Snapped this during my run on July 6 🏃🏻♀️. During the Republic of China era, this river separated Henan and Hebei—the dividing line between rich and poor. BUT NOW, it’s the dividing line between storm and calm. The Cantonese saying “埋街食井水” (coming ashore to drink well water) originally came from the Tanka boat people settling on land, though the phrase means something quite different nowadays~~ This is also the birthplace of the ultra-wealthy “Thirteen Factories” from the Qing Dynasty.
Interesting Tools
Notion Avatar
https://notion-avatar.vercel.app/
A Notion-style avatar creator. Already using it—swapped my Google avatar to one made with this.
Ugly Avatar
https://txstc55.github.io/ugly-avatar/
V2EX-style goofy/ugly avatars.
Hotkey cheatsheet
https://hotkeycheatsheet.com
Super handy when switching from Mac to Windows. When I only remember Mac shortcuts and have no clue about Windows ones, I just look them up here.
Calligrapher
https://www.calligrapher.ai/
AI-generated handwritten signatures. Generates randomly—if you spot one you like, just grab a screenshot.
AI Find Location By Image
https://geospy.ai
Find locations based on an image. Tested it out and the match with the actual photo location was surprisingly accurate—even coordinates within China were spot on.
AI Make Image Clearer
https://bigjpg.com
Make old or low-res photos crisper and clearer.
Website Color Palette Recommender
https://www.happyhues.co
Curates color palette recommendations for building apps and websites. An awesome tool for developers.
Remove Useless OBJ From Image
https://inpaintweb.lxfater.com
Removes unwanted objects from images. Found the results pretty mediocre, honestly.
Text 2 Favicon
https://favicon.io
A site for generating website favicons. The favicons for my websites were all made here.
Screen Website
https://screen.guru
Takes clean screenshots of websites. Works pretty well~
Screen On
https://www.keepscreenon.com
https://keep-screen-on.com
Keeps your screen awake and prevents it from sleeping or turning off. Great little tool when you don’t want your computer to sleep but also don’t want to mess with system power settings.
Figma
https://www.figma.com/
Designing in Figma is quite nice, especially friendly for iOS UI design.
Learning
Relearning Algorithms with Illustrated Guides
https://www.hello-algo.com/chapter_introduction/
Learn data structures & algorithms with rich illustrations and animations. Never gets dry—perfect for brushing up on algorithms.
Tsinghua CS Curriculum & Textbooks
https://rekcarc-tsc-uht.readthedocs.io/en/latest/%E5%8F%82%E8%80%83%E4%B9%A6%E7%9B%AE.html
Lists all relevant materials and course resources required for Tsinghua University’s CS major.
Courses from Top Global Universities
https://www.classcentral.com
Online courses from prestigious universities worldwide.
Notion Tutorial
https://craigary.notion.site/d6faf79a18254f289f6e0d3c271c3e92?v=cdad32cc321643fba10c67a3f4851334
A comprehensive guide on mastering Notion. Go through it once and you’re guaranteed to pick up some new tricks.
Reading
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Currently reading this book—highly recommended. A lot of the insights resonate so much more once you’ve lived through similar experiences.
Life
Swimming
Went swimming on Saturday, did about 3 km. Truly felt the reality of an aging society—80% of the pool was elderly aunties and uncles. Even in the fast lane, folks were surprisingly confident in their pace, turning the lane into a slow turtle 🐢 traffic jam. What an exhausting swim.
Running
Went running on Sunday, clocked 8 km, and caught some fantastic scenery. After a month of humid, muggy weather, Guangzhou finally welcomed some gorgeous clear skies.
