Meta surely would screw up something similarly every few years to provoke a similar response. The entire world view of what the Web is to people can be tied to their digital upbringing, and so how do we even agree on common causes related to the wellbeing of the Web? --- **Edit:* Love it when my blog post leads to someone else* [*writing another in response*](https://www.thingelstad.com/2025/01/12/if-i-was-born-and.html)*. Many have! This is* [*the way*](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk)*. I’ve collated responses from people on “*[*Responding is better than replying*](https://journal.jatan.space/responding-is-better-than-replying/)*”.* *P.S. Jamie uses a good analogy of rented apartments versus owning a house to convey his point. Incidentally, I’ve offered a similar analogy in an earlier article on “*[*how to feel at home on the Internet*](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/)*”.* ### The story of my blogs URL: https://journal.jatan.space/the-story-of-my-blogs/ Last updated: 2024-12-30T10:34:39.000Z I’m the [latest guest](https://manuelmoreale.com/pb-jatan-mehta) on the “[People and Blogs](https://peopleandblogs.com)” series by [Manu](https://manuelmoreale.com/about). Hearing from people in this series has been a great way for me to meet some of their blogs over coffee. And now some of you web humans reading this might like the story of my blogs as well. Who knows some of you might get inspired to write something on the Web too. At least that’s the happiest outcome for me. Here goes. --- ## Let’s start from the basics: can you introduce yourself? Hello web reader from our beautiful Pale Blue Dot. I’m Jatan Mehta, an independent space exploration writer. Independent means I don’t write for other media outlets primarily and instead publish and sustain my professional writing on my own website at [jatan.space](https://jatan.space/about) as a blog+newsletter. Majorly I write about [lunar exploration](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday) because our Moon has [immense intrinsic value](https://jatan.space/why-explore-the-moon/), and is something we all share, see, and cherish in our skies, day or night. I currently live in Bangalore, a city I like for [many reasons](https://journal.jatan.space/mumbai-to-bangalore/) and not just because it’s the space hub of India. You must try the ‘filter coffee’ and soft idlis if you come here. And maybe join me for a game of badminton. If I wasn’t writing about space somehow, I’d still be writing because that’s who I am deep down. When I get the time, I share musings about the Internet, life, technology, writing, and more on my personal blog called [Journal J](https://journal.jatan.space/about/). As part of it, I digitally dispatch a [newsletter for friends](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/newsletter-for-friends/) as a calmer way to stay in touch against the slurp—and now slop—of social media. ## What’s the story behind your blogs? I started blogging in 2011, when I was 17\. I had a desire to share the excitement of physics and space with people beyond my Facebook connections. That’s when I came across Blogger and was utterly fascinated by the idea that anyone can have a website to publish articles on the Internet through! No coding, technical chops, or money required. And I loved [the power](https://jatan.space/i-write-for-you/) of [linked writing](https://kottke.org/24/11/the-powerful-density-of-hypertextual-writing). [Fast forward](https://jatan.space/my-science-writing-journey/) past my graduation and free blogging platform swaps along the way, I got my first job thanks to my blog. Subsequently I decided that I want to write about space full-time instead of pursuing space research. My blog is called “Jatan’s Space” for long now because it conveys the topic and its independence in a nutshell. I also always had an interest in no-code consumer technology. I loved exploring blogging platforms, reading services, operating systems, apps, and so on. I would sometimes [write about them too](https://journal.jatan.space/tag/tech/), and that’s how I’ve always had a second blog in some form that’s not about space. Over the years, I started writing on there about anything else I felt like sharing, morphing it into Journal J. ## What does your creative process look like when it comes to blogging? I don’t need inspiration per se because I’m almost always inspired to learn and write about space. Here’s approximately what I do every week: - Scan and read with judgement the more than 150 websites, blogs, newsletters, and other types of sources I’ve added to my [feed reader](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/), which I’ve meticulously organized using folders and [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com)’s search filters. I grab excerpts and take notes along the way. - Thoroughly read the most notable things from my feed reader and elsewhere on my Kindle (sent using [KTool](https://ktool.io/)). Take notes again. - Use [Kagi](https://kagi.com) not just for fact checking and research but also to search conversations within forums and social networks for when I need to gauge people’s reactions on a topic. - Collect all thoughts in one place and order them [using Workflowy](https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-organize-notes-for-writing-an-article/) - With that context, write and edit either on [Bear](https://journal.jatan.space/in-praise-of-bear/) or my blog’s editor - Publish to the World Wide Web For my personal blog, I write and publish when I feel like, and can. Often I refine and post something I’ve previously shared with friends or taken notes on. It’s an easy way to blog. Other times I write from scratch to better understand a topic, and so I research along the way. And rarely, I write to respond to someone else’s blog post. I don’t like microblogging, and don’t like to post too casually, because it tends to be so [terribly contextually deprived](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk). And so often I’ll wait until I have at least a few paras to publish. ## Do you have an ideal creative environment? Also do you believe the physical space influences your creativity? I think writing is an act of solitude. Anything that provides a queit space is good. I also need my laptop, and ideally will not write until I can rest it on something that’s not my lap. I cannot write on a phone. My thoughts feel handicapped there. I cannot write sanely in cafés and public spaces either. Having said that, I’ve written and published articles from airports, hospitals, and trains when needed—so long as I can hunt down that one spot. ## A question for the techie readers: can you run us through your tech stack? Both my blogs are running [Ghost](https://ghost.org), hosted on the wonderful and affordable [MagicPages](https://www.magicpages.co) service by [Jannis](https://www.jannis.io). I love how Ghost elegantly handles running both a blog and a newsletter as an integrated service. I view email subscriptions as a delivery option for my posts for those who don’t use or prefer RSS. And if you’re in any other field than blogging or related tech communities, practically everyone uses email and not RSS. Ghost will soon [offer the Fediverse](https://activitypub.ghost.org) as another post delivery option, and I’m eager to see how that might help independent writers like myself. I use the default [Source](https://ghost.org/themes/source/) theme, which I’ve personalized a bit to show nothing but a list of posts and a menu instead of wasting my time customizing site layouts and whatnot. A clean, legible reading experience doesn’t require a lot by definition. And it’s the words that matter at last. Which is also why I’m so grateful to have ditched the cruft that is WordPress and Gutenberg. Blogging platforms I’ve used over the years: Blogger → WordPress → Medium → WordPress → Substack → Ghost My domain [jatan.space](https://jatan.space) is from [BigRock](https://www.bigrock.in) because it’s cheap, easy to use, and has been extremely reliable for me for years. I use [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog) to auto-share my new blog posts to multiple social networks and platforms. And so, thanks to [Manton](https://www.manton.org/about/), I don’t need to waste time or efforts on social media while maintaining some presence for possible discovery by potential readers. ## Given your experience, if you were to start a blog today, would you do anything differently? I’ll quote what Jim Nielsen [said](https://manuelmoreale.com/pb-jim-nielsen) when he was your guest at People and Blogs: > The current state of my blog is a result of me experiencing the difficulties of where it was previously. \[…\] The best part of blogging is what you discover and learn experientially along the way. I wouldn’t want to rob myself of that. I would’ve loved to not have wasted years customizing virtually every aspect of my blogs and rethinking the various categorizations but it’s how I realized none of that matters. ## Financial question since the Web is obsessed with money: how much does it cost to run your blog? Is it just a cost, or does it generate some revenue? And what’s your position on people monetizing personal blogs? I’m going to say something potentially controversial here. Each blog’s hosting currently costs me $60/year on [MagicPages](https://magicpages.co/?aff=Dn0406AEn9ut) (referral link, if you’re inclined to go Ghost for cheap). And $10/month extra for sending emails to the large subscriber base of my space blog. My domain costs me $25/year. All the other tools I mentioned previously cumulatively cost me in the range of $20/month. If people are not able to (fairly) monetize their freely readable blogs, then especially those like my space one crafted out of both passion & profession simply cannot exist. My space blog is community-supported through [organization sponsors](https://jatan.space/about/#sponsors-and-supporters) and [individual readers](https://jatan.space/support/), which I accept with no ads and under a strict, public [Editorial Independence Policy](https://jatan.space/ethics/). I think blogs are a powerful, resilient way to do independent journalism, which we direly need more of in today’s world. Denying their monetization means denying such possibilities. Sure, you could argue I wasn’t talking about a purely “personal blog” there. But if blogs reflect your identity or parts of it, and space is an integral part of mine, is that not personal enough? In any case, even when people say they don’t monetize their non-professional blogs and appreciate others not doing it, the earnings to cover its costs are still being offloaded somewhere. It could be their day jobs, family wealth, savings or stocks, technical chops, or whatever else. So I consider those claiming and evangelizing an ethical position against fair monetization of blogs to hold a privileged position. ## Time for some recommendations: any blog you think is worth checking out? And also, who do you think I should be interviewing next? - [Root Privileges](https://www.rootprivileges.net), where Mukunth surfaces the intersection of science, science communications, journalism, and civic duty in a blunt manner—and that’s how we need it. - [Annie Mueller](https://anniemueller.com), who writes poignantly about parts of our emotional being. - [Derek Kedziora](https://derekkedziora.com), because he thinks differently. ## Final question: is there anything you want to share with us? Thank you, [Manu](https://manuelmoreale.com/about), for creating and running [People and Blogs](https://peopleandblogs.com). I think it’s a great way to meet blogs over coffee and discover their people. Thank you also for having me here. I sincerely appreciate this, and my connection to you. Despite blogging being so integral to my life, I’ve often felt alienated by people in “blogging communities” because of my choice to use certain tools or services they varyingly keep disapproving of for ideological reasons. Never mind that I chose what I did because I needed something less technical that just works and that I have modest budgets, constrained further by purchasing power parity. The reason I call this out is to request one thing of all the people who want more people to blog: > Don’t associate people with their tools and platforms unless they own it. Be more inquisitive and empathetic about where people are coming from. Rant less, help more. Most of all, encourage people not to start a blog but to write longform with links. Having a blog is an outcome, not a goal. ### Reinventing the wheel URL: https://journal.jatan.space/reinventing-the-wheel/ Last updated: 2024-12-27T07:25:46.000Z **Instagram (I)**: Stories are not posts. They disappear after 24 hours. **People (P)**: What if I want to retain them? **I:** Now you can archive stories **P:** I don’t like some people **I:** Okay, you can mute their stories too **P:** I want to organize stories **I:** Now you can add them to collections **P:** I want to share links **I:** We now have link stickers Stories are now posts. Blog posts always did all of these things, folks. 🤷🏻‍♂️ ### The media and arbitrary ethics URL: https://journal.jatan.space/the-media-and-arbitrary-ethics/ Last updated: 2024-12-22T12:46:04.000Z Someone from a legacy Indian media outlet called me recently to ask me to write an article on Indian space within five days, and for free. They expected me to agree to commit to it then and there itself. I said I’d have considered contributing but the timeline is too short and I have other things to do so I’ll pass. They insisted again, as if it’s a demand for some reason. I said okay, this short timeline could work if you republish one of my articles from my blog. They vehemently said no, calling it to be an ethical issue. Wait, what?! Of all the shady or questionable practices that media outlets follow, including ingesting notorious amounts of ads, intentionally not providing or stripping off attribution links for information sources, not naming the research paper being covered, and normalizing delayed payments, republishing an article is where they draw an arbitrary line in the name of ethics? In any case, how on Earth is republishing an article with a linkback to the original with the author’s permission an ethical issue? Outlets republish stories often, and my articles have been republished with credit by [The Space Review](https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4756/1), [The Planetary Society](https://www.planetary.org/articles/0417-space-grade-electronics), [The Wire Science](https://science.thewire.in/aerospace/mangalyaan-farewell-science-results/), and more. So why do some outlets like the one that called me have an issue with it especially when they’re the ones expecting writers to do the work for them and on their time demands? I suspect that it’s because many media outlets operate so opaquely like this on multiple fronts, and legacy publications think they’re above all, that people have lost trust in the media and are instead more than happy to trust social media influencers [whom they can see](https://onemanandhisblog.com/2024/11/listening-is-greater-than-talking-in-journalism/). ### Social media, where a teaser post about your article gets a better response than your actual article URL: https://journal.jatan.space/social-media-teaser-post-vs-actual-article-response/ Last updated: 2024-11-27T08:04:00.000Z I’ve seen this recurring theme on Twitter, LinkedIn, and virtually every microblogging social platform I’ve used. Teasing something exciting you’re working on gets better visibility than when you share that work itself. Here’s an example from the Twitter of yore—which people forget wasn’t all that great either: ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/11/twitter-teaser-post-and-article-comparison.jpg) And here’s LinkedIn recently: ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/11/linkedin-people-post-bias.jpg) Then there’s peak reddit. Here’s an [example of a commenter](https://www.reddit.com/r/nasa/comments/1cmcrmt/is%5Fchina%5Flanding%5Fits%5Fchange%5F6%5Fmoon%5Fmission%5Fin%5Fthe/) who, without reading the original article—natch—dismisses the post’s title with a response that links to my own blog.. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/11/reddit-commentors.jpg) I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Social network algorithms are designed to [bury posts with links](https://tedium.co/2024/07/23/linkedin-complex-linking-schemes/) because they want to limit engagement to their own websites. And, people are lazy to click on links even when they do see them because it’s [easier to doom scroll](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/) an infinite feed instead. Both of these things encourage and reward short performative posts rather than longer, more thoughtful work. Social media platforms as they’re designed today [don’t reward depth](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk/). Furthermore, X’ed Twitter suppresses visibility of your posts if you don’t pay for blue checkmarks of vanity while LinkedIn’s Newsletter product for creators is [a spam and a scam](https://journal.jatan.space/linkedin-newsletters-are-spam-and-a-scam/). Oh, and recently LinkedIn [rejected](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/themoonmehta%5Fdear-linkedin-just-because-i-have-my-own-activity-7257352862253404161-z6Mm/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop) my application to their program for journalists. On the other hand, people reading articles via email or their [RSS readers](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss) tend to better absorb longform writing. If they can’t read something interesting in their inbox right away, they tend to get back to it when they have better bandwidth. I’m glad that with [my space blog](https://jatan.space/about) in particular, I’ve invested in readers who use one of these two methods to keep up with my writing rather than me hopelessly hoping that my social media followers will randomly see and click on my links in their feeds in the order of hundreds to thousands for each new piece. --- **Also see:** [*What will make me take LinkedIn seriously*](https://journal.jatan.space/when-to-take-linkedin-seriously/) ### Newsletter for friends #04: Things and thoughts from October URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-04/ Last updated: 2024-11-01T13:45:10.000Z Hello friends, Continuing to embrace a [calmer digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) instead of drowning in the slurp—and now slop—of social media, I’m sharing with you via this web letter some notable things I’ve been up to or enjoyed in October. ## Reading - [How to comment on social media](https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-how-to-comment-on-social-media/) - [Technology is the problem](https://www.shyamsankar.com/p/technology-is-the-problem) - [What would it take to make decentralized social media “click”?](https://www.techdirt.com/2024/10/29/some-slightly-biased-thoughts-on-the-state-of-decentralized-social-media/) > [Democratize not just publishing, but also the governance of the technology that enables it](https://john.onolan.org/democratising-publishing/). > [The software interoperates; so should we](https://werd.io/2024/the-two-fediverses). - [A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for school shootings and measles](https://www.theverge.com/24282022/kamala-harris-endorsement-presidential-election-2024) - [Jeff Bezos’ View from Nowhere](https://www.platformer.news/jeff-bezos-washington-post-endorsement-view-from-nowhere/) ## Writing - [Not the fault in our stars but certainly stressful faults on our Moon](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-199/) - My longest article ever: [How ISRO will study Venus alongside NASA and ESA](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-20/) > [NASA’s road to the Moon inches through Starship](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-197/) - [Suit up to walk under Moonlight](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-198/) - [Confusion about lunar water](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-196/) ## Space, personally - [I write for you, not social media or SEO](https://jatan.space/i-write-for-you/) - Podcast appearance: [Discussing India’s lunar exploration heading with Carnegie India](https://jatan.space/podcast-discussing-indian-lunar-exploration-with-carnegie/) - [LinkedIn rejected my application to their program for journalists](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/themoonmehta%5Fdear-linkedin-just-because-i-have-my-own-activity-7257352862253404161-z6Mm/?utm%5Fsource=share&utm%5Fmedium=member%5Fdesktop).. ## Thoughts - [Trains over planes](https://journal.jatan.space/trains-over-planes/) - [On the gap between voter turnouts in the US and Indian elections](https://journal.jatan.space/us-india-national-elections-voter-turnout-gap/) - [Follow my blogs on social media that doesn’t suck!](https://journal.jatan.space/social/) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/11/purple-grey-sofa.jpg) A sofa that’s dark purple when light reflects from several angles but looks gray from a few others. More importantly, it’s my new reading companion. ^\_^ --- I’d [love to hear](https://jatan.space/connect) what you’ve been up to. Don’t know what to say? Reply with an interesting link! Let’s not live [an internet without intent](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent). ### On the gap between voter turnouts in the US and Indian elections URL: https://journal.jatan.space/us-india-national-elections-voter-turnout-gap/ Last updated: 2025-08-17T04:41:19.000Z 2024 is a national election year for both the US and India. Some web searching led me to check past voter turnouts in both countries, and I was quite surprised with the numbers: **The US** ([Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter%5Fturnout%5Fin%5FUnited%5FStates%5Fpresidential%5Felections#Turnout%5Fstatistics)) - 2004: 60.1% - 2008: 62.5% - 2012: 58% - 2016: 59.2% - 2020: 66.9% **India** - 2004: [58.07%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004%5FIndian%5Fgeneral%5Felection) - 2009: [58.21%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009%5FIndian%5Fgeneral%5Felection) - 2014: [66.44%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%5FIndian%5Fgeneral%5Felection) - 2019: [67.40%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%5FIndian%5Fgeneral%5Felection) - 2024: [66.61%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%5FIndian%5Fgeneral%5Felection) The differences may not seem significant but when you normalize them in some fundamental ways, it makes the case for a larger discrepancy: 1. During these two decades, the eligible voting population in India has been roughly four times more than that of the US due to the absolute population difference. And yet the former’s recent turnout percentages have been higher. 2. Depending on their state, US citizens can put in their vote via post. It seems they can even potentially mail their vote if they’re abroad at the time of elections. Indian voters surprisingly don’t have any such flexibility, sans a few exceptions for accessibility like those granted to voters above the age of 80\. For the 2024 national elections here in India, I had to travel from Bangalore to my birthplace Mumbai to be able to vote. 3. While the numbers vary depending on how it’s measured, the adult literacy rates in the US seem to be [at least 10%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%5Fof%5Fcountries%5Fby%5Fliteracy%5Frate#List%5Fof%5FUN%5Fmember%5Fand%5Fobserver%5Fstates%5Fby%5Fadult%5Fliteracy%5Frate), higher than India. When considering all of these things, it’s perplexing how a developed country like the US, almost 250 years from its independence, has lower voter turnouts than the squarely developing India free for only about \~75 years. Is it that the US being a developed country means many basic needs are tended to by default and so many voters don’t really care much about whom they should vote for? I reached out to some friends in the US to help me understand some nuances regarding this situation. Here are pointers to that end. - A [poll from November 2020](https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/medill-npr-nonvoters-2020) shows that non-voters in the 2020 US election tended to have a disinterest in its outcomes more than any other factor for not voting, thinking that its politics don’t matter to their daily lives. - Voting via post is not as straightforward as I thought. A friend said: > You can only vote in the state where you're registered (and registering requires that you live there). Voting procedures vary by state, even down to the county/city level. A few states do all-mail voting. Some allow mail voting but you have to sign up. And others only allow mail-in voting if you have an excuse for why you can't go in person. Here's an [explainer from the 2020 election](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/11/us/politics/vote-by-mail-us-states.html). - Multiple people pointed out that Republican controlled legislatures try to make it harder to vote because “it disenfranchises people of color and folks who would be more likely to vote Democrat.” A friend added that in Georgia, [it’s illegal](https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/26/politics/georgia-voting-law-food-drink-ban-trnd/index.html) to give someone a bottle of water while they're standing in line. One follow up on this whole point would be to check if Democrat controlled legislatures have a consistently higher voter turnout. - As an interesting tangent, a friend in Europe pointed out that voting is mandatory in Australia. > As with everything, there are arguments for and against mandatory voting. Nevertheless, I think it instills an inherent duty that everyone needs to at least pay some attention to their civics. ### Trains over planes URL: https://journal.jatan.space/trains-over-planes/ Last updated: 2026-03-26T15:47:49.000Z I love trains. Why you ask? - I get to spend hours reading without much interruption from humans. - ⁠Eating and relaxing is more comfortable in spacious AC train coaches than being cramped in plane seats. - ⁠With trains you essentially just get in and get out. There’s no fuss of guards, check-ins, microscopic security, gates, relay buses, and luggage pickup. - And with [Bangalore](https://journal.jatan.space/mumbai-to-bangalore/) in particular, the airport somehow being more than a city’s length outside the city, the air transit hassles and time only add up. - It saves money too, and reduces carbon emissions. With increasing rail speeds in India now, however gradually, the odds increasingly seem to favor of this perspective. And so whenever a destination presents an opportunity to chill-read on rail, I grab it. A day before taking an intercity train, I send many longform reads and articles to my Kindle and immerse myself in perusing them without the distraction of a regular day. It’s like a daylong trip with the self. Only if you want it to be. ### Newsletter for friends #03: Stuff from August & September URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-03/ Last updated: 2024-10-05T12:49:13.000Z Hello friends, Here’s another web letter of notable things I’ve been up to or enjoyed recently. A lot has happened over the last two months, and below are slices from both the spacey and non-spacey parts of my life. ### Reading - [Why research paper DOIs don’t work sometimes](https://arstechnica.com/science/2009/09/dois-and-their-discontents/) - [One paragraph a day](https://coleb.blog/posts/just-one-good-paragraph) - “[Every email that lands in my inbox is like a little mini Turing test](https://adactio.com/journal/21241)” - [China’s Great Wall of Villages](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/10/world/asia/china-border-villages.html) - [Voter apathy in the US](https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/medill-npr-nonvoters-2020) - “[I don’t want to bastardize the art of storytelling to mask sales copy as stories, narratives, and articles.](https://archive.is/20240507140851/https://medium.com/the-pub/why-im-returning-to-old-school-blogging-2e78453d79c4)” ### Writing deep dives on Chandrayaan - [On the importance of the Chandrayaan 3 rover and its contribution to learning about our Moon’s origin](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-190/) - [Chandrayaan 4, India’s plan to bring samples from the Moon](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-194/) - [On (not) celebrating Chandrayaan 3’s Moon landing, or that of Apollo](https://jatan.space/on-celebrating-moon-landings/) ### More space writing - When your writing is so niche that your entire article is [about a cave on the Moon](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-187/) - [First look at samples from the Moon’s farside brought by China](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-194/#prepping-lunar-farside-samples-for-scientific-studies) - [How China repurposes Moon missions to enable deep space exploration](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-193/) - Continued covering NASA’s VIPER rover cancellation: [Moon Monday #188](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-188/) and [#192](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-192/) - The next Moon missions by Intuitive Machines: [Mission 2 and 3](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-189/), and [Mission 4](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-191/) - [Europe’s new test facility brings the Moon vibes on Earth](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-195/) - [On India’s newest rocket](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-19/) ### More videos based on Moon Monday! - [India’s increasingly complex upcoming Chandrayaan Moon missions](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv0YTtEcKVU) - [The next Moon landing missions by Intuitive Machines for NASA CLPS](https://jatan.space/the-next-moon-missions-by-intuitive-machines-for-nasa/) ### Space, personally - I’m conducting a study on Indo-US lunar exploration [as an Adjunct Scholar](https://takshashila.org.in/team) at the Takshashila Institution. Our aim is to identify specific collaborative avenues that will elevate lunar science & technology capabilities of both countries in line with their independent goals. 🇮🇳🌗🇺🇸 - Sometimes when people ask me which company I represent, and don’t understand that I’m an [independent writer](https://jatan.space/about), I’m tempted to say that I’m a bootstrapped one-person startup that’s revenue positive from day one. ### Thoughts - [LinkedIn Newsletters are spam and a scam](https://journal.jatan.space/linkedin-newsletters-are-spam-and-a-scam/) - Screw shortform. Live longform. Go [slowcial media](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/). - If you’re too obsessed with context, you’ll end up wanting to become a cosmologist. - All I’m asking for is a bluetooth watch with an e-ink display for excellent sunlight legibility and long battery life, a flat-strip just thick enough to house a USB-C port, solar cells or little dynamos on its band, call notifications, and basic fitness tracking. Instead of whatever bulky power hungry non sense these modern smart watches are. ⌚︎ ### Life - Moved houses [within Bangalore](https://journal.jatan.space/mumbai-to-bangalore/) and dealt with some personal things - [A focused phone experience with Archaic Intelligence](https://journal.jatan.space/a-focused-phone-experience/) - My medu wada guy in Mumbai remembered my chutney-sambhar preference and simply handed over a plate to me after a quick head confirmation despite seeing me after four months. This is what local niceties look like. ^\_^ - A daylong train ride is a one-day vacation with the self if you want it to be. Immerse yourself in reading something new, and it might as well be a trip. ### Pictures ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/fly-every-way-you-can.jpg) Fly every way you can. Mahim Bay, Mumbai, with the Worli sea link in the background. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/btm-lake-ripple-reflection-birds.jpg) Ripples, reflections, a glide and a slide at BTM lake, Bangalore. --- I’d [love to hear](https://jatan.space/connect) what you’ve been up to. Don’t know what to say? Reply with an interesting link! Let’s not live [an internet without intent](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent). ### Rules to effectively use social media URL: https://journal.jatan.space/rules-to-effectively-use-social-media/ Last updated: 2025-02-04T09:50:01.000Z - Be outraged about everything - Be woke across all of time - Never bring nuance - Signal disapproval, or you might just cause an existential crisis for many - Get called out for not flicking your fingers in ways prescribed by stranger collectives - Torch your long-built reputation in no time - Assume others aren’t as human if they start from a different place - Do it all in 300 to 3,000 characters --- *An addendum to Rebecca Solnit’s* [*How to Comment on Social Media*](https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-how-to-comment-on-social-media)*.* ### LinkedIn Newsletters are spam and a scam URL: https://journal.jatan.space/linkedin-newsletters-are-spam-and-a-scam/ Last updated: 2024-09-04T13:20:59.000Z Many people have been suggesting me to start a “LinkedIn Newsletter” for [my space articles](https://jatan.space) specifically because it will tap into my existing connections and their networks on the platform. After much reluctance against joining [yet another siloed service](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/), I thought perhaps it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot. You know, I’d at least get some more email subscribers in the worst case. And so I created one. As it turns out, LinkedIn Newsletters are terrible through and through. ## The spam First off, as soon as I made my first LinkedIn Newsletter post, LinkedIn automatically sent out an “invitation” to all my connections and followers to subscribe—*without telling me* it will do so in the way it did: with notifications that look like I specifically personally invited that person. Which I did not! This is especially bad for people who are already subscribed to my space blog since this must’ve felt like spam. If that was you, I’m sorry but I had zero control over if, when, and how I could send that entitled “invite”. ## The scam LinkedIn Newsletters do not meet the fundamental definition of a newsletter. You can’t export your subscriber emails to, say, import them to another platform if and when you want to move away your newsletter from LinkedIn for whatever reason. The whole point of having mailing lists for your work is that it’s a direct connection between you and your readers. It’s [portable and platform-agnostic](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/). But LinkedIn *Newsletters* are a scam because they aren’t even newsletters. To drive this point home, if you share your newsletter’s link outside of LinkedIn like a normal person, people cannot even subscribe to it via their email. They must log into or create a LinkedIn account. What posting an article on your LinkedIn “Newsletter” thus really amount to is nothing more than a push notification for a new social media post. This trait of LinkedIn keeping you off your own email list—people who chose to connect with you—is just as bad as [Instagram not allowing links](https://journal.jatan.space/never-link-to-instagram/) in post descriptions. Links! The fundamental enabler of the Web! Email! The building block of a newsletter! > **P.S.** Yes, I know about paid tools that scrape LinkedIn to get you some of your subscriber emails. But they are shady, and can be a hit and a miss. More importantly though, you shouldn’t need to go through such hoops just to have something that should be standard. ## The thankless Just to reinforce the idea that LinkedIn Newsletters are intentionally built to be nothing but a lock-in feature, the description field of your “newsletter” can't even link to anywhere on the Web, such as your website for example. Thankless corporates, I tell you. If you thought things couldn’t get worse further still, guess what? As far as I can tell, there’s no way to export your LinkedIn Newsletter articles and posts in any standard format of a blog or newsletter. Your posts too are stuck on LinkedIn, unless you fancy manually copy-pasting every article’s text and images onto another blog or newsletter. --- If you enjoyed this rant, these posts might enthuse you too: - [What will it take for me to take LinkedIn seriously](https://journal.jatan.space/when-to-take-linkedin-seriously/) - [How LinkedIn treats us like monkeys](https://tedium.co/2024/07/23/linkedin-complex-linking-schemes/) - [How to have sustainable conferences](https://journal.jatan.space/how-to-have-sustainable-conferences/) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/09/linkedin-burden.jpg) [Image: TheDigitalArtist / Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/linkedin-business-network-3406064/) ### A focused phone experience with Archaic Intelligence URL: https://journal.jatan.space/a-focused-phone-experience/ Last updated: 2024-08-14T16:11:35.000Z I’m sharing with you the simple process I used to customize my phone such that in terms of incentives, it’s now easier to do [the things that are good for me](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) versus the things that are better off accessed with some friction. For any kind of serious work, or even to simply browse the Web, I always prefer my laptop because it’s a superior experience. For curated longform reading, I prefer my Kindle because e-ink displays are amazing. But the phone is the one device that’s always with me. And for good reason. It’s a remarkable slab of technology that can do so many things when time or space is the key constraint. But it’s also the machine engineered to [exploit my human vulnerabilities](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent) and trick me into doing a thousand things I don’t need. A modern “smartphone” is a stress-inducing machine that wants to grab my attention all the time. The obvious first move against it is to have a few apps on my phone to begin with—remove everything that only seems like it might be important. Most services have perfectly functional websites. Installing apps for nearly every use case instead would mean I’m giving them increasing opportunities to indulge me. The second aspect of this is to have almost no app pinned on my home screen. Not even the ones I may use frequently. Next up, I just flat out deny push notification asks from all apps sans communication aspects of critical work and social apps. Even then, sounds, vibrations, and banner pings are all off. The screen turning on when notifications arrive is off too. Notifications simply silently appear and sit on my phone’s locked screen for me to manually check when I do. In fact, email notifications are off as well because a phone isn’t efficient for work-related responses; and emails aren’t generally time-sensitive. Besides, I’m on my laptop most of the time when working, where email notifications are on. Lastly, as Harrison Broadbent [suggested](https://dumbph.com/turn-iphone-into-dumb-phone/), I’ve enabled Greyscale mode, which makes everything on the phone look less appealing. On iOS, you can do so from `Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text size > Color Filters > Greyscale`. I left in a tinge of color using the saturation bar so I can still differentiate UI elements based on color. Since this mode can nevertheless be inapt in several cases, like when snapping or viewing photos, I’ve mapped it to the phone’s power button such that triple-clicking it toggles between the greyscale and color modes. This function lies at `Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut > Color Filters`. So far, all of these controls center around my phone not doing something it shouldn’t. But what about it actually enabling and enhancing things I do want? Now that I have a blank slate, I could place things per my priorities. That brings us to my phone’s minimal but functional home screen and lock screen: ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/08/minimal-phone.jpg) Yes, it shows the active Moon phase as a nicety. 🌝 Every element in there specifically invokes actions I desire long-term. ### Home screen - Search & browse the Web - Read ([via RSS](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss) instead of social media or news apps) - Call humans - Message (with the aforementioned silent notifications) ### Lock screen - Take notes ([using Bear](https://journal.jatan.space/in-praise-of-bear/)) - Search notes - Pay via UPI (India’s convenient digital payments system for daily life) Everything else is either accessible enough via search or with a few swipes and taps. If this means some actions get buried deep under, that’s good. And that’s how I like my focused phone experience. I call this re-stacking of incentives Archaic Intelligence. I’d love to hear how you’ve gone about manually tailoring your phone to primarily do what *you* want out of it. ### Newsletter for friends #02: Stuff from mostly July URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-02/ Last updated: 2024-10-06T17:59:10.000Z Hello friends, Thank you for your great response to my [first newsletter for friends](https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-01/)! Continuing to embrace a [calmer digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) against the slurp of social media, I’m sharing with you another web letter of notable things I’ve been up to or enjoyed circa July. ### Reading - [The moving monument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi-Topra%5Fpillar) - [How LinkedIn treats us like monkeys](https://tedium.co/2024/07/23/linkedin-complex-linking-schemes/) - [Studying space samples in India](https://theprint.in/ground-reports/ahmedabad-moon-lab-is-waiting-for-chandrayaan-4-samples-it-has-already-studied-apollo-rocks/2170769/) - [(Not) seeing like a data structure](https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/seeing-data-structure) - [Casual racism](https://microblog.pratikmhatre.com/2024/07/08/casual-racism.html) - [You’re allowed to be interested in particle physics](https://rootprivileges.net/2024/07/02/youre-allowed-to-be-interested-in-particle-physics/) - [Accessibility features are just features](https://blog.elementary.io/accessibility-features-are-just-features/) ### Writing - [How ISRO will go from Chandrayaan 3 to an Indian to the Moon](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-183/) - Published editions [#181](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-181/), [#182](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-182/), [#183](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-183/), [#184](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-184/) and [#185](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-185/) of my Moon Monday blog+newsletter, covering lunar exploration updates from China, India, Japan, the US, South Korea, and Canada! - I didn’t like writing this article but I had to: [Diving deeper into NASA’s CLPS conundrum that led to VIPER’s cancelation](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-186/) - Published [Indian Space Progress #18](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-18/), covering ISRO’s space budget and efforts to amp up its rockets - [Moon Monday but in video!](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-184/#moon-monday-but-in-video) ### Space, personally - [I’m an Open Lunar Affiliate!](https://jatan.space/open-lunar-affiliate/) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/moon-like-view-from-atacama-desert-chile-by-alexandre.jpg) Lovely gift from a [new friend and reader](https://alexandre-arminjon.com/). A view from the Atacama desert in Chile that looks like it’s from the Moon. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/me-after-a-conference.gif) Me after a conference. ### Snark.. - [How to have sustainable conferences](https://journal.jatan.space/how-to-have-sustainable-conferences/) - [What will make me take LinkedIn seriously](https://journal.jatan.space/when-to-take-linkedin-seriously/) - It’s [important to be on social media](https://journal.jatan.space/rules-to-effectively-use-social-media/) because it’s useful to know what mediocrity and human gullibility is like ### Notable microthoughts - WhatsApp is a better social network than Meta’s supposed social networks. Unlike on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads, your contacts actually see your WhatsApp posts instead of sponsored, suggested, or algorithmic content. There are minimal ads, and you get direct replies! Most importantly, muting works. - Writing headlines in the style of “Friends” is [fun](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-183/) - My life’s mission: Write words that matter, and age well ### Pictures ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/glen-s-bakehouse-mocha.jpg) Mochas have been my preferred companion during Kindle reading sessions on weekends. I much prefer getting coffee from indie cafés or small brands instead of the Starbucks of the world, and Glen’s Bakehouse near me is one of the best. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/smash-your-worries-away.jpg) Smash your worries away. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/feroz-shah-kotla-delhi-topra-ashoka-pillar.jpg) Visited the moving monument that is the [Topra Ashoka pillar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi-Topra%5Fpillar). > A 42-wheeled cart was used to transport it to the river bank, where it was loaded onto a large boat. The cart required 8,400 men to move it, 200 to each wheel. \[[Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi-Topra%5Fpillar#Transportation%5Ftechniques)\] ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/moon-man-restaurant-chennai.jpg) An eerily specific restaurant in Besant Nagar, Chennai for eerily specific humans. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/moon-man-restaurant-chennai-2.jpg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/me-isc-2024-gslv-mk-iii-model.jpg) Next to the rocket I’ve seen take to the skies twice. Model for representation purposes only. Actual rocket sizes may vary. I’d [love to hear](https://jatan.space/connect) what you’ve been up to. Don’t know what to say? Reply with an interesting link! Let’s not live [an internet without intent](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent). ### How to have sustainable conferences URL: https://journal.jatan.space/how-to-have-sustainable-conferences/ Last updated: 2024-07-23T09:45:36.000Z - Complain about disposable cutlery and water bottles - Fly Business class in domestic flights - Spend the whole day at the conference venue but sleep only at 5-star hotels - Do not have virtual participation, and then give out grants to 1% of attendees - Give talks so public-safe they could’ve been a PR press release instead - Gift chunks of metal & glass to speakers as thanks for trading carbon for vanity - Use the words “sustainable” and “environment” for virtue signaling and driving soft power - Read and promote LinkedIn Chinese whispers about the conference - Do it all every quarter ### A Mocha to remember URL: https://journal.jatan.space/a-mocha-to-remember/ Last updated: 2024-11-08T12:07:12.000Z Today’s achievement includes self delivering a non-takeaway café mocha on bike on Indian roads without a single spill. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/11/unspilled-mocha-2.jpg) The backstory for this is interesting. The café served my dine-in order late but which I decided to have there anyway. Halfway through the mocha, I realized it’s not a mocha at all but just slightly sweetened coffee. So I told them, and they offered to replace it with the real deal. But by this time I was full enough to not want to have a whole new beverage there so I asked them to parcel it. The guy said they can’t do it for beverages except regular takeaway cups. I said I’ll take it. I had gone there from a badminton game so had the standard badminton bag with me. I emptied its sleeve area, and tucked the takeaway mocha cup in there with two wooden stirrers for some friction and rode the bike accordingly. ### Newsletter for friends #01: Things and thoughts from May & June URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-01/ Last updated: 2025-08-17T05:38:48.000Z **To human readers of my personal blog,** Today I’m starting this little newsletter for my friends on the Web, further embracing my foray into living a [simple digital life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/). In part inspired by [Philip Thomas](https://www.philipithomas.com), it’s a calmer way to stay in touch against the slurp of social media. Fewer people, no stress and FOMO, time not wasted, and deliberate connections. Let’s exchange thoughts and links once a month. Here are some notable things I’ve been up to or enjoyed since May. ### Reading - [Infinity in 15 kilograms](https://rootprivileges.net/2024/04/19/infinity-in-15-kilograms/) - [Consumption-to-creation ratio](https://manuelmoreale.com/consumption-to-creation-ratio) - [How NASA astronauts are training to walk on the Moon](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01533-3) - [Dispatches from the media apocalypse](https://werd.io/2024/dispatches-from-the-media-apocalypse) - [London–Calcutta bus service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London–Calcutta%5Fbus%5Fservice) - *This section is going to explode in the next edition!* ### Writing - Published editions [#174](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-174/), [#175](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-175/), [#176](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-176/), [#177](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-177/), [#178](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-178/) and [#179](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-179/) of my Moon Monday blog+newsletter, focusing on China’s insane lunar exploration advances - [Moon Monday #180](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-180/) explains how rocket plumes from lunar landers could affect robots and humans nearby - Wrote a [tribute for Srinivasa Hegde](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-180/), Mission Director of India’s first lunar orbiter Chandrayaan 1 - New resource pages on my space blog: [ISRO Chandrayaan](https://jatan.space/tag/chandrayaan/) and [China and Luna](https://jatan.space/tag/china-and-luna/) ### Space, personally - The Space Review [republished](https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4807/1) my article on the uphill battle for Indian private rocket companies - Welcomed three organization sponsors of my space writings! Meet [Astrolab](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-179), [Open Lunar Foundation](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-178), and [PierSight](https://jatan.space/indian-space-issue-16/). ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/meeting-george-at-usibc.jpg) Honestly, very few things feel as satiating as running into people at a conference who express how much they love my blog [jatan.space](https://jatan.space/). Multiple people [did that](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/georgeweinmann%5Fmoonmonday-jatanmehta-activity-7199662945226690561-Yg21/) at a recent US-India Business Council meet! I love being an independent writer but such moments make the challenges worthwhile. ### Notable microthoughts - [Rules to effectively use social media](https://journal.jatan.space/rules-to-effectively-use-social-media/) - It’s high time for western media to [stop calling national space agencies local NASA](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-181/#tangent-stop-calling-national-space-agencies-local-nasas) - [How to have the most productive Mondays ever](https://journal.jatan.space/how-to-have-the-most-productive-mondays/) - Would you consider time to publish a story or new development to be the most important aspect of journalism? ### Life - LED bulbs with built-in batteries are such a cool idea. It has helped me conveniently ignore Bangalore’s abrupt power cuts. - Finally getting back in the game 🏸 - Bangalore has much better metro cards than Mumbai. One can get one on demand without submitting any documents, which also makes it private. Recharge information is printed on the card itself, with many options. Recharging via a human at a station also works. Can it get any easier? - Purchased the [Lifetime Pro](https://www.magicpages.co/#pricing) plan for my [space blog](https://jatan.space/) as well as [Journal J](https://journal.jatan.space/). I’ve loved using [Ghost](https://ghost.org/) for my blogs, and I’m convinced that with MagicPages, [Jannis](https://www.jannis.io/) offers the best, most accessible way to run a Ghost blog+newsletter—all with terrific support. 👨🏻‍💻 ### Pictures ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/chandrayaan-mug-a47.jpg) Enter the Chandrayaan coffee mug. From [a47.in](https://jatan.space/tag/chandrayaan), who are sadly not sponsoring my exhaustive [coverage of Chandrayaan Moon missions](https://jatan.space/tag/chandrayaan). 🚀🌗 ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/new-isro-tshirts.jpg) New ISRO t-shirts, also from [a47.in](https://a47.in/), join the rest of the space-wear. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/tvs-jupyter.jpg) Of course I got a Jupiter. If you know me, I’d love to [hear from you](https://jatan.space/connect) on how you found this newsletter for friends. If you don’t know me but connected to something in there, feel free to let me know or [subscribe](https://journal.jatan.space/subscribe) to get future posts. Don’t know what to say? Reply with one interesting link. Let’s not live [an internet without intent](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent). **–** [**Jatan**](https://journal.jatan.space/about) ### Life update: I’ve moved to Bengaluru URL: https://journal.jatan.space/mumbai-to-bangalore/ Last updated: 2026-08-29T06:17:35.000Z This week I moved from Mumbai, the city where I was born and grew up, to Bengaluru. I like many things about Mumbai but I’ve longed to live in Bengaluru for a while now, and below are the major reasons why. - Bengaluru is the space hub of India. Majority of the people in space exploration and the industry are here. Most conferences in India take place here. As a [space writer](https://jatan.space/about), Bengaluru makes the most sense among all places in the country. Besides, I’ve been traveling to the city for these reasons every two to three months anyway, and so it’s easier for me to just exist here instead. Looking ahead, I’m excited to expand my space horizons and coverage. - I couldn’t really play badminton in Mumbai because of general unavailability of courts. But Bengaluru, as a more sports-playing than sports-watching city, has courts like every square kilometer or two. I can’t wait to start playing the sport I enjoy the most every day. - Somehow, I have more friends in Bengaluru than Mumbai. - The city’s generally cool weather is a delight. Though the transits are not. But as an independent writer, I’m sufficiently shielded from the choke of the road. - Bengaluru caters better to my interest in the open Web and blogging. It’s been tiring to plan and execute the move, setting up a house from scratch, but now I’m excited to resume nominal living soon. ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/04/ulsoor-lake.jpg) Bangalore is known for its many lakes. Here’s [Ulsoor lake](https://maps.app.goo.gl/JkPzadL8MuJ9sDgr9). ### A few thoughts on Threads joining the Fediverse URL: https://journal.jatan.space/threads-joins-the-fediverse/ Last updated: 2024-08-04T06:00:26.000Z It actually happened. Meta’s social networking app Threads [joined](https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/21/24107881/threads-fediverse-beta-launch-mastodon) the [Fediverse](https://journal.jatan.space/welcome-to-the-fediverse/)! And I have a few thoughts. ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/03/threads-fediverse-opt-in-flow.jpeg) The Fediverse opt-in experience flow on Meta’s Threads app. [Image: Meta](https://engineering.fb.com/2024/03/21/networking-traffic/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse/) 1. This is a big deal. For the first time in history, you can *not have* an account on a Meta-owned app but still be able to follow and soon interact with many people on there. Meta’s [phased approach](https://engineering.fb.com/2024/03/21/networking-traffic/threads-has-entered-the-fediverse/) of federating compatible features as well as accounts seems pretty good. Other than avoiding sudden wide-scale wreckages and confusion with a novel system, this approach should also help alleviate some of the concerns people in the Fediverse have been expressing—things like [Big Fedi versus Small Fedi](https://evanp.me/2023/12/26/big-fedi-small-fedi), [Nodes versus Networked Communities](https://lrhodes.net/writing/groundedness-networked-community.html), and the [Fedipact](https://fedipact.veganism.social)—by allowing them to gradually take on these challenges. 2. Having said that, if you read replies to the official posts about the news, on the profiles of [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@threads/post/C4yZGRnOZDy), app-head [Adam Mosseri](https://www.threads.net/@mosseri/post/C4yY-JPPapO), and Meta dictator [Mark Zuckerberg](https://www.threads.net/@zuck/post/C4yMgnQRH%5FT), it should become revealingly clear to techies in Fediverse bubbles that people do not understand the concept of interoperable social networks or why they would want one. Some even fear it because of misunderstanding it. There’s much work to do here. 3. With Threads being very much a Twitter-and-Meta-like network though, in terms of its [engineered exploitations and addictions](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/) of our humans selves, the Fediverse will now only [become noisier](https://journal.jatan.space/mastodon-and-the-fediverse-is-noisy/) still. As such, I continue to find browsing Threads and other such social networks to be [pointless](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/), other than manually checking posts or profiles of interest only when needed or surfaced organically within things I read. So yeah, do not follow me on Threads. 4. There are only two reasons I want to log into Threads: to turn on federation when it becomes available in India, and then to move my followers to my singular, minimal [Fediverse presence](https://jatan.space/fediverse) when Threads enables the same at a (presumably) much later point. Though, Manton Reece [highlights challenges](https://www.manton.org/2024/03/20/threads-optin-vs.html) for people wanting to do that as well. *Sighs.* ### Mastodon and the Fediverse is too noisy. Why? URL: https://journal.jatan.space/mastodon-and-the-fediverse-is-noisy/ Last updated: 2026-02-05T13:43:00.000Z Mastodon and most Fediverse platforms may be better than traditional social networks [at interoperability](https://journal.jatan.space/welcome-to-the-fediverse/) but they don’t do much about [other issues](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/). In fact, they largely copy these issues straight from the social media giants. Most Fediverse platforms, including Mastodon, publicly display follower counts, like (favorite) counts, and share (boost) counts. And you’re notified about all of these things by default too. These defaults act as algorithms in their own right, fueling our digital addictions and tuning us to focus on all the wrong elements instead of what really matters: conversations. Mastodon servers also promote [trending posts and hashtags](https://mastodon.social/explore) via a dedicated section. Relatedly, #posts on the #Fediverse tend to heavily use #hashtags instead of just one or two relevant #topics, which further clutters the #reading #experience. Bottomline, the average Fediverse experience is only a little less addictive and chaotic than Twitter, Instagram, and Threads. The social media giants are such a disappointingly low bar to compare against though. ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/03/mastodon-notifications.jpg) Mastodon wants to notify you of everything by default. Some Mastodon frontends like [Phanpy](https://phanpy.social) do hide the like and boost buttons on the Timeline and Profile views, but not in the conversation view. Some, like [Pinafore](https://pinafore.social), offer an option to hide these counts but hidden inside a “Wellness” or some such setting somewhere. To me, these feel like putting one step forward to be on sand while your other foot is still in water. One wave, and it’s all washed over. Again and again. In any case, what fraction of people on the Fediverse even use Phanpy or Pinafore? How many are even aware of its existence? Not many. [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog) is the only Fediverse-compatible platform I know of which truly does away with likes, boosts, follower counts, and hashtags. I wish all social networks removed these pointless stats by default. Maybe offer an option to see them privately but I certainly don’t find the stats to be doing any good publicly. Micro.blog has but a single social component, a *Mentions* feed. It doesn’t care for any popularity contests, even if you go looking for it. This has made the local community warmer, better welcoming, and more human than other digital places I’ve been to. And that’s why even though I’ve [embraced a no-social-media life](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/), which includes not being active on Micro.blog, I don’t mind having a very [minimal Fediverse presence](https://jatan.space/fediverse) via Micro.blog. Coming back to the noisy Fediverse, I’ve heard users say that the likes, boosts, and hashtags help with discovering people. I don’t buy this. Replies and mentions in shares are higher quality signals of someone connecting with you than passive, low-effort likes and boosts. If someone is curious about a topic, they can simply search for terms of interest, and posts shows up even if they don’t have hashtags. Likes, boosts, and hashtags only add noise over things of direct value. *Aside: On all of these fronts, Bluesky is no different than Mastodon or the Fediverse. It’s essentially the Twitter UI but which happens to a little bit interoperable—and that’s about it.* Is your experience about these kinds of Fediverse interactions different and positive? If so, [I’d love to hear from you](https://jatan.space/connect). And if these social features really are good, then why not make the likes, and boost counts, private? It will let us discover people without spamming the whole network. Why even show follower counts instead of just displaying the followers if you really must? In fact, why not show only whom someone is following like Micro.blog does? That’s a more interesting way to discover new people anyway. Microblogging is a [terribly contextually deprived](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk) way to create and consume things anyway. The Fediverse, sadly, hasn’t started off building the next phase of the Web with the intention of explicitly tackling such issues. --- *Edit: This post led to a* [*good conversation*](https://micro.blog/moonmehta/33875148)*, and Manton—the creator of Micro.blog—*[*shared the post*](https://micro.blog/manton/33882450) *on his blog.* ### Tired of social networks? Here’s why you could be Fediverse curious URL: https://journal.jatan.space/welcome-to-the-fediverse/ Last updated: 2025-08-16T14:53:56.000Z Many of us are familiar with the feeling of investing time and effort on a particular social network, only to either see it become irrelevant over time or [do something stupid or malicious](https://www.theverge.com/c/23972308/twitter-x-death-tweets-history-elon-musk) that scatters people over to half a dozen platforms. And so you start over, with all your posts and followers *not accompanying you* to any new place. And then the same thing happens to that network. It’s an annoying cycle. Your social web connections should grow and strengthen over time, not degrade abruptly when caught amid the whims of corporate elites. Maybe people in 3024 will judge us for this barbaric trait, among other things. But what if I told you that with something called the “Fediverse” you only ever need to create one social media account? What if you could interact with people on all kinds of social networks with that single account? And what if you could keep doing so with newly launched social apps or websites without having to join them? And if you like a new app better than the old one, what if you could simply take your followers with you there without them having to lift a finger? That’s the future a bunch of humans are building with [the Fediverse](https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23689570/activitypub-protocol-standard-social-network). ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/03/decentralization.jpg) [Image: Mastodon](https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2018/12/why-does-decentralization-matter/) The Fediverse is like email but public. With email, you don’t care if you and your contact have a Gmail account or an Outlook account or a Yahoo one because it all interoperates using a common set of protocols. Likewise with the Fediverse, as long as a social network follows a web standard called “[ActivityPub](https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23689570/activitypub-protocol-standard-social-network)”, it can mingle with all other such networks. You can try the Fediverse today. To get started, create an account on [Mastodon.social](https://jatan.space/joinmastodon) in a minute. Admittedly, it might feel a little lonely at first since the ActivityPub [network](https://fediverse.party/en/miscellaneous/) as a whole is [still growing](https://fedidb.org) but, again, it might just be the last social account you ever need. Especially when considering that the social networks Meta [Threads](https://www.threads.net/@mosseri/post/C046LSmPAuN) and [Flipboard](https://about.flipboard.com/inside-flipboard/flipboard-begins-to-federate/)—each of which have more than 100 million users—plan on joining the Fediverse this year. But, Jatan, didn’t you say [just a few days ago](https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox/) that you’re quitting social media? And that you have only a couple of them setup to auto-share new blog posts? Yes, and yes. And I continue to think that microblogging of any sort is a [terribly contextually deprived](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk) way to create and consume things. Making social networks interoperable only solves a few things wrong with them, not all. And so I’d still like you to follow [my blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs/) via email and RSS only please. But humans insist on using social media for some reason. With that in mind, the pro-human, decentralized Fediverse surely seems to be a saner idea than centralized, corporate-owned social networks. And so, if you must, follow [my Fediverse profile](https://jatan.space/fediverse). Again, it’s on auto-share and a low priority so really, just go [email or RSS](https://jatan.space/blogs) if you can. If my introduction to the Fediverse made you curious, or left you more curious than convinced, here are some other explainers: - [Can ActivityPub save the internet?](https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/20/23689570/activitypub-protocol-standard-social-network) by David Pierce - [How to talk to your relatives about Mastodon](https://mattbrown.dev/mastodon/), by Matt Brown - [Can the Fediverse be bought out by Google or Elon Musk?](https://fedi.tips/who-owns-the-fediverse-is-the-fediverse-owned-by-a-corporation-or-venture-capital-firm-can-it-be-bought-out-by-google-facebook-elon-musk/) by Fedi.Tips - [ActivityPub and the end of walled gardens](https://dot-social.simplecast.com/episodes/evan-prodromou), with Evan Prodromou and Mike McCue ### Life update: Embracing a simple but effective digital life URL: https://journal.jatan.space/digital-detox-story/ Last updated: 2026-02-15T07:14:50.000Z In today’s Web, being online seldom means being present. Browsing doesn’t mean reading. Following hardly means connecting. Posting certainly doesn’t mean articulating. Commenting rarely means conversing. Listening doesn’t mean comprehending. Watching never meant absorbing. And likes don’t mean anything anyway. We largely live [an internet without intent](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent). We succumb to the [attention economy](https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2018/07/27/attention-addiction) because it has hijacked our ways of production and value exchange by tapping into deep-seated psychological, evolutionary behaviors, traits that were never meant to face the incessant floods of our digital lives. Some of us just let things be, and manage to do whatever it is they want to do next on their phones or laptops. I envy them. Many of us don’t even think about escaping because they enjoy the instant validation loops. I feel sorry for them. Some, like me, have an anxiety-driven desire to grasp the means and ways in which they live on the Web. So that we can craft it to our needs, hone it to our liking, and control it against our detriment. I don’t know about you but I’ve had enough of all the digital nonsense that gradually degrade my focus and intellect with engineered dopamine hits. Even though my digital living has been [fairly focused](https://journal.jatan.space/yes-and-no) for years, most of these measures like not having social media apps on my phone and turning off most notifications increasingly felt like workarounds. You see, as an [independent space writer](https://jatan.space/about), I still manually posted and browsed some things on social media, and played more such games, just so my articles reach some more people. But there’s the trap. Even when it works, it comes at costs to healths of the self. Why can’t I just work hard to write an article, publish it on my (relevant) blog—which auto-distributes to my email and RSS subscribers—and call it a day? I can then sleep, walk, eat, rest, whatever. The law of diminishing returns must outweigh the FOMO. The solution thus is to double down on living the Web in ways that I already know are effective *and* mindful. And so a month ago I endeavored to sequentially simplify my entire Web presence to that end. Here’s what my active Internet footprint looks like now. ### I don’t want to wake up to a social media timeline of any sort No, not even the ethical ones like Mastodon or Micro.blog. Heck, I don’t want a separate timeline for videos (YouTube) or podcasts either. Or one for news or newsletters. Everything, and I mean *everything*, that I want to follow or subscribe to from anywhere on the Internet goes into [my organized RSS reader](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss) because of its unmatched efficiency and control. Now I have a single feed to check, which I do when I want to or need to. It doesn’t notify or nag me, doesn’t screw up the order of posts, and doesn’t recommend things. It can be trusted to do *nothing* on its own. ### Low to no posting on social media, or even my microblog Most people don’t blog, sadly, but tend to have three places to post: a Twitter-like network, an Instagram-like visual space, and LinkedIn. But microblogging is a [terribly contextually deprived](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk) way to create and consume things, one hiding behind a gratification trap. It often felt like I’m sharing purposeful things there but had the interface not artificially limited me to 300 or 500 characters—and had I not been writing for (algorithmic) reader reactions—I often had more nuance and references to share. And so I’ll not post much of anything on any social media directly, treating [longform blogging](https://jatan.space/blogs) as primary—a slower but more thoughtful way to communicate publicly. And this way I also [own the connection](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos) to my readers based on open technologies that have stood the test of time: [Email and RSS](https://jatan.space/blogs). ### Speaking of blogs, I have only two now There’s my [professional space blog](https://jatan.space/about), and there’s the general [Journal J](https://journal.jatan.space/about) which you’re reading. I don’t want to waste time and mental effort thinking which post should go on which blog and which social networks. Now the question never comes up. For people who followed or subscribed to specific topics on my previously several blogs, I haven’t forgotten you! You can still opt-in and opt-out of specific categories via both email or RSS. Thanks to [Manu](https://manuelmoreale.com), [Kev](https://kevquirk.com), and Disha for helping me figure this out. Oh, and I merged my website and professional blog too. The idea is one should be able to simply visit [jatan.space](https://jatan.space), and within one click read my latest space posts, navigate to key topics, read about me, or contact me. You can now. ### Stop basic automated blog sharing to socials Okay, this is the part where I’ve been cheating a little bit but hear me out. I have long been using some web services that share links to my new blog posts on social networks using my blog RSS feeds. As such, I’d waste no time posting, and people can still follow me on those places. It sounded perfect. And so I used to have my blog posts auto-shared to over a dozen social networks this way. But it also meant I had to keep checking these places for interactions, which is exactly the dumb ape trait I’m trying to avoid. So I’ve now reduced the auto-shares to just [the Fediverse](https://jatan.space/fediverse). I might kill that too if I don’t like the vibe, or try and only visit these places occasionally. Again, go [email or RSS](https://jatan.space/blogs). It will even survive AI. ### Just email me We all know how useful social media comments are overall. Some networks start off great but the moment they’re popular it all goes downhill. Blog comments have gone the spam way in the last decade. Enough of pointless roller coaster rides. Throughout these years, email has remained the best medium on the Web to deeply connect and converse with people. It’s not going anywhere. Which is why both my blogs now more prominently feature links and buttons to email me. Write to me to say hi or share your thoughts: [Email me: hey@jatan.space](mailto:hey@jatan.space) Private messengers also remain a good option but if you need to have my contact, you likely already do. In some cases you don’t need to but do anyway. ### Discover the Web via Kagi I can write a whole article on why I use the paid but powerful search engine called [Kagi](https://kagi.com) but suffice to say for now that the level of control it offers for search coupled with its default penalizing of ad-riddled and SEO-spam sites makes my day-to-day work a whole lot easier than Google or other search engines ever did. Kagi also allows searching only conversations within forums and social networks, should I want to gauge people’s reactions on a topic. It can search for podcast episodes too, meaning I don’t need a podcast app for that [occasional listen](https://journal.jatan.space/podcasts-vs-articles). Moreover, Kagi makes for delightful digital treks by making it easier to find niche or themed websites. Using it is like going back to the early days of the Internet, where a string of inquisitive searches would land you on unique sites you could spend hours on. Yes, just browsing the Internet can feel fun again. ### Grab my Kindle more often Now that I have these carefully curated web experiences, what do I do with so much that I can be curious about? Send to my Kindle. When there are articles, webpages, and PDFs I want to peruse during the week, I typically send them to my Kindle. Waking up to an e-reader not only spares your brain from the modern digital mess but it doesn’t strain your eyes either. It also makes for good breaks during a working day, and leisurely readings on holidays. The core problem with achieving this state of reading zen was that other than for PDFs and ebooks, Amazon’s default apps and extensions for sending webpages and articles to the Kindle are awful. It often results in broken content and layouts, and even failed sends. This is where the indie services like [KTool](https://ktool.io) and [Instapaper](https://www.instapaper.com) take care of everything with their great web apps, browser extensions, and mobile apps. I’ve been curating sets of articles, wikipedia pages, and ebooks to consume this way, and it’s just joyful. --- So there it is, my digital detox. Thoughts? ### The one app to read them all already exists, and it’s called RSS URL: https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss/ Last updated: 2025-04-08T19:13:27.000Z RSS, or Rich Site Summary, is a website reading technology nearly as old as the consumer Web itself. And yet it can keep you on top of news and perspectives in ways social networks can’t. How it works is really simple yet smart: 1. Blogs and websites publish an RSS feed accessible at a specific link. 2. This link contains a list of recent posts from the site along with their content. 3. A *feed reader*, which is any app or web service capable of reading said link, regularly pulls such posts for you to browse and auto-track new items. 4. To add a feed link to your reader, you usually don’t need to hunt where it lies on each site. Simply paste a website’s homepage link in your feed reader, and it will find one for you. A feed reader, sometimes called an RSS reader, saves you from manually checking multiple sites or apps by bringing all their new posts in one inbox. Here’s what such a reader looks like: ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/02/feedbin-screenshot-showing-source-feed-and-reading-panes.jpg) Screenshot from my feed reader, [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com/), showing its three-pane layout of added feeds, posts from the selected feed, and content of the selected item. Feed readers also let you read posts from social networks that support RSS such as [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/wiki/rss), [Mastodon](https://www.didiermary.fr/rss-feeds-mastodon-fediverse), and [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/bsky.app/post/3kh5rjl6bgu2i). This way you can [escape the attention grabbing](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent) traits of social media, and only browse posts from people you decided to follow. At this point if you feel like escaping the YouTube algorithm too, the good news is feed readers let you [follow YouTube channels and playlists](https://feeder.co/knowledge-base/rss-feed-creation/youtube-rss) too. Moreover, since podcasts are [actually powered by RSS](https://podkite.com/blog/the-role-of-rss-feeds-in-podcasting), you can subscribe to them in feed readers as well. As if all that wasn’t enough, some readers like [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com/) let you subscribe to newsletters as well. No more cluttering your email inbox, and no more consuming content in places where you tend to communicate instead—be it with humans or robots. And this way your email and you stay private. While adding newsletters is typically a paid feature on feed readers, you can use free workarounds like [Kill the Newsletter](https://kill-the-newsletter.com/). On the actual news front, sites like The Economist publish [multiple news feeds](https://www.economist.com/rss) for you to pick and choose. Feed readers are particularly useful to scientists, academics, journalists, and researchers by letting them track newly published research papers via RSS. That’s because many journals offer RSS feeds. In fact, this aspect is so useful that the Arizona State University has an [entire page](https://libguides.asu.edu/keepcurrent/KeepCurrentRSSFeeds) dedicated to how you can grab RSS feeds links for various popular journals. If I’ve convinced you to try out a feed reader already, I suggest getting started with [Inoreader](https://www.inoreader.com/). It has a generous free plan, and its mobile app is pretty good too. [Feeder](https://feeder.co) is decent too, and allows you to subscribe to newsletters as built-in. But if you’re as yet undecided, or simply curious to know more about the delightful prowess of RSS, read on. --- RSS has four key human attributes, either or all of which you might desire: 1. Convenience 2. Control 3. Dumbness 4. Privacy ## Convenience Having all the thoughts you actually want to consume converge in one place is immensely time-saving if not game changing. And to avoid your reader inbox feeling like a firehose, feed readers let you organize your feeds into folders. Browsing posts by folder not only let you scan all related posts in one place but also ignore topics you may not be in the mood for. Now here’s the kicker. A feed reader is also a little personal search engine. You can search posts across all of your feeds, or only within certain feeds or folders. Combined with more filtering features like [advanced search syntax](https://feedbin.com/help/search-syntax) and [keyword monitoring](https://www.inoreader.com/blog/2015/07/inoreader-how-to-monitor-hot-topics.html), closely following specific topics of interests becomes radically easy on feed readers. ## Control RSS is spam-less. Unlike email, where you can receive things from organizations even though you didn’t explicitly subscribe to them, there exists no obvious mechanism in RSS for someone to send you things at random. To receive anything from anyone via RSS, it is you who needs to manually add their feed to your reader. And if you unfollow a feed, it is you who can later decide to receive it again. ## Dumbness If there’s one thing the feed reader is smart about, it’s that it chooses to be dumb. Unlike most social media apps, a feed reader has no algorithmic timeline promoting “popular” posts and suppressing authentic ones. Your stream of posts won’t have content from randomwhere either. You get only who and what you follow, from latest to oldest or vice versa. If you decide to check your reader after a month, it will let you pick up from where you last left off without screwing up the order of posts or giving you algorithmic FOMO. Like an email client, a feed reader tells you which items you’ve read and which you haven’t, to ensure you don’t miss anything. And if you’re okay with missing things, you can mark everything as read. The categorizing, filtering, searching, selecting, and pruning of feeds is all up to you. That’s really the point after all: you’re the driver. ## Privacy, for freedom When you subscribe to blogs, newsletters, social network profiles, websites, podcasts, news, YouTube channels, and whatever else via RSS, their owners and publishers can’t know that you’ve done so! They won’t be notified that you follow them or be able to see your email—much less what you read. This feature isn’t about hiding anything but rather exists to give you the freedom to follow and unfollow without association and dissociation. --- These attributes of RSS greatly aid my work as a [space exploration writer](https://jatan.space/about), which involves scanning over 150 sources of information every single week, reading several dozens of them, juggling perspectives, and often searching for the littlest of things across it all. I’ve been absolutely loving spending time in [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com) for three years now. It’s the best $5/month tool I’ve *ever* used, to the point where I consider Feedbin to be the only employee I’ve hired as an independent writer. If my article persuaded you to use a feed reader, here’s a heartfelt thank you for using the best, most ethical reading technology on the Internet ^\_^. And if you get stuck in using a feed reader, I’m [happy to help](https://jatan.space/connect). --- **Pro tip:* When reading a post in your feed reader, you can click on its title to visit the original webpage. This helps if you want to share the page, explore the site, read the full story if the RSS only provides briefs, or contact its human.* **P.S.* It shouldn’t be surprising at this point my blogs have RSS feeds, and so if you’d like to read my words from the comfort of your feed reader, click below:* - [*Jatan’s Space*](https://jatan.space/feeds) - [*Journal J*](https://journal.jatan.space/feeds) *(the one you’re reading)* ### In praise of Bear URL: https://journal.jatan.space/in-praise-of-bear/ Last updated: 2024-06-30T05:23:56.000Z I’m impressed by the [Bear](https://bear.app) app’s ability to [import](https://bear.app/faq/Import%20%26%20export/Import%20your%20notes) and [export](https://bear.app/faq/Import%20%26%20export/Export%20your%20notes) an exceptionally wide range of file formats compared to the 20+ note-taking apps I looked into. Last year I was on a quest to find an app that can reliably import entire blog archives as well as contents of any individual web pages I throw at it with high fidelity. Bear does both. [Notion](https://www.notion.so) was a close second in its import support but not in its [relatively limited](https://www.notion.so/help/export-your-content) export options. It also messes up the order of some text in HTML files. On the other hand, many of the popular note-taking apps can’t even import HTML files, or export as such, both of which is perplexing. [Workflowy](https://workflowy.com), the app I use to [organize my article notes](https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-organize-notes-for-writing-an-article), can export notes as HTML but not import them. In fact, it seems to have no import option for anything at all! At $15/year (at the time I brought it), Bear Pro is also among the cheapest note-taking apps out there while being [generously featured](https://bear.app/#features), pleasant to use, snappy, and efficient. I’ve imported and consolidated all the note-taking I do into Bear. I love typing a lot in this beautiful app with my bear hands. ### Fascinating concepts in the Fediverse URL: https://journal.jatan.space/fascinating-fediverse-concepts/ Last updated: 2024-02-17T14:04:02.000Z The ongoing [drama](https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/14/bluesky-and-mastodon-users-are-having-a-fight-that-could-shape-the-next-generation-of-social-media) concerning Ryan Barrett’s [upcoming tool](https://snarfed.org/2024-02-12%5F52106) that will bridge parts of the social networks [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org) and [Bluesky](https://bsky.social) led me to a rabbit hole. A reading dive into the norms and expectations that factions of people and communities have within the decentralized social Web, which currently mostly exists only via Mastodon. Some of these behavioral traits and goals can be encapsulated into fascinating concepts—or rather the behaviors emerge from these philosophies—and each has far reaching consequences. Here are some of these concepts: - [Big Fedi and Small Fedi](https://evanp.me/2023/12/26/big-fedi-small-fedi), by Evan Prodromou - A [Round Robin](https://spreadmastodon.org/utilities/round-robin) of sign-up servers to prevent too much centralization - [Nodes versus Networked Communities](https://lrhodes.net/writing/groundedness-networked-community.html), by L. Rhodes - [Fedipact](https://fedipact.veganism.social), to preemptively block Meta’s Threads from [federating](https://www.threads.net/@mosseri/post/C046LSmPAuN) - [Paradox of tolerance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox%5Fof%5Ftolerance) - [Moderate people, not code](https://snarfed.org/2024-01-21%5Fmoderate-people-not-code), by Ryan Barrett ### People on podcasts versus articulate articles URL: https://journal.jatan.space/podcasts-vs-articles/ Last updated: 2024-02-25T13:35:08.000Z I rarely listen to podcasts. They are [hard to discover](https://journal.jatan.space/how-to-find-a-good-podcast-app) in web and app searches. Articles are much easier to find, even good ones. There are four more aspects where I find podcasts to be lacking against articles. **Links:** Podcasts typically don’t provide sources for whenever guests or hosts say interesting or important things that could use citations. Just the same, podcasts don’t—and can’t—have inline links to immediately allow exploring things that peak my interest while listening. Some good podcasts do provide some references but even then it means I need to hunt those links myself, or at least browse away and identify their correct places in the description. For information-dense consumptions, in-line linking within web text is supremely efficient. **Pauses:** I tend to take frequent pauses while reading to think, look up things, make notes, etc. When listening to a podcast, you need to manually pause and play. When reading, your mind does it for you. This makes my pauses seamless and engaging rather than one of interference. **Browsing:** When I come across a podcast episode that may or may not have something of my interest, I can’t do a “Find on Page” equivalent to know the same. Unless it comes with a reliable transcript. With articles, getting past this decision point is a cakewalk. But with podcasts, even with powerful AI abilities now in the mix, you need to ask a bot if the audio or video in the link talks about the specific thing you’re looking for or not. And then you need to trust it. **Archiving:** On the rare occasion that I do subscribe to a podcast show, it’s because it offers transcripts. I add such podcasts to my RSS reader, where other than being able to scan or read transcripts of new episodes, I can do [future searches and discovery](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss) since their text is now archived. For podcast shows that don’t offer transcripts, I’d like to see podcast apps and feed readers offer automated AI transcripts as “better than nothing” starting points. In the absence of such options, the value of most podcast episodes swiftly dwindles over time for me. --- Of course, there are other reasons to listen to podcasts instead of reading articles. Sometimes you just want to hear a human voice. And take in all that comes with it. In the conversation that partly sparked this blog post, a friend who is a voracious reader said she likes that podcasts and audiobooks convey the speaker’s pitches and inflections. Podcasts are great to hear straight from a source. They’re also most practical when you’re time-strapped to read a screen, like when doing chores or commuting. They’re good for people who have dyslexia. What are some other reasons podcasts are great? Let me know! At the same time, there’s something else about podcasts that doesn’t sit well with me. They are verbose. That’s just how humans talk. Some say a podcast feels like a conversation. I say it feels too much like a conversation. From a publishing perspective, editing a podcast is less about attaining a certain economy of words, as is so satisfyingly the case with writing, but about ensuring the episode sounds good. Combine the verbosity of podcasts with the aforementioned points, and I hope you see why I feel a little disjointed when listening to them. ### Why are we living an internet without intent? URL: https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent/ Last updated: 2024-06-10T16:25:43.000Z The “modern” Web, especially when served via our phones and social media, makes it too easy to live without intent. Hour after hour. Days at a time. Cumulatively months even. Maybe for years. While most of us have a job, family, and friends, how much of our daily time and activities are truly with, for, and from the self? Are our goals and convictions our own? The trouble is this may not be a problem that can be solved at an individual level. It’s not fair to say that people are using the internet wrongly. That “if only we utilize social media in sensible ways, it’s a force for good.” Even when we do use the digital socials “sensibly”, we let the faceless algorithms decide what we say and *how so*. When global conglomerates hire fleets of smart people whose entire collective job is to exploit deep-rooted psychological behaviors from our evolution, a lone human is powerless and vulnerable. How can a single human in its most organic form live with true purpose every single day when [an entire economy is built to keep grabbing attention](https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2018/07/27/attention-addiction)? And so, that seduces even the best of us. So what we did instead is disguise these demons in indulgent names: *binge watching*, *the attention economy*, *doom scrolling*, and so on. Back when we intertwined more of the world with the Internet like never before, we thought we’d work to surface signals that enhance our connections and pursuits. What we’ve gotten much more of instead is an unparalleled [noise surge](https://journal.jatan.space/misinformation-side-effect-of-social-media). Take the example of the like button. It single-handedly spams over a billion people every single day, incessantly reducing attention spans with interlocked streams of instant gratification. The like button amounts to nearly no conversations but those in our heads. An indulgent way for us to feel we did something without doing anything. Well, other than feeding the algorithm to drive more siloes and ads. To become yet another tool for mass manipulation was not the Internet’s promise. It’s certainly not its only potential. Social media dominating consumption on the Web is proof that technology doesn’t automatically get better with time. This is why we should gauge and question the intents of builders, creators, and influencers whose tools we use and words we consume. It’s to this end that I found Nitin Pai’s article on [threats of social media](https://www.nitinpai.in/2021/02/21/social-media-is-an-existential-threat-to-civilisation) interesting. Below is an excerpt: > While popular attention is mostly focused on controversies around free speech and privacy, these are actually superficial in nature. More serious is the underlying second level, involving political power that technology platforms have come to wield through their ability to shape international and national narratives, micro-target and influence human behavior. But most serious of all is the third, deepest level concerning the effect of social media on how we process information, how we think and how we make judgements. Nitin goes as far as to call social media an existential threat to civilization. > The world’s nation-states, shaped as they were by the Industrial Age, lack effective mechanisms to deal with this new power centre. The old formula of separating the legislative, judiciary, executive, monetary and religious authority, ensuring that the media is free, and that there is competition in the economy does not work satisfactorily in the Information Age. Whether or not you agree, social media is certainly a threat of a kind that’s immediate. Its dark patterns even control and degrade our news consumption. How much of what we read is what we explicitly decided to? How often do we engage in dissent versus giving in to the peer pressure of the like button? We seem more interested in how easily we can get information served rather than what information could serve us better. As an anecdote, some longtime friends once unfortunately displayed their complete lack of understanding of what I do when I read science news as [a space writer](https://jatan.space/about) by insisting that I buy an Alexa speaker. Why? Because it was on one of those big consumerist sales. They tried convincing me to buy the Amazon speaker by touting its news reading features. Yes, random, low quality, SEO’ed servings of information bubbles sounds fantastic. But seriously, how is submitting our minds to one faceless, narcissism-rewarding algorithm after another not a decidedly collectively stupid thing to do? Who thought pairing and amplifying traits of cancel culture and out-of-context servings was a good idea? Social media was also sold to us as a tool for expression. But I fail to fathom that as well. Where is the novelty in conforming all expression and sharing to identically arrayed endless cages whose interactions stem from predefined procedural labels and buttons? If we want to embrace diversity of thoughts and all of our very beings, it has to start by overcoming misguided affordances engineered solely for engagement. Leaving any engagement-based social platform for another doesn’t solve a thing—rather it’s precisely the cause. Again, I don’t think this behemoth of a problem is for an individual to solve, unfortunately. Personally though, the only action I could take, and have, is run a blog on my domain which lets me [truly own my thoughts and connections to people](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain) on the Web. Maybe you could do that too. In such little corners of the Internet, there are no algorithms shaping content based on hollow likes or reposts. And no public list of followers to race for. Just humans sharing stuff and interacting at will. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/06/say-no-to-twitter-instagram-facebook-social-media.jpg) Credits: [Memed\_Nurrohmad](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/instagram-logo-icon-pictogram-flat-1882330/) / [Elionas](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ban-shield-traffic-street-sign-1345887/) / [Gordon Johnson](https://pixabay.com/vectors/twitter-facebook-delete-shatter-5134765) / Freepik / Jatan Mehta ### A slice of Hyderabad’s history URL: https://journal.jatan.space/a-slice-of-hyderabad-history/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:48:49.000Z I had one day to spare in Hyderabad so I decided to visit some historical places of interest. My similar [day out in Indore](https://journal.jatan.space/a-day-out-in-indore) recently was fun, and so a similar plan sounded like a good idea. I first went to Charminar, natch. ![A day view of Charminar, looking up at one of its towering minarets.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fb55e626f-b397-482f-9d4c-bbcfb84279e0_3024x4032-jpeg.jpg) As a structure built in \~1590, it’s impressive. There’s not much to see inside though; parallel spiral stairs lead you to a singular section open to the public. ![A circular section inside Charminar with windows on all sides, and an ornate ceiling.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff5e0c805-714d-4517-98f5-17abd66c0464_2936x3350-jpeg.jpg) The more interesting thing I found online is that scholars don’t agree on the true purpose of building Charminar. Some say it acted as a gateway to key trade routes while others associate it with religious purposes. Some say the sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah commissioned Charminar as a centerpiece to mark the tactical move of shifting their capital from Golconda to the new city he constructed as Hyderabad. Suggestions for a love interest have also been made but scholars have mostly rejected that one. I then visited the Chowmahalla palace nearby. ![A wide, multi-storey, pale-skin-colored palace with white window backgrounds and ornate Nizam-style carvings.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fbaff2cce-d222-47e9-86ac-c50f54ea30b5_3024x2460-jpeg.jpg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fe2d19d64-8491-4b39-96a1-37859f148dd2_3024x3750-jpeg.jpg) Huge chandeliers inside the Chowmahalla palace's marble-rich main hall The intricate beauty of the palace very much reflected the fact that it was the seat of power and main residence of the elite Nizams. I did not know the Nizams continued sovereign rule a year after India’s independence in 1947, and that they had and preferred better ties with the British than the former Indian princely states. My next stop was the [Salar Jung museum](https://maps.app.goo.gl/HjR8MJgfTJ8fVXh69) of the namesake family, who other than serving as Prime Ministers for the Nizams actively collected artwork, cultural objects, and antiquities from around the world. Most of these are what make up this huge museum. Among the museum’s more than two dozen halls, the one on ancient manuscripts displayed many well-preserved texts more than 700 years old. ![An open book with pale pages showing embossed poetry.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd1d7772c-ab18-4908-9b06-021ed240c8d0_3774x2839-jpeg.jpg) ![An open book showing a page with black print. The book is on the technology of clocks as used in ancient Arab regions.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd6d90279-4914-4328-a944-6f1807d7cafc_3725x2888-jpeg.jpg) There was even a hall of walking sticks! ![11 walking sticks, with handles made of jade, other rock crystals, or sandalwood.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f3000abdc-25c2-4a45-aa6e-26f3387cea64_3024x3675-jpeg.jpg) ![12 walking sticks, with handles made of pearl or cane.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f727bf95c-abf8-4b0e-820f-777cd40773d3_3024x3753-jpeg.jpg) And a hall displaying life-sized woodworks. ![A life-sized statue of Garuda, in a lifting position with one knee on the ground.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fab6908ab-f2eb-4607-8515-a0a936799edf_3024x4032-jpeg.jpg) There were many ivory works too but I couldn't get myself to take pictures of those because of how the core material is sourced. 😔 ![A man in a cloak. There’s a mirror behind it, which shows a woman in a cloak.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f59e8498c-00fc-4685-9d3b-190b40dbb4ef_2470x3088-jpeg.jpg) A European double statue! The museum also had some really nice old artwork and miniature paintings on display. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fdec3f44b-7d96-4be5-9221-a7ffb7cfcb7e_4032x3024-jpeg.jpg) Abstract artworks I didn't understand. 🙈 ![More abstract artwork.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fa68601f1-25a5-4a9f-af91-5e1cad08063e_3998x2948-jpeg.jpg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fbfdd3783-c8ae-4fe5-b9b5-e0843d78c82c_3024x4032-jpeg.jpg) I really liked this Mughal-era miniature painting. It’s a simple yet clever window into their life. After a satiating yet physically tiring exploration of old Hyderabad, I gulped down the popular [Irani tea](https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/irani-chai). It was as nice as it was smooth. I also enjoyed snacking some soft biscuits from a local bakery and munching on Murkulus, a variant of the popular South Indian Murukkus I much adore. The city’s metro system was a decent and cheap aid during transits, even as I was puzzled by the complete lack of offline ticketing. I don’t mind online tickets but what if I’m out of charge and/or mobile data? Or if I simply want some digital privacy or prefer to use cash I already have on hand? Bad luck suddenly being an outlier in the system. --- A lovely crescent Moon adoring the evening sky was a lovely end to the outing. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f7190cb8f-e887-40ab-8416-3143894d80ab_2600x3000-jpeg.jpg) ### A day out in Indore URL: https://journal.jatan.space/a-day-out-in-indore/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:48:02.000Z I went on a round-the-city, day-long tour of Indore that was fun to see executed almost exactly as I had planned. I first visited the [Central Museum](https://maps.app.goo.gl/MzjYFBq9Wag14FheA), which hosts unique Paleolithic tools natively excavated from Madhya Pradesh. ![A museum glassed display of an Upper Paleolithic knife, scraper, microliths, harpoon, flakes, and more.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fb6db1b7e-07b1-476d-b54a-25c8eeca317b_3200x2329-jpeg.jpg) In the same vein, the museum hosts artifacts of an independent Bronze age civilization in Madhya Pradesh from [Kayatha](https://maps.app.goo.gl/gDBhDSa1wVDxdMHj6) and Avara (modern day [Mandsaur](https://maps.app.goo.gl/BBLeFYdmshb8sikT9)). ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2feb6bf942-5c45-4d34-a048-e601c0b2c01f_3200x1917-jpeg.jpg) Excavated copper-based remains from Kayatha ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f52f61dd9-096a-4130-8a94-b4c6c486584c_3200x1936-jpeg.jpg) Excavated pottery remains from Mandsaur The museum also had an intriguing 5th century painting from the [Bagh caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagh%5FCaves) depicting a folk dance being performed by women. ![A painting showing a dozen ancient women in a cave in various positions, presumably a snapshot of the folk dance being depicted.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f37504633-f75c-4fd5-845e-3e97ae109d9c_3200x2289-jpeg.jpg) The museum’s gallery of inscriptions displayed a copper plate which references a solar eclipse. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f2132a106-d49d-4010-b721-08c93e5b0dd7_3200x2682-jpeg.jpg) I then visited the Holkar clan’s [Rajwada palace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajwada) and its [gallery](https://maps.app.goo.gl/F9SuATphRTR5bvXQ6), owing to the clan’s significant role across the Mughal-Maratha-British eras in central India. ![A seven-storey palace. It has brick-red balconies and windows against bright yellow walls.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f323a26ce-b021-4f60-971e-5d05f24d0057_1350x1800-jpeg.jpg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f42593139-b0b0-44b9-98af-3360595560ee_3200x2400-jpeg.jpg) A gallery highlighting the Holkar family’s contributions during the First and Second World Wars. I then walked up to the [Sheesh Mahal](https://maps.app.goo.gl/PutpXnUiUX239aNMA), a Jain temple made largely of glass and collage-esque mirror pieces, including the large paintings that adorn its also-mirrored walls. Sadly, photography isn’t allowed in there so I couldn’t take any pictures. If the relevant stakeholders want more people to appreciate the beauty of the temple’s build, they should change their policy to allow mobile photography at the very least. I also stopped by the [Gandhi Hall](https://maps.app.goo.gl/WZzfg6hXxF8cLq4BA) and [Lotus lake](https://maps.app.goo.gl/agRFusbBwETc4WtP6). The former was hosting an exhibition on coins that I had no interest in. The latter neither had a lake nor lotuses. My plan to sunset the tour with a sunset had to be set aside. I enjoyed some street food during transits, after learning to avoid the incredibly spicy stuff the locals have a knack for. I quite liked the ginger tea served at various street shops. Using Uber and Ola to travel in autos & mini-autos was reliable and affordable, which included a couple of nice electric rides. It was great to see the city host dedicated lanes for AC buses in some areas to encourage public transport. Though I didn’t need to board one. It’s a service I appreciate though when I visit Ahmedabad, and wish Bengaluru had it too. In all, it was a day well spent with no undesired humans to spoil the plan and its execution. ### Is instant publishing and reach incompatible with stopping misinformation? URL: https://journal.jatan.space/instant-publishing-and-misinformation/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T15:18:01.000Z I wish the press took fact checking a bit more seriously. When major events of any kind take place, media publications at large jump the gun to break out any info that seems remotely publishable. They spurt out instant takes and hammered quotes to grab more views, and thus ultimately more money, in this [attention economy](https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/attention-addiction). Make no mistake, this attention feeds the egos of most reporters themselves. They’re humans too after all, generally submissive to copious amounts of social dopamine. And so they feel incentivized—or at least pressured—to keep dishing out hot bursts of information and perspectives. On the reader side, critical events—good or bad—make most people so emotional that they forget their scientific hats, leaving them vulnerable to ostensible propaganda over prolonged cementing of facts. This makes the whole damn publisher-reader dynamic a vicious cycle, where chasing hard facts from either end slows you down and out of people’s field of view. If only we accept a little delay in breaking news and reward patience, we could avoid so much noise and misinformation, a lot of which is irreversible even on long timescales. Instead, what we did was create a system that made everything more agonizing. It’s one thing to publish information on a website and let people consume it via organic shares, subscriptions, and (reverse) chronological feeds, but it’s completely another to instantly algorithmically amplify content created on a whim. Welcome to “modern” social media. What we’re really grappling with in terms of misinformation and its spread are but sides effects of three core attributes of these “modern” social networks: - make web publishing hyper instant - bring virtually every person in one massive digital square - leave amplification to the algorithm instead of people, meaning people’s emotions get tapped into primarily instead of their intellect Unless we solve for these at scale, I don’t see misinformation and its woes dwindling. When we want instant and maximum visibility for our posts, we can keep creating as many digital socials as we like but it won't solve the problem. At this point you can bet that it gets worse still. How we’ve been handling generative AI has added a fourth dreaded dimension to the whole issue, one not just of publishing misinformation at an unprecedented rate but so via authentic-seeming false identities. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fa5342308-a450-43d1-ac3a-29836eef35d5_1024x1024.jpg) [Image: Bing AI](https://www.bing.com/images/create/misinformation-on-social-media/654bc80e336745eeaa6fc26d6a6c8623?id=FgU0ux97GfZ6UfzlO%2bF1NA%3d%3d&view=detailv2&idpp=genimg&FORM=GCRIDP) ### Quotes to live by URL: https://journal.jatan.space/quotes-for-life/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:46:36.000Z Here are some words that have stuck with me. --- > Writing is the most radical thing you can do without money. – [Julian Shapiro](https://www.julian.com/) --- > No one human can fight a flawed system but only humans can fight the system. – [Mukunth](https://rootprivileges.net) --- > Tech enthusiasm is a rabbit hole. – [Rushabh Gala](https://rushabh.space) --- > Hope, such a deceptive little thing. – [Jyotsna Vibhuti](https://jojoperceives.wordpress.com) --- > Reading really calmed me down. – Dhanisha, a friend who shares the trait to that end. --- > With infinite curiosity, ascent never stops. – [Maciej Zborowski](https://twitter.com/SpaceMacSpiff) --- > Reading can seriously damage your ignorance. – Unknown --- > Words carry the weight of their past usage. – [Jamie Rumbelow](https://jamierumbelow.net) --- > An intimate relation is lost not in the most intense of fights but when you can no longer share a moment of joy. – Yours truly --- > Quit being so available. – Annie Mueller in [Big things and tiny things](https://anniemueller.com/big-things-and-tiny-things) --- > Look up and wonder, or we die. – Yours truly --- > People in bliss seldom think about the ones who aren’t. – Yours truly --- > Thank you for sharing your words with me. This is something a friend told me at the end of our first interaction, and it stuck. --- I add more quotes here as and when I find ones that feel just as intriguing or resonating. I’d [love to hear](https://jatan.space/connect) your most cherished words. ### Misinformation is a side effect of social media URL: https://journal.jatan.space/misinformation-side-effect-of-social-media/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T16:33:45.000Z Misinformation on social media is a grave issue. What we’re really grappling with are sides effects of three things: - making web publishing hyper instant - bringing virtually every person in one massive digital square - leaving amplification to the algorithm instead of just people, meaning people’s emotions will be tapped into primarily and not intellect Unless we solve for these at scale, I don’t see the problems dwindling. When we want instant visibility for our posts but also want to complain about misinformation or unfair engagement metrics, we can keep creating as many socials as we want but it won't solve the problem. How we’re handling generative AI adds a fourth dreaded dimension, one not just of misinformation but authentic sounding false identities. ### Less libraries and compounding cafés URL: https://journal.jatan.space/less-libraries-and-compounding-cafes/ Last updated: 2023-12-31T18:34:29.000Z In my long work trip at Bengaluru last month, finding quiet and cheap places to read and write from was challenging. After a string of hit-or-miss cafés, I found and worked from a [nearby public library](https://goo.gl/maps/TsDW2uuFVwLtcteXA). It was great. They provide ergonomic chairs and wide tables. There are also dedicated areas with sofas and low-height tables for leisurely reading. And every large, cross-ventilated room provides peace. All for free. It really made me wonder about how capitalist consumerism has left us with fewer and fewer public spaces to just exist in. “Work cafés” keep creeping in while tax-funded productive spaces decline. The former tend to be both noisy and expensive while the latter have neither by definition. What kind of a world are we building? What are we conditioning ourselves to? --- Aside: If I may complain about that particular library though, it would be that they don’t provide charging points or Wi-Fi. However, both these things could be worked around, and so for a free service I don’t see it as a bummer. I can even understand not wanting to provide free Wi-Fi but I do hope they consider charging points in the future. ### Why I got a double-walled steel mug URL: https://journal.jatan.space/cup-of-steel/ Last updated: 2024-11-09T11:21:01.000Z ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/coffee-in-a-double-walled-steel-cup.jpg) I purchased six double-walled steel cups three years ago, and I’ve never gone back to drinking things in ceramics or glass. Here’s why. 1. Even when my beverage is really hot, the cup’s insulating layer of air between its outer and inner steel wall makes things pleasant warm to hold on the outside. 2. The same design keeps the beverage inside hotter for longer. This is good if you’re a slow drinker, the kind who likes to sip and enjoy your beverage while working or relaxing. 3. For cold beverages such as cold coffee, the cold metal inner wall feels pleasant to the tongue. 4. A steel cup is child-proof. Adult-proof too. 5. No leaking liquids from the bottom of the cup, as is the case of ceramics. Avoid table and cloth stains by design. 6. It’s not gimmicky or at least not over-engineered like the active temperature control mugs. It just works passively on the reliable laws of physics. I dislike ceramics and glass because they’re fragile and thermally terrible. I don’t care that they look pretty. --- Aside: In August 2022, I stumbled upon a glass equivalent of the double-walled steel mug. This one could be a good middle ground for those who don’t find the look and feel of steel aesthetically appealing. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fc5989079-e7c6-4363-961b-a039ffd008c9_1400x1400-jpeg.jpg) ### Medium, Wordpress.com and social platforms are siloes you should try avoiding URL: https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos/ Last updated: 2024-06-07T10:15:59.000Z It’s fairly popular to write blog posts on [Medium](https://medium.com) or [WordPress.com](https://wordpress.com). As I argue in my post on [How to feel at home on the Internet](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain), that’s a good thing compared to posting on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or siloes alike. Unlike most social media platforms, blogs are largely standardized. This means you can fairly easily move your blog from one platform to another, should you ever want to or need to. The thoughts and things you have shared won’t die or become irrelevant along with the platform. Even if Wordpress.com or Medium happen to suspend your account, something Twitter [has always been doing a lot](https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/09/twitter-takes-actions-on-over-500-accounts-in-india-amid-government-warning), you can at least export your blog in a way understandable by another platform. You get to own your content on a blogging platform. But what about your relation with your readers and followers? Do you own that too? This is where Wordpress.com and Medium aren’t good options. ## Owning the connection to your audience If—nay—when Twitter shuts down or becomes irrelevant, you won’t be able to export and import your followers to your new chirp-site. Heck, you can’t even move your followers if you create a new account on Twitter itself. The same is true for nearly all social media platforms. The ethical socials of [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org) and [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog)—specifically its social component—are rare exceptions to this rule though their processes to retain your followers aren’t easily discoverable. Wordpress.com and Medium have unfortunately borrowed the anti-user trick from social platforms to lock-in your followers. Now, both platforms do provide email subscription options for your blog, meaning there’s an email followers list you can export any time. But it isn’t presented as a first class option to visitors. For example, for people logged into WordPress.com, the platform replaces the default email option with a “Follow” button, which is a separate list. Despite being the blog owner, you can’t export this list and so those followers are tied to your blog being on WordPress forever. Medium, on the other hand, displays but a small icon-only email subscription button besides the larger “Follow” one, which leads to much the same issue. Even if people click the email button, Medium asks them to create an account, something that isn’t really required for this functionality. Essentially, you’re semi-locked-in with regards to owning your relation with your followers when you use WordPress and Medium. I would know because I have my nearly 10K followers locked on Medium since three years now. It gets worse. Thanks to Medium’s [infamous algorithm](https://www.platformer.news/p/-the-mess-at-medium), almost all of these followers literally never see anything I publish on the platform. For the same reason, posting to alert my Medium followers to subscribe to my new blog didn’t work. This is why I’m now wholly invested in having a direct relationship with my readers based on open technologies that allow portability: Email and RSS. It’s also partially what made [Substack](https://substack.com/refer/jatanmehta) my blogging platform of choice since it allows people to [follow my blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs) using those two methods only. There’s no such thing as a “Substack account follow”, meaning my audience isn’t tied to the platform. Should I want or need to move my blog to another platform tomorrow, I can carry not just my content but also my current audience of about \~5000+ email subscribers and an estimated \~300+ RSS followers. Email lists can be exported and imported in a few clicks, and RSS feed links can be redirected in a few more. *Update in March 2024: Substack introduced a follow feature tied to the platform, and so I moved over my blogs to* [*Ghost*](https://ghost.org)*, exactly as I said I would right above.* ## What to do So what can you do if you’re blogging on Medium or WordPress.com and want to own your relationship with your audience? Since I advocate [not discouraging people](https://journal.jatan.space/substack-is-not-bad-for-blogging) from blogging on “non-ideal” platforms, I want to provide you with not just one solution but a few options, each of which could solve the problem for you. 1. Move your blog to [Substack](https://substack.com/refer/jatanmehta), [write.as](https://write.as), [Ghost](https://ghost.org) or any other platform which provides full audience portability. I recommend Substack because it’s the path of least resistance but other options are fine too. 2. Continue publishing on WordPress but move your blog from being hosted on WordPress.com to [any other easy to use hosting provider](https://www.wpbeginner.com/wordpress-hosting) to avoid audience lock-in. **Note:** There’s an issue with content formatting when moving from a WordPress blog regardless of where its hosted. Even though WordPress is open source and widely used, complex blog post layouts & formatting created with its new [Block Editor](https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor) won’t import reliably into other blogging platforms. So don’t use fancy formatting and presentation tools in your posts, unless you know they work well on other platforms too, to make your blog easily portable in the future. 3. Keep your Medium blog but not as your primary one. Copy over your blog from Medium as in point #1, and then crosspost articles to your Medium profile using their easy [Import tool](https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/214550207-Import-a-post). This way you can still benefit from Medium’s network effects—if that somehow works for you unlike in my case—while pointing people and search engines to your main blog as the prime location. If you need help moving your blog from Wordpress.com or Medium, feel free to contact me and I’ll try to guide you. I know some of my friends have blogs on these platforms and so if you’re reading this, you know what to do. ### Colored vs. underlined links, or why the latter is better URL: https://journal.jatan.space/colored-vs-underlined-links/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T15:14:06.000Z *A nice internet friend,* [*Kev Quirk*](https://kevquirk.com)*, recently resonated with this blog post of mine and* [*shared it*](https://kevquirk.com/underline-your-links) *with his readers. I figure this is a good time to remind my readers of the same, so here you go.* --- Colored text links on the Internet are popular. The familiar blue touted by a majority of hyperlinks on the Web [goes back to 1993](https://blog.mozilla.org/en/internet-culture/deep-dives/why-are-hyperlinks-blue). However, as the linked article explores, web links used to be underlined for a decade before they went blue. That was backwards. I think we should go back to having underlined links everywhere for several reasons. ## Clear communication Below is a screenshot of a paragraph from my [article on NASA’s TESS space telescope](https://jatan.space/nasa-tess-space-telescope), where I’ve changed the styling settings to display colored links. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f434dd92f-a552-4c76-ae58-1442643716a0_1500x340.jpg) Here’s the same paragraph with underlined links instead. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f9064bbfc-2255-4b7d-8485-a28e504763e0_1500x340.jpg) In the second view, you can clearly tell that “Earth-like” and “habitable worlds” link to distinct webpages whereas the first colored-links-only view would have you believe all three words point to the same webpage. This is a simple example but it’s not hard to imagine sentences with even four consecutive links. Of course, you could argue that hovering the cursor above the link(s) tells you if the colored words represent one or more links. But that’s an unnecessary workaround, not a solution. More importantly, the argument fails on mobile devices where there’s simply no hover state. Let’s not forget that mobile devices are where majority of the people browse the Internet from. Perhaps a better argument is that maybe having successive links in a sentence isn’t a good idea in the first place. But limiting how we write things just to avoid how we link things is a backward premise. Moreover, are we going to (be able to) convince millions of people to make sure not to put successive links in a sentence? Yeah, there’s no chance of that happening. ## Accessibility If you indicate links on your website or blog only with color, people who are color blind might either have a hard time recognizing the links or won’t at all depending on the contrast between the color and its background. But they won’t miss an underlined link. ## The finer things We should also consider readability. While it’s definitely an opinion, I think colored links take attention away from words and sentences, especially in link-busy articles full of references. On the other hand, underlined-only links nudge you enough to identify clickable text but otherwise minimally alter their look. Now let’s consider devices other than just Desktops PCs, laptops and smartphones. People reading your blog or article on an e-book device such as the Amazon Kindle, however rare that maybe, won’t see colored links at all! Most e-book and e-ink displays are black & white, and so underlined links are the only way to tell the reader “you can click me.” Much the same argument applies to printouts of articles, most of which are likely to be black & white instead of color. Of course, we can’t click links on physical sheets of paper (yet) but even knowing that there exists a reference in a particular statement you just read is better than not. ## Oh Wikipedia.. Even Wikipedia has stuck to using plain blue-only links since its existence. Below is a screenshot from [the TESS telescope’s Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transiting%5FExoplanet%5FSurvey%5FSatellite) demonstrating the link discoverability problem I explained above. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fb0852dcb-0d39-443f-b625-5894a8e43123_1200x140.jpg) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f274a9b0a-78da-4a84-bc91-91accd7bcc41_1206x129.jpg) Two distinct Wikipedia page links only become apparent as such after hovering on one of them. Unfortunately, such sentences are very common on Wikipedia. Circling back to my point about people reading things on e-devices, Wikipedia definitely fits that bill. There are dedicated projects that allow you to [download entire sections of Wikipedia for offline reading](https://library.kiwix.org/?lang=eng&category=wikipedia) on digital devices. Wikipedia itself offers a [book service](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Book&bookcmd=book%5Fcreator) for downloading a bunch of pages as PDFs and ebooks to read or print. And yet I failed to locate a toggle in Wikipedia’s preferences to make its links underlined. The only relevant thing Wikipedia offers is adding [custom CSS](https://www.w3schools.com/html/html%5Fcss.asp), which solves the problem for me at an individual level but isn’t a solution that will ever reach and thus benefit most people. Imagine my dread when I realize that the biggest encyclopedia in the world, choke full of links to other Wikipedia pages and references, not only doesn’t underline links by default but offers no easy way to do so either. **May 2023 update:* This article was published in February 2022, back when Wikipedia didn’t offer said option as I wrote. Recently though, Timo has* [*helpfully pointed out*](https://fosstodon.org/@krinkle/110372826341033447) *that Wikipedia now lets users have underlined links. To do that, visit “Preferences > Appearance > Underline links” via your Wikipedia profile.* ## What you can do I’m not a web designer or developer but I hope that I’ve offered a compelling argument in favor of underlined links from the perspective of an [Internet writer](https://jatan.space) and reader. I hope it convinces you to make links you control underlined. If you really dislike monotonous-looking text, you can style the links to be colored *and* underlined. I’m pretty happy that Substack, where my blogs currently live, offers a simple toggle in their Dashboard to switch styling of links. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f56c4d74e-0489-42bd-99a3-570a01b9c095_1160x180.jpg) I hope other blogging and website platforms offer the same. Even if they don’t, you can make your links underlined by learning to add some [custom CSS](https://www.w3schools.com/html/html%5Fcss.asp) to your site. Again, it isn’t an ideal solution scalable to everyone. But if you do so at a personal level, it will make reading easier for all your site visitors. ### Being able to watch a sunset URL: https://journal.jatan.space/being-able-to-watch-a-sunset/ Last updated: 2025-09-19T07:05:57.000Z To [Manu’s post](https://manuelmoreale.com/a-moment-on-the-lake), which says: > Sometimes a beautiful sunset on a lake is all it takes to be happy. The post reminded me of my article exploring the [possibilities of life on starless worlds](https://jatan.space/is-life-possible-on-rogue-planets). I can’t help but wonder about the incredible views they would miss. I’m fully aware I’m coming across as anthropocentric here but I’m a human after all. The serenity of sunsets and sunrises that our Earth and solar system are capable of producing really does make me happy. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/dusk-painting.jpg) Dusk at Suvarna river, Manipal, India ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/horizon-glow.jpg) Horizon glow ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/smudgy-sunset.jpg) A smudgy Sun about to set ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/tifr-colaba-sunset-2.jpg) A sunset’s glow over the Indian ocean ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/10/mumbai-sunset.jpg) Sunset at a beach in Mumbai ### A little bit about me as a human being URL: https://journal.jatan.space/this-human/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T15:11:37.000Z While I’m chiefly a [space writer](https://jatan.space/about), I also wanted to share with my internet friends what I’m simply like as a fellow person otherwise. First off, as you probably know, here’s me in my natural habitat—exploring corners of the Internet regardless of where I’m physically at. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/01/me-blogs-icon.png) Here’s what I look like as a human being in favorable lighting. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/01/me-monochrome.jpg) Below are some of my traits and idiosyncrasies. - I’m *asocial* i.e. not even introverted. Even with friends, I absolutely do not like the idea of meeting them often, talking on the phone frequently or for long even if infrequently, being part of chat groups, and so on. - Minimalist. - Love being [peak productive](https://journal.jatan.space/yes-and-no). - Can’t say no to tea and vada pav. - Have more blogs than (good) friends. - That being said, I’m truly grateful to the few people who decide to stick with me anyway. - Get really annoyed by nearly all animations and glittery nonsense on “modern” websites, apps and operating systems. I religiously disable every possible such thing. - How modern social networks are intentionally engineered to [exploit people’s behavior](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent) depresses me. - Love playing badminton. - Don’t like taking pictures of humans but love to snap things such as [intricate insects](https://journal.jatan.space/insects-of-jakkur) and [beautiful flowers](https://journal.jatan.space/flowers-at-iit-kanpur). The unadulterated joy of kids are an exception to the former. - I once [participated](https://journal.jatan.space/first-photoblogging-challenge) in a Photoblogging challenge. - Love having food at indie places, and prefer supporting them with my wallet rather than pleasing corporate franchises whenever possible. - Really like [double-walled steel cups](https://journal.jatan.space/cup-of-steel) for consuming beverages. - Incapable of posting even something casual in an unorganized way. That is all. ### Introducing a network for thoughtful conversations URL: https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk/ Last updated: 2024-03-28T07:21:06.000Z The quality of conversations on the Internet is terrible. Most platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, etc. [optimize for engagement](https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2018/07/27/attention-addiction/) as their key metric. This spawns and rewards behavior that leads to bragging of gameable metrics such as likes and followers, self-feeding thought bubbles, knee-jerk reactions, “if you’re not on our side, you’re on their side” mentality, and thought policing even by people who think they’re fighting for a good cause. Today’s Internet doesn’t incentivize healthy conversations. This isn’t a novel observation. Nevertheless, the problem seems to be getting worse by the day. For a while now, I’ve been honing an idea of a new kind of network that I believe is *a solution* to the problem. A tool, specifically, that facilitates advancing conversations. I’m calling it LinkTalk. ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/03/linktalk-icon.png) Mediocre quality logo for LinkTalk made by yours truly. Individual elements derived from freely reusable images [1](https://thenounproject.com/term/chat/3442727/), [2](https://thenounproject.com/term/chat/3449530/), [3](https://pixabay.com/vectors/web-address-website-internet-1873373/), [4](https://thenounproject.com/term/link/3486558/), [5](https://thenounproject.com/term/link/3775410/) and [6](https://thenounproject.com/term/link/448772/). **LinkTalk** is a platform where you can only post links. You can’t caption your post or write any introductory text. None. To respond to a link, you post another link. This is how we can have debates, rebuttals, curated streams of links on topics, and more. That’s it, that’s the core idea. Converse in links. While I’m primarily thinking of links as in blog posts, articles, and research papers, other mediums of disseminating information such as podcasts and videos are also welcome. Let me address the obvious question upfront: If people can’t write *any text* in posts, how will others know what to expect from the shared link? You must have noticed when you share a link anywhere, most networks and messaging apps autogenerate a link preview. This includes a title, often a subtitle or lead text, and a thumbnail. That is sufficient information when a user views a link on LinkTalk, with the title being the key. The goal is to make people click links and consume them, not look for (often inaccurate) TLDRs in the comments section. Besides, Twitter and other networks already exist so there’s little point in not breaking some notions to test new waters. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f709661c1-a884-4d86-bffd-abcee3cdb39d_1510x610.jpg) An example of an auto-generated link preview by blogs, social networks, and messaging apps. Now come the juicy bits. What follows is my initial ideation of the specific mechanics and incentive structure of LinkTalk. ## Legit links How do we get people to post legitimate links on the network and not just links to tweets, GIFs, or spam in general? I have no technical knowledge of how such things work at an implementation level but three things come to my mind that could act as a baseline posting filter. 1. The system will check if the link being submitted has an associated [RSS feed](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss), particularly one with an explicit title field instead of just a date, and only then allow posting it. Blogs, many research journals, YouTube channels, and podcasts have RSS feeds to aid reading and distribution, whereas things like tweets, Instagram photos, and LinkedIn posts don’t. So that’s a natively available filter on the web for us to utilize. 2. Of course, an RSS filter would catch only some unwanted links. After all, RSS is a versatile beast also used for things like [tracking changes in Wikipedia pages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Syndication). So the next step would be to maintain a blacklist that disallows posting links from unwanted websites in the context of the network. 3. While we’re on this topic, let’s also disallow URL shortening services. Users should be able to clearly see which website they’re heading to. If needed, the URL un-shortening can be baked into the service so users don’t need to care for it. Needless to say, it’d require quite a bit of work to even make and maintain such a blacklist but my hope is that these filters block a reasonable amount of spam. But since I have no knowledge of these things at a technical level, including how to handle [bot problems](https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/twitter-misinformation-bots-regulation/), an expert needs to chime in here. ## Reactions People consuming links on LinkTalk need to be able to react in some way, typically to weight on or against a link’s quality. I imagine implementing this differently than the usual mechanisms of likes, retweets or shares. Each link could show the following buttons to vote on: - Good link - Bad link - Disproved - It’s complicated People can vote links as good and bad the usual way—just select your reaction. But when a user selects any of the other two reactions, they are required to post a reply link. So when you click “Disproved” on a link someone posted, you need to reply with a link that you think proves it wrong. If you think a link has many gray areas or caveats, use “It’s complicated” to reply with a link that justifies your reaction. The benefit of such a mechanism is clear. For every user that strongly disagrees with a post or thinks they know more about a matter, the system helps others ride along by having the relevant information available by design. **Displaying reactions** An interesting divergence in displaying reactions on LinkTalk from other networks is it wouldn’t show how many and which reactions a link got until you vote yourself. This is similar to how polls work. Let’s accept it, most people on social networks upvote content only because 100, 1,000 or 50,000 people already liked it. This is the self-feeding bubble we want to break by having people realize their honest opinion first. Also, a post view on LinkTalk will always show vote count for each reaction separately. This is to avoid giving the impression that a cumulative score of say, +50, somehow makes the thing purely positive. This will help maintain some nuance, which is the easiest thing to get lost on “modern” networks. ## Following, not followers The network effect is real. An account with over 10,000 followers has their content better heard overall than one with 500, no matter what they’re saying. People also tend to follow people who have a large following over those who don’t—another vicious loop. So on LinkTalk, each profile would only show who they’re following, not who or how many are following them. This should incentivize people to find more people they actually want to follow, and not get hung up on a popularity contest. This concept is borrowed from [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog), a platform with some neat ideas. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f4fe649b6-d107-4c90-a51f-c2e5d2ab4a36_1746x658.jpg) An example of a profile bio on [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog/). Note how it only shows the “Following” info, not “Followers”. ## Replies You can reply to a posted link with another on LinkTalk, even if you don’t *react* to said link. Each reply post has all the same properties as a regular one so it can be reacted and replied to the same way. Conversations can thus happen in multiple threads to as many levels as the replies go. The idea with replies on the network is that you either find a good link to reply with or write one of your own, which is where the next feature comes in. ### Reply by writing a blog post When you hit reply on LinkTalk, other than allowing you to post a link, you can initiate a new blog post via a button. This will open a new post editor on your blog, which you may have connected to via your account settings or during onboarding. If multiple blogs are connected, you can choose which one to reply with. I think this is good for two reasons. First, writing a blog post requires a more nuanced mindset than impulsively replying on traditional social platforms. Second, even if the blog post’s response length is a mere 100-200 words, it’s fine. Since the response will go as a post on *your blog*, you’ll be more mindful of what you write for your readers, readers which are more invested in you than a passive social media follower. I think this feature is a good way to incentivize the largely lost culture of blogging while keeping conversation quality in check. With this feature, LinkTalk also incentivizes you to [own your thoughts on the Internet](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain) via your blog, unlike the pseudo-ownership that social networks provide. Besides, it has never been easier to start and write a blog. ## Extending to the Web LinkTalk seems relatively simple in terms of the number of things it needs to host a conversation. So why even limit it to a website? There are two ways I imagine sensibly extending LinkTalk. 1. If site owners want, the comments section on webpages could host a tab for LinkTalk integration. People can then react and reply directly from a webpage. This tab could also show any existing replies to the link on the network. To integrate LinkTalk into a website, a mechanism similar to commenting systems like [Disqus](https://disqus.com/) could be used. 2. A browser extension, similar to [Reddit Checker](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/reddit-checker/), when clicked could show a list of LinkTalk submissions of the webpage you’re visiting, either as a shared post or a reply. It could also allow you to share the link on the network yourself or reply to it without leaving the page. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ff44320ea-880b-4bb4-81f7-9e5e6717b7e0_461x455.jpg) A LinkTalk browser extension could display a list of who submitted the webpage link you’re on, similar to the [Reddit Checker](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/reddit-checker/) extension shown here. With these two extensions of LinkTalk, having conversations and finding them can happen organically on the open web, and not inside application silos. Unlike other networks, there’s not much incentive here to keep you on the network’s website. If anything, the more of the open web you explore, the more likely you are to add value to the network. So tools like these actually align the incentive structure more tightly to the core idea—better quality conversations on the Internet. I have considered making LinkTalk federated so that people can spin their own, independent instances rather than have a centralized one like Twitter. But seeing the unfortunately subpar user experience of [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/), and its [moderation issues](https://nolanlawson.com/2018/08/31/mastodon-and-the-challenges-of-abuse-in-a-federated-system/), I’m not convinced about federation being a net positive in this context. Said that, I’m no expert and could be wrong. ## For writers, creators and publishers Having many keen readers on a platform that incentivizes thoughtful conversations can be a great opportunity for writers, creators and publishers to find more people interested in their work, and also ones more likely to stick around. But people who spend most of their time creating often do not, or cannot, spend enough time sharing and marketing their work. This is why LinkTalk will offer an auto-share option after you connect your blog. When enabled, every new blog post you publish will get automatically shared to your profile feed on the network, and thus appear in your followers’ non-algorithmic feeds. However, automated sharing can easily turn a network into a spam factory, much like all of social media. This is why automated sharing would be enabled only after a profile has been manually vetted. It will also require domain or email authentication via your blog or website so only site owners can autoshare. ## Slow, deliberately so At this point, it should be clear that LinkTalk discourages quick responses. While its tools are made to incentivize and accelerate a deliberate response itself, the network can, by definition, never be as spontaneous as Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and the rest. Again, there would be little point if LinkTalk didn’t try to do something substantially different than already existing networks. Said that, I do think LinkTalk has some resemblance to email conversations in terms of the mindset it places you in. Email conversations tend to be thoughtful because a) their asynchronicity allows for deliberation, b) they serve an established purpose of mutual benefit, and c) there’s incentive to not lose the other person’s interest. LinkTalk’s incentive structure positions it to benefit from such virtues, and potentially amplify them with the power of the open web. ## Closing thoughts So that was my first concept of a new kind of tool that encourages and rewards thoughtful conversations on the Internet, or so I hope. I will make additions or changes to this blog post as my thoughts refine and people provide feedback. There are certainly many elements of the network I haven’t touched on yet, such as the timeline, search and discovery, mentions, moderation ([which is no joke](https://stratechery.com/2019/a-framework-for-moderation/)), and much more. While I do have some more ideas to expand LinkTalk, I stop here for now. The more quantifiable elements you introduce to a network, the more it can be, and is, gamed. As such, any change or addition to the core idea of LinkTalk must be considered with caution—better to be safe than sorry, right? At the same time, I’m sure that LinkTalk has its own demons, which would likely only be apparent and addressable if and when the network takes off. I don’t consider, or even intend, LinkTalk to be the ultimate solution for online conversations. It’s supposed to be a new tool that solves some problems better than other tools. If LinkTalk increases discourse quality for even relatively small communities compared to large social networks, I’d consider it a success. Now comes the bad news. I’m not going to build LinkTalk. Not now, not anytime in the near future. It’s not that I don’t care enough for what it intends to solve but I care even more about spending my inherently limited time and bandwidth spreading the purpose of exploring space and our Moon, a journey I have [barely begun](https://jatan.space/about). Part of the reason I’m sharing the core idea of LinkTalk as this public blog post is that if it turns out to be good one, it shouldn’t remain locked with me. That’s the least I can do. My hope is that someone at some point builds LinkTalk or something similar (and hopefully credits me). At its worst, it would be a successful experiment. What I’m open to though is working on a small proof-of-concept with an interested person or a group of people. If you’re passionate about the same problem as I am, reach out to me with your background, your interest in the matter, and how and why do you think we should work together. --- *Post originally published in 2021, refined in 2022.* ### How I got my space blog listed on Google News URL: https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-got-my-blog-listed-on-google-news/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T15:08:22.000Z A lot of people have asked me lately how I got [my space blog](https://jatan.space/about) listed on Google News. Doing so has enhanced the distribution of [my articles](https://jatan.space/tag/articles) and the [Moon Monday newsletter](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday) on Google Search and News as well as other channels like the Discover feed on Android and Chrome. For a creator who [isn’t active on social media](https://journal.jatan.space/leaving-social-media), organic traffic sources like Google are important for my work to reach more people. And Google News in particular has been the largest such driver. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f4e18083a-ebe9-4b36-a6fc-d53559a69fd9_1656x1296.jpg) My space blog on Google News So how did I submit my space blog to Google News? Given below are all the steps. These apply specifically to Substack, since that’s where my site is, but the steps are generally valid for other blogging platforms as well. This is not intended to be a tutorial, and I can’t handle many support requests (sorry), so I’m only listing high-level steps and trust that you’ll search your way through the finer things. 1. Make sure that your blog or newsletter’s content is actually news-related either directly or at least tangentially. If only some of your sections or categories are newsy, then submit just those. This isn’t a hard rule—and I’ve seen publications on Google News that have nothing to do with news—but it’s better to avoid your site from getting unnecessarily penalized in search results. 2. [Setup a custom domain](https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051222571-How-do-I-set-up-my-custom-domain-) for your Substack publication. Note that Substack charges $50 for enabling the feature but it’s [worth it for your blog’s portability and branding](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain). In fact, most popular blogging systems charge yearly for mapping custom domains so the one-time $50 cost of Substack is actually cheaper on average. 3. Once your site is up and running on a custom domain, you should now see an option called “Google Site Verification” in your Substack Dashboard > Settings. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f9b1fafee-2461-4bc5-9e4d-ceb98b64f24a_1688x1076.jpg) 1. Sign into [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console/about) and add your site. At this point, Google will provide you with a “meta tag” option to verify your site. Copy-paste its code into the “Google Site Verification” input field shown in Step 3, and click Save. Once done, come back to Search Console to complete the verification. 2. Visit Google’s [Publisher Center](https://publishercenter.google.com) and click on “Add Publication”. Follow all the [steps to submit your site](https://support.google.com/news/publisher-center/topic/9545396?hl=en&ref%5Ftopic=9604348). - One of these steps is adding your site’s RSS feed, which is how Google would know of newly published stories on your site. Each Substack’s RSS feed lives at “/feed”—append the same at the end of your site’s homepage link. For example, my space blog is at “” so my RSS feed is at “”. Accordingly, add the RSS feed for your site. - What about submitting RSS feeds for your sections or categories? Substack has those too! Albeit they’re not as intuitive to figure out. For example, my Moon Monday newsletter section on the blog is at “” and its RSS feed is at “”. You can similarly get RSS feeds for your other sections and add them to your Google News publisher application as relevant. 3. Wait patiently. In my experience, Google can take anywhere between 15 days to two months to approve your publication’s application. If they reject it, they usually provide a reason, which you can then look into and solve if addressable. 4. Even after your publication is approved on Google News, you won’t suddenly see more traffic flowing in. Google can take months to start “trusting” your publication. Eventually, at least some traffic will come. That’s it. Again, sorry that I can’t help with detailed personal support but I hope you find these brief steps useful and that your publication gets the traffic it deserves without losing your sanity to social media. ### Patreon cuts deep inside creators’ pockets URL: https://journal.jatan.space/patreon-cuts-deep/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:58:53.000Z I recently requested my Patreon supporters to move their patronage to [my Donorbox](https://donorbox.org/moonmehta) so I can avoid Patreon’s high platform fees. Lately I came to realize that the actual cut Patreon takes from us creators is far higher than the [cleverly advertised](https://www.patreon.com/pricing) \~8-10%, which isn’t low to begin with. For example, there are additional charges for [non-US PayPal payments](https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/203913489-What-are-my-options-to-receive-payout-) as well as separate [currency conversion](https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044469871) fees that are mysteriously high at 2.5%. Patreon [sells the latter](https://blog.patreon.com/growing-your-membership-globally) to creators as a “feature” that can help get more patrons. Well, at least I haven’t noticed any change in the rate of new patrons in the nearly one year I've had the feature turned on. When considering all factors, including standard payout processing fees, the real cut incurred by a creator on Patreon is often a stark \~14-17% depending on the exact scenario. This is too high for a platform essentially only acting as a middle manager for supporting recurring payments. So I looked into switching my account to [Patreon Lite](https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360027702972-What-is-Patreon-Lite-), which has lower base fees. But doing so strips away every bit of useful functionality, including being able to offer multiple donation levels. On Lite, I can’t even decide how much to ask from my readers by default, presumably because lower support amounts [result in higher fees](https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024952552-Patreon-Creator-Plans#payment%5Fprocessing). Like everyone else, I thought that being on Patreon could help [my work](https://jatan.space/about) reach more people and get more patrons due to its network effects and brand trust. But that’s clearly not the case in any way. Patreon has never advertised small, niche creators like me either via their social channels or the non-existential discovery mechanisms on their network. It’s been disappointing and deceitful. So about a year ago I started offering [my Donorbox](https://donorbox.org/moonmehta)as the primary, preferred way for readers to support my work. [Donorbox](https://donorbox.org) has a 5x lower base fee, and all additional charges are [transparently conveyed](https://donorbox.org/pricing). If you’re supporting a creator on Patreon, it might be worth taking the time to [cancel your support](https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005502572-How-to-cancel) for them there and continue with another better option they might be offering. You’ll be paying the same amount but the creator you’re supporting will get more out of it due to lower fees. *Edit: This post* [*made it to the front page*](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31788923) *of Hacker News. Many creators agreed and shared similar issues, and many interesting discussions are also on there on what might be happening on the infrastructure end behind the scenes.* ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f1a8cedbf-b627-4d2c-9dc7-9c2db1daa673_1600x1000.jpg) Image asset credits: [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/brand) / [Elionas](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ban-shield-traffic-street-sign-1345887). Image: Jatan Mehta ### Blogs by female authors that I like URL: https://journal.jatan.space/female-author-blogs-i-like/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T16:23:46.000Z Colin Walker [recently listed](https://colinwalker.blog/?date=2022-03-08#p2) blogs by female authors he reads, so as to promote diversity and improve representation of voices on the Web. It’s a nice idea, and so I replied there with a quick list of my own. But I think it deserves a proper blog post to a wider audience. So here are blogs and article spaces by female authors I like, presented in no particular order. People mentioned only by their first names are ones I know personally and consider friends. - [Space articles](https://www.tanyaharrison.com/writing) by Tanya Harrison - [Climate Change](https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/sarah-kaplan) by Sarah Kaplan - [Space and planetary science articles](http://alexandrawitze.com) by Alexandra Witze - [Muktapravah](https://muktapravah.wordpress.com/) by Gauri - [Space Policy Online](https://spacepolicyonline.com) by Marcia Smith - [Planetary exploration](https://www.lakdawalla.com/emily/blog-patreon) by Emily Lakdawalla - [Life, Art & More](https://irynavakulyk.art/blog) by Ira - [Space coverage](https://payloadspace.com/author/rachael-zisk) by Rachael Zisk - [Moon Wonk](https://moonwonk.substack.com/archive) by Jessy Kate Schingler - [Vintage Space](https://amyshirateitel.medium.com) by Amy Shira Teitel - [Environmental stories](https://aathiraperinchery.contently.com) by Aathira Perinchery - [Space opinion stories](https://www.theatlantic.com/author/marina-koren) by Marina Koren - [Not Controversial](https://niacarnelio.substack.com/archive) by Nia Carnelio I’ll admit that this is unfortunately a very small list. Especially when considering that there are more blogs by male authors in just *one category folder* on my RSS reader than this overarching list. Not only we must together create an environment where more non-male authors can blog, express and feel heard but I must personally do better in my curation too. Nevertheless, I do hope you like some blogs on this list. If you’d like to share more such blogs you like, I’d love to hear from you. If you’re a non-male friend I’ve been pestering to start a blog, you know what to do. :) ### I participated in a Photoblogging Challenge! URL: https://journal.jatan.space/first-photoblogging-challenge/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:57:41.000Z [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog), a micro-blogging platform as well as a nice little community of bloggers, hosted its [latest Photoblogging Challenge](https://micro.welltempered.net/2022/04/30/134700.html) this May. I didn’t take part in their [October 2021 Challenge](http://micro.blog/discover/mboct/grid) but this time I was in the mood to give it a shot. The idea is simple: there are community-suggested prompts selected for each day of the month, and you have to post a related picture on that day. Since this was my first time ever participating in any such challenge, I only posted pictures for prompts I could with relative ease and didn’t mind missing the rest. ## Day 5: Earth ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5a932c6c-9455-4a12-b0b0-ad8da57316a1_2133x1600-jpeg.jpg) Here’s a little bit of Earth in the literal senses of two meanings of the word. The (for now) root of all our homes. Picture taken at Ooty. ## Day 6: Silhouette ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f61e81320-acfa-463d-a5d5-79ca81348046_2400x1800-jpeg.jpg) Dusk at Suvarna river, Manipal, India ## Day 12: Tranquility ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f64ce3b58-2c85-4002-8dff-b2707d0bac5d_2059x1600-jpeg.jpg) I love Indian tea (minus the excess sugar). Boiling tea grains brings out a certain strong flavor that dip tea or any other form simply doesn’t. Milk adds smoothness. My two boosts of tranquil thinking a day. ## Day 13: Community ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd66ca4c7-4530-4944-94fd-ee972e5d787d_2500x1600-jpeg.jpg) Still vividly remember [my first in-person rocket launch](https://jatan.space/i-saw-a-rocket-launch)—India’s Chandrayaan 2 mission in 2019\. 5,000 people in one place representing the Indian space community’s enthusiasm about exploring space and our Moon for science and a better tomorrow. ## Day 15: Clouds ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fb66618ce-bf63-48a9-acbd-212dd171326c_4032x3024-jpeg.jpg) Cloudy with a chance of landing ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f795401f1-5f1a-4482-94f8-5ae1285d16a0_2250x3000-jpeg.jpg) ## Day 16: Time ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fa29c456d-3281-4eb3-83a1-1c1e0d59d69a_2500x1481-jpeg.jpg) What [persevering through time can do](https://jatan.space/my-science-writing-journey). If I can become an independent writer in the niche field of space exploration, sitting in India, I genuinely believe anyone else can do anything equivalent too. ## Day 19: Indulgence ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fbaa4496d-3325-4fae-babc-a7313af9631c_2000x2000-jpeg.jpg) ## Day 20: Beverage ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f1b5bbff4-2d30-4cde-b80e-311315d607cb_2000x2000-jpeg.jpg) The tranquility of a beverage isn’t just about what’s in it but what holds it too. Thanks to [double-walled steel cups](https://journal.jatan.space/cup-of-steel), I’m never going back to drinking in ceramics or glass. ## Day 21: Symmetry ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fa00b63e7-f1eb-4765-a48b-62df880efe47_3000x2200-jpeg.jpg) A Gazania flower from the [beautiful bunch at IIT Kanpur](https://journal.jatan.space/flowers-at-iit-kanpur) ## Day 24: Intricate *This prompt was* [*suggested by me*](https://challenges.micro.blog/2022/05/21/091501.html)*!* ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2ffe5859ef-031b-42fc-b7da-754a810d86df_1713x3046-jpeg.jpg) A crushable aluminum-honeycomb structure that gets compressed in the legs of [Moon-landing spacecraft](https://blog.jatan.space/p/nasa-clps-moon-missions) during touchdown to absorb impact forces. ## Day 25: Mountain ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fef7eae87-9e0c-491c-84d0-a94dd305a070_1980x1500-jpeg.jpg) A rubble-pile mountain from somewhere in South India (I was in a train) ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f95bb2410-7401-461d-bd4f-6282cf6b9176_1641x985-jpeg.jpg) I nominated this incredible picture of the [central peak](http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/384) of [Tycho crater](https://jatan.space/tycho-crater-mountain) taken by NASA’s LRO spacecraft. Also read [how Moon mountains form](https://jatan.space/exploring-moon-mountains). ## Day 26: Schedule ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5c399282-623b-4d9a-8bb5-1d42b0110780_1500x800-jpeg.jpg) What showing up every Monday can do. These are the stats for my [Moon exploration newsletter](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday). I know this is humble growth but for a niche creator who doesn’t make videos or podcasts and only writes, I’m happy. ## Day 28: Fair ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f1826b9fa-9d58-464a-9181-f28da3555993_2000x1500-jpeg.jpg) It’s remarkable how much infrastructure is required to ensure crowds don’t rush into trains and keep things fair. The second metro in my city has doors on stations too. ## Day 31: Endurance *This prompt was* [*suggested by me*](https://challenges.micro.blog/2022/05/30/the-prompt-for.html) *as well.* ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f8953f5f8-5560-42ec-bc28-2fc53c267dd2_1000x750-jpeg.jpg) “Endurance” may not be your first thought when you see a damselfly but this species has been around for over 100 million years—from when the dinosaurs ruled Earth to now when humans do. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f8f67879d-ecf9-4bda-8a4d-3692c0aeab5e_1600x1400-jpeg.jpg) Pictures from the [intriguing insects I came across in Bangalore](https://journal.jatan.space/insects-of-jakkur) That’s all folks! Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I know I had fun posting them. You can browse all photos posted by all participants in the Micro.blog May Photoblogging challenge on a cool grid at [micro.blog/discover/mbmay/grid](http://micro.blog/discover/mbmay/grid). Some of them are really creative. ### Yes and No URL: https://journal.jatan.space/yes-and-no/ Last updated: 2024-08-23T11:46:25.000Z Many people have asked me lately how do I publish many quality, long articles each month while also being organized in several other aspects of my life. Well, I’m certainly not ultra-productive like many amazing humans of the world so I’ve developed a binary model that I think helps me be more productive than most. The idea is simple: If indulging in something is positive long-term, repeatedly keep trying to do that over things that provide instant gratification but aren’t healthy in the long run. So here’s a simple **Yes and No** page, partly inspired by [Julian’s website](https://www.julian.com/about), that reflects my priorities, and captures my life philosophy in general. Don’t judge. Instead, take from it what you can. ## Yes - **Read articles** instead of browsing posts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any social media. - [**Write blogs**](https://jatan.space/blogs)instead of frequently tweeting or posting on social media. - **Respond,** don’t react. Whenever possible, I iterate on my reaction to something important for 12-24 hours before talking about it. Applies to work emails too. - **Rest, chat, walk, or sleep** instead of binge watching movies, shows, or TV. I only watch any of the latter things when I’m eating, with rare exceptions for movies. - **Use** [**RSS/Feed Readers**](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss) to follow websites and blogs, instead of getting news and information from Google, Facebook, or Twitter, who serve biased thought bubbles to drive engagement for ads, not expand your horizons. An RSS/feed reader also allows me to keep track of more than 150 sites with incredible efficiency. I use the amazing [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com) as my reader and highly recommend it. - **Apple Mac and iPhone** instead of Windows/Linux and Android respectively. It’s a pragmatic choice to strike a balance between an excellent user experience, [safeguarding my digital privacy](https://journal.jatan.space/arguments-for-digital-privacy), and not wasting my time fiddling with endless toggles, or obsessing over ideologies. - **Say no to people.** Social and professional connections aren’t always a positive. They can be a real drag if you try to stay nice to them all the time. - [**Reader- and sponsor-supported**](https://jatan.space/support) **writing** over ads or tracking. It’s the right thing to do, and it incentivizes me to produce better quality writing. - **Minimal (modern) lifestyle** needs in general. Good for me, and Earth. - **Pay for quality digital work**, especially by indie folks. Demanding that everything on the Internet be free is ridiculous, and won’t sustain good things. - **Domains and websites** instead of using closed platforms for sharing my work and thoughts so I can [own my digital identity](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain). - **Tea or Coffee** instead of alcohol, smoking, or cold drinks. - **Poems and cards** instead of giving material gifts of consumerism. - **Memes** that are snarky or [wholesome](https://www.reddit.com/r/wholesomememes/), but not outright disrespectful or low effort. I even make [original space memes](https://jatan.space/space-memes). - **Pizzas, Subway sandwiches, and Vada Pavs** because a human needs to be happy. ## No *Note: I’m only human, so I’m not always successful in not doing these things but the binary system keeps me on track overall.* - **Digital nonsense:** A modern phone is a stress-giving machine that wants to grab my attention all the time. Here’s how I deal with it. **Just say no to:** - **Notifications and badges:** My default is to deny notifications of any kind to all apps except communication aspects of critical work or social apps. Even then, I keep sound, vibration, and banner pings off. - **Apps:** Most services have perfectly functional websites. Installing apps for almost everything would mean I’m giving them increasing opportunities to indulge me. I only keep about 20-25% of the apps people typically do on average. - **Read receipts:** For most things, it doesn’t matter if and when someone reads my message. People will reply anyway if and when they want to. Read receipts are stress builders, and enable others to interrogate me about the most mundane things, so I just turn them off wherever possible. - **Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,** or any network that makes me a slave of the [attention economy](https://journal.jatan.space/an-internet-without-intent), and is actively against an [Open Web](https://indieweb.org/). - **Activities. Don’t indulge in:** - **Being awake overnight:** I’m not a kid anymore, shouldn’t mess with the biological system in the name of fun. - **Shopping and discount-buying:** Consumerism exists to keep selling me stuff. By falling for discount shopping, I’ll spend more for things I likely didn’t need in the first place, one after another. The trick is to simply not shop generally, and set spare spending limits for when I do. - **Long novels,** to avoid indulging in an eerily specific work that has little lifetime value to me beyond gratification in the present. - **Games,** to avoid seeking life satisfaction in virtual realities. Only exceptions are games played in small social groups. - **Complaining or feeling bad** about (impartial) successes of others. - **Videos and podcasts** to consume information. They’re great mediums for many things, including entertainment, but are [fundamentally poor](https://journal.jatan.space/podcasts-vs-articles) for referencing, quoting, or looking up specific information. This is a hill I’m willing to die on. - **Writing in the passive voice:** [Unlearning academic writing](https://journal.jatan.space/unlearn-academic-writing), which is unnecessarily complex, was one of the best things I did in life. - **Calling:** I prefer text for most communications as it can be silent and asynchronous, and doesn’t abruptly demand my undivided attention. - **Birthdays, anniversaries,** and all such days of social celebration with little meaning to me. Besides, these days people connect with hundreds of people, which means everyday it will be someone’s birthday, anniversary, or whatnot. - **Privacy-invading software;** use any sane [pro-privacy ones](https://journal.jatan.space/privacy-apps-that-just-work) instead. I also default to not providing any app permissions to most apps unless it absolutely blocks a core function. Much the same for giving away private information to services. - **Generalizing and stereotyping:** This isn’t fully possible. I’m as flawed a human as any, constrained by my experiences and upbringing. But I try to avoid actively generalizing and stereotyping people and their communities. - **Telling bad things** to people during or after conflicts. Instead, I’m learning to say why something didn’t work *for me*. Dragging conflicts is a persistent brain drain. ## Never *These “Nos” I’ve been successful at never doing. So I’m putting them in a hall of fame for a little self pat on the back. :)* - **Write clickbait articles**. It’s harder to avoid than it may seem. - **Celebrity** *anything* - **WhatsApp forwards**, reading or sending them. - **Astrology, Homeopathy or any Pseudoscience** - **Nationalism** - **Fanboy-ism** of any person, company, product, or brand. Successful at not doing it since becoming a working adult. --- I hope this binary system helps you be more productive. I will update this blog post as and when I remember more things or develop new habits. If you create such a list too, I’d like it if you share it with me. ### Why do you need (my) Instagram? URL: https://journal.jatan.space/say-no-to-instagram/ Last updated: 2025-09-20T16:28:25.000Z I was a panelist at an event in my city yesterday on space writing & journalism. It was nice, with lots of enthusiastic folks in the audience who had some good questions. However, literally everyone who engaged with me was trying to search my profile on Instagram. When they found out I don’t exist on the platform, they were startled. This was the case even after the session, where my blog was explicitly introduced and talked about! It’s the latest example of people just not understanding that they can simply follow [my space blog](https://jatan.space/about) directly, [without a controlling actor](https://journal.jatan.space/leaving-social-media) in between. Not only was trying to follow me on Instagram their first instinct, exactly zero of them followed my space blog. Why is everyone obsessed with following people on a big social drug platform of their choice and that alone? A friend mentioned they were just “curious about my life” i.e. they wanted to stalk me. Yeah, good luck with that. Okay, but why am I not on Instagram? “Despite being a science communicator”, one person at the event pointed out. Well, for one, Instagram isn’t where my actual “content” is. My *writing* lives on my blogs and the publications I write for, not in the meager post descriptions of a platform that [won’t even allow](https://journal.jatan.space/never-link-to-instagram) me to link to my articles. Even if I wanted to, the nature of my work automatically implies an impossibility of existing as original posts on Instagram. For example, any of my [Moon Monday newsletters](https://jatan.space/tag/moon-monday) or [‘popular science’ articles](https://jatan.space/tag/articles) contains at least a dozen links as references and citations. There’s no way you can replicate that in an Instagram post. Or even a YouTube video for that matter. People frequently tell me that I’m not supposed to use Instagram that way or how it can be a mere tool to direct people to my blog. I’ve already addressed in a previous article how [the latter argument is ineffective and unethical](https://journal.jatan.space/never-link-to-instagram) in the context of Instagram so let me add a lesser known personal point. I used to have an active presence on Instagram for a couple of years. When I reviewed my space blog stats to see where my subscribers are coming from, as I do at the end of every year, Instagram had literally just gotten me two (friend) subscriptions in those two years. I’ve also previously handled Instagram accounts for a tech company and a research institute, each with large follower counts. Their conversion stats weren’t very different either. I’ve heard similarly low conversion rates from many of my creator or “influencer” friends, including for companies they work for. Instagram has built the biggest, most efficient walled garden of all, to limit the ability of people to leave the platform and its feeds. If you’re a creator, you should analyze your work and goals to see if Instagram is actually as effective as you perceive it to be, and re-consider the sheer amount of time you put into it. There’s a good chance you’ll find that you aren’t growing but getting increasingly stuck. Coming to the social factor, I also hate how shallow people are when on Instagram, or rather how the platform’s [attention-economy-based business](https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2018/07/27/attention-addiction) exploits people’s instincts at a fundamental level to make them behave that way. Even browsing posts there depresses me so why on Earth would I willingly submit myself to its (intentionally) infinite stream of manipulative popularity contests? Lastly, I’m asocial. I simply have no interest in interacting with most people. I have a few friends and I’m happy to connect with them personally and directly. Neither of us need to see each other’s Instagram stories and reply—*nay, pseudo-react*—just to show that we care. So yeah, screw Instagram. Sometimes I legit hate living in this time. I often think about how 31st century civilization will consider the Internet we use as the utterly barbaric Web. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f822c7623-36a2-4845-b08b-4adc0f489f70_1600x1000.jpg) Say no to Instagram and its hostility towards being human. Credits: [Memed\_Nurrohmad](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/instagram-logo-icon-pictogram-flat-1882330/) / [Elionas](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ban-shield-traffic-street-sign-1345887/) / Jatan Mehta ### On having a barebones website URL: https://journal.jatan.space/having-a-barebones-website/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T16:21:21.000Z This has been my website since over three months now: [![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f932bed2c-4d7a-44e3-84e9-e2b638635567_1245x900.png)](https://jatan.space/) [****jatan.space**](https://jatan.space) A friend looked at it and said, “There’s nothing in here.” Actually, there’s everything in there that needs to be. As a writer, what better function could my website serve than lead people to my words? Why would I include social media icons when my actual work lives on my two linked blogs? Why display options to follow my blogs when you haven’t even read a thing yet? Along the same lines, what’s the point of having a Donate link here? Why show a brief bio when the text on blog buttons suffice? Any of these relevant pieces of information and actions already exist in contextually relevant places on my blogs in as much detail and nuance as needed. Sure, many people will simply not explore my website further because it's too bland. And that’s alright. Not everything needs to be relevant to everyone, which otherwise seems to be the only mode of operation of every new Internet product these days. But among people who do find themselves curious enough to click through, they seem to be (based on bulk stats) *actually* reading my work, subscribing, reaching out, and forming legit connections. That’s ultimately the only thing that matters as far as my internet presence is concerned. Not every website, every profile and every CV needs to be glamorous, have animations all over, link to social icons for pseudo-celebrity feels, or even be “modern”—all to grab seemingly the entire Internet's attention. Sometimes you can simply let your work speak, and those who want to hear it will. --- *This design and mode of thinking about my Internet presence has been partly inspired by* [*Manu the human*](https://manuelmoreale.com) *and the post* [*Brutalist Web Design*](https://cmhb.de/blog/brutalist-web-design) *by Carl Barenbrug.* ### The overblown fact of having to buy Microsoft Office on a Mac URL: https://journal.jatan.space/you-dont-need-to-buy-msoffice-on-mac/ Last updated: 2023-12-31T18:46:44.000Z Many people, at least in India, seem to think that buying a Mac means they’ll have to pay for software they didn’t otherwise when using Windows. A friend recently expressed concern about having to pay for Microsoft Office on a Mac. Here’s why it isn’t as big a deal as it sounds. 1. On a Mac, you’d need to buy Microsoft Office, yes. 2. But on Windows, depending on which laptop you purchase, you either buy it as part of the laptop price or you get a 1-year free license and then have to pay to continue using it after that period. Either way, you do technically pay for Microsoft Office on Windows too. 3. A Mac comes with Apple's own suite of Office-compatible [iWork software](https://www.apple.com/iwork) at no extra charge. But opinions on it are polarized so you’ll likely either find it to be a useful replacement of Office or you’ll hate it. 4. Either way, if your work doesn't involve heavy and advanced usage of Microsoft Office specifically, then you can use many simpler but fairly functional and free alternatives, which work with Office files, such as Google Docs, Microsoft's own Office Online or apps like [ONLYOFFICE Desktop](https://www.onlyoffice.com/desktop.aspx). Personally I use Google Docs and ONLYOFFICE, and so I don't need to pay for Microsoft Office or use Apple's Office apps. ### Common writing mistakes to avoid URL: https://journal.jatan.space/common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:49:14.000Z As I grew in [my professional writing journey](https://jatan.space/my-science-writing-journey), I realized some writing mistakes I had been making for years. And they seem to be common among aspiring writers I keep coming across. So I’m sharing simple *not-to-do* tips here along with explanations. ## Don't add any images to your articles When you write an article, don’t add any images to your first draft. In fact, don’t add any images until the final draft is done and ready to be published. Your article is a good article if its words explain themselves. Images do add value, of course, but they aren’t a replacement of the content itself. *Thanks to* [*Mukunth*](https://rootprivileges.net/about)*, the Editor of* [*The Wire Science*](https://science.thewire.in/)*, for teaching me this.* ## Avoid using brackets Many people tend to use brackets to provide additional information (say, to make a finer point). You should avoid this because it disturbs the reading flow. If you really can’t help putting something in brackets, use commas instead. Words sitting between two commas, like so, provide smoother entry and exit points for additional information. More importantly perhaps, if you find yourself putting things in brackets often, maybe that information belongs outside the brackets. ## Avoid long sentences Sometimes less really is more. New writers, especially technical ones, tend to put out longer sentences than necessary. This, I believe, is a side effect of speaking. When talking to someone, we don’t realize just how many sentences sprawl out of our mouths in succession, and how swiftly a listener processes them. Speech processing is natural to us, reading isn’t. When you read, you process every single word while simultaneously trying to stay in the flow. A short sentence can be a good mental break. Especially when the reader least expects it. This is true not just for writing articles or books but also for everyday communications like email, chats, blogging, posting on socials, and more. Be afraid to write longer sentences, not shorter ones. > An occasional short sentence can carry a tremendous punch. It stays in the reader’s ear. – William Zinsser, [On Writing Well](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53343.On%5FWriting%5FWell) ## Avoid the exclamation mark It's the most common way to kill the reader's enthusiasm! It took me a while to understand the purpose of the exclamation mark, or rather what its purpose isn’t. As a new writer, I would use it without as much as a second thought. I was always so excited from all the cool science facts I learnt that I couldn’t help but convey it via exclamation points. I see many new writers do this as well, whether for conveying excitement, shock, or making a joke. But that doesn’t help the reader. The reader should be surprised by what you say, not be told to feel so at the end of the sentence. If they already exclaimed reading your words, the exclamation mark is redundant. If they didn’t, it’s redundant still. By using exclamation marks just because you’re excited, you rob the reader of finding the sentences interesting on their own. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use exclamation marks at all! It’s apt to convey an unexpected turn of events. But not so when attaching it to the information itself. It’s the difference between “Jupiter is huge!” vs. “Jupiter is so big 1,300 Earths can fit inside it.” ### To help Ukraine, don't post on social media; act tangibly instead URL: https://journal.jatan.space/help-ukraine-directly/ Last updated: 2023-12-31T18:45:58.000Z In this so called modern time where a country feels entitled to invade another, misinformation spreads faster than usual, flawed mechanisms in big social platforms [are exploited](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30467384) for political gains, and provocation and thought-policing is normalized, I urge you to consider two things. 1. **Do not post or share things on social platforms**, especially short takes, just to show that you care or are in the know. Vet a source before you do share something important. Despite what it seems like, reacting immediately is more likely to fuel more issues than solve them. 2. **Identify something specific you can do to help in a tangible way.** For most people, it isn’t a tweet or two. For example, I’m dissatisfied with the fact that [my country abstained](https://thewire.in/diplomacy/india-abstains-on-unscs-call-to-convene-a-general-assembly-emergency-session-on-ukraine) the UN Security Council’s call for an emergency session of the General Assembly on the conflict in Ukraine. Before you judge though, you should read up on India’s history of relations with all countries involved. Nevertheless, I’m personally not happy with my country’s overall response, and the one thing I could do as an observer is support relief efforts for people displaced from their homes. The UN Refugee Agency is [accepting donations](https://giving.unhcr.org/en/ukraine) specifically to provide basic life-saving protection to families forced to leave their homes. Please consider doing so too if that’s the best you can do. [Donate to aid refugees from Ukraine ♡](https://giving.unhcr.org/en/ukraine) Take a moment to acknowledge the freedom that you have, and act where it counts. ### Science writing tip: Unlearn academic verbiage URL: https://journal.jatan.space/unlearn-academic-writing/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:48:04.000Z Scientists and engineers tend to write posts on the Web filled with jargon and dry, passive sentences, things common in research papers. Their academic training makes them write not just complex sentences but also deters them from reaching the “period” soon enough. If you’re a scientist, engineer or anyone similar who wants to write on the Internet, the first thing to realize is that academic writing is your enemy. It took me years to internalize this. Truly [transitioning](https://jatan.space/my-science-writing-journey) from my academic roots in physics to a [professional space writer](https://jatan.space/about) was only possible after seeing how academic verbiage is actively unhelpful to most readers on the Web. It doesn’t always matter if you say something is in *Earth orbit* instead of mentioning *Low Earth Orbit (LEO)* at every chance you get. You may have the most amazing facts to tell but if you deliver them in clunky sentences, the reader will go away. Academic writing makes you dig a rabbit hole when a single sentence would’ve sufficed. It makes you write acronyms for complex concepts when the term could’ve been ditched altogether. It will rarely let you stay within reasonable word limits. An article or a blog is not a research paper or your thesis. Stop treating it like one. The very choice of publishing on an interconnected, open platform with the biggest spread of audience in history demands that. Of course, you could choose to target a niche set of people with your web writings. But that doesn’t automatically exclude others from discovering it or finding it useful, especially people tangentially related to the topic. Moreover, it’s possible to communicate complex topics in a manner that allude to both the expert and the enthusiast. If you write “The spacecraft fired its engines to get out of Earth orbit” rather than “The spacecraft performed a trans-lunar injection burn”, the subject expert will know exactly what you meant anyway but the non-expert will be able to stay along for the ride. The other thing to remember is nobody is an expert in every subject. A geologist will enjoy a lucid read on a new finding concerning dinosaurs, and might even realize new geological connections to that time period, but she won’t take away anything from a clunky piece with assumed or enforced jargon. An expert in one subject is a commoner in another. Lucid writing is an indispensable tool to attract and retain a spectrum of people. The skill won’t come to you overnight. Or even after months. But what I can tell you is that with practice, as with any intricate skill, simple writing will start showing its effectiveness in all the right places even if you aren’t professionally good at it. Start by fixing [common writing mistakes](https://journal.jatan.space/common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid). Write simple, short sentences instead of unwieldy ones. ### How I organize notes for writing an article URL: https://journal.jatan.space/how-i-organize-notes-for-writing-an-article/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:46:29.000Z Here’s a sneak peek at how I gather and structure notes for writing each of my professional [space exploration articles](https://jatan.space/tag/articles). The tool you see in action is the wonderful [Workflowy](https://workflowy.com), which allows you to structure thoughts to multiple levels of depth, and get in and out of each thought stream near instantly, much like your brain would. Also like your brain, it lets you move and reclassify each bullet point from any hierarchy to another with a simple drag and drop, something I didn’t capture in the video. But unlike your brain, it allows you to tangibly see the entire structure of your notes at once. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2febaef2db-db7c-428d-80a8-99a37afe5d61_2144x1784.jpg) Technology that meaningfully extends our capabilities, setting us free from our functional and creative limitations, is the technology we want. Workflowy squarely fits that intent, [unlike social media](https://journal.jatan.space/leaving-social-media) which thrives by exploiting our shortcomings and psychological behaviors rooted in millions of years of evolution. I recommend using a tool like Workflowy if you’d like to structure your thoughts too. Their free plan is somewhat limited so you can [use this referral](https://workflowy.com/invite/7de5cf84.lnx) to increase those limits, or go paid to have practically unlimited storage and more features while supporting the small team. ### Switching to WhatsApp for Business URL: https://journal.jatan.space/switching-to-whatsapp-for-business/ Last updated: 2024-11-09T12:17:52.000Z I recently switched my WhatsApp account from the regular personal one to a WhatsApp for Business account for primarily two reasons. 1. The link to [my space blog](https://jatan.space/) on my WhatsApp profile is now clickable by others unlike the text-only bios on regular WhatsApp. 2. I thought having a prominently displayed “Business Account” up top in the chat would discourage people from texting me for no good reason. And it did. I don’t know about you but where I live, in India, people have an annoying habit of texting people random things like good morning messages, forwards, pictures and whatnot. Converting to a Business account has reduced a significant amount of chatter. Why am I saying this out loud on this blog? Because I’m sure that such people that I’d rather avoid hearing from don’t read this blog, or ever will. And that makes writing this amusing. ### Leaving social media URL: https://journal.jatan.space/leaving-social-media/ Last updated: 2025-07-02T13:59:09.000Z Last year I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts out of sheer disgust for their parent company and how their [attention-economy-based business](https://blog.mozilla.org/internetcitizen/2018/07/27/attention-addiction) exploits people’s instincts and behavior at a fundamental level. The remaining popular social platforms of Twitter and LinkedIn, while not quite as evil, have similar business models so I greatly reduced posting things on them. People who know me know I couldn’t care less about socializing anyway so why is this a big deal? As an [independent writer](https://jatan.space/about)—in the niche field of space exploration no less—I can’t afford not to put myself out to potential reader groups in some substantial manner. Reducing posting therefore isn’t as easy for people like me as it may be for those using platforms to purely socialize and/or network. So instead I researched and used tools to automatically share my articles and blog posts to all such networks in a reasonable manner. Doing so immensely improved my mental health and bandwidth as an asocial person while also affording me some presence on those networks without continued investment. Six months worth of automated social media presence gradually made me realize how manually posting on those platforms previously had been negatively affecting what I considered “good” content. I soon began to ask the question for every blog post and every word I wrote for public consumption: Am I optimizing for the attention of hundred people or the muse of relevant ten? The hype factor in my posts and titles reduced as a result. As did the excessive use of exclamation marks, emojis and tones of words alike. While my professional space writings were never affected before, sharing of those articles in manual cases displayed attention-grabbing behavior all over. Posts on this general blog of mine were definitely a victim too. I simply didn’t write words unaltered. Automated sharing coupled with simply not caring to post on social media manually most of the time afforded me a nearly blog-only mindset. This has not only improved my writing further, by allowing more time and focus for nuanced thoughts, but has also helped push my long-term writing strategy. This year I’ve decided to go all in and completely stop active posting on *all* social media. I won’t delete my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, just yet, but I will not actively engage myself or others over there either, letting automated tools take nearly 100% of the load. This extends to the niche social networks I do think are nice and ethical—micro.blog and Mastodon. I won’t actively post on them simply because I [don’t believe in the idea of micro communications](https://journal.jatan.space/introducing-linktalk) itself. As a result of these developments, I’m now wholly invested in having a direct relationship with my readers based on open technologies that have stood the test of time: [Email and RSS](https://jatan.space/blogs). I currently have about 1,300 email subscribers and an estimated 100 RSS followers across my two blogs. Any growth in them is resilient growth because I get to carry my audience at any point regardless of which blogging platform I use in the years to come. No, for decades to come. Email lists can be ported over, unlike social media followers, and RSS feed links can be redirected. At the same time, readers are free to use either option to follow what I write, switch between them, subscribe only to select categories, or simply unsubscribe. Just as importantly, people check or process new emails and posts in their RSS readers in their own time, on their own terms. They may not read what I publish *immediately* but when they do open something I wrote, they’d read without a fledgling mind. Without an algorithm lurking in the background that tirelessly pushes them to keep scrolling. Without as much bias on the topic or the post’s worthiness to them based on what others said about it. This is the good stuff. Lastly, all of this also greatly simplifies what one should do to follow me. You don’t have to follow me on Twitter, stalk me on Instagram, pseudo-connect with me on LinkedIn, subscribe to my YouTube channel, try to find my Reddit username, and then remember Medium exists as well. No. Don’t do any of that. Simply [follow my blogs](https://jatan.space/blogs), or any of them, and you’re done! This is one article I’m glad I got to write. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd006ed58-8fea-4ce7-8376-1f9a2b454d8d_1010x960.png) Credit: [Gordon Johnson](https://pixabay.com/vectors/twitter-facebook-delete-shatter-5134765/) ### Is Substack really bad for the culture of Blogging? URL: https://journal.jatan.space/substack-is-not-bad-for-blogging/ Last updated: 2026-02-26T13:35:12.000Z The blog post [Have you “Moved to Substack”?](https://blogroll.org/have-you-moved-to-substack) and [a conversation around it](https://micro.blog/moonmehta/12413245) reminded me of a recurring theme I’ve been noticing among people who love personal blogs. The theme being that most bloggers deep in their tech world and finely crafted websites don’t realize just how difficult it is for most people to setup their blogs the same way. I’ve been guilty of that too on several occasions so I’d like to take a step back and encourage bloggers to *not* deter people from starting blogs on platforms you don’t prefer purely on ideological basis. For example, the article in question has some things to say about you if you have moved your blog to Substack. > Lately I’ve been coming across quite a few abandoned blogs with a note along the lines of “Moved to Substack.” That’s all well and good but when you do that you no longer own your platform (and IMO lose a bit of character that makes you different). > > There’s nothing wrong with utilizing Substack (I certainly see the appeal) but why not keep your blog alive as your central home at the same time? > > \[…\] > > Set up a way for your blog to slurp your new Substack posts (i.e. on WordPress you can use an RSS aggregator plugin to pull in your Substack RSS feed) so they’re automatically archived on your own domain. > > \[…\] > > On a related note, when I browse from someone’s blog over to their Substack it feels like going from a sweet little neighborhood into a staid corporate park. A little piece of joy dies in me when that happens because it’s another reminder of the corporatization of the web. > > Substack: Visiting someone’s office. Blogs: Hanging out on a friend’s porch. Full disclosure: Both my [professional space blog](https://jatan.space/about) and this general one are on Substack. But I’d argue that’s precisely what puts me in a good position to contest the (misplaced) sentiment. For starters, Substack supports all major features that makes a blog functional, portable, and own-able. It has: - Custom domains - Easily exportable content - Exportable mailing lists, even with a per category/section option - Ability to not send posts as emails i.e. publish only to the blog and its RSS feed - All that while also sporting a really clean [WYSIWYG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG) Editor ***2024 update:** *I was able to move off of Substack and* [**over to Ghost*](https://jatan.space) *just fine without losing posts or my readers, thereby validating the argument.* Moreover, Substack doesn’t nag you to enable paid subscriptions—their business model—anywhere in the Dashboard or UI. There are no ads anywhere on your blog and newsletter either. On the other hand, Wordpress is an absolute mess to use, especially in its popular Wordpress.com implementation. Their new Block Editor gives so much friction to the writing process I find it crazy it was ever considered good enough to drop on tens of millions of users. If you have a blog on Wordpress.com, or connect Jetpack to your hosted Wordpress site, your dashboard is littered with ads by WordPress in nearly every section, nagging you to upgrade even if you're already on one of their paid plans. Further, while you can add any conceivable feature using plugins on WordPress, the often complex plugin settings combined with the monstrous Dashboard don’t make it obvious to non-techies what to do or how to control things. The ever-increasing cruft is what made me leave WordPress after years of sticking to it. I’m baffled that people who vouch for blogging and its culture continue to promote and laud Wordpress but judge when people use Substack. Substack has its flaws but this particular sentiment of it “not being able to be your blog and home on the Internet” is misplaced. The other argument I want to make is that many of us “bloggers” are more tech savvy than people on average. We don't realize just how much friction exists for people in general to [setup their own identity](https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain) on the Internet. Substack makes that part ridiculously easy, and that is why I embrace it. We tend to judge a blog on its architectural foundation so much that we often miss focusing on the words the person is putting out. I say let's judge something on the actual writing the blogging system is enabling people to publish rather than just its visible exterior. Let’s also not forget that merely having a free blog on any blogging platform, even if without a domain, is a huge leap forward for a person’s thoughts and its self-ownership compared to posting on decidedly closed and unethical social media platforms. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f8171a6c0-5caf-4602-84f3-492bd331d288_1600x1200.jpg) ### Intriguing insects of Jakkur URL: https://journal.jatan.space/insects-of-jakkur/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:38:25.000Z > If all the insects were to disappear from Earth, within 50 years all life on Earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the Earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish. **–** [**Jonas Salk**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6351694) I find the intricate structures of insects fascinating and like observing them in real life. If I come across an intriguing looking insect, I try to get a picture. When I was living in Jakkur in Bangalore, India between 2018 and 2019, I came across a fascinating variety of insects. Here are some of them, whom I’ve tried identifying using [Bing’s reverse image search](https://www.bing.com/visualsearch) and learn interesting facts about them. ## Red cotton stainer ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f43c26f16-ca1d-4f32-bc33-6f8cefdf0bba_2200x1600-jpeg.jpg) This *red cotton stainer* belongs to the category of [*true bugs*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera). It’s called a cotton stainer because it’s a severe pest of cotton crops. Cotton stainers are also fond of citrus fruits but that is likely due to citrus and cotton often being grown in close proximity. Here’s the insect *firebug* from the same family. They have [really long mating periods](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00265-002-0524-9) that can last from 12 hours to up to 7 days. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f60bead5a-2c3f-4ea7-bf68-b14b518bd1f3_2100x1500-jpeg.jpg) And here’s another true bug family member, seemingly a [Boxelder bug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxelder%5Fbug) in its [nymph stage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymph%5F%28biology%29). ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f0b9fe393-517d-4e15-807e-378f5e119de9_1900x1600-jpeg.jpg) ## Green bush cricket ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5b09aeef-a5e0-4ebb-983d-a1b5f8a6e5a1_1598x1200-jpeg.jpg) I had almost accidentally stepped on this little one. Not to be confused with a grasshopper, it’s a cricket. Those really long antennae are how you know it’s not a grasshopper. Green bush crickets use their antennae for a sense of smell and taste. ## Swarming Locust ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f11266899-167a-4a4c-beb5-39c6e383122b_1900x1700-jpeg.jpg) Locusts like this one are a species of short-horned grasshoppers. Like spiders, locusts are insects of solitude. However, under adverse conditions such as drought, they socialize for survival. Locusts are known to have a swarming phase and have caused many [devastating plagues](https://www.loc.gov/collections/american-colony-in-jerusalem/articles-and-essays/the-locust-plague-of-1915-photograph-album) in history. ## Two damselflies mating ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5f590644-17af-4428-ab80-15da7724e27a_1600x1400-jpeg.jpg) Two damselflies mating. Like in the case of peacocks, the more attractive one is the male. Related to dragonflies, damselflies are an incredibly successful species and have been around for more than 100 million years. This particular species is called the “Senegal Golden Dartlet” and is among the smallest damselflies around. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f97e09ed8-b517-4a93-b448-e8d3646c02b4_1000x750-jpeg.jpg) Spotted one of them again. ## Black Carpenter Bee ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f6705a429-9afc-4d43-a586-f5d5879cf9a0_900x600-jpeg.jpg) Black carpenter bees lay [some of the largest eggs](http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/chapter%5F40.shtml) among all insects. They make nests by tunneling into usually dead wood or bamboo, by vibrating their bodies against the wood. Each nest has a single entrance but there maybe multiple adjacent tunnels. ## Praying mantis It’s always fun to spot a praying mantis, the fiercest predator in the insect world. They can even [kill snakes](https://praying-mantis.org/can-a-praying-mantis-kill-a-snake). ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f45b705a1-8499-4784-8ea2-175d7fb16e07_2550x2450-jpeg.jpg) And here’s a *wolf spider*. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f414403be-4efd-4f5c-a863-fac4f04e07f0_1400x1000-jpeg.jpg) The first thing to know wolf spiders is that they don’t spin webs. Instead, they camouflage as barks or leaves to hunt their prey. Another interesting thing about them is that the young ones ride on their mother’s back until they can survive by themselves. I also came across some interesting butterflies. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f3a4dd43f-726d-4180-ab62-81636254db2b_1769x1769-jpeg.jpg) Little green butterfly, of the species “Catopsilia pyranthe” Interestingly, the pupae of this butterfly species Catopsilia pyranthe are found exclusively on the tropical plant species Senna occidentalis. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f05f51714-3a0b-4b51-8b9e-70ef92f8c510_2556x2556-jpeg.jpg) The African queen Called the African queen, its thought to be one of the first butterfly species depicted in ancient human art. A 3500-year-old Egyptian painting in Luxor features the oldest known illustration of this species. Another interesting thing about them is that because they are unpleasant to taste, their bright coloration warns predators that they are either distasteful or toxic. Combined with other deceiving mechanisms, such as those eye spots, the African queen has thrived through time. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f940cae4a-2d02-44d1-82c5-effb4eb19e96_3000x2400-jpeg.jpg) Eurema andersonii, or the "one-spot grass yellow" This little one belongs to the larger and highly successful Pieridae family of butterflies. The name “butterfly” itself is believed to have originated from a member of this larger family. I hope you enjoyed seeing and knowing about these little insects from Jakkur. ### Why you shouldn't link to Instagram anything anywhere URL: https://journal.jatan.space/never-link-to-instagram/ Last updated: 2024-02-20T18:42:10.000Z I want to use the case of Instagram to highlight a larger point about how we can be mindful of which links we share on the Internet. Whether you’re a writer, a creator or simply sharing things on socials, a “bad link” can affect your readers as well as the health of the open Web. What do I mean when I say a link is bad? A friend of mine recently linked to one of her Instagram videos in her blog post. But after a discussion, she has now swapped it for a YouTube one, which is better for several reasons. - People who don't have Instagram accounts can’t watch your video without being pushed to sign up, whereas YouTube videos play fine without signing in. - Unlike Instagram embeds, YouTube embeds work on nearly every blogging and web platform. This means instead of having to visit a link, readers can play your video without leaving the website. - YouTube videos are higher quality than Instagram ones. - YouTube allows you to *unlist* a video from your channel. This is useful if you want the video embed or link in your blog post to work but don't want the video to show for people browsing your YouTube channel. Strictly speaking, YouTube isn’t much of an open platform either but it’s certainly better than Instagram. However, if you feel strongly against YouTube’s closed characteristics, feel free use any similarly functional [alternative such as Vimeo](https://alternativeto.net/software/youtube/). ## Instagram threatens the open Web Instagram’s anti-open-Web stance doesn’t stop with external link baits. The platform infamously doesn’t support links in post descriptions, one of its many ways to keep people on the platform. A common defense I’ve heard against this is Instagram’s “Link in Bio” and “Link sticker in stories” features. 1. “Link in Bio” is not even a partial solution to the problem. It’s a single link that is relevant only to one post at a time. Besides, very few people bother to leave their timeline or story view to actually visit a profile and consume the link in bio. It’s simply too many steps. That’s exactly what Instagram wants. 2. The “Link sticker” is only available in stories, which disappear after 24 hours. Unless you manually archive them as a Highlight story for every single link. More importantly, Instagram is gatekeeping even here by not allowing certain links to be shared. For example, Instagram blocks some competitor links such as those of Telegram channels. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f78c1cf89-40da-4799-86b5-987ed083077a_822x1589.png) It’s not only cowardly for Instagram to practically not allow links on their platform but is also against the very fundamental structure of the Web. If Instagram doesn’t support links, let’s not support Instagram and enable more people to be sheep in their fence. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f822c7623-36a2-4845-b08b-4adc0f489f70_1600x1000.jpg) Say no to Instagram and its hostility towards links. Credit: Image made using freely reusable graphics from [Memed\_Nurrohmad](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/instagram-logo-icon-pictogram-flat-1882330/) and [Elionas](https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ban-shield-traffic-street-sign-1345887/). ## What to link to and what not to While Instagram is one of the worst offenders of the open Web, there are many other platforms that also make it harder, if not impossible, for people to consume content without signing in. Here are a few more examples of “bad link” sites and better alternatives you can use instead when sharing something. - Twitter threads of news, blogs posts or any such updates are bad links. Directly share the original article or blog post instead and discourage Twitter’s push to have you sign in just to view a tweet without large, persistent banners. - Paid and institution-only research papers are bad links too. You can use tools like the [Open Access Helper](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/open-access-helper/) browser extension to find any legal, open versions of research papers and link to that instead. - LinkedIn doesn’t allow people to view a profile without an account. Share the person’s work directly instead, or other Web profiles such as a university listing or their website. By not thinking about what links we share, we enable platforms like Instagram to monopolize parts of the Internet. If a piece of content is available elsewhere, and it usually is, at the very least try linking to a version that doesn’t make people sign in just to view the content. The best way to check if a link is *good* is to open it in a private browsing tab and see if everything works, or to what extent. Let’s be good citizens of the wonderful thing that is the Internet and keep it healthy. 🌐 ### How to feel at home on the Internet URL: https://journal.jatan.space/start-a-blog-and-get-a-domain/ Last updated: 2025-07-02T14:07:05.000Z A friend recently told me, “(Her) Blog feels like home.” I couldn’t agree more. That led me to think of analogies for social platforms and websites in terms of how much power and freedom they actually give you over your content. If we think of what you put out on the internet in terms of physical places, this is what they are like. - Social platforms like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube → Hotel rooms - Free Blog or Website → Rented house - Website/Blog + Domain → Home If you’re serious about what you write, create, or put out on the Internet, start a blog and get a domain name. Most people creating things—be it writing, visual storytelling, podcasting, or making videos—choose to use platforms such as YouTube or Instagram as the sole place for their posts. They think having a website or blog along with a domain is unnecessary, complicated, and a waste of money. If that is true, so is having your physical home unnecessary, complicated, and a waste of money. ## Internet hotel rooms Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube provide you with links that read like “`instagram.com/yourusername/yourpost`”. The fact that the link starts with their website domain means what you post benefits them to rank higher in web search results, not your own page or profile. You do the work, they reap the rewards. Further, if and when the platform goes away, so will your content. All the posts you linked anywhere on the Internet, and sites and places where people linked to your posts, will be gone forever. Social media accounts are like hotel rooms. They give you convenience, good service, and an audience while you’re there. But you can’t change a thing about its layout, and it can never be yours to own. ## Rented web spaces Free blogging platforms solve one of those two problems. When you create a free blog on WordPress, Substack or Medium, you get a subdomain that looks like “`yourblogname.wordpress.com`”. It thus partially feels like your own space, and your content is rightly credited to you even if the platform benefits as well. When people visit your site and posts from web search or other traffic sources, your website search ranking will keep benefiting from that too. The only issue with such free blogs and sites is that your creations are still tied to the platform, as evident by their name in the URL. However, unlike social media platforms, blogs are realistically portable. If your blogging platform was to shut down tomorrow, you can not only export your posts but also import them to another platform that actually understands what to do with it. This isn’t the case with your Twitter and Instagram posts because of their closed nature. Any existing importers for these closed platforms are reverse engineered hacks that don’t work well or can’t be relied upon by definition. Moving from one blog to another isn’t ideal, and some fixes are always needed such as taking care of a few broken links here and there. But at least your posts still exist on the internet, and in the way you intended them to be. A free blog or website is like a rented house. It’s yours for the time you use it, and you can change certain things about it. When you leave, you take what is yours with you. So really, just [start a free blog](https://journal.jatan.space/good-enough-blogging-platforms/) or [website](https://try.carrd.co/uncertainquark), even if you post and share casual things, and you’d be halfway to owning your internet presence. ## The digital home Next, [get a domain name](https://www.bigrock.in/) that your website or blog can point to. With that in place, even if your platform shuts down or you have to leave it for any reason, you can simply export/import your posts into another service so everything continues to work. The links that you shared across the Internet, and your links that people shared, likely won’t break because the browser URL never changed. A domain is your permanent identity on the internet that stays even as you move platforms. I have completed three blog transitions in [my writing career](https://jatan.space/my-science-writing-journey) so far, which most of my readers didn’t even notice thanks to the permanence of links afforded by having a domain. Even if a link does break, say “`yourdomain.com/blah`” is now “`yourdomain.com/10/07/blah`” on the new platform, a visitor will still land on an active website as opposed to a completely dead one if you didn’t get a domain. Furthermore, a blog is the only way to truly [own the connection](https://journal.jatan.space/avoid-blogging-platform-silos) to your audience. If—nay—when Twitter and Instagram shut down or become irrelevant, you won’t be able to export and import your followers to your new chirp-site. The ethical socials of [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org) and [Micro.blog](https://micro.blog)—specifically its social component—are rare exceptions to this rule though their processes retaining all followers and posts can be tricky. On the other hand, a blog lets you have a direct relationship with your readers based on open technologies that allow portability: Email and RSS. If and when you move a blog, you can port not just your content but also export your email subscribers and redirect your RSS feeds in a couple of clicks. A domain also has brand value. [jatan.space](https://jatan.space) looks so much better and cleaner than *uncertainquark.medium.com* or *twitter.com/uncertainquark*. Domain names are shorter and thus easier to remember or pass on during conversations, at conferences, or in the form of business cards. ### “But I’m not a content creator..” Even if you don’t create any content on the Internet, and use something like LinkedIn or Twitter for purely professional needs, a website can still benefit you. Lay out a brief bio, work experience, and links to your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles in [a simple, attractive website](https://sid.business) that you can customize, and link to it everywhere. You’ll then likely come across as more professional to interviewers and potential business partners, which will keep benefiting you in the long run. Some of my friends got their jobs because they put their website/blog in their CV as a differentiating factor. Mentioning your LinkedIn profile in your CV won’t get you that. ## The cost I have seen people complain they don’t want to “waste money” every year on a domain and a website/blog. Well, the whole thing costs less than a Netflix subscription. One will benefit you in the long run regardless of your profession, and the other will drain your money and brain in the name of instant gratification and entertainment. Choose wisely. Owning a digital home is so much more cheaper than a physical home, and yet so rewarding that it’s crazy. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional writer, an aspiring artist, or if you have a corporate job, or that you blog simply for the love of it. Having a blog and a domain is like owning a digital home, just get to it. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2024/11/get-a-blog-website-and-domain.jpg) If you’d like to own your internet presence, I recommending [starting a blog almost anywhere](https://journal.jatan.space/good-enough-blogging-platforms/) and getting a domain for yourself. ### How to find a good podcast app? URL: https://journal.jatan.space/how-to-find-a-good-podcast-app/ Last updated: 2025-08-16T15:38:30.000Z As someone who prefers articles over audio and video to consume information, I rarely listen to podcasts. When I do, I usually search for something of specific interest to me instead of episodes shared on my network or random algorithmic suggestions. But unlike articles, web search doesn’t make sense to explore podcast episodes and find good ones. So I thought maybe the “Search” function is a good criteria to compare major podcasting apps, including those that boast a directory full of episodes. I searched for topics and people of my interest in over 10 apps. To my surprise, only the 3 most common apps—Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts—surfaced any significant number of results. Other revered ones such as [Pocket Casts](https://www.pocketcasts.com/), [Overcast](https://overcast.fm/), and [Castro](https://castro.fm/) disappointingly showed either no results or very few for every search term. The screenshots below further illustrates the difference in search results between Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts. ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/02/podcast-search-comparison-1-1.jpg) Left to right: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts. Spotify and Apple Podcasts gave good results for “Substack”, with Apple favoring popular episodes over recent ones, whereas Spotify mixed the two. Google Podcasts’ search results were useless, ironic for a company whose business was built around Search. Next, I searched for “[Tory Bruno](https://www.ulalaunch.com/docs/default-source/employees-pdf/bruno%5Fbio%5F0717.pdf)”, a famous personality in the space industry who frequently appears in the media, and whom I’ve had the pleasure of [interviewing](https://blog.jatan.space/p/interviewing-tory-bruno-ceo-ula). ![](https://cdn.magicpages.co/journalj.mymagic.page/2024/02/podcast-search-comparison-2-1.jpg) Left to right: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts. Here Spotify stopped short, surfacing only a handful of results. Google fared much better this time around with quality results but the quantity suffered. Apple Podcasts showed many more results than either app but failed to show recent episodes upfront. Most other searches fared similar to the cases above. I found Apple Podcasts to have the most comprehensive feed directory, and its search to be the most reliable overall, followed by Spotify. This is by no means an objective metric, or even a considerable sample size. But ‘search’ is a core function so at least it qualifies as *a* metric to judge a podcast app experience against. I’d be curious to know if you have had different results or have another metric that’s most important to you. What’s surprising though is that ideally the search results in podcast apps shouldn’t vary this much. Podcasts are powered by [RSS](https://journal.jatan.space/why-use-rss), an open and standard format for distributing content. Every podcast is typically automatically distributed via RSS to all podcasting platforms. So why is there such a drastic difference in not just the quality of search results but also their *quantity*? I don’t know. ### Arguments against “I have nothing to hide” on digital privacy URL: https://journal.jatan.space/arguments-for-digital-privacy/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:36:36.000Z As someone who cares about and spreads digital privacy, I often hear people say, “I have nothing to hide, so why shouldn't I give my data to the government or companies like Google in return for security and convenience?” I have multiple responses to that, some my own and some learnt from following wise people and communities on the Web. 1. Privacy isn’t about hiding things, it’s about your individuality. It’s part of who you are as a human being. When someone is constantly watching you, you tend to react and think differently, even if you aren’t doing anything wrong. 2. Here’s a simple example from day-to-day life: Everyone knows what you do when you are in the bathroom. And yet you close the door. Every single time. There’s nothing to hide there, what you’re doing is perfectly normal. And yet it’s simply personal. 3. You may love and trust your life partner but would you like it if he/she was continuously monitoring your chats? Your browsing history? Emails? Nope. So why let corporations make data sets out of your personal activities and sell your info to advertisers without your consent? This has been the mechanism through which corporates have been controlling what we like and how we think for decades. 4. To give up your privacy by saying, “I have nothing to hide” is like saying, “I have nothing to say so I don’t need freedom of speech.” 5. Data privacy is also about data protection. Private data in the hands of the undesired people can be misused for theft, fraud or other criminal purposes. Security and privacy are thus linked to each other, they are not isolated entities. 6. Now let’s think about health issues. If you or your loved one has some very personal and severe health issue(s), would you be willing to disclose it to anyone and everyone? Even though health problems are just a part of life, some of it is best kept private. Passively giving away our health data via apps and services only enables ad networks and their partner businesses built around health to sell you more things in the name of fear, of course packaged to sound generous. 7. Giving access to all your data to governments and corporates also gives them immense power to control and predict you. You may feel today that our government is a good one, or that Google’s CEO is a nice person. But lest you forget, organizations are not people. People powering these organizations change, and so do their motives. It’s a question of when, not if. What will you do when they change policies that directly or indirectly suppress us for their business or political gains? What if we already are being tamed and don't even know it because we are born and brought up this way so things feel normal to us? After all, they ultimately decide what we consume, where we network, and more. There’s value and trust-building in choosing to share what we do, think and want. Privacy is an intrinsic right, which if destroyed obliterates our individuality. Digital privacy therefore should not be treated as anything different than our physical privacy. If you’re inclined to make small but effective changes to preserve your digital privacy, I’ve prepared a list of [privacy-respecting apps that just work](https://journal.jatan.space/privacy-apps-that-just-work) regardless of if you’re a technically inclined person or not. ### On getting COVID-19 URL: https://journal.jatan.space/on-getting-covid-19/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:31:10.000Z I tested positive for COVID-19 early last week. The first thought in my mind was, “How in the world..?” Anyone who knows me knows that even during normal times, I like to stay by myself, away from as many humans as I can. During the pandemic, I was more than happy to be able to officially double down on that. I also followed all precautions with utmost care. And yet the virus got through. I’ll never know the source but I suspect I got it from one of the few people I did interact with. I had no physical symptoms though, which was good. Nevertheless, I got admitted to an isolation center out of precaution for my Mom, who is only partially vaccinated yet due to unavailability of vaccines in India. Since my case was mild, I had been feeling normal throughout. They gave me *a lot* of injections and tablets though, which I understand are prescribed to every such patient as precautionary general immunity boosters regardless of their body’s state. Basically, it’s just to reduce the chances of the virus finding weak points in your body and taking hold. My stay at the isolation center lasted for 8 days, and now I’m back home perfectly normal. I continued working while I was there. I published an [article on my space blog](https://jatan.space/the-moons-lumpy-gravity-field) plus the [latest issue](https://jatan.space/moon-monday-issue-26) of my Moon exploration newsletter, and submitted a draft to a publication. I’d like to publicly thank and credit the brave service workers there for these articles. It’s only because of them that I had my basic needs sorted, and could just focus on working. While I was there, my respect for the healthcare workers only increased, in major part to the following observations: - They sleep for 4 hours. - They never complain about their work. - They always talk to you with empathy. - They never say no to numerous requests by patients. Remember these facts the next time you feel inconvenienced sitting at home, or complain about your deteriorated lifestyle in the pandemic. People at large have been behaving irresponsibly since this whole fiasco started, with no respect for the pandemic guidelines, and that has only made life harder for every healthcare worker. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f4c2fa373-5f6e-4839-9f7d-6568e75c1460_1366x768-jpeg.jpg) ## Modern medicine To end this post, I want to note something about anti-vaxxers. About people who claim antibiotics aren’t good for your health. Those who claim that somehow our body is naturally capable of fighting pretty much everything given enough time. Well, here’s a chart of average life expectancy of humans in the last 250 years, pre and post the invention of modern medicine. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f45633c2c-dabc-4fef-a8ab-e9dd1e56b96e_2560x1807-jpeg.jpg) Modern medicine has more than doubled average life expectancy throughout the world. Credit: [Max Roser](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Life%5Fexpectancy%5Fby%5Fworld%5Fregion,%5Ffrom%5F1770%5Fto%5F2018.svg), [Our World in Data](https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy) Now, a key reason for this low number until recent times is the commonality of child death, so the average around the 30-year mark isn’t as bad as it would seem but is nevertheless undesirably low. To contemplate that for most of human history, most people lived no more than 40–50 years is mind boggling. Modern medicine has literally more than doubled life expectancy across the world, and continues to push boundaries. Because it’s based on facts, elaborate experimentation, and a rigorous scientific process. If our so-called ancestors were really so wise and advanced, the world wouldn’t have suffered from a dire [history of plagues and outbreaks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic#Notable%5Foutbreaks). If ancient texts really had solutions to modern problems, every country with such history would’ve been exporting products to the world to end the pandemic. We know they didn’t. If you don’t take vaccines out of some irrational fear of getting side effects, realize that you’re weighing *your life* against what are arguably minor potential health issues. Not just that, you’re also risking the lives of people around you. Not taking a vaccine isn’t your decision to make alone. Go out and do the right thing. And thank the right people. ### Talk: How to become a science writer URL: https://journal.jatan.space/talk-how-to-become-a-science-writer/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:30:35.000Z In [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXPCyEmr09c), I breakdown the skills required to become a science writer, and how to convince an Editor of a publication to commission an article to you. These insights are based on my learnings as a [professional writer on space exploration](https://jatan.space/about). From my talk to physics graduate students at the University of Mumbai. ### My contributions to elementary OS as a non-coder and how you can too! URL: https://journal.jatan.space/contributing-to-elementary-os/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:29:55.000Z ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/elementary-community-logo-1.jpg) elementary OS community logo. I'm a [space writer](https://jatan.space/about) by profession and until recently I used Linux as my primary operating system, mainly [elementary OS](https://elementary.io). That's because Linux in general functions better for me than Windows and I'm an open source enthusiast. While Linux is great, I think it has a long way to go to be ready for the non-techie crowd. So whenever possible I do my part and contribute to open source projects. But the thing is, I don't know how to code. Instead, I file bug reports with suggestions to improve user interface and experiences. It turns out that if the project owners like your ideas, they go ahead and implement said features which then reaches all their users! So I think it's a good idea to summarize all my user-facing contributions to elementary OS that didn't involve any coding whatsoever. Let's begin. ## Files ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f4fb9d4b9-5d23-4e4d-a301-23d37fdc2bd5_976x701.png) You can navigate between tabs in elementary OS' file manager using "Ctrl+Tab". I merely [suggested in a bug report](https://github.com/elementary/files/issues/389) that tabs in [elementary's amazing file manager](https://journal.jatan.space/why-i-love-elementary-os-file-manager) should be navigable by using "Ctrl+Tab" like a browser. And they implemented it! It just made sense to me given that all their apps utilize a browser-like navigation pattern for tabs. I like how GNOME provides an option to automatically delete files after 'X' days in thrash. So I [suggested elementary to do so too](https://github.com/elementary/switchboard-plug-security-privacy/issues/44) and voila, it was implemented by one of their developers as an OS-wide feature and released to the public as a system update. ## Screenshots For a long time, taking a screenshot on elementary OS with the "PrtScr" button didn't give any visual feedback whatsoever. There wasn't a way to know if the shot was taken or of which area, like for a window screenshot for instance. So I [just filed a bug report](https://github.com/elementary/screenshot/issues/30) and they implemented a nice visual cue. On a related note, visual feedback was also missing on elementary OS when snapping windows to the left/right. I [filed a bug report](https://github.com/elementary/gala/issues/8) and they implemented that too! ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f435c9060-0e65-4dc2-80c5-06d9c4661bb4_310x310-jpeg.jpg) elementary OS Screenshot tool elementary OS supports floating window style apps like [Clipped](https://appcenter.elementary.io/com.github.davidmhewitt.clipped/). This style is also utilized by elementary's own Screenshot tool. Such apps are supposed to be quick tools that you can dismiss by pressing the "Esc" key. But the screenshot tool didn't support it so I [reported it](https://github.com/elementary/screenshot/issues/132), and it was implemented and rolled out to everyone! ## AppCenter elementary's software store, AppCenter, got better keyboard navigation thanks to developers implementing my suggested features, like using "Ctrl+F" anywhere in the app to [focus the search bar](https://github.com/elementary/appcenter/issues/706) and navigating search results[ using the keyboard](https://github.com/elementary/appcenter/issues/704). Further, app pages now [always show changelogs](https://github.com/elementary/appcenter/issues/296) so you know what's new in the app or how often it’s updated. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fe58a7f1a-7c31-4b49-936f-951f1d563c24_1155x773-jpeg.jpg) elementary’s AppCenter now always shows changelogs ## Terminal The terminal app also got a better default size on fresh installs thanks to just a [simple bug report](https://github.com/elementary/terminal/issues/96). It was too small previously. The default dark theme of elementary's terminal also had a slightly low contrast which made for non-ideal readability. It was resolved partly thanks to my [bug report](https://github.com/elementary/terminal/issues/373) and elementary’s larger drive to improve contrast OS-wide. ## Enhanced Privacy in the browser Epiphany, elementary's default browser, improved its privacy after [I suggested](https://github.com/elementary/default-settings/issues/127) it only allow first-party cookies on websites. Third party cookies are used to track you online and so it wasn’t a good default to allow those. In this case, I went ahead and implemented the change myself and it was merged! It was my first ever commit and elementary's co-founder [Cassidy James](https://cassidyjames.com/) helped me through the process with patience. ## Better Applications Menu elementary's application launcher can search and launch not just apps but also specific actions like say "Private mode in Firefox". That got me thinking why not extend the same to specific settings. So I [suggested it](https://github.com/elementary/applications-menu/issues/94) in a bug report and the developers implemented it in an even better way which teaches users where the setting belongs. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f7ef8aa8c-b3ff-449a-bb36-7d7946dcd8c7_759x591-jpeg.jpg) elementary's launcher can search inside settings and show you exact paths. Another minor UX issue in the launcher search was that while keyboard navigating, you couldn't cycle back to the the top of the list from the bottom or vice versa. It was [fixed](https://github.com/elementary/applications-menu/issues/95) the same way as well. ## Miscellaneous Other features I merely suggested and the truly wonderful elementary developers implemented are: - The email app now [watches for new mails in the background](https://github.com/elementary/mail/issues/23), as in mobile apps. - Ability to [disable Bluetooth](https://github.com/elementary/switchboard-plug-bluetooth/issues/41) altogether. - [Shutdown prompt](https://github.com/elementary/switchboard-plug-power/issues/108) on pressing power hardware button. ## Closing thoughts I was able to contribute meaningful, user-facing features to elementary OS by merely suggesting changes and not knowing how to code. Remember, all those features reached thousands and thousands of users. I'd like to note that of all the projects I've contributed to, elementary OS has been the most welcoming one. Their developers don't just see the bug you filed as is, but rather try to extract out the underlying problem. So you'll notice in some of the above mentioned bug reports that they'll take your feature suggestion and make it even better. Of course not all features you suggest will get magically accepted, your suggestions need to be in line with the project's philosophy. And when they've not been so in my case, elementary developers took the time to explain why said request doesn't fit their philosophy. They didn't just dismiss the report and closed it as “WONTFIX” abruptly, helping me understand better while not breaking my contribution spirit. I'd also like to express here that unlike elementary, my experience with [contributing to GNOME](https://journal.jatan.space/contributing-to-gnome) has been somewhat disappointing for all of its dozen paper cuts. Not accepting suggestions because they don't match "your philosophy" is fine but the rather rude way in which suggestions are shot down does not inspire me to contribute in the future. Anyway, I hope my post inspired you. Go contribute to your favorite open source project. Open source is amazing because everyone can contribute in ways that suits them and the resulting product works better for all. :) ### Talk: Career options in science writing and communication in India URL: https://journal.jatan.space/talk-scicomm-career-opportunities-in-india/ Last updated: 2024-01-25T10:23:29.000Z [Here are some good career opportunities](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdxqDYX7CDs) you have in India if you want to write or communicate science to the masses. From my talk to physics graduate students at the University of Mumbai. ### Pro-privacy apps that are easy to use and don't break your workflow URL: https://journal.jatan.space/privacy-apps-that-just-work/ Last updated: 2024-02-27T14:26:44.000Z ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/software-privacy.jpg) Me when choosing software. Image: Jatan Mehta, released under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) It’s likely that you’ve had at least one person urge you to use software or apps that respect your privacy, and that you shouldn’t trust the likes of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and more. However, privacy-respecting software tools often aren’t easy to use and don’t fit into your workflow without friction. As a person who likes software with good defaults, I agree. But I care about my privacy too, which is why I spend a lot of time trying multiple pro-privacy tools to find ones which just work. Here’s a *non-exhaustive* list of such tools that fit my needs as [a space writer](https://jatan.space/about). ## Operating Systems The best way to get rid of corporate and government tracking is to swap the operating system on your computer and smartphone to less invasive ones. ### Desktop/Laptop An Apple Mac computer is a great pro-privacy replacement for Windows that just works. But if you can’t afford one, or just don’t need it, Linux is the next best choice. Many consider installing and using Linux a daunting endeavor. But these days Linux is easy to install, works on plenty of hardware combinations out of the box, has a reasonably large selection of apps, and doesn’t require you to touch the command line. I [don’t recommend Ubuntu anymore](https://journal.jatan.space/ubuntu-is-obsessed-with-snap), and instead suggest you use [elementary OS](https://elementary.io/), [Pop\_OS](https://pop.system76.com/) or [Linux Mint](https://linuxmint.com/) for a well-rounded experience. ### Smartphone Again, if you can afford it, get an iPhone. It’s far more privacy respecting than Google’s Android will ever be, simply because of the business model of both companies. If an iPhone is too expensive for you, or you just prefer Android, get a phone with stock Android—the likes of Nokia, Motorola, Pixel, etc. rather than ones with custom UIs such as from Realme, Xiaomi, Samsung, OnePlus, etc. This will reduce your system level privacy invasion to just one company, Google, instead of the phone manufacturer spying on you too. A deal with Google, the devil, is practically unavoidable if you’re using an Android. You may consider installing [LineageOS](https://lineageos.org/) on your phone to get rid of excessive Google tracking. But it’s not without its disadvantages; camera performance and/or other critical features typically take a hit on such custom ROMs. ## Browser Given the sheer amount of time people spend on browsers, changing that instead would perhaps be more effective and practical than having to swap operating systems. And for that, just use Firefox. Firefox works incredibly well both on Desktop and mobile, blocks invasive trackers by default, has useful features like sync and neat extensions, and generally boasts enhanced privacy out of the box. You can import bookmarks, history and saved passwords from other browsers to get started. If you are using an Apple device, Safari has similar benefits as Firefox, and is quite swift and nice. I use Safari because I prefer its interface over Firefox. ## Apps 1. [DuckDuckGo](https://duckduckgo.com/) over Google search—No tracking, period. And you’ll love the [bangs!](https://duckduckgo.com/bang) 2. [Telegram](https://telegram.org/) over WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger—Telegram has excellent Desktop apps that you can never go back from. 3. [Fastmail](https://www.fastmail.com/) and [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com/) over Gmail, Outlook or Yahoo. If you still want to use Gmail because it’s so convenient, use Google’s more featured [G Suite](https://gsuite.google.com/) instead which is relatively more private and secure than standard Gmail. 4. [OnlyOffice](https://www.onlyoffice.com/apps.aspx) over MS Office and Google Docs—It’s fast, opens office files in tabs instead of windows, works offline, and is available both on Desktop and phones. Personally, I can’t let go of Google Docs’ convenience as a writer but OnlyOffice should work fine for most people. 5. SSDs/Hard Drives over Google Drive and Dropbox for data backups, because nothing beats the reliability, speed and security of a local backup. Seriously. 6. [Simplenote](https://simplenote.com/) and [Workflowy](https://workflowy.com) over Google Keep and Evernote—available on all platforms and is no fuss to use. If you’re using an Apple device, Apple Notes is nice and fast. With such privacy-respecting software as easy to use as any other, you should care about your digital footprints. And it’s not because you don’t have “[Nothing to hide](https://journal.jatan.space/arguments-for-digital-privacy)” but because your privacy is tied to your individuality. Giant tech corporations have been abusing our privacy for monetary and political gains, and it must stop or we lose who we are. ### Why I love elementary OS’ file manager URL: https://journal.jatan.space/why-i-love-elementary-os-file-manager/ Last updated: 2025-09-21T16:49:00.000Z Being a person obsessed with organizing my digital life, I like trying out different ways of managing files. In addition to having used the default file managers on Windows and macOS respectively, I've tried all popular file managers on Linux as well. That includes the likes of GNOME's Nautilus (that defaults on Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.), KDE’s Dolphin, Xfce’s Thunar, Linux Mint’s Nemo, etc. But one such file manager stood out to me and that is elementary OS’ *Files*. [elementary OS](https://elementary.io/) is an operating system that’s touted to be a fast and open replacement for Windows and macOS. It’s file manager, simply called ‘Files’, is deceptively simple. Indeed, Files is packed with smart features that make my workflow efficient. Let’s dive in to some of the unique features of elementary OS’ default file manager that I love. ## Notifications Say you put some files to copy on your laptop and left the file manager in the background while you are doing other tasks or using other apps. elementary OS will notify you once the task is complete! It gets better, clicking on the notification takes you back to the Files app. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f62b77bcc-3246-433e-87ef-e2c1eceb148f_1024x575-png.jpg) Notifications on completion of file transfer tasks in elementary OS' Files. The cherry on the top is that the file manager icon shows a progress bar while moving files around. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f53d1d0ca-95db-4f42-8328-0f6d890c4d42_502x96-png.jpg) File transfer progress on elementary OS' Files app icon. ## Tabs that restore This one's my absolute favorite. Say you navigated to a certain directory in the file manager and closed the app after your job is done. The next time you open Files, it will remember and restore the directory you were in! What's more is that this function works with multiple tabs too. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2faa02c1b7-8acc-4e30-af0d-00d17fcbb2c2_976x701.png) Remembering and restoring last closed tabs on elementary OS' Files. Heck, you can even restore recently closed tabs using “Ctrl+Shift+T” or via the dedicated button for the same. This basically means manipulating tabs on elementary’s file manager is more like a browser. And that’s a good thing! If you don’t like this behavior, you can turn it off in elementary’s settings. For me though, given that I always work with a couple of directories while writing an article, this auto-restore feature is a boon. ## Smart image manager elementary’s Files app understands images. For instance, it’s the *only file browser* I know of that shows a checkerboard pattern behind transparent images! ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f89e6055e-b640-4867-a2b1-79d10c275d4e_976x701.png) Checkerboard patterns on transparent images in elementary OS' Files! Another little thing that I like is when hovering the cursor over images, Files shows not just the image size, like every other file manager, but also the image resolution. You no longer need to select the image or open its properties dialog to view its resolution. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f01621d36-2aea-4956-8cba-acf3862894df_976x701.png) Image resolution being shown on hover in elementary OS' Files. The Files app also allows 3rd party apps to hook into the context menu, like the [Resizer](https://appcenter.elementary.io/com.github.peteruithoven.resizer/) app on elementary’s AppCenter. Super convenient. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fb3bc4042-a04e-47a6-8b70-0b27bcc7686b_861x645.png) Apps being integrated into elementary OS' Files. As a writer who deals with images often, these small features have made a huge difference to my workflow. ## The little things What you might have noticed in the screenshot above is that the context menu in elementary’s Files app also shows you keyboard shortcuts for actions. This means you can learn shortcuts right when you are about to use said actions! Neat. If you want to manage root files in your system, it’s as easy as opening a new Files window with administrator access via a right-click on the icon. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f871b3a78-0c24-446d-a700-d3e78c466abb_680x313-jpeg.jpg) Initiating root access in elementary OS' Files. There are many more such nice features in Files but I'll save those for your exploration. ## What improvements would I like to see? The one area where elementary's file manager doesn't shine is external drives. There’s no easy way to open any external storage device on elementary OS, you have to open Files and then click on the device listing. It can be better. For instance, GNOME shows a notification when you plug in any storage device clicking on which opens its contents. Ubuntu’s Unity offered an icon on the launcher for a single-click solution from the Desktop. Both or either of these solutions are possible for elementary OS to implement and I’ve filed a [bug report](https://github.com/elementary/wingpanel/issues/203) for the same. elementary’s Files app also lacks the ability to format any external drives and that's a basic feature every other operating system has. I’ve filed a [bug report](https://github.com/elementary/files/issues/924) but sadly nothing seems to be moving in this regard. ## Conclusion elemetary’s deceptively simple file manager, Files, is full of smart features and little touches that can make your workflow quite efficient and even enjoyable. On their own, each little feature may not be a big deal but together, they make a big difference. Surprisingly, the elementary team has managed to pack all these wonderful features without having any “Settings” dialog. Things are naturally exposed to you as and when you need them. I hope I’ve convinced you to give elementary OS’ Files a try. You can do that by installing [elementary OS](https://elementary.io/) either on your computer directly or using a virtual machine. If you want to try it on another operating system, sadly there’s no way to do so yet. Maybe elementary Files available as a [Flatpak app](https://flathub.org/home) would be a good idea! ### Ubuntu 20.04 LTS’ snap obsession has snapped me off of it URL: https://journal.jatan.space/ubuntu-is-obsessed-with-snap/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:32:14.000Z Like everyone else, I got excited about the latest Ubuntu LTS release, 20.04, and installed it on day one. A month in, I’m sorry to say that I leave disappointed. The amount of unready *snap* features being effectively forced onto Ubuntu is affecting my usability and user-friendliness. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f9783e451-998e-45be-9f96-638bf939cf52_640x360-jpeg.jpg) ## Software center can’t install Flatpak apps In 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu’s Software Center was switched from being a .deb version of GNOME Software to a *snap* app. The new snapped store can handle management of *snap* applications and traditional .deb ones, but it can’t install or remove Flatpak applications, like the .deb version could. Users wanting to install Flatpak apps need to manually revert to using the .deb version. It’s not an ideal solution when previous Ubuntu Software releases could handle all three formats. In all, the latest Ubuntu Software is a step back. ## Browsing the Snap Store sucks Good apps, and finding them, are central to the success of any modern operating system. Even without Flatpak apps, I was expecting the snapped store to at least do what it's supposed to do well–help find apps. It turns out that instead Ubuntu prioritizes snap apps over .deb ones in store search results at any cost! So you’ll see a long list of non relevant entries of snap apps above .deb ones, even if your search term exactly matches the latter. -\_- Needless to say this is a serious issue for discovering software, especially for users switching from Windows or Mac. The snapped store isn’t just a step back, but is downright unreliable. ## Slow and forced Chromium snap On the latest Ubuntu, if you try to download the .deb version of Chromium using either the Software Store or the command line, it acts as an alias and installs the snap version! Essentially, Chromium snap is shoved down your throat even if you explicitly asked for the .deb version. This is not cool Ubuntu; Just because Chromium may be easier to maintain as a snap app doesn’t justify this forced behavior. Besides, a typical user doesn’t care how the app is managed in the backend, all they care about is how it works. And that's another place where snaps don't shine. They are slow. I hate that Chromium’s snap takes more than 10 seconds to load on cold boot on a freaking SSD, whereas .deb and Flatpak apps load in 1-2 seconds. Snaps are simply not fast enough to be default *anything* yet. ## No control over updates Snap applications auto-update and that’s fine if Ubuntu wants to keep systems secure. But it can't even be turned off manually. Auto-updating of snaps can only be deferred at best, until at some point, like Windows, it auto-updates anyway. Even on metered connections, snaps auto-update after a threshold time. This is unacceptable. Even Apple has easy options to disable automatic software updates. Ubuntu's update process with 20.04 LTS is a deal breaker for people on limited bandwidth connections or who want to know exactly what they’re updating and when they’d like to. Even at best, this behavior is causing me issues like slowing down my connection abruptly and using a major chunk of my limited data for the day. My [discussion on the Ubuntu forums](https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/is-ubuntu-software-going-to-be-remove-for-snap-snap-store/14542/25?u=uncertainquark) on the topic and many such raised issues by others didn’t go well, read the *full thread* if interested. ## Closing thoughts Ubuntu was my first Linux-based operating system and is what attracted me to the ecosystem. I have a soft spot for it, especially the amazing Unity days. As such, it is disappointing to see this snap obsession that has taken over Ubuntu. An OS once lauded for its sane defaults and user friendliness is actively going against the user’s will. What’s especially concerning is that this is the Ubuntu version that millions of people will use for at least two years. I don’t hate snaps but being forced to use it especially when in a clearly premature state is forcing me to hate it. Snaps simply aren’t ready for system-wide daily usage and Ubuntu should’ve known better. Perhaps Ubuntu should've created a separate snap-based OS image, like Fedora's [Silverblue](https://fedoramagazine.org/what-is-silverblue/), and only swap the default when it's ready. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS’ snap obsession has snapped me off of it. I have switched to macOS as my daily driver, for many other reasons. I don't have the time to keep fixing things on Linux Desktop and be constantly finding ways to work around standard OS features that should otherwise just be available and work. For those on Linux, I recommend using thoughtfully designed [elementary OS](https://elementary.io/) because of its [app ecosystem](https://appcenter.elementary.io/), [excellent file manager](https://journal.jatan.space/why-i-love-elementary-os-file-manager), and the [welcoming nature](https://journal.jatan.space/contributing-to-elementary-os) of their developers for contributions and suggestions. ### My contributions to GNOME as a non-coder and how you can too URL: https://journal.jatan.space/contributing-to-gnome/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:31:15.000Z My post on [user-facing contributions to elementary OS](https://journal.jatan.space/contributing-to-elementary-os) was received well. So now I’m sharing my contributions to GNOME that didn’t involve any coding whatsoever! GNOME is the interface+apps suite powering Ubuntu, Fedora and many more Linux-based operating systems. I’m an open source enthusiast who thinks while Linux is great and works for quite a few people, it isn’t ready for the masses. So whenever I do use GNOME, I do my part and contribute. But the thing is I don’t know how to code. Instead, since I have a thing for good UX, I file bug reports with UX suggestions. It turns out that if the project owners like your ideas, they go ahead and implement said features which then reaches all their users! I must note beforehand that unlike elementary, I haven’t had much success in getting GNOME to even consider my ideas, but that’s alright. I’m sharing the few ideas that did get implemented because even a small change in GNOME benefits the majority of the current Linux users, and new ones. ## File transfer notifications I love the feature in [elementary’s amazing file manager](https://journal.jatan.space/why-i-love-elementary-os-file-manager) where it notifies you on completion of file transfers if the app is in the background. I thought it’d be great to have it on GNOME as well, so I [filed a bug report](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/nautilus/-/issues/998) suggesting the same. I’m happy to say that as of one week ago, a commit to that effect has been merged. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f13690c1f-d387-40a8-a2cc-68702ebf54f2_1024x575-png.jpg) Notifications on completion of file transfer tasks in elementary OS’ Files. The feature will soon come on GNOME as well. I’ve filed a report for [GNOME Disks to send notifications](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-disk-utility/-/issues/132) too, seeing that it has many such actions that can take a long time to complete. If you are a developer, you can pick it up for implementation. If you’re not, you can weigh in with your thoughts on the idea. ## Better Nautilus Nautilus, GNOME’s file manager, didn’t allow you to “add bookmarks” from the right-click context menu. Turns out the option existed, lying in the location bar’s context menu instead, which was odd. So I [filed a request](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/nautilus/-/issues/1015) to add it in the context menu where more people will find it and it was implemented. Another small feature that I [suggested and was added](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/nautilus/-/issues/1016) is showing tooltips on action buttons upon hover, because their icons were difficult to tell apart from one another for new people. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f820111d1-2262-4595-9da8-07c5979db906_492x375.png) Confusing action button icons in GNOME's file manager with no labels/tooltips to help either. Good luck guessing which icon does what. ## Improved unit conversions GNOME has a really good universal search feature, invoked by hitting the “Super/Win” key or pointing the cursor to the top left of the screen. It can search apps, files, the software center, do mathematical calculations and more. I accidentally discovered it can do unit conversions too, powered by GNOME Calculator in the background. But the unit conversion feature only worked when typing say “10 m ***in*** cm”. It didn’t work when using natural words like “10 m ***to*** cm” or “convert X to Y”. So I filed a [bug report](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calculator/-/issues/94) and voila, both GNOME Search and Calculator now do unit conversions in a more natural and discoverable way. ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2fd3cc70e8-6afb-4167-982a-f4e602fd9bd4_1004x185-png.jpg) GNOME's unit conversion feature only worked when using the word "in", not "to", but now it does. --- I was able to contribute a few but meaningful user-facing features to GNOME by merely suggesting changes and not knowing how to code. Remember, all those features reached thousands and thousands of users as GNOME is the most widely used Linux Desktop Environment! Overall though, I’ve had a rather frustrating experience with contributing to GNOME. Not accepting feature suggestions because they don't match “your philosophy” is fine, but the rather rude way in which many things are shot down and issues closed with no explanations whatsoever doesn’t inspire me to contribute in the future. Anyway, I hope my post inspired you. Go contribute to your favorite open source project! Open source is an amazing thing, everyone can contribute in ways that suits them and the resulting product works better for all. :) ### Interviewing Prof. Miron Livny, whose open computing system contributed to two Nobel Prizes URL: https://journal.jatan.space/miron-livny-interview/ Last updated: 2023-12-31T18:41:26.000Z ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/62945610-7b98-4171-8468-aa41bde076b5_1000x1000.webp) Prof. Miron Livny speaking at TIFR on High Throughput Computing. [*Prof. Miron Livny*](https://wid.wisc.edu/people/miron-livny/) *of University of Wisconsin-Madison visited the* [*Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)*](http://www.tifr.res.in/) *on October 24-25, 2019 for the 1st Asian HTCondor workshop. He is a pioneer in High Throughput Computing (HTC), a distributed computing system. Among other things, he leads HTCondor, a distributed resource and job management system for HTC. His work has been crucial to enabling cutting edge science experiments worldwide, the likes of* [*Large Hadron Collider*](https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider)*,* [*IceCube Neutrino Observatory*](https://icecube.wisc.edu/about/overview) *and more. As a science communicator at TIFR, I took the opportunity to chat with Prof. Livny on his work that has grabbed two Nobel Prizes in Physics.* --- **Can you tell us how is High Throughput Computing (HTC) different from say, supercomputers or grid computing that people hear about?** Imprecise language and buzzwords govern the computing ecosystem. I coined the term HTC in the mid-nineties in order to differentiate it from traditional High Performance Computing, known to many as supercomputers. HTC is a distributed system that enables even individual researchers to get effective access to large compute capabilities. Recently, a National Academy of Science report in the US said that high throughput computing is not just important for scientific discovery, but is enabling scientific discovery in a growing number of domains. **How did you start HTC and how did HTCondor develop?** What I’m doing today is anchored in my PhD work in the late 1970s. I always joke that I’ve been working on the same problem for over 40 years and it’s still not done! My thesis was on load balancing and distributed systems. I was always fascinated by the simple problem that you have a quest for work sitting and waiting in one place and a resource capable and willing to serve it is idling in another place. How do you bring them together? It turns out it’s an unsolvable problem so I can work for 40 more years. Then in the early eighties, when I came to Wisconsin, I was introduced to the notion of a workstation where computing power was basically assigned to an individual. And then we added the concept of a distributed ownership where you’re not thinking about the system as homogeneous ownership with one master, but that there are many masters because every person now owns a computer capability. How do you bring all of them together while preserving the rights of the individuals? That led to developing Condor and its first deployment in 1985\. We had to change the name 20 years later to HTCondor for legal reasons. **What was the most interesting or challenging problem that HTCondor helped solve?** There are two Nobel Prize discoveries whose computation system was powered by HTCondor––the Higgs Boson in 2012 and then recently detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO collaboration. So I am always joking, I’m looking for the triple crown. But I can’t say that they’re more important or challenging than other works of science powered by HTCondor. **How do you enable smaller science projects and individual researchers using HTC?** In Wisconsin-Madison in the 90s, we did a lot of simulation of database systems, study algorithm performance and similar high throughput application to make it robust. I always believed that computing can act as a fertilizer for science. That if you give researchers more effective computing, they can do more, better science. HTC, as opposed to traditional High Performance Computing, is much more of a democratic tool. With HTC, our goal is to allow a younger professor with no army of people in his/her lab to do large scale computing. We have at Wisconsin-Madison an economics professor that can do 200,000 hours a day using the HTC we offer that is powered by HTCondor. So what gives us most satisfaction is when we see the smaller guys being able to bring computing to do their science and then them saying, *“Without you we couldn’t do it.”* **How has the Open Science Grid project been progressing?** The Open Science Grid, designed as a national shared distributed HTC resource for researchers, has been a wonderful experience in many directions. Obviously one is that we were able to deliver the USA computing commitment to the Large Hadron Collider. That was our first funded mission and we had to deliver. But the personal angle is that we always saw what we are doing as expanding from the desktop to the world. And that’s how we went from the campus to nation-wide and beyond. We now share HTC capabilities across more than 125 institutions. And that brought with it many complications, not only in terms of volume of users, but also in diversity of science domains, types of institutions and politics. I always listed sociology as the top obstacle to high throughput computing and we have our fair share in the Open Science Grid. **What is a future development in the field that you’re looking forward to and where do you see things like quantum computing fit into it?** Powerful forces are driving computing capabilities globally and they are economical, social and political in nature. Our task is that whatever complex dynamics these forces create, it’s our responsibility to bring the required computing to the researchers. We always stayed with distributed systems. Now will distributed systems include quantum computers? Fine. But we have to resist being pulled into the debate on will quantum computing work and what application will it have and so on. We are collaborating with a group from the Large Hadron Collider’s ATLAS experiment, who are looking at how to use quantum computing for physics. So we say, if you’ll make it work, our job is to get you the resources you need. Personally, I believe that some problems will run on quantum computers down the road. But will all problems run on that? I don’t think so. In the same way that today some of the workload goes to GPUs and some doesn’t. Our job is to give researchers something stable. If we expose researchers to the waves, we harm them. **HTCondor is available as open source software on all major operating systems (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, etc.) What led to making it freely available?** If you believe in high throughput, then you believe in bringing maximum capacity to the researchers. If you make the software that does it subject to lawyers and to purchasing, then you are reducing the amount of capacity that is available to be shared. Therefore, open source is a natural decision. It’s also a personal decision. We wanted to stay independent of commercial considerations. We do help others to build businesses around HTCondor, the most recent example being Cycle Computing that was bought for quite a bit of money by Microsoft. We said we’re happy to help you but we don’t want any financial dependency. Once we become financially dependent, we lose our freedom. **So even commercial users don’t have to pay anything to use HTCondor?** That’s correct. HTCondor is open source and freely distributed. It’s in our interest that people use it. We also earn trust if someone like Dreamworks says they’re using HTCondor. Fun fact, if you’ve watched a movie that was [made by Dreamworks since 2011](https://twitter.com/TIFRScience/status/1187716725648674817/photo/1) (Kung Fu Panda 2, Baby Boss, How to Train Your Dragon 2, etc.), its rendering was managed by HTCondor. Such recommendations make it less hesitant for people to use HTC systems. The other thing is that any user of the system is a resource for understanding its limitations or exposing a requirement that hadn’t been considered before. So it’s extremely valuable to our quest to advance the state of the art of distributed HTC. We view users as an opportunity to find bugs in the system, to find things that we don’t do right. So that again goes back to the open source commitment. We want as many users as possible because they help us make HTC better. *Originally published at* [*TIFR*](http://www.tifr.res.in/TSN/article/miron-livny-interview.pdf)*.* ### An interview of K. VijayRaghavan, the principal scientific adviser to Govt. of India URL: https://journal.jatan.space/k-vijayraghavan-interview/ Last updated: 2023-12-31T18:41:15.000Z ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/5e493363-f05c-4b52-8b49-67a751310ddb_400x343.webp) K. VijayRaghavan, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of India, TIFR alumnus and former Director of NCBS. *The* [*Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)*](http://www.tifr.res.in/)*, Mumbai celebrated* [*50 years of Graduate School Programme*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KsYKxb85v0) *on November 1, 2019\. Eminent academics from across the country gathered to discuss the role and impact of graduate schools in India. K. VijayRaghavan, the* [*Principal Scientific Adviser to Govt. of India*](https://twitter.com/PrinSciAdvGoI)*, TIFR alumnus and former Director of* [*NCBS*](https://www.ncbs.res.in/)*, attended the event. He addressed the gathering on the way forward at a national level. As a science communicator at TIFR, I took the opportunity to ask K. VijayRaghavan a few questions, and* *he talks about reimagining Indian institutes to tackle demands of sustainable development and climate change.* --- **What is the agenda for the gathering and what will spawn out of it for India and TIFR?** What we are doing is to project a vision for the coming decade or two of how the graduate school is going to be of a new kind. This is because we face new challenges in the 21st century, both internal and external. Internally, TIFR, with its new campus coming up at Hyderabad, needs to imagine it as a great institution of the future. So its an extraordinary opportunity to build an institution from scratch to tackle modern challenges. At the same time, all other TIFR centers, Colaba campus included, also need to reimagine themselves. The external challenges are in the context of demands of sustainable development and climate change. There is no more important time than today where both Science and Technology are needed to address these issues at scale. And therefore the graduate programs must grapple with that too. **You mentioned that 95% of the Indian govt. funding goes to central institutes but 95% students go to state universities. Therefore, you suggest that TIFR should increase interactions with local institutions. Can you expand on that?** It’s not just about a disparity in funding, but more importantly it’s about the capacity of the system to absorb additional resources. So while the government is committed to injecting more resources, it’s also committed to building up quality so that these resources can be well spent. The way we can have both quality and speed is by the interaction of these great hubs such as TIFR, IISc, etc. with our state university system. When they start interacting more and collaborate in research, then we excel at a national scale. **How do you see this interface extending to technological organizations and hubs, private or otherwise?** What is most prominent today more than ever is that there’s really no distinction between basic and applied sciences. Today the way technology is changing, it feeds back to demands for various kinds of basic sciences. And the way basic science is changing, it results in new technologies. So I like to call this a *Jalebi* (spiral) of interactions rather than a pipeline going from basic to applied sciences. And therefore I like the term fundamental research as opposed to basic research. When it’s fundamental research, it can be fundamental in science, technology or even humanities. And so interfacing with other organizations across the science and technology domains is not just imperative, but would also be an ode to the name of TIFR. *Originally published at* [*TIFR*](http://www.tifr.res.in/TSN/article/k-vijayraghavan-interview.pdf). ### Imagine – Free(dom) Software version URL: https://journal.jatan.space/imagine-free-software-version/ Last updated: 2024-02-21T17:28:50.000Z I love freedom respecting software that's also open source. In this fast growing digital-first world, it's more important than ever to have [everyday digital tools](https://journal.jatan.space/privacy-apps-that-just-work) that work transparently for us users. With that in mind, here's my fork of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s song [Imagine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgFZfRVaww), extending their utopian sense of freedom to the digital world. --- Imagine there’s no DRM, it’s easy if you try No chains below us, above us a free sky Imagine all the people, sharing all the world… aha-ah… Imagine there’s no Microsoft, it isn’t hard to do Nothing to upgrade or wait for, and no blue screen too Imagine all the people, using computers in peace… you-hoo… They may say we’re dreamers, but we’re not the only ones I hope someday they’ll join us in Tux, and the world will be as one Imagine no Google, I wonder if you can No need for Chrome or YouTube, and all still works on the Web Imagine all the people, browsing all the world… you-hoo.. They may say we’re dreamers, but we’re not the only ones I hope someday they’ll join us in Tux, and the world will be as one. ### How science fiction helps us contemplate reality URL: https://journal.jatan.space/how-sci-fi-helps-us-contemplate-reality/ Last updated: 2025-08-06T11:28:10.000Z ![](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/the-mutara-nebula-star-trek-enterprise.jpg) The Mutara Nebula and the starship Enterprise from Star Trek. [Image: 1darthvader](https://1darthvader.deviantart.com/art/The-Mutara-Nebula-148814902) Humans have a hard time contemplating large numbers and objects. And when it comes to really big things like our Sun, our galaxy or worse, our universe, we simply lose a sense of scale. Sure, we can put a number to these beastly objects, but we can’t contemplate the actual magnitude of their existence. For example, we know that the Earth’s diameter is about 12,500 km. But that doesn’t mean that we can contemplate such a giant ball of rock and water with all its topology and life forms in one go. That feeling is strictly reserved for the physical and mental senses of an astronaut. Another example is the temperature at the core of our Sun, which we know from science to be a scorching 15 million degrees Celsius. But we can merely imagine the threatening thousands of degrees of lava heat, let alone millions of degrees powering the stars. ![A solar filament compared to the Earth.](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/https-3a-2f-2fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5254736e-7e1f-4020-b0e6-801a29f039a5_1200x750-jpeg.jpg) A solar filament compared to the Earth. Everyday life leaves us incapable of contemplating the sheer scale of this. [Credit: NASA / SDO](https://www.nasa.gov/mission%5Fpages/sunearth/news/gallery/earth-scale.html) Even a solar filament eruption is several times larger than the entirety of Earth. Everyday life leaves us incapable of contemplating the sheer scale of it. And we haven’t even ventured outside the solar system yet! ## Enter science fiction Science is full of numbers, associated with facts, every text you look at. That somehow has been perceived as being dull by a general audience who are unable to relate those facts to their existence here on Earth. I maintain it’s their teacher’s fault. So much so that the situation even applies to many science students just the same. This is where science fiction chips in. By weaving the facts of nature in a story format, science fiction enables you to contemplate both the grandeur and the most importantly, subtlety of reality. **Science fiction as a tool to contemplate reality** Consider the following scene from the movie Interstellar. The astronauts who landed on one of the planets around the black hole only spent 10 minutes on its surface. When they returned to their spaceship, they were surprised to find that their friend had aged 23 years! That’s Einstein’s general relativity personified for you. Physicists on Earth have sought to grasp and explain the masses the many spatial dimensions predicted by String Theory but it’s through the fictive [Three Body Problem](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20518872-the-three-body-problem) that author Liu Cixin uses the technology of an advanced alien species to clearly visualize what having access to these many dimensions would mean. Another example is [The Martian](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18007564-the-martian?ref=nav%5Fsb%5Fss%5F1%5F11). Remember the orbital complexities involved in bringing the stranded astronaut back home? The story enables you to understand how going to Mars and coming back isn’t that easy. There are multiple factors out there in space that we can’t control, making planning things difficult. If the facts of nature are expressed in a story format, that we all apes have a thing for, we get an understanding of why scientific facts are important and how they affect us all. **Science fiction as a part of media culture and an inspiration** History is filled with insightful science fiction writers such as H.G.Wells, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and many more. In the last century alone, science fiction has gone from the fascination of the nerds to being a common part of our media culture. How many time travel movies can you list, eh? The essence of the classic sci-fi [2001: A Space Odyssey](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70535.2001) is still relevant after half a century of its publication. The book showcases a mix of artificial intelligence, colonies on the Moon, a crewed mission to Saturn, aliens, wormholes, all weaved intricately in a single story. The year 2001 has come and gone though, and sadly, none of the major technological advances imagined by Arthur C. Clarke have been accomplished. Yet, it still stands as an inspiration for our generation to make such an optimistic future happen. Ion propulsion engines as seen in Star Trek are now a reality and one such engine was utilized by [NASA’s Dawn spacecraft](http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/) on its mission to explore the asteroid belt. The [Laws of Robotics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three%5FLaws%5Fof%5FRobotics) are well-known to have been derived from the science fiction author Isaac Asimov, who conceptualized the field of robotics. We are still looking forward to the day, good or otherwise, for a sentient artificial being to come into existence. **Science fiction as a medium to reflect on our social structure** Science fiction is also a tool to reflect on the ins and outs of our social structure. From Ray Bradbury’s [The Martian Chronicles](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76778.The%5FMartian%5FChronicles) to Frank Herbert’s insightful [Dune Series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/45935-dune-chronicles), people have tried to expose the dark sides of our social economies. Even the hilarious mathematical fiction [Flatland](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/433567.Flatland) satirically questioned our way of unjustly treating women. Scientists like Fred Hoyle resorted to means of science fiction. He wrote [The Black Cloud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FBlack%5FCloud) to popularize his scientific hypothesis among other scientists, some of which then found its way into mainstream science. This constant give and take of science fiction with science and our culture is what has enabled our species to judge many of our deeds, question our traditions and improve our understanding of our place in this Universe. Science fiction enables us to march on our way as a space faring species, which we hope will carry less of our weaknesses and more of our strengths. Read science fiction. It will open your eyes to not only worlds that can be, but the world that is. What are some of your favorite science fiction stories? ### How Isaac Asimov used science fiction to point out our biases URL: https://journal.jatan.space/using-scifi-to-point-our-biases/ Last updated: 2025-08-22T14:01:42.000Z ![Planet around two suns](https://journal.jatan.space/content/images/2023/12/40537ce1-4daf-4c40-8d80-47761fc9b211_1200x675.webp "Planet around two suns") This artist’s concept shows a hypothetical planet covered in water going around the binary star system of Kepler-35A and B. [Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech](https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1430/earth-sized-tatooine-planets-could-be-habitable/) Science fiction has a special place in my mind, in that it broadens your horizons and makes you dream, or fear for good. Science fiction has often been used by writers as a satirical tool to highlight problems in society. [Flatland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland) comes to mind. One such problem currently is that people tend to think life forms can only exist on Earth-like planets around sun-like stars. Way back in the 1940s, Isaac Asimov encouraged the idea of life being possible on planets around other stars, half a century before the first exoplanet was even discovered! Asimov imagined life being possible on a planet around not just a single star like in our case, but around multiple stars. Note that this is even before Star Wars showcased their iconic Tatooine planet orbiting two suns. Enter [Nightfall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall%5F%28Asimov%5Fnovelette%5Fand%5Fnovel%29). Nightfall’s story takes place on a planet called Kalgash which orbits *six* stars! At any given point of time and location on the planet, there is at least one sun in the sky, shining brightly. People on Kalgash have never known a sky without light. Therefore, they don’t know what true *darkness* is. They don’t even know there are other stars and planets because they can never see them. The concept of total darkness is as abstract to them as nothingness is to us. They are truly terrified of it. --- ### SPOILER ALERT As the plot progresses, people on Kalgash are headed for a surprise. Based on the specific way their planet orbits around the six stars, it plunges into darkness every 2049 years and their civilization collapses under extreme madness. On the day before this *Nightfall*, expecting the doom, a lead scientist on Kalgash comes up with this crazy idea of life on another planet, paraphrased below. ### SPOILER ENDS --- > **Scientist:** Imagine there are other suns in the Universe like that of ours, but so far away that they are outshone by the light of our mighty suns. However, they can manifest themselves during the darkness which is bound to come tomorrow. > > **Others:** Our six suns, planet Kalgash, that’s all there is to the Universe. > > **Scientist:** Perhaps not. What if those other suns also have planets orbiting them? What if there is a planet around a single star? And life exists on it? > > **Others:** You are taking it too far. We know from our own case that having six suns is the natural way for life to exist. > > **Scientist:** And that’s just one example we know of. If such a planet exists around a single star, as it rotates it will experience half a day of light followed by half a day of darkness! > > **Others:** That would be crazy! Life simply can’t exist on such a planet, because it has constant periods of darkness in it. And we on Kalgash require a constant source of light to function. Yet, here we are on planet Earth, around our dear sun. Isaac Asimov used science fiction as a tool to point out our bias of expecting life to form only in Earth-like systems. It is to be noted that lately, we’ve [found](https://www.nasa.gov/mission%5Fpages/kepler/news/kepler-16b.html) many [planets](https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/185/four-fathers-new-exoplanet-discovery-part-of-a-quadruple-star-system/) in [multiple star systems](https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1430/earth-sized-tatooine-planets-could-be-habitable/). I [wrote a poem](https://jatan.space/triple-sunset) on the topic. Nature often works its magic in incomprehensible ways and we, as one of its life forms, should be open to what it could offer us.