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- Goodbye Sri Lanka
The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your gift away.
— David Viscott
Just a quick update—we’ve wrapped up our 9-month stay in Sri Lanka and are officially back in France! Leaving our little village of Mirissa was bittersweet. It’s always a strange feeling when you realize it’s the last time you’ll set foot in that familiar supermarket, coffee shop, or beach you’ve visited so often.
Flying back never feels quite right—it has this brutal way of condensing nine months of life into a 10-hour flight. We much preferred last year’s return from Morocco by car, where we could watch the landscape slowly change and say a proper goodbye along the way.
So here we are, back in France, amazed by the sheer opulence of French supermarkets. Luckily, we arrived at the same time as the good weather, which made my two-day stop in Paris especially lovely. It might just be the year I’m happiest to be back—probably because I’ve never spent this much time in one place without moving or returning home.
Now I’m back in my hometown with my family—eating ridiculous amounts of cheese, drinking wine, celebrating my mum’s birthday, and watching Top Chef all together. I’m feeling really happy and soaking in these special first days of being home.
— James
 | This newsletter takes a few hours to craft each week. → $3.99/month = ongoing good karma Either way, thank you for reading 🧡 |
Tools & Websites
The True Size Of is an old-but-gold tool that lets you compare the actual size of countries, cutting through all the cartographic distortions.
Drive Horizon is a super fun retro car racing web game made by Shopify—(1) because it’s awesome and (2) to promote their tool. Try to beat my high score!
I already shared dverso a few months ago, but they just added a brilliant background remover. You literally drag and drop your image into a washing machine, and it cleans the background. LOVE THESE GUYS ↓
MAKER OF THE WEEK
Keita Morimoto is a Japanese painter known for his moody city scenes and portraits, often lit in a dramatic way that feels cinematic. He paints everyday things like vending machines, neon signs, and quiet streets, using light and shadow to create a sense of mystery and calm. His work has been shown in galleries around the world, including in Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, and is part of major museum collections like the High Museum of Art and ICA Miami.
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James’ Library
Video | Johnny Harris’ video on boredom hits because it flips boredom from just a nuisance into a powerful signal about our sense of purpose. Using a car road trip analogy, he shows boredom happens when our “meaning tank” runs empty and focus drifts. Instead of dodging boredom with distractions like our phones, the video invites us to sit with it, reflect, and let it spark creativity and growth—using it as a chance to realign with what really matters. |
Article | I love this concept of digital echoes—something I had never consciously considered yet had always intuitively felt. On a smartphone, every single thing it is used to do generates information that goes elsewhere. The vast majority of this is unseen — though not unfelt — by us. Everyone knows that there is no privacy within a digital device, nor within its “listening” range. We are all aware that as much information as smartphone provides to us, exponentially more is generated for someone else — someone watching, listening, measuring, and monetizing. The “digital echo” is more than just the awareness of this; it is the cognitive burden of knowing that our actions generate data elsewhere. The echo exists whenever we use connected technology, creating a subtle but persistent awareness that what we do isn’t just our own. |
…Aesthetic Corner…
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Hypace is Lofree's new mouse, specifically designed for gamers. While I know next to nothing about gaming, I love Hypace's design, and the mouse is supposedly faster and lighter than most others on the market.
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Lumos creates bike helmets that put safety first. Their helmets integrate high-intensity 360° LED lighting, complete with turn signals and automatic brake lights. They also include MIPS technology for better impact protection.
And yes, they look great.
Sustainable Living
Live Near Friends is a platform that helps people live close to their friends and family, making it easier to build stronger relationships and a real sense of community. It offers tools to help groups find and buy homes together, like duplexes or apartment clusters, so living near loved ones becomes possible.
By mixing social connection with eco-friendly living, Live Near Friends creates a model that improves well-being and builds stronger communities. It’s a smart solution for anyone wanting a more connected and sustainable lifestyle.
Friends of James
Beehiiv — the powerhouse behind all my newsletters, helping me craft, design, grow my audience, and monetize effortlessly.
Notion — my go-to tool for the last 6+ years, where I store all my notes, manage tasks, and essentially run both my life and businesses.
Webflow — the engine behind all my websites, letting me design, build, and launch seamlessly without code.
Make — the tool that runs my business on autopilot, handling all recurring and time-consuming tasks
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