Hello internet friends,

have you taken a selfie today, yet? It might be a good idea to do so, though.
Find your angle, work your angle. (Obviously the “study” is a bit baloney, but since I am pro-selfie in general, I will proudly link to it, saying: a-ha! confirmation!)

While we slowly adapt to the idea of self-driving cars, Amsterdam takes the whole idea a step further and develops small self-driving canal barges that can either be used as boats or form a pontoon bridge.

There are two airline commercials which I rather like. One is actually really good – the “Campari Soda” one for Swiss – while the other is a bit silly in its new-agey vibe. And of course, because it’s 2016, it is not only a bit silly but problematic.

You know what’s getting cheaper and cheaper? Solar energy, that’s what. Especially in very sunny countries like Abu Dhabi. But, you know, it is not like we’ll have the same conditions soon anywhere else, too.

It seems like there are not many cryptozoologists left – I didn’t really see anyone celebrating in the streets after we now finally have legitimate photographic proof of the Loch Ness monster.

The whole internet – well, those people who spend their time commenting New York Times opinion pieces on Twitter, which might be an indicator why this article struck a nerve – discussed this question over the weekend: Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?
I don’t know… do I have to pick?

Hm.

Toodles!

Let’s do some housekeeping, we have a few new faces around the table, so why not. The archive for these emails is here, all 180something issues. It also is on medium dot com, if that’s more your thing. I’ve been known to engage with replies there, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Almost every week there are links that just didn’t make it into the email, for some reason or another. I collect those over here. It has a full feed, too – so if you’re into RSS, then that’s something for you. I think that’s it for now, there is a Twitter feed and a Facebook page, too – both are there, because why not. If you get this by email, you already get it in the format it was intended to be.

Hello internet friends,

you might remember that stunning timelapse of Singapore which I linked to in June. Insider TV has a nice little video portrait of Keith Loutit, the photographer who shot that timelapse.

Back in the year 2000 (am I the only one who immediately has that Silverchair song playing in their head when someone mentions “in the year 2000”?) I actually was one of the few-ish people who went to the ill-fated Expo 2000 world’s fair. There is now a new book by Jade Doskow who travelled the sites of past world’s fairs to look at what’s left of them. Atlas Obscura has a few of her photos.

I really have no idea how books happen. Somehow they just manifest themselves in a library or bookstore, to be enjoyed by readers. Just like milk comes from a box and electricity just appears in my walls. At least the first of those mysteries is now solved by internet friend Sarah Cooper, who is in the process of turning her blog post 10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings into a book with 10x more tricks and was kind enough to give us a behind the scenes look.

In the late 90s a lot of people boxed air while being yelled at. Turns out Billy Blanks is still around and still doing his Tae Bo thing. Pretty fascinating dude.

Ants are very prolific farmers. How prolific, you ask? Well, they pick the aphids they use for their honeydew farming in a way that ensures the optimal ressource extraction from each plant.

Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

want to mess up your brain on a monday morning? Sure, then look at this optical illusion.
I didn’t have my coffee, yet, and that thing makes me so dizzy.

As far as I can tell, the Pokémon Go craze has mostly calmed down. Which is lucky, after all it is the world’s most dangerous game.

Did you do the blow? Nono, now that one. And not that one, either. The one that scared away the evil dust spirits from the game cartridges. The intersection of technology and superstition is a fun one.

One way for local governments to save some money on road repairs? Make sure those roads follow a smuggling route.

Something I have wondered for quite some while: Why Are Babies So Dumb If Humans Are So Smart?
Once you get past the clickbait-y, but in a smart way, headline, this is actually a good article on evolution and, well, babies.

The Millennial to Snake Person browser plugin delivers once again. (And again I had to disable it to send this email.)

Clown sightings have spread to North Carolina. Now police are concerned about creepy copycats. Something something viral marketing, am I right? I’d still freak out if I saw a clown standing around somewhere. Luckily I just never leave the house, so that’s out of the question.
Except when I accidentally put on my clown makeup when sleepwalking again.

That feeling when you don’t know why your rocket exploded.

We used to have more poultry news here in these emails. (And by we I don’t mean the royal or even the editorial we. I am talking about me and you.) So I am pretty glad to have this for you: A Reading from the Book of Poultry
Wow, these are some magnificent birds.

Here, if you don’t know how to cook, this might be helping.

Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

autumn is upon us, it is rainy, grey and cold where I am. (I write, conveniently ignoring the fact that it’s going to be bloody warm again in a few days. 30°C in Mid-September? That’s just silly.)
So let’s just take this opportunity, have a cup of coffee and see if we can learn something new.

Last week the whole world was pretty excited about a phone call from space. Turns out (and this is in the actual headline) it was just something boring here from our little planet.

All things considered, we should not be too surprised – after all, what would aliens actually want from us? Maybe check on their pyramids?

Running something big-ish on the internet is not easy and people get fed up with it. Here, I just saved you a click. But if you want more details: Who Killed YTMND?
If you’ve never heard of YTMND, good for you. Keep on reading.

Remember Socality Barbie? The Instagram account that mocked basically everything on Social Media? Now there is real Barbie and sadly nothing of it is satire.

Burning Man. Where Pokémon Go and Class Warfare meet. What a slogan.

Toodles!

Sent From My iPhone