> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://journal.jatan.space/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Moon samples, poetry, and community | Newsletter for friends #08 - URL: https://journal.jatan.space/newsletter-for-friends-08/ - Published: 2025-12-26T16:02:53.000Z - Updated: 2025-12-26T16:02:53.000Z - Author: Jatan - Tags: Life slices 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)