A list of good enough blogging platforms by price if you just want to write

Plus some blog recommendations as a nice side effect.

My writing goals and methods this year

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

One sanitized and sandboxed Fediverse profile to rule them all

After musing over having my social web presence on my own domain thanks to the book Indie Microblogging, I’ve decided to try having such a profile on the Fediverse for a year. But Mastodon and the most of the Fediverse platforms are too noisy by default, having borrowed likes,

A new year, a new blog to brew

So I’ve started a new blog, Thought Brew, to share interesting links I come across as well as some notable thoughts and instances from life on Earth. The blog’s centerpiece though would be the links, sometimes shared with quotes or linked commentary. After all, the originator of the

Apps and digital tools I liked in 2025

And you might too. 💻

Moon samples, poetry, and community | Newsletter for friends #08

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

Poem: Words

To all who share a love for the written word.

Week notes inception

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. It was great to have an extremely engaged audience.

Newsletter for friends #07: Life has changed

Reading recommendations, things I wrote of note, and more.

Cycles and fluctuations

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

Reading life in a nutshell

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

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.

Essays & Musings

Gaining context on China and its rise (Good reads)

Between China’s rise in lunar exploration and my visit to the country 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

Essays & Musings

For the love of RSS feeds, simplify your blog’s subscribe page

I love reading blogs, newsletters, and virtually anything else on the Web through RSS feeds. As a space writer, 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

Took the day off against my will, and thankful for it

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’

Newsletter for friends

Newsletter for friends #06: Time flies

Hi friends, It’s again been over three months since I sent out the previous newsletter for friends. 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

Essays & Musings

Plunge, hope, and rise—poetic perspectives

I recently read lyrical poems by Aurobindo, 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

Utterly fascinated by dinosaurs—want to launch them to space

Lately I’ve been watching Prehistoric Planet. 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.

In which AI kills the human Web, or at least its spirit

* Here’s a depressing roundup 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 from people responding to AI by closing the very

App subscriptions and Yoghurt

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 → flipboard.social (for the Fediverse) 2. Inoreader Pro → Inoreader Free (second

Newsletter for friends

Newsletter for friends #05: Too many things happened lately

Hi friends, It’s been over three months since I sent out the previous newsletter for friends. 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.

Realizations about actually avoiding social media

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 too. 2. Having a domain for micro thoughts, day-to-day photos, comments, and random musings is a waste

An unexpected Moon Monday story

Something unexpected happened recently. I had covered someone’s published research on my 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

Places I’ve published Moon Monday editions from

* Airports * Trains * Cafés * Amid conferences * Hostels and Hotels * Recently from a beach * Weddings * When traveling in Europe and China * A hospital How? Since the day is etched in the name, Moon Monday, I plan every week around it. Someday I’d love to publish a Moon Monday from the Moon.