My family used to live in the US, and my mother endured the unimaginable — losing a child and the pain that must have come with it. Then, I was born, but some time after, we moved abroad, where she raised my sister and me on her own until we had grown and returned years later. In a society where women rarely have an equal voice, she protected us with quiet strength and relentless courage. In short, my mother lost her son and, later, her husband, but her resilience has always inspired me. Because of her, I carry a deep and lasting respect for women, especially mothers.
To all the mothers who carry the world quietly on their shoulders — thank you. Happy Mother’s Day. ❤️
Skype’s retirement on May 5, 2025, marks the end of an era!
I have not used it extensively, but it left us. And I feel a sudden void.
Skype was one of the first video messaging apps I had dived into — and one that made video calls fluid before it was cool.
I also remember using Skype for around 6 hours, to study for my Psychology exam with a classmate on the night before exam. Guess what I got? An A!
I am sure many of you remember the sound of someone calling on Skype — tong tong tongtongtong tong tong tuitong — takes me back to the wave of Nostalgia.
I used it with friends and for some classes.
Looking back, Microsoft missed a real opportunity by not rebranding Skype into something more than just being a personal messaging app. It kept its eye on Teams, which is fine.
I believe Microsoft could have developed Skype as the next leading messaging app to battle today’s giants like WhatsApp or Messenger. There is so much potential there.
Now, I am sure all those sole Skype users isn’t getting on Teams but instead going to alternatives.
Why, must you say? Because Teams feel too professional of an app and less personal. Evidence? Just look at your company!
In a world full of Slacks, Teams, Zoom, and WhatsApp, Skype walked so others could run.
I’m not feeling this way alone. According to the latest findings, Statista projected 2.27 billion registered users by 2024, a testament to its global reach.
Notably it’s the 18–34 age group that represents 54.83% of the user demographic. Additionally, over 51% of Skype users earned more than $100k, indicating a user base of a higher buying potential. (Think Impact)
If I were an investor of Microsoft or Venture Capitalist, I would have preferred a creative team to market it to the billions and have them re-think to leave their current apps for Skype.
Despite this, Microsoft announced the retirement of Skype in Feb 2025, transitioning users to Microsoft Teams. This move potentially overlooks a significant segment of users who preferred Skype for its simplicity and features. I sure loved them!
What’s your favorite memory of Skype as a user, and what would you have done if you were an investor?
Let’s honor Skype’s legacy — share your story and vision for its future.
Yesterday was President’s Day! And I took some time to reflect on certain aspects of the history of our first president, George Washington.
Mr. Edward, our tour guide, is an author, ex-writer of “Tonight Show,” and speechwriter of a former president.
We visited several places associated with the extraordinary life and times of George Washington, from his teenage years as a surveyor through his generalship in the American Revolution to his time as President. And we also happened to see some Civil War sites.
Incredibly, Washington wanted to commercialize America and make it a strong nation; he had also decided to free all the enslaved people he owned on his deathbed.
He contributed to the free nation in its infancy. And we cherish the way he governed it in his time that led to how progressive the country has been over the centuries.
ChatGPT is a chatbot that uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand and respond to natural language conversations. It is an AI-powered conversational platform that enables businesses to improve their customer service, reduce churn, and provide personalized experiences.
ChatGPT is trained to understand interactions and conversation context to accurately respond to customer inquiries and understand the intent behind customer conversations. It uses conversational AI to understand customer queries and accurately respond to them with appropriate solutions. The AI-powered platform is designed to help businesses automate customer service operations, simplify customer interactions, and provide more personalized and proactive customer service experiences.
When customers interact with ChatGPT, the platform analyzes their conversation and extracts key information, such as context, sentiment, and intent. It then uses this information to generate accurate and personalized responses. ChatGPT can also identify customer sentiment and provide proactive suggestions or specific product recommendations, helping businesses build stronger relationships with their customers. Disclaimer: This entire article is generated by ChatGPT in one sitting.
Just like a cake that crumbles when it’s not perfectly baked, life, too, can appear flawed and messy at times.
We feel it. But then we see how our dreams and hopes for a better life keep us moving forward with our heads up high.
And when we have positive people around, it only adds up to our life’s many visions. We feel things aren’t too bad after all.
Then, we must realize that life isn’t so good for many others. We are yet to develop empathy towards one another and have humility within as they both reflect in our behaviors.
We learn and work on ourselves, cause we can—we are human beings, nonetheless.
As privileged as I am in many ways, the least I can do is acknowledge it and feel for those who are not.
Despite the struggles you face, I would still say to you, ‘Keep going. I hope your life gets better.’
Thanks to my family, friends, and colleagues for making my day more meaningful, especially those who wish me well, not just on my birthday but also in general. You are precious to me and I wish you well too. Take care and please keep me in your prayers. ❤️
It could be simple like your voice, acting, receptiveness, calm nature, or even confidence.
In many ways than one, it boils down to your personality and how you make the world feel around you.
Owning a real estate or a BMW helps you in life’s many places and they make you privileged. But they do not make you special.
It’s your personality with humility and empathy that truly distinguishes you from the rest.
Empathy shows how you acknowledge your blessings and others’ struggle and humility shows how you treat others who have less or are not as privileged as you are.
At the same time, we also need to hold on to our own. So, let’s be confident but not arrogant, and humble but not weak.
There is no age in developing. So, the idea of maturity with age is outdated because you can always work on yourself.
When you develop, some might laugh at you, some might envy you, but there will be people who will cherish you.
Hence, it’s the effort we put in that brings out the result in the end.
Focus on ‘You’ and what works best for you as a person. And think of others the same way.
Feel it. You’ll respect the ones who are improving themselves too.
I couldn’t let it go. My head could move no longer and my arms could barely go here and there; even the fingers felt numb at some point.
All I see is the multilayered white ceiling that was limited to my otherwise peripheral vision, beyond the already attached tin foil metallic thing.
Minutes in, and I couldn’t get used to it.
Moments pass as I opened my eyes, I asked for help by squeezing the ball for assistance. I couldn’t breathe, it felt like my life was threatened by the intense position I was held in.
I saw the clock and it was an hour passed already, and that’s when I realized I probably slept in the very awkward stance I felt suffocated when breathing in and staying conscious proved to be too painful.
I had to think of some memories to pass my time through cause this time I was pretty up. I couldn’t fall asleep again.
I remembered ‘Fresh,’ one of my recently watched movies where one of the characters had a much more bizarre experience.
I felt it in my bones, the horror people must have gone through their life while seeking freedom from the very shackles of captivity.
At last, I felt free.
Hold on, I had to bite onto something this time. The complexity increased. My sight of freedom was delayed. I went through those same emotions again. Need to go through it one more time. I boosted my confidence, I got this!
Twenty minutes or so had gone by when it finally ended.
I found a new purpose of humbleness and appreciation for the moment I got free and the moment I stood and breathed easy, I would keep this memory afresh, definitely not for the enjoyment but for the realization at best.
I felt like a new human being as I walked out of the MRI examination room, the place where I felt suffocated for an hour and a half. I remembered the staff stating this is one of the most complicated MRI exams. I can certainly attest to that.
Finally, I see the freedom I longed for the last couple of hours! Only this time I actually got it!
The Batman couldn’t be darker, at least that’s what I thought by the end of it. The caped crusader and Bruce Wayne’s epic donning in clothes could not have a thinner bridge between one and the other in regards to how it dawns upon us people to witness an epic opening of this new version of The Batman.
Character
Robert Pattinson surely nailed it as the World’s Greatest Detective, albeit with a slight sloppy here and there, which makes sense since he is still becoming and the journey has only begun.
Catwoman stood the test of time as one of the best for taking the role with her both humane attitude and warrior-like appearance.
The Batmobile chase sequence felt suspenseful at first and great seconds after with its fresh engine revs and a great take on a finely designed tank.
Image Credit: Warner Brothers & IGN
Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne and the caped crusader had this dark appearance that made it look so gloomy yet real. The movie gave away a visual comic-like vibe. It felt more like Bruce and Batman were the same person with a costume in or out even though it was not supposed to be that obvious. When he donned in that suit, it made the scenes gritty and real. His voice was not unrealistic as Nolan’s Batman movies made them out to be but just a little low on the voice.
Sound
The sound effects during the few action scenes left me with an aura of invincibility and kept me hooked into the action as if Batman’s life depends on it. Every punch or kick in the various combat scenes made me think whether Batman would prevail or not—definitely making the dark knight a lot fresher into the world of vigilantism and vulnerable than he could ever be.
Jeffrey Wright plays his wits as Gordon and decides with all the weight of carrying the law on his shoulders and accommodating the vigilante with everything he can.
When I was going out, I noticed people humming silly vocal gestures comparing it with the action-induced Avengers. The thing is we are watching DC classics in a post-marvel world. What Avengers did was they brought out the Justice League thing before it even did in screen time.
The weird thing is Colin Farrell was in the movie, and yet he wasn’t. Cause his face and voice were different, which begs the question that he was just cast for his acting and nothing else.
Impression
My impression may not be accurate as I missed the first half an hour of the movie. However, for now, my initial impression stands at a solid 9.0 for keeping up with the expectation and delivering yet an insightful and damaged Bruce Wayne and The Batman—perhaps, the perfect comic-based superhero movie that consists of reasonable action scenes leaving us with a dark and precious Gotham City that we all love.
When the great president Abraham Lincoln signed the executive order that stated, “all persons held as slaves” within the Confederacy “shall be free,” he helped the Black community to establish their dignity in America. It also helped other people of color establish their presence throughout history.
However, only so many greats followed Lincoln’s ideals of a great nation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of those great individuals who aligned well with a similar view of a free America, fought for racial justice, and showed moral courage.
A hundred years on, and with the still-struggling Black community, Dr. King, using his skills as a preacher, led the Civil Rights movement in the 20th century and delivered speeches—advocating for the integration of Black Americans and the end of segregation altogether. He also believed it would create a “beloved community,” where people would transcend boundaries of race and be united in God.
His movement led to the Civil Rights Act in 1964–a great accomplishment for the whole of America.
On August 28, 1963, his famous speech “I have a dream” in the march on Washington would cause waves throughout communities around the world to this day.
“…I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. I have a dream today,” in his speech serves as a brilliant reminder that humanity prevails when we accept one another regardless of our distinctive features—race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
May God bless us all with the wisdom to accept people who look and sound different so that we can live in peace and harmony.
![The Batman—A Detective-Noir Dark Tale [NO SPOILER]](https://imranhhaque.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/The_Batman_-_Camera_Test.jpg)
