Adrian's Journal

I recently stumbled upon Welcome to Earth on Disney+, and I’ll be honest... I was hooked immediately. Seeing Will Smith rappelling into a live volcano or diving 3,000 feet into the ocean is intense. But as I watched those sweeping, cinematic shots, one question kept nagging at me: How on earth did they film this? I started digging into the behind-the-scenes stories, and what I found blew my mind. We see Will facing his fears, which is cool because the guy had never even slept in a tent before this show! But here is the real kicker: The camera crew had to do everything Will did, but backwards and carrying 50 pounds of gear. While Will was focused on surviving the moment, the crew was busy: Abseiling into pitch-black caves right alongside him. Managing "melting" ropes in Vanuatu because the volcanic heat was so high it literally started dissolving their safety lines. Diving with sharks while keeping a steady hand on 8K camera rigs that cost more than a house. In one instan...

What I Learned After Having a Deep Conversation With Claude — The AI That Questions Its Own Consciousness A tech enthusiast's honest notes from going down the rabbit hole March 2026 • 10 min read I'll be honest — I thought I knew what Claude was. A chatbot. A smart autocomplete. Something that writes emails and summarises documents. But then I spent an hour asking it questions I'd never thought to ask before, and I came away genuinely unsettled — in the best possible way. Here's what I found out.  1. Claude Was Built by People Who Left OpenAI Over Safety Concerns This blew my mind when I first heard it. Anthropic — the company that built Claude — was founded in 2021 by Dario and Daniela Amodei and several colleagues who walked out of OpenAI. They didn't leave for money or glory. They left because they were worried OpenAI was moving too fast without taking AI safety seriously enough. So they built their own lab, with safety as the core mission — not an afterthought...

I'm always on the lookout for ways to save money on essentials without sacrificing quality. My current Singtel broadband subscription ends in September 2026, and since I'm mainly hunting for the best deal possible—something fast enough for live streaming and smooth online gaming—I decided to do some deep research now. Why wait until the last minute when prices and promotions change so often? In this post, I'll walk you through my step-by-step research process in simple terms. I focused on plans with at least 1Gbps (but ended up loving higher speeds like 3Gbps or 10Gbps because they often cost the same or less), no need for a bundled router since I already have one, and options in Punggol (which has excellent fibre coverage). I compared no-frills providers like WhizComms and Simba, looked at switching from Singtel, and picked up general tips along the way. Here's exactly how I did it, so you can follow the same steps if your contract is ending soon. Step 1: Define What...

I've been using Bluehost for my WordPress site for a while now, but my renewal is coming up soon, and I know the prices are going to jump way higher than what I paid at first. It's frustrating because I started with a cheap intro deal, but now it feels like they're charging a lot more. So, I've been doing some research on alternatives, especially Hostinger, as a possible replacement. I'm not decided yet – I want to look at a few options before I make the move. I'll share what I've found in simple terms, based on reviews and comparisons from 2026. I'll include links to sources so you can check them out, and some affiliate links too (if you sign up through them, I might earn a small commission, which helps me keep blogging!). Why I'm Thinking About Leaving Bluehost Bluehost has been okay for my basic WordPress blog – easy setup, good for beginners, and they have phone support. But the big issue is the renewal prices. From what I've read, their sh...

Hey future me (and anyone reading this travel journal), We're heading to Kyoto in a few weeks for 5 days, and I'm super excited. The cherry blossoms might still be fading, temples, food, all the classics. But this morning over breakfast, while we were scrolling through our trip plan on my phone, my wife suddenly paused and showed me a straight-from-the-news article about recent bear sightings in Kyoto. She just slid her phone over with a serious look: "Adrian, look at this – bears are showing up more in some areas." At first, I laughed it off – bears in Kyoto? Like, in the middle of the city? But she was right to flag it. Turns out, Asiatic black bears (tsukinowaguma) have been spotted more often across Japan in 2025 and into 2026, including parts of Kyoto Prefecture. It's mostly due to food shortages in the mountains from weird weather, plus more bears in general and fewer people in rural spots. The good news? Central Kyoto – all the main tourist spots like Fu...

Here are the detailed instructions for creating consistent character voices based on the video: Step 1: The Core Voice Prompt Template The video suggests using a specific template that you can paste into your favorite AI assistant (like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) to generate a detailed voice description. The Template: > He/She says in the voice of a [AGE] [GENDER], [TIMBRE], [TONE], [PACING]: "dialogue" Step 2: Generating a Detailed Description You can use the template above to ask your AI assistant to create a voice for a specific character or style.  * By Description: Ask the AI to create a voice based on a famous person or a specific character archetype. For example: "Using that format, create a voice for a character who sounds like Audrey Hepburn."  * By Image: You can also upload an image of your character to the AI assistant and ask it to generate a voice prompt based on the character's appearance. Step 3: Refining the Prompt Once the AI assistant gene...

7 prompts you should use right now to skyrocket your Facebook account to 104K followers in 40 days 1. No followers You are a growth strategist and profile optimization expert for [Platform], specializing in turning casual viewers into followers. I'm not gaining new followers lately, and | suspect my profile isn’t clearly communicating value to my [target audience]. My niche is “[specific niche]. Review the attached profile screenshots and give me 3-5 ways to optimize my bio, profile image, highlights, and content positioning to increase clarity, credibility, and follow- worthiness. 2. Low Views You are a viral content strategist for [Platform] specializing in high-retention short-form videos. My current hook for a post about “[specific topic]” isn’t performing well. Generate 5 scroll-stopping, curiosity-driven hook variations tailored to [target audience]. Each should be under [X seconds or Y words] and use proven engagement triggers like emotion, surprise, or controversy. 3. Low L...