Hello internet friends,

let’s pour one out for the tool that changed everything for web developers a decade ago: Saying Goodbye to Firebug

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Slurp

Don’t we all know this situation? We’re sitting at our desk at the office during lunch break, silenty crying into our cup noodles, not daring to properly eat them in the way they’re supposed to be eaten because we’re too anxious about disturbing the other people around. But don’t give up, help is here! Japanese ramen-maker Nissin wants to end “noodle harassment” with a slurp-canceling fork

Pika Pika…

What do you do when you’re in 2017 and still very much invested in Ingress? Well, you think of ways to really dominate that game. And to win for your team you might need to go to great lengths: Inside Antarctica’s Illicit Gaming Scene

Clipper

In the early 40s of the last century Pan Am was flying all over the Pacific in huge flying boats. This all changed when the second world war also caught up with this part of the world – which was especially inconvenient for a plane that was on its way to New Zealand just as the war broke out. They had to go back The Long Way Round. (This reads like an old-fashioned adventure novel. Take your time with it.)

Future!

Or, these days: Retrofuture. It is not really en vogue anymore to use it, but it is still pretty great: The Suffix That Tells the Story of Modern Science

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That’s it for now, except if you want to read about One of the World’s Most Delicious Foods, anxious millennials or Dungeons & Dragons.

Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

this newsletter almost didn’t happen because I finally – and way too late – got sucked into the black hole that is Netflix’ Terrace House: the must-watch Japanese reality show in which nothing happens. And even after half a season I’m still not too sure How A Japanese Reality TV Show About Nothing Became A Global Hit.
Sorry.

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Uncle Licky

I’m not too sure I’ve mentioned the Licki Brush here before. Let it sink in for a while.
Now feel ashamed that you simple human are not able to properly lick another animal without an augmentation. Deers are so much better at it than we are: Why Is This Deer Licking This Fox?

Social Media

By now we’re all pretty much at a point where we know that all the Social Media is trash. (Yes, yes. Even what you and me are putting up there. Don’t deny it. We’re garbage people.) But now we even know it in numbers and it is pretty damning: What We Learned from Staring at Social Media Data for a Year

Woof

Talking about garbage people: (and no, don’t worry. I don’t actually think you’re a garbage person. You’re great!) Dogs can tell if you’re untrustworthy. Meanwhile they themselves are sneaky little buggers who have long since evolved their tricks to manipulate humans: Yes, your dog is making puppy eyes at you. At least not all of them are willing to work for the surveillance state or sell payroll solutions.

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That’s it for today. Unless you want to know how an Unknown local wins Venice marathon after favourites take wrong turn or Meet the Black Girls of Goth. Alternatively you might get a chuckle out of All the Awesome Pop Culture That’s Been Ruined by Horrible Fans, Ranked or the Garfield cartoon where Jon drinks dog semen. Or not. Maybe you’re interested to know why Russians are renting out grounded private jets by the hour or the meaning behind IKEA’s product names? It is pretty fascinating to learn Where Priests Get Their Clothes and how capitalism destroyed underground music for ever.
And once you’re done with all of this, you probably need this: Wirecutter Review: The Best Paper Towel for Mopping Up Tears

Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

did you go to the bathroom lately? Turns out this is a lot scarier in Japan.

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747

As the 747 Begins Its Final Approach, a Pilot Takes a Flight Down Memory Lane – this is a nice love letter to the most iconic airplane.

Cheerio

In 1973, I invented a ‘girly drink’ called Baileys – I’m not a big fan if his invention, but pour a bit over two scoops of really good vanilla gelato and we’re talking.

Housing

These are absolutely amazing: Singapore’s Metabolist Megastructures: the Asian City of Tomorrow?

Dioramas

I’ve never really wondered how criminologists learn their trade but now I am curious. Because at least in the 1940s some of them learned it this way: These Extraordinarily Detailed Dioramas Help Solve Murders

Nostalgia

Turns out we do quite like to read about these things that happened in the past for a reason: The science behind the internet’s unstoppable nostalgia addiction

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Toodles! (And let’s not think about Twitter too much. Even though this one is really, really good: One person’s history of Twitter, from beginning to end)

Hello internet friends,

good news: Santa is real! Bad news: he was real: Santa Claus’s tomb may have been uncovered beneath Turkish church (Obviously this is very clickbait-y again. You probably knew that Santa Claus is based on a real person from Turkey and now they found a place where they might have found his bones. Maybe.)

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Pets!

As I might have mentioned before: I mostly enjoy cats in their natural habitat: GIFs on the internet. A proper allergy makes it hard for me to enjoy them in real life. But finally – the most important task a cat can do has been outsourced to a robot and here it is: Bad news, cats. Your jobs have been automated
Maybe once they add purring, I’ll get one. It’s still better than one of these, right? Adults’ obsession with weird, squishy stuffed animals reveals a heartbreaking need in our psyche

Blade Runner

Obviously these things are just the first step toward the electric sheep of Blade Runner, which, by the way, is a properly good movie. I do admit that I was very worried when I heard that there is a sequel and even more so when I saw the first trailer, but alas: “Blade Runner 2049” is the rare sequel that justifies its right to exist (Obviously this article is packed with spoilers, so… go watch the movie first. Even if you’re American.)

Westworld

Obviously these days Blade Runner is not the only game in town when it comes to trying to figure out how humanity can handle the fact that we might have near-human robots soon. The other big one was Westworld and apparently they had a kind of alternate reality game, which was rather disturbing: Westworld: The Experience gave me an emotional epiphany — and a panic attack

History

I might have mentioned it before: my favourite time of the internet was back in the days, when Instant Messaging was still a thing. And even though I’ve never been on AIM – for some reason my people were on ICQ, MSN, Ya… well, basically every messenger except AIM – it does make me kind of sad to see this era of the internet end: AOL Instant Messenger is dead

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Well, that was that. Have a nice day!
Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

don’t you also hate that feeling when you accidentally find an old photo of an alien and somehow it turns into this whole big thing? So relatable.

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Museum

Quick, when was the last time you visited a museum? Do you have any plans to go soon? Hmmhmm. And now how about when I tell you about Selfie Factories: The Rise of the Made-for-Instagram Museum?
(This has been in a slightly mocking tone. I know that I have a rather museum-savvy readership.)

Unknown

It might be peculiar but just like so many people I often enjoy watching people play computer games more than actually playing myself. Usually I watch Starcraft 2 matches, because I can actually understand what is going on, but lately Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has been high on the list, especially Polygon’s Awful Squad. I’m not particularly alone in that case, PUBG is a huge hit this year and its main developer is quite in demand these days: Brendan “Playerunknown” Greene’s whirlwind year
Besides being entertaining to watch the game has some other rather entertaining use cases: The art (and stupidity) of taking 360 panoramas in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

Meditation

We’ve all seen these articles or have heard the advice that meditation is supposed to be the best thing ever. I’ve always been very sceptical because nothing sounds more scary to me than being alone with my thoughts for even the shortest amount of time. So obviously I’ll smugly share this link: There’s a dark side to meditation that no one talks about

Moon

Yeah! Russia Will Team Up with NASA to Build a Lunar Space Station
Maybe at least up there we humans can be chill and work together? Not bloody likely, but let’s hope so.

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That’s all for this week, toodles!

(Not all, all, obviously. There is also this very well made and written article about group chats. And yeah, I’m pretty glad I didn’t pivot to video.)