Rant

The Photo Sharing Conundrum

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To give you a bit of background on where this is coming from: I was into photography in the 2010s. To the point where I had a camera, multiple lenses and more assorted kit. Eventually I sold all of it, but I still like taking pictures today. This article is about how I struggled with photo sharing on the internet, especially recently. A timeline below, interspersed with completely unrelated photos:

Phase 1: 2004 to Oct 2023 : Flickr

blurred shimmering lights in cafe at night
Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV on Pexels.com

As long as I remember, I have been a loyal user of Flickr. At first, I used to use it as a service to backup and store my photos and share them with family. With the advent of more private cloud storage services, I moved that function to OneDrive and eventually iClown. Still, I kept my Flickr around to share photos publicly.

For most of these 2 decades, I paid for a Flickr Pro membership, too. Although in the initial days it was not required, I paid to support the service and get rid of advertisements. Eventually, they put a 1000 photo limit for free accounts & I was forced to go Pro. Overall though, Flickr has been good to me. It has consistently surfaced my photos in search results and they have been used on almost hundred websites including Wikipedia.

Last year, I started to question why I was paying for this service. It is not like I was earning anything from sharing my photos, they were openly licensed to anyone who wanted to use them. So I decided to take the drastic step of moving away from Flickr.

Phase 2: Oct 2023 to Oct 2023 : Photo Blog

close up photo of mining rig
Photo by panumas nikhomkhai on Pexels.com

I decided to make my own photo blog and host my photos on it. I chose WordPress as my platform because of how ubiquitous it is. As you may know, WordPress natively is not a photo sharing CMS, but there are plugins that can help. I decided to move away from the album format of Flickr and post my photos as part of posts.

I spent a lot of time sifting through my photos and narrowing them down to 2200 photos I deemed worthy of the blog.

It took me 6-7 hours of work everyday for a week to finally put everything up. Time consuming tasks include:

  1. Setting the correct Title and Description for each photo
  2. Setting the correct Caption and Alt Text for each photo
  3. Geotagging photos where location information was missing
  4. Writing posts about the photos
  5. Renaming files
  6. Adjusting the posts for good SEO

And then I made the mistake of restoring a backup for my web hosting (Not knowing it restores all websites) and lost everything.

Phase 3: Oct 2023 to Nov 2023 : Flickr Part 2

person holding lighter
Photo by Kobe – on Pexels.com

Devastated at having lost my blog because of one erroneous click, I decided I couldn’t go through with doing all that one more time and went back to Flickr. Of course, I had deleted my account already, so had to start from scratch.

It took me 6-7 hours everyday for a week to get everything posted on Flickr. Time consuming tasks include:

  1. Setting the correct Title and Description for each photo
  2. Geotagging photos where location information was missing
  3. Sorting photos into albums
  4. Adding photos into groups for visibility

It was nice while it lasted, but within a few weeks, I started to miss my photo blog. Two factors (in de ja vu format) led me to the next steps

  1. Why am I paying for a Flickr Pro subscription when I am not earning anything from it?
  2. Why am I relying on a 3rd party service when I can have my own photo blog.

So I went ahead and deleted my Flickr account, yet again.

Phase 4: Nov 2023 to December 2023 : Photo Blog Part 2

data codes through eyeglasses
Photo by Kevin Ku on Pexels.com

I spent a lot of time sifting through my photos and narrowing them down to 2200 photos I deemed worthy of the blog.

It took me 6-7 hours of work everyday for a week to finally put everything up. Time consuming things include

  1. Setting the correct Title and Description for each photo
  2. Setting the correct Caption and Alt Text for each photo
  3. Geotagging photos where location information was missing
  4. Writing posts about the photos
  5. Renaming files
  6. Adjusting the posts for good SEO

Then I had to go back and ask the people who has previously subscribed to my blog to subscribe again. Embarrassing as fuck. The honeymoon period lasted all of 2 weeks.

Eventually, I began to notice that the traffic on my photo blog was not as per my expectations. Eventually, I found out that search engines were not indexing my photos. In fact, Bing straight up blocked my domain. I request an appeal but it was denied.

After consulting with the wise people of Reddit, I came to the conclusion that WordPress is not good for photo SEO and nothing could beat Flickr when it came to indexing photos on search engines.

So I deleted my blog, yet again.

Phase 5: January 2024 to January 2024 : Flickr Part 3

row of shiny candles near glass wall
Photo by Erkam Hayta on Pexels.com

On my third Flickr account, it took me 6-7 hours everyday for a week to get everything posted on Flickr. Time consuming tasks include:

  1. Setting the correct Title and Description for each photo
  2. Geotagging photos where location information was missing
  3. Sorting photos into albums
  4. Adding photos into groups for visibility

Voila! I had to wait a few weeks, but eventually my photos began to appear on search engines again.

It was nice while it lasted, but within a few weeks, I started getting disillusioned with Flickr. Two factors led me to the next steps

  1. Why am I paying for a Flickr Pro subscription when Iam not earning anything from it?
  2. Why am I relying on a 3rd party service when I can have my own photo blog.

So I went ahead and deleted my Flickr account, yet again.

Phase 6: April 2024 to May 2024 : Piwigo

Free computer server room image

This time I decided that I won’t use WordPress for my photo sharing, so did a lot of research and narrowed it down to Lychee and Piwigo. I couldn’t get Lychee installed, so decided to go with Piwigo. I immediately ran across a few problems

  1. The interface was dated and the theme selection was limited
  2. There was no SEO to speak of, even with plugins
  3. Like all Open Source software (But unlike WordPress), it required a lot of tinkering in PHP to get it to work correctly .

Thankfully, I didn’t waste time posting 2200 photos, rather posted just 2 albums to see how they perform.

After waiting for a few weeks, I realised that my photos weren’t appearing on search engines and decided to scrap it.

Phase 7: May 2024 to May 2024 : Unsplash

man people art girl
Photo by Sohail Nawaz on Pexels.com

Someone on Reddit recommended me Unsplash so I decided to use it. Again, thankfully, I only uploaded 2 albums. Unsplash is a beast when it comes to surfacing photos. I was receiving likes within minutes and had up to 100 downloads in 48 hours for 20 photos.

Unsplash seemed like a dopamine dream come true, until I read their licensing. Long story short, Unsplash lets anyone do whatever they want with your photos without requiring attribution. I may have been OK with it, till I read horror stories from photographers about their photos being used on other platforms, while being attributed to someone else. This was a deal breaker for me, so I deleted my Unsplash account.

Phase 8: May 2024 to June 2024 : Wikimedia Commons

SpaceCube_2
SpaceCube_2 by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC-BY 2.0

By this time, I was dead tired of doing the same things over and over again, so I decided to take a step back and list down what I wanted and what I didn’t want:

  1. I did not want to earn money from my photos.
  2. I did not want to the dopamine fix of likes and comments.
  3. I did not want to share personal photos and did not want an image storage platform.
  4. I did not want to pay for hosting my photos.
  5. I did want my photos to be indexed by search engines.
  6. I did want my photos to be used freely by others, but with attribution.

When. I thought long and hard around the above requirements, the answer came to me. Wikimedia Commons, one of the most extensive media repositories ever.

I was already an occasional contributor to Wikipedia, I could just extend my contributions from articles to media. Many of my photos have already been uploaded to Wikipedia (and consequently wikimedia) by others, I just had to complete the collection.

It took me around 10 days, working 6-7 hours a day to put around 2200 photos to Wikimedia. Time consuming tasks include

  1. Setting the correct copyright & license information for each photo
  2. Setting the correct Title, Caption & Description for each photo
  3. Assigning photos to the correct category (Quite tricky with nested and overlapping categories)
  4. Assigning depictions to each photo

Finally, when it was done, I heaved a sigh of relief and promised myself not to do this all over ever again. Indeed, even if I wanted to, there’s no easy way to mass delete my photos from Wikimedia Commons.

In fact, once you upload photos, there’s no temptation (or a way) to see stats, likes or comments. Luckily, 1 month in, I don’t regret doing this.

Motorcycle

Wanderlust: Day trip to Nakhon Nayok Province

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Continuing my series, this is my latest road trip, to some scenic places in Nakhon Nayok province. The province of Nakhon Nayok is dotted with beautiful places, with more than 10 waterfalls. Covering all of them will take multiple trips, so I decided to do 2 places in this first trip:

Bangkok to Nakhon Nayok
Bangkok to Nakhon Nayok

Total Distance: Approx 280km

This time, I used the lessons learnt from my previous road trip and did not have to stop many times.

It had rained the entire day and night before my trip, so I was a bit apprehensive about getting stuck in rain. Once again, I stated my journey on rain-soaked streets with BBC World Service in my ears.

Unlike Pattaya, heading out of Bangkok was a breeze. There was hardly any traffic and within 30 minutes, I was on the 6-lane highway 305 to Nakhon Nayok.

Highway 305 to Nakhon Nayok
Highway 305 to Nakhon Nayok

Unlike the motorway to Pattaya, highway 305 is much more biker friendly and much less scary. In fact, after 50kms or so, it turns into a 4-line winding road running parallel to a Khlong. The entire route smelled of rain-soaked vegetation which I loved. Reminded me of early morning bicycle rides in Durgapur.

Highway 305 to Nakhon Nayok Adjacent to a Khlong
Highway 305 to Nakhon Nayok Adjacent to a Khlong

There are quaint little bridges all over the Khlong for people to cross.

On a bridge over Baan Khlong Malong
On a bridge over Baan Khlong Malong

My motorcycle is on its second phase of running in, so I rode at a base speed of 70kmph with bursts up to 80kmph.

Wang Ta Krai National Park

First stop was Wang Ta Krai National park with a waterfall of the same name. You can ride your motorcycle a bit into the park.

Premises of Wang Ta Krai national park
Premises of Wang Ta Krai national park

I was surprised to see that cars, on the other hand, could go all the way in. Perhaps it is because of the horrible noise that Thai scooters make.

The waterfall is not very impressive; is a series of small falls over a long distance. Next to the gentle stream, you can see people picnicking.

Stream in Wang Ta Krai national Park
Stream in Wang Ta Krai national Park
Wang Ta Krai national park
Wang Ta Krai national park
Stream in Wang Ta Krai national Park
Stream in Wang Ta Krai national Park
People wading in the waters of Wang Ta Krai waterfall
People wading in the waters of Wang Ta Krai waterfall
Wang Ta Krai national Park
Wang Ta Krai national Park

I spent an hour there and then moved on to my next stop.

Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam

The dam is only a short distance away and the last few kms are winding hilly roads which I loved to navigate. The dam itself is quite imposing.

Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam

I was happy to see some fauna there.

A pet dog at Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam
A pet dog at Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam
Soi dogs at Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam
Soi dogs at Khun Dan Prakarn Chon Dam

After the dam, I went for a coffee to Nong Coffee, a modern cafe nearby.

Iced Espresso at Nong Cafe
Iced Espresso at Nong Cafe
Nong Cafe
Nong Cafe

The trip back was as fun; I stopped only once for a bio-break. Also, unlike the last trip (where I couldn’t wait to get back, this time I was a bit sad as the distance to home wound down to zero.

Looking forward to many such trips in the future.

Technology

Retro Computing: UTM SE

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Last week, something unthinkable happened. Apple finally allowed emulation of any and all OS on iOS and iPadOS. The intended purpose is to emulate retro Windows based games, which matches their recent trend of approval of gaming-system emulation apps. However, for me, it restarts a long-time hobby of running retro OSes purely for nostalgia and hobby purposes. This was not possible before because I don’t have a real computer, just an iPad. The first app to take advantage of this change of heart from Apple is UTM SE.

Now, UTM SE has been available on macOS and jailbroken iOS and iPadOS for quite some time, but this is the first time the app is officially available through the App Store.

Overview

The process to configure a new VM is much like most virtualisation apps out there. You use either an existing image or create a new one, select various parameters like RAM, HDD, CPU architecture, cores etc.

UTM SE: New VM
UTM SE: New VM
UTM SE: Mount CD/DVD or Floppy image
UTM SE: Mount CD/DVD or Floppy image
UTM SE: Select Platform, CPU architecture, RAM and CPU Cores
Inside UTM SE: Select Platform, CPU architecture, RAM and CPU Cores
UTM SE: Select HDD Size
UTM SE: Select HDD Size

Your Bluetooth mice/keyboards can be mapped to the guest OS via USB or PS/2 emulation. For older OS (Pre Windows ME) which don’t have out of-box support for USB peripherals, you need to disable USB support for Mouse/Keyboard so that they are emulated as PS/2. Even touch gestures can be used in lieu of a mouse, although the experience is clunky.

UTM SE: Switch between USB or PS/2 for mouse and keyboard
UTM SE: Switch between USB or PS/2 for mouse and keyboard

Another useful feature is that you can map a folder on your iOS/iPadOS filesystem to the guest machine allowing you to transfer files easily.

UTM SE: Select Shared Directory
Select Shared Directory

Also, you can choose to include your VMs in your iCloud backups.

The Bad

Instead of proper virtualisation that is possible on other computing platforms, UTM on iOS and iPadOS uses software emulation, making it very-very slow. Apparently iOS and iPadOS had virtualisation support (only with jailbreak) previously, but they removed it a few years ago.

The other limitation is, iOS and iPadOS don’t allow JIT compilation for apps from the App Store which negatively affects performance further.

For me, the performance is roughly similar to my first Celeron 400Mhz computer. Which, when compared to the 4×3.49Ghz high-performance cores on the Apple M2 means there is an approx 35x performance penalty for emulation. No wonder the “SE’ in UTM stands for “Slow Edition”.

Also, switching to another app causes UTM to suspend the VM after a few minutes. None of this is UTM’s fault, but needless restrictions from Apple to stop iPads from cannibalising Mac sales.

Also, the iPad screen locks after inactivity, which I think is on UTM, because apps (especially games) have been able to keep the screen unlocked through inactivity.

But the good thing is, you can resume from where you left off. Also, you can run multiple windows of UTM itself, even with multiple windows mapping to multiple monitors on the guest.

Battery usage is also extremely high because of the inefficiencies.

Look forward to many (many) posts on this topic.

Motorcycle

Wanderlust: Day Trip to Pattaya Beach

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Phrom Phong Bangkok to Pattaya Beach
Phrom Phong to Pattaya Beach

Total Distance: Approx 300km

As you can see from my last post, I bought a new motorcycle. Since then, I had been bitten by the wanderlust bug. My hands had been continuously itching to take the motorcycle on the highway. So, the soonest I could, I decided to drive from Bangkok to Pattaya Beach.

I have done this trip before, but that motorcycle was not suitable for highway riding and I wanted to do it again, the right way.

Bangkok to Pattaya

On the morning of the ride, I woke up to find the city soaked in rain overnight, so I left with caution. The way out of the city was painful with morning traffic, but outside, I opened up the throttle a bit.

Since the motorcycle is new, I had to follow running-in restrictions. I drove at a steady 60kmph with occasional 10-20 second bursts up to 70kmph. At this speed, I could not keep up with traffic on the motorway, so had to drive on the frontage road.

Frontage road at Bang Phli
Frontage road at Bang Phli

The motorway from Bangkok to Pattaya is highly developed, with 22 lanes (8 lanes on the upper level, 8 lanes in the lower level and 6 lanes frontage) in most places. There are restrictions on where motorcycles can be driven, so need to pay close attention to Google Maps, which is mostly correct as long as you select the motorcycle option.

The route is mostly scenic, passing near some lakes and khlongs and over the Bang Pakong river.

On a bridge over Khlong near Bang Pakong
On a bridge over Khlong near Bang Pakong
Near a lake at Bang Pakong
Near a lake at Bang Pakong
At a PTT station
At a PTT station

Stopped to take breaks many times to give the engine a break (and also sneak in some photos). Was quite impressed with the low-end performance of the engine. Gear shifts were mostly not required, as the bike can thump its way up in 5th gear from as low as 35kmph.

In Si Racha district, the view is quite nice as the road passes in between various hills.

Near a hill at Si Racha
Near a hill at Si Racha

Pattaya Beach

Because I stopped so many times, it almost took me 3 hours to get there. Once there, I spent some time chilling at Pattaya beach.

At Pattaya beach
At Pattaya beach
At Pattaya Beach
In front of Pattaya Beach
At Pattaya Beach
At Pattaya Beach

After getting my feet wet, I went to a cafe to drink some coffee and have a snack. It was typical below-average tourist fare.

Coffee at a cafe at Pattaya beach
Coffee at a cafe at Pattaya beach
Bruschetta at a cafe at Pattaya beach
Bruschetta at a cafe at Pattaya beach
View of Pattaya beach from a cafe
View of Pattaya beach from a cafe

Pattaya to Bangkok

On the way back, I focused on making good time and only stopped at one place to take the below photo of the Bang Pakong river.

At a bridge over Bang Pakong river
At a bridge over Bang Pakong river

On the way back, it only took me 2 hours to get back home.

Tripper

The Tripper proved its worth, as it provided very clear directions and I didn’t have to stop and look at my phone (which was nested safely away in my saddle bag) even once. On the 3 hour ride to Pattaya, my phone lost 23% charge, with tripper navigation as well as audio streaming (And the occasional photo).

Also, found a weird bug in that the tripper’s display and my polarised sunglasses seem to have the same polarisation plane when I am seated normally, which completely blanks out the tripper. If I move my head 10 degrees to the left or right or rotate my head 10 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise, the display comes back.

This happens only with polarised glasses, regular sunglasses work fine.

Lessons Learnt

Learnt the below lessons which I plan to apply to my next trip(s).

  1. Need to buy thick handlebar grips, as the factory default is too thin and cramps up my hands.
  2. Always wear AirPods even if I don’t want to listen to anything. Active (and worst case Passive) Noise Cancellation is worth it to protect ears from traffic and wind noise.
  3. Always wear sunglasses during the day time, even if it is not too bright, to protect eyes from the wind (I cannot, for the life of me, see through any helmet visor And keep it lifted up).
  4. The USB charger is quite slow. So rather than wait for battery to drain and then charge the phone (Phone gained only 11% on the 3 hour trip back on charge, with navigation and audio), it is better to keep it connected from the beginning.

This trip also pushed my motorcycle over the first stage of running in, next trip should be faster.

Movies

Post-Pandemic Cinema Experience

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The Covid-19 pandemic was hard for everyone, but especially for the movie industry. I, too, missed going to cinemas to watch newly released movies. Below, I write about my post-pandemic cinema experience.

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

My Expectations : None
My Rating : 6/10

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) on IMDb

This was the first movie we saw after pandemic restrictions lifted and also the first movie we saw in Bangkok. It was good that I went in with no expectations because the movie was dull and forgetful. I remember nothing of what was in it.

No Time to Die (2021)

My Expectations : None
My Rating : 7/10

No Time to Die (2021) on IMDb

This was the first Bond movie I saw in years and it didn’t disappoint. I enjoyed watching it, but don’t remember the details of what happened in it.

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

My Expectations : 8/10
My Rating : 3/10

The Matrix Resurrections (2021) on IMDb

I have already written about what a disappointment this movie was and have no energy to dwell on it again.

Spider-Man : No Way Home (2021)

My Expectations : 7/10
My Rating : 7/10

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) on IMDb

This was my first MCU movie since Endgame and it delivered as per my expectations. It was entertaining, but relied too much on the appearance of Doctor Strange and the previous Spider-Men to carry the movie. Don’t regret watching it, though.

Doctor strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

My Expectations : 7/10
My Rating : 5/10

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) on IMDb

What a super bore movie! My family left part-way, but I stuck around. For me, this signalled for me the start of the decline in the quality of MCU movies.

Top Gun Maverick (2022)

My Expectations : 7/10
My Rating : 7/10

Top Gun: Maverick (2022) on IMDb

Time-pass movie that relied heavily on nostalgia.

Thor : Love and Thunder (2022)

My Expectations : 7/10
My Rating : 5/10

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) on IMDb

Although Doctor Strange was a bad sign for what was to come, I hoped Taika Waititi would make a good movie. But no. What a bore.

Avatar : The Way of the Water (2022)

My Expectations : 4/10
My Rating : N/A – Left in 30 minutes

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) on IMDb

I didn’t know why I even went to watch this movie when I hated Part 1 and already had such low expectations from Part 2. Never again.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

My Expectations : 7/10
My Rating : 9/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) on IMDb

The best movie I have seen in years and the only MCU movie I enjoyed. I watched it twice in the cinemas and once on Disney+. Deserves a separate post.

Oppenheimer (2023)

My Expectations : 9/10
My Rating : 6/10

Oppenheimer (2023) on IMDb

Being a fan of quite a few Christopher Nolan movies and the hype surrounding this one, I had huge hopes. But the movie turned out to be only slightly above average. I would still have seen it, but wouldn’t have spent extra on IMAX Laser.

The Flash (2023)

My Expectations : 7/10
My Rating : 7/10

The Flash (2023) on IMDb

Time-pass movie. Just like spider-man, it relied heavily on the appearance of Keaton’s batman, Affleck’s batman and Clooney’s Bruce Wayne to carry it. Also an appearance from Nicholas Cage’s Superman.

Godzilla X Kong : The New Empire (2024)

My Expectations : 6/10
My Rating : 6/10

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) on IMDb

We went to watch this movie with very low expectations and weren’t disappointed. Mindless action.

Furiosa A Mad Max Saga (2024)

My Expectations : 9/10
My Rating : 7/10

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) on IMDb

I went to watch this one with very high expectations, but it couldn’t compare to Mad Max: Fury Road.

Motorcycle

Royal Enfield Meteor 350 First Impressions

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You all know I have a long history with motorcycles, of which I have owned quite a few over the years. This post is about my latest one, the Royal Enfield Meteor 350. I didn’t really like the last motorcycle I had or the one before it so I was hesitant to buy another one. But I hated waiting for Grab Bikes and ashamed of riding bitch. So I decided to buy one.

I did have my eyes set on this one, but after a test ride, I didn’t find its riding stance suitable for long highway rides. Coming from a long history with the RE Thunderbird, the natural progression would have been to buy an RE Meteor 350, but at first, I didn’t like the Meteor 350 I saw on Royal Enfield’s website (I found it too modern, especially the allow wheels and the powered coated engine) and I found the Super Meteor 650 too busy, so initially decided to buy the Classic 350.

2022 Royal Enfield Meteor 350
2022 Royal Enfield Meteor 350
2022 Royal Enfield Super Meter 650
2022 Royal Enfield Super Meter 650
Royal Enfield Classic 350
Royal Enfield Classic 350

However, when I went to the showroom, I saw the new Aurora Blue variant of the Meteor 350 and fell in love immediately and decided to buy that one.

Royal Enfield Meteor 350 in Aurora Blue
Royal Enfield Meteor 350 in Aurora Blue

Anyways, these are my views after 10 days/200km, specifically, comparing it to my previous motorcycles.

The Good

  1. The engine is so refined, I can hardly believe it is a Royal Enfield engine. There’re hardly any vibrations and absolutely no clanking. I am so glad they removed the pushrods and replaced them with a chain and overhead cam system. Even with a reduced stroke, the bike pulls quite well at low RPMs.
  2. There’s still the trademark thumping. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the exhaust actually sounds good/better than the completely muted Thunderbird Twinspark. The exhaust-to-engine noise ratio is vastly improved. When cruising at constant speed, you can hardly hear the engine, only the soft, bass-rich exhaust.
  3. I really like the dual-tone design, the chrome parts and the overall retro look compared to the regular Meteor 350. I love the spoke wheels, although that does mean giving up on having tubeless tyres.
  4. The new rider seat is quite comfortable with a subtle but useful back-rest.
  5. The LED headlamp is quite nice and illuminating at night.
  6. The Tripper is useful, but a bit limited. I will dedicate a separate section for the Tripper.
  7. Overall switchgear feels refined and comfortable to use.
  8. The USB port for charging is very useful.
  9. I didn’t like how the windshield looks, but I found it immensely helpful at moderate-high speeds. Allows me to keep my helmet visor open.

The Neutral

  1. I am not entirely sure I prefer the new digital cluster as compared to analog dials. I don’t really like or hate it.
  2. I don’t care for the ECO indicator or the gear indicator.
  3. Because of the refinement, the engine feels the same every time I ride, which is different from the carburettor Thunderbirds I was used to, which felt different based on temperature, humidity etc.
  4. This is my first motorcycle with a rear disc brake. The Dual-channel ABS is nice to have. The brakes do feel a bit mushy compared to what I am used to, though.

The Bad

  1. I really-really miss the tachometer. I won’t forgive Royal Enfield for removing it.
  2. They removed the kick starter to simplify the engine design. This means if the battery dies, you are screwed.
  3. The engine does get hot during start-stop traffic in the city and could have benefitted from liquid cooling. However, unlike the carburettor motorcycles, it does not cause the Idle RPM to runaway or cause knocking during acceleration, thanks to the ECU.
  4. The fuel level indication is wonky.
Meteor 350 at Bangchak Bang Na
Meteor 350 at Bangchak Bang Na

The Tripper

Tripper on the Royal Enfield Meteor 350

The Tripper is a pseudo-navigation system developed by Royal Enfield. Here are my thoughts on it:

  1. The tripper connects to the Royal Enfield app on your phone and receives instructions from your phone, hence is dependant on it. However, unlike doing navigation directly on the phone, using the tripper uses much less battery on the phone itself (I measured 6-7% drain per hour on my phone, all inclusive).
  2. It uses Google maps data, so navigation is quite accurate. Supports live re-routing and previewing multiple routes before starting the trip. Has the regular Google Maps options to exclude things like tolls, ferries, highways etc.
  3. At first, I struggled to understand tripper’s instructions and found myself stopping and reaching for my phone. However, once you make an effort to understand the symbols, it feels quite useful. I am now forcing myself not to look at my phone.
  4. This has also increased my directional awareness of and I find myself paying more attention to the road and signs instead of my phone.
Meteor 350 at a pit-stop at Nonthaburi
Meteor 350 at a pit-stop at Nonthaburi

Technical comparison with Previous Motorcycles

Here’s a comparison of specifications of different motorcycles I have had over the years (All single cylinder):

SpecificationRE ThunderbirdRE Thunderbird TSStallions CT400RE Meteor 350
Displacement346cc346cc397cc349cc
BorexStroke70x90mm70x90mm85x70mm75×85.8mm
Max Power18bhp
5500rpm		19.8bhp
5250rpm		29bhp
7000rpm		20.2bhp
6100rpm
Max Torque26.97Nm
3500rpm		28Nm
4000rpm		30Nm
5500rpm		27Nm
4000rpm
Compression Ratio8.5:18.5:18.8:19.5:1
Engine NameAVLUCE—J series
Wheelbase1370mm1370mm1410mm1400mm
Kerb Weight175kg175kg160kg191kg
Fuel Tank14.3l14.3l13l15l
Fuel injectionCarburettorCarburettorEFIEFI
Valve OperationPushrodsSelf-adjusting PushrodsDOHCSOHC
Motorcycle Spec comparison

Looking forward to many long rides!

Rant

Humans Suck Balls

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The more I live & see what’s going on around me, the more I am convinced that we humans suck big time and don’t deserve this planet. Let’s look at why:

Incompatibility with other species

lynx on branch in forest near hole in tree
Photo by David Selbert on Pexels.com

Do you know that in less than 300 years, humans have already driven 600 plant species to extinction? But that is just plant life which is comparatively resilient. Humans are actively driving between 10,000 to 100,000 animal species to extinction every year.

Incompatibility with other humans

grayscale photo of man holding rifle
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Humans not only have problems with other species, we also cannot co-exist with other humans. There are currently 56 separate armed conflicts on going on around the world as of May 2024. Just look at thIs map. Except a few specific areas, these conflicts span the entire globe.

Do you know that since record keeping began, there has not been a single moment in history where there was peace everywhere?

We are also killing approx 475,000 of our own every year even outside of wars.

Counter-productive use of resources

destroyed residential building under gray sky
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US has sent billions of dollars worth of aid to Palestinians in Gaza. So noble. But on the other hand, US is also the biggest supplier of armaments to Israel which kill the same Palestinians. I mean, what’s the point even? This is so counter productive. Either just kill them or just let them live. Why this game?

Modern buildings cost millions to build. It also takes millions to make missiles which will eventually destroy the building. How counter-productive is all this? Why build something only to build something else to destroy the first thing?

Humans as a whole, spend approx $2.1 Trillion every year on the military, not to protect humans from inter-galactic threats, but to kill other humans. On the other hand, we spend only approx $39 Billion every year on medical research and approx $117 Billion every year on space exploration. Now imagine if humanity worked as a whole and diverted all their resources to work towards a common goal.

I won’t even talk about climate change in detail, because that is a whole new topic in itself. Most of the planet will be uninhabitable in less than a century, but we won’t stop there and are planning to colonise other planets. Who gave us the right? Must be the colonisation behaviour we inherently have. Some cunts even think it is more productive to terraform Mars than to save our own planet.

This behaviour of humans is not even new. We have been the most selfish species ever, for millennia and other species have always suffered from it. Because of this, I think this behaviour is inherent in most humans and humanity as a species is flawed and cannot improve.

So I agree with the character of Ye Wenjie from The Three-Body Problem.

Rant

Anxiety Medication Fail (Yet Again)

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One thing that you should know about me is that I don’t seem to be able to learn a lesson. I am writing this just a few weeks after my latest anxiety medication fail.

So, I had a good thing going on with my medications, no problems, good productivity, happy in life. But, I started looking for ways to cheap out. I found a pharmacy which would provide me cheaper versions of the medications I currently take from my hospital.

MedicationBeforeAfter
Escitalopram 10mg (Half Dose)LexaproEsidep
Risperidone 1mg (Half Dose)NeurisRisperidone GPO
Before and after medication

Basically I replaced my expensive medication with cheaper versions, with supposedly the exact same chemical composition, but at 1/4th the price. What could go wrong?

Lots.

Turns out, all medication are not created equal, even if the box says so.

The first night I switched meds, I had awful sleep and woke up the next morning with an altered mental state. I had a work-related argument the night before, so I thought it was related to that.

The second night, too, I slept awful. At this point, I started suspecting the meds, but decided to give it another try.

Luckily, I still had some of my old medication left. So I decided to do a series of experiments

  1. Third night I rolled back Escitalopram to Lexapro – No Joy
  2. Fourth night I rolled back both medications – Much joy
  3. Fifth & Sixth night, I did Esidep + Neuris – Much joy

Hence, I identified that the Risperidone generic version is no good. The next day, I went to the doctor and got my regular medication.

Anxiety Medication Withdrawal Fail
The Culprit
Music

Timeless Songs – Part 1

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In case I have not made it clear already, I love music. Music plays an important part in my life. So I decided to make a list of songs I consider timeless. I don’t claim that these songs are the best in any way; is just that I keep coming back to them every now and then, even after all these years.

These songs are in no specific order. I may be obsessed with one of them today and with some other one tomorrow.

Also, I did an interesting experiment with this post. I actually listened to each song and then wrote about it. For any song where I did not find anything to write about, I discarded from this list.

Hotel California (1977) – Eagles

The first time I remember hearing this song was at my erstwhile friend Bhavesh’s house. He had just found the Hell Freezes Over video and his family had gathered around the computer to watch it. So this version stuck with me over the years. The starting notes of this song was one of the first songs I learnt to play on the guitar. It was quite some time till I even heard the original version & even then it took me quite some time to develop a taste for it. Now, I listen to the original version more and the Hell Freezes Over one not so much.

Overall, this is a timeless classic that will stay with me till the end of my days. The guitar duet between Don Felder and Joe Walsh is unparalleled in rock history.

I suggest you also listen to this (very well done) parody.

Comfortably Numb (1979) – Pink Floyd

I don’t remember exactly when I heard this song for the first time, but I assume it didn’t leave a big impact on me then. What I do remember is, like the previous entry, I listened to the Pulse version of this song before I did The Wall version. Over time, this song grew on me, especially when I saw the movie and understood the meaning behind the lyrics.

The song is special, because of the fantastic guitar solos by David Gilmour.

The first solo starts off with an uplifting note and is simpler in nature.

The second solo starts much later and is more serious in nature. It is also much longer and technical. If you like the song, do watch the movie to understand the deeper meaning as the protagonist loses his mind.

Dreams (1977) – Fleetwood Mac

Like the previous entries, the first time I heard this song was the cover version in this concert. But the original version came to me from my friend who now goes by the name of Lee La.

This song was also my introduction to Fleetwood Mac.

I think I love this song because of how melodious it is, in spite of not being too technical or having complicated solos. I also love the bass track.

The FLV version of the below video was one of the few videos I kept on my Nokia E50.

Sheep (1977) – Pink Floyd

Even though I had been a Pink Floyd fan for a long time, I hadn’t heard Animals. and when I did it drove me crazy. Of all the songs in that album, Sheep is my favourite.

This song is like an unstoppable train, relentless in its pace, reflected in the distorted guitar shredding. The bass track is also awesome.

I love how the song crawls down to a near stop around the 3:50 mark, stays that way for some time and then goes back to its frantic pace.

This song still reminds me of those Think Floyd concerts back in India.

Come as you are (1992) – Nirvana

Although when I was young, I preferred the heavier songs from Nirvana, I have stopped listening to most of them over the years, leaving this as one of the few Nirvana songs I still listen to, regularly.

This song is defined by its melody and simplicity. The bass, guitar, drums are all relatively easy to play, leaving only Cobain’s angtsy vocals that still cannot be matched.

Echoes (1971) – Pink Floyd

I had just come back from a trip from back home in Kolkata and the first thing I did was install my Worldspace satellite radio system. I put on Orbit Rock and went to take a shower, when this song started. Even though I had never heard it before, I immediately recognised it as a Pink Floyd song and was captivated and listened to (all 23 minutes of it) in my towel. After it finished, I went online and looked up Orbit Rock’s schedule to find out the name of this song.

Over the years this song has left a deep impression on me. I am not sure why, but this song reminds me of driving to office just before Durga Puja and being excited about the upcoming holidays.

The Live at Pompeii version is even more special as it has an elaborate bass track by Roger Waters.

I remember going to office listening to this song and reaching before it got over and then spending up to 10 more minutes in the car in the parking waiting for it to get over. One day, like this, a colleague knocked on my window to ask me why I was sitting in the car alone and I pretended not to notice him.

The Chain (1977) – Fleetwood Mac

I didn’t listen to rumours till (relatively) recently, but what an album! But this section is about my favourite song from the album, not the album itself.

The song starts off slow with Lindsey Buckingham’s haunting guitar plucking with chorus vocals coming in after. The bass and guitar duet-solo is also iconic.

To understand the deeper meaning of this song, I suggest you watch  the Classic Albums episode of this album, which explains the personal turmoils the band members were facing.

I Can’t Tell You Why (1979) – Eagles

This is my favourite Eagles song of all time, I just love it so much. It made me a fan of Timothy Schmit’s beautiful vocals and Don Felder’s haunting guitars.

The song is slow and easy-going. The 2 solos are just beautiful.

I bought an electric guitar to play these solos. I grew long hair and a beard, wore a shirt with a big collar and recorded myself playing the 2 solos.

The FLV version of the below video was one of the few videos I kept on my Nokia E50.

This song also reminds me of my early courtship period with my (now) wife in Nagpur.

Time (1973) – Pink Floyd

This is my favourite song from The Dark Side of the Moon. The opening clock sounds are so iconic, many movies, songs and TV shows have used them over the years. And every time I hear them, I get excited for this song followed immediately by disappointed when its not this song.

Nick Mason’s drum solo in the beginning is iconic, too. Gilmour’s solo is amazing; I even learnt to play it at one point of time.

This is one of those songs, whose lyrics I have used to live my life by, mainly how not to waste your time on unpleasant things (like toxic relationships) and if you aren’t careful, the world leaves you behind.

The song ends with a reprise of Breathe, which is also a song I like.

Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Pts 1-5 (1975) – Pink Floyd

The number of times I have listened to this composition would surely be close to a thousand. This is my favourite morning song. The >13 min long Parts 1-V are perfect to listen to when your morning coffee hasn’t kicked in and you want to take it easy.

The song never picks up too much tempo.

I prefer the live versions of this song, especially the one from  Delicate Sound of Thunder.

This version reminds me of my time in Nagpur when I had finally gotten serious about studies and rewarded myself between study sessions by listening to music. I remember listening to it on a shitty Samsung phone, whose SD card retainer had broken and I had to use tape to keep it inside.

Linger (1993) – The Cranberries

I remember listening to this one in college. Although Zombie was the more popular The Cranberries song, I preferred Linger. I just find this song so melodious and haunting. My ultimate feel-good song.

2 Minutes to Midnight (1984) – Iron Maiden

This is my go-to song when I want a dose of heavy metal. The guitar riffs and the bass track are just amazing.

I find the lyrics fun (I don’t consider them deep or something). One of the things I do is, when I am speaking/chatting with someone, I try to fit-in the lyrics of this song somehow into the conversation. Has led to hilarious conversations in some cases, especially when the other person recognises what I am doing and responds in kind.

One great moment was when I discovered that there’s a clothing store named Golden Goose.

A clothing chain called Golden Goose
A clothing chain called Golden Goose

One (1988) – Metallica

Whenever I buy a new set of speakers or headphones, this is the song I test on it. The song starts off in a soft melodic setting, but it develops through multiple sections into heavier and faster speed metal sounds, leading up to a tapping solo by Kirk Hammett, and a dual guitar section by Hammett and James Hetfield. The double bass drumming by Lars Ulrich is the only bass in the song as this album famously has almost no bass guitar sound.

Riders on the Storm (1971) – The Doors

Ah! One of the most beautiful & melodious songs ever. Such beautiful bass and keyboard tracks. The first time I heard this song was not the original version, but the Snoop Dogg cover, in the game Need for Speed: Underground 2.

This song reminds me of leaving Someplace Else late at night while its raining outside or has stopped raining, but the streets are still wet.

We also had a fun rule in our family for many years. Whenever it would rain (rare in Gurgaon), we would play this song.

O Re Nil Doriya (2009) – Arnob & Nazia Ahmed

I first heard this song at our favourite (now defunct) Bengali restaurant & fell in love with its melody and simplicity. Although it’s in a language I understand, the dialect is foreign to me and I don’t understand all the lyrics.

One thing I love to do, is go to Ibirapuera Park, sit on my favourite bench facing the lake and listen to this song.

I also want to go to Bangladesh one day and listen to this song while sailing on the Padma.

Zombie (1994) – The Cranberries

Zombie is a powerful anti-war anthem by The Cranberries, which is still relevant today, because humans can’t stop making war.

My earliest memory of this song goes back to our college second year fresher’s party where my friend Arka was (supposedly) going to perform this song with a junior girl on the vocals. We were all quite excited, so you can imagine our disappointment when we found out the girl had fainted and the performance was cancelled.

That’s it for Part 1 of this post, look out for Part 2, soon.