Hello internet friends,

let’s start with something really important: Fact-checking Owl City’s description of being hugged by 10,000 fireflies
Okay, maybe not that important, but now that I have that song stuck in my ears I wanted to share that joy with you. Sharing is caring.

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Mistress

Apparently this is a real job: China’s Mistress-Dispellers and that is pretty fascinating. Would I watch a Netflix series about these people? I probably would.

Leaks

There is a whole sector of the publishing industry devoted to rumors and leaks around technology products, mostly those from Apple. And now there is this: Leaked recording: Inside Apple’s global war on leakers
Good god.

Skating

I really enjoyed this article on how Learning to Skateboard When You’re an Adult Is Extremely Embarrassing.
(Side note: is is a coincidence that the Broadly text logo is so similar to the German Brigitte?)

Bees!

I can’t wait for a future where Amazon plants big beehives for their delivery drones into cities – maybe built by nanobots and with structures completely planned by deep learning AIs: Amazon’s vision for the future: delivery drone beehives in every city
The MetaFilter thread for this article is gold, especially but not only for this comment:

2037: CAPTCHA’s grow more strict every year. Slip up, and you’re locked out of your Amazon account, your apartment, your job, your life. Renegades hide out in abandoned big-box stores and survive on what they can shoot down. Arecibo Noether, daughter of elite Prime Members, never thought she would end up as one of them but

Once again: I would totally read/watch this.

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Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

I’ve had declining hair for a while now and yet every summer I am surprised again that the sun actually has an effect on my head. Maybe I should get some sort of person who holds an umbrella over my all the time? Or maybe just a hat, but that seems overkill.

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Same.

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Cat Scan

Now, all things considered, I’m more a dog person than a cat person. Mostly because I start to look like an extra in a zombie movie right after a cat was somewhere near. And yet, this is fascinating: Watch the History of Cat Domestication in Three Minutes

Beep Beep

Maybe I’m a bit stupid, after all I’m not in San Francisco, but – isn’t this just a private bus line? Lyft’s New Shuttle Service Is More Convenient Than Lyft Line

Wood

These are pretty incredible: Now You Can Download 2,500 Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Library of Congress
I might just have spent a little too much time clicking through these.

Merch

✊ Resistance!
Well. More like Resistance™ – because capitalism is really good at turning everything into a commodity: The Resistance Will Be Merchandised.

Coke

If you watch a comedic movie that was sort of aimed at more grown-up people, you probably see at least one person doing coke. Why? How Did Cocaine Become The Drug Of Choice In Hard-R Comedies?
(I thought it was because everybody in Hollywood is on the stuff anyway all the time, but apparently there are other reasons.)

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As usual, folks – comment, like, subscribe and hit that bell button.
Or not. Enjoy the rest of the week.

Toodles!

Hello internet friends!

First minor sun burn of the year: ✔
On the top of my feet, if only for the reason that it is the most annoying place to have that, now that I wear more closed shoes today at work.

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Gassy

Humanity is now breeding cows for secondary characteristics: Canada Is Using Genetics to Make Cows Less Gassy
I wonder if it is somehow possible to use that on humans, too?

Roady

This is pretty cool: The major Roman Roads in the style of a subway map.

Poppy

I know. But. This article is actually really good: Welcome to Poppy’s World. (And hey, she did get a shout-out at the latest Apple Keynote, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
In the article they mention an ad campaign for Sanrio. Part of that is an interview which includes this gem of a dialogue:

Sweet Happy News: When is the last time you really felt alive?
That Poppy: I feel alive every time my phone is re-charged.
Sweet Happy News: Amazing.

Sunny

China just switched on the world’s largest floating solar power plant and that is pretty, pretty awesome. I mean – why waste all this free energy we get from the sun all the time?

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That’s all I have for now.
Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

did you ever wonder how fireflies in Thailand synchronize their blinking? Yeah, me neither. But now I know and it is fascinating. And the webpage that explains it is absolutely wonderful.

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Computer Talk

Just now as I am writing this the latest Apple keynote thing ended. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Let’s talk about real computers instead and what happened with those back in the days: What Really Happened with Vista
Medium Dot Com says it takes 27 minutes to read it, sooooo… about how long Vista lasted from start-up to the first background process crashing.

Butt Talk

So apparently this is a topic? Why did my boyfriend like Emily Ratajkowski’s butt on Instagram?

Bird Talk

A warning, just in case: Two Escaped Raptors Are Still At Large in North Carolina
Not dinosaurs, though. Talking about big birds – did you ever wonder about Why Flamingos Are More Stable on One Leg Than Two?

Brick Talk

How Lego clicked: the super brand that reinvented itself – nothing really new in that article, but it’s still nicely put together.
Meanwhile in assorted Lego talk, a nice love letter to the Lego Movie’s cracked space man helmet: Cracked Helmets and Being Understood

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Toodles! (And don’t forget, you don’t really need all the new iMacs and iPads and things.)