Derek Richardson - My Digital Domain

My Digital Domain

Day 30 – Goal Achieved

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I made it! Yes 30 days of writing. Now let me tell you, this hasn’t been easy for me. A prime example was yesterday’s post, that was the hardest one to write.

Looking back it looks like a graph of the Bitcoin price. Yes lots of ups and downs. I am really happy that I didn’t throw in the towel and quit. It would of been the easy way out.

During this journey, I have two posts that I really enjoyed writing. ‘The Rise of the Social Algorithms’ and ‘Let’s talk about Vinyl Records’ now this has shown me that when you write about something you know about and love then the process becomes so much easier.

I know my writing structure is not great and I plan to work on that as I move forward. I am still busy with the writing course on Udemy and have learnt a few good tips but I know I can do better.

As I write this final blog in my 30 day challenge, it’s Saturday and normally I would write more of a diary about the weekend. Not this time! I am done and going to enjoy my weekend and not feel pressured to write on a daily basis.

I will be updating this blog and it will be a weekly post which will give me more to to focus on the structure and not be pressured to get som words down.

If you have followed my blogs for the last 30 days, I would just like to say a big very thank you for taking this journey with me.

Thanks for reading!

Day 29 – Almost There

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It’s a Friday as I write this on day 29. Another day of great sunshine, but it looks set to be broken later this afternoon with the rain arriving. I can’t complain it has been amazing and dry for most of this week. So a happy face is required!

So I got my ticket this morning, to see Gary Numan on the Isle of Man in March 2018. I cannot wait to see him, I’ve seen a few YouTube clicks of the ‘Savage’ tour and it looks brilliant. I am beyond excited.

So, we’re into December, how did we get here? Now that is question. My mom says the older you get the faster the time goes. I guess we say this every year, but it seems like it has rushed past us and now it’s the countdown to Christmas. This is going to be our first Christmas off the Isle of Man. Zoe’s parent’s moved into their new home in Scotland earlier this year, so we are road tripping. We’re holding thumbs for some good weather as we’re taking the ferry across to Heysham.

So, this weekend will be the last of my writing challenge. I will recap about my experience, but something that caught my eye today was…

And if you don’t live, you have nothing to write about. –  James Maynard Keenan

This is such a powerful statement, are we just on autopilot as we go from day to day? I guess it’s more about the reflection of the year gone past.

Day 28 – Gazing at the Sun

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You might have noticed I am rather obsessed at the moment about the lovely dry weather we are having on the Isle of Man. It has been really cold with top temperatures reach between 4 and 7C during the day. Today started off lovely and dry, a few moments ago we had a winter hail shower which only lasted a few minutes. Now let me explain about this hail, it’s nothing like we used to get in South Africa. It is tiny, no bigger than the size of a pea. Sunset tonight is at 16h01, we are getting close to the peak of the short days, and then we start gaining more light after the 21st of December.

HOW PLASTIC IS CONSUMING OUR LIVES

Lots of debate around at the moment regarding plastic bags which have been banned recently in the UK and it’s now filtering through to the Isle of Man. Sky News recently ran a campaign about the big topic of plastic is our oceans. How as humans can we do this? We have absolutely no regard for our environment and it’s just getting worse.  In the UK, thirteen of the big retailers has signed up to cut the packaging of food, but this just isn’t enough or soon enough. As touted a plastic tax is being considered, but this would mainly affect the consumer and not the manufacturer, so what happens then?  People stop buying the goods in plastic and then profits go down for the retailers, perhaps when it starts affecting their profits they will be motivated to make these changes quicker. We have made an effort to collect our plastic bottles and drop them off at our recycling centre every weekend.

IS THE BITCOIN BUBBLE ABOUT TO BURST?

I have been very tempted to invest more into Bitcoin, but I have decided to wait for a really big correction. The growth for 2017 has been over 1000% which is insane. I would rather err on the side of caution.  It is so volatile, after reaching a high of $11,000 it slumped nearly 20%. The energy drain is rather intense; a recent estimate by tech news site Motherboard put the energy cost of a single Bitcoin transaction at 215 kilowatt-hours, assuming that there are around 300,000 Bitcoin transactions per day. That’s almost enough energy as the average American household consumes in a whole week.  Did you know that Bitcoin’s smallest unit is a Satoshi, named after the elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. One Satoshi is one hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin, making it worth around $0.0001 at current exchange rates. I don’t doubt the cryptocurrency but I think the growth may be inflated and it’s going to drop. Hey, I could be so wrong on this as it could keep growing in value and then it costs even more to buy. Something is telling me to hold for the moment and I think I will.

Thanks for reading!

Day 27 – The Sun Shines on the Rock

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We have been spoilt for the last two days, blue skies and no rain. But it is really cold, which is expected for this time of year. Today calls for me to take another picture for this blog post. I am thinking about popping out at lunch time and going up to Douglas Head, it looks amazing when the sun is out.

Someone I have been talking about a lot about recently on this blog is Ian F. Now he just opened a new Instagram account, @ayeartofitness –  Give Ian a follow and join in with his goal to become fit and lose weight.  Nice one, my friend! I look forward to following you on your journey!

HOW SNAPCHAT IS SEPARATING SOCIAL FROM MEDIA

If there is one social network I have a keen eye on its Snapchat. They are currently rolling out a major update of their app, but its founder is the one to keep an eye on.  Who is Evan Spiegel? He created Snapchat whilst at Stanford University studying product design, alongside Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. He has written an article which is well worth a read.

HOW MUCH LIFE IS LEFT IN LIVE TV?

It’s interesting to see that the BBC is going to be hosting a lot of box sets this Christmas. It makes sense as they have the platform and infrastructure they need to complete with the likes of Netflix and Sky over this festive season. You’ll be able to catch up on shows like: ‘Peaky Blinders, Taboo & Wolf Hall. If you have been watching Blue Planet II, some good news is that the original Blue Planet will be on the iPlayer soon, along with Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and last year’s Planet Earth II.  This brings me to the point of; how many people will be watching live TV this festive season?  I think the only live TV I will consume is the New Years countdown, just so I know that I hit 2018 on time.

STEPHEN HAWKING: ‘I FEAR AI MAY REPLACE HUMANS ALTOGETHER’

One of favourite sources of tech news comes from ‘Wired’ they have such fantastic in depth articles and this is one of them. When Hawking speaks we should pay attention!  He answers questions about the anti-science movement, the president of the United States; I can’t even type his name, the digital duopoly of Facebook and Google and what scientific research should be pursued most urgently.

Thanks for reading!

Day 26 – Hanging In There

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Picture by Me: Braaid, Isle of Man.

Do you ever get the feeling things are about to change? You are happy with what you are doing, then, boom! Well, I have had that feeling for a while now and it is such an unsettling feeling.  I don’t want this post to be a downer, so I am looking for some inspiration.

Someone who is helping my state of mind at the moment is thousands of miles away and it’s Ian F. Thank you for posting the content you are… from cooking to gratitude. You do put a smile on my face, my friend.

So Amazon delivered the new Tim Ferriss book I ordered: ‘Tribe of Mentors’ What’s great about this book is that you don’t have to read it from the beginning to end to get the gist of it. Tim asked people the same questions, so you can just jump in and see what appeals to you.  It did find someone I had never heard of before and that is: ‘Tim Urban’ he’s known for his TED Talk about procrastination; but also has a much read blog: ‘Wait But Why’ 

One of the quotes that caught my eye was from Naval Ravikant:

“Self-esteem is just the reputation that you have with yourself. You’ll always know”

As we head into December, it’s time for some reflection of the last year. I have to say it was a good start and now it’s seems unclear as to what direction needs to be taken.

Today is a beautiful, cold, sunny day on the Isle of Man and its days like this that makes me appreciate where I live.  I am going to pop out at lunch time and take a picture for this blog post, not sure where I’ll go but I’m sure I will get a great shot!

Some of the best news I saw last night, is that Gary Numan is bringing his ‘Savage’ tour to the Isle of Man on Friday 23 March 2018. I was looking through the tour dates wondering if I should book to see him in Liverpool and Bam, there was a date for the Isle of Man listed, super-stoked is an understatement. If you haven’t heard his new album: ‘Savage: Songs from a Broken World’ do check it out, it is brilliant. Here’s the first single: ‘My Name Is Ruin’ which features his daughter, Persia on vocals. She has been on some of the tour dates with him and I hope Gary brings her along for the gig here.

Thanks for reading!

Day 25 – With The Cold Comes The Bugs

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Oliver Hihn

So it was a busy Monday morning, with not many members of the household keen to get up in the dark to start the new week. We all managed to get out the house a little later than normal but still on time. Then at 11am I got some messages from the big one to say she is not feeling well. Next the school called and off I went to fetch her. It’s a real pleasure only having to drive no more than ten minutes to her school. Took her home and made her some chicken noodle soup, as you do when anyone doesn’t feel well in the family.

Now this is only the start of the cold weather and what comes with it is the dreaded: ‘Norovirus’ otherwise known as the winter vomiting bug. It’s a nasty piece of work and makes you feel terrible for a good couple of days.  It is highly contagious and spreads very quickly. If you get it you can’t go to the doctors, they just won’t see you. You just have to let it run its course. There is also a 48 hour rule, no kids or going back to school or work after you start feeling better. Last year during December they actually had to close my son’s primary school as it was rampant. They moved some of the kids to another school for a few days.

Yesterday, if you’re a Formula 1 fan you’ll know it was the last race of the reason. It took place in Abu Dhabi and was really boring to be honest. I suppose one factor was that the championship had already been wrapped up by Lewis a few weeks before. Well done to Bottas who beat Lewis fair and square on the day, but I feel for Ferrari. What a way to end the season for them, Vettal was about 18 seconds behind Lewis.  They have a lot of work to do during the winter break and I hope they come into the 2018 season with a better package.

At the end of the podium presentation the new Formula 1 logo was unveiled. The production of this video blew my mind. Watch it below.


As you can imagine there has been a lot of discussion about this new logo, if you’re interested, just Google it – My verdict is that I absolutely love it. It’s modern and minimal. Now can we fix the cars so they can overtake in 2018?

As we head into the last few days of November, I’m still rather shocked December is only days away. The good news is that it’s only four days left of my challenge; I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for reading!