51: The Links Must Flow

July 7, 2014

Hello, internet friends!

It’s monday, I’m still half asleep, so here are links! (You all like links, right? What do you like? I hardly know it.)

~

Maciej Cegłowski went to the capital of Yemen, Sana’a – and the post on his first day there might be one of the best blog posts I have read in a long while.

~

The 747 is probably the most recognizable passenger jet in the world – and after almost 50 years and 1500 planes built its era is likely coming to an end. The Air & Space Magazine has some history.

~

I have never heard of Ryn Weaver’s “OctaHate” before, but it seems to be quite agreeable summer pop. There might be a reason I – and more or less nobody – have heard about the young lady: she was a struggling actress before some people decided she should be famous.

~

Are we entertained, yet?

Dominik

50: Ring

July 3, 2014

Hello, internet friends!

Before we start with anything, let me give you the link to a properly useful article, full of proven career advice: 10 Tricks to Appear Smart During Meetings.

Now that the LinkedIn crowd is gone, (and depending on their intellectual ability amused, offended, befuddled or any mix of those three) let’s talk internet.

As I have mentioned before, (You don’t need to click this, it goes back to an old issue.) one of my early summer rituals is to re-read “The Beach.” It’s a pretty quick read that works fine when read on the first warm evening of the year.
It’s also a bit of a (very shaky) allegory for “the internet” – because this is basically the internet now.
Either that or I am getting old and finally blooming into my true form as constantly grumpy middle-aged dude. Or maybe I should just stop reading the internet for a while. Or unfollow the outrage crowd.

Maybe instead of tech articles, which tend to make me grumpy, I should just read fascinating articles like this one about ad-hoc transit in New York.

Have a good day. And if you don’t: this too shall pass.

Dominik

49: Vox Populi

July 2, 2014

Hello, internet friends!

I got some nice feedback to last issue’s rant:

I just figured out your emails are full of hints, like the sky is full of stars.

Thank you, very much! I try.

~

Now here we go, this time with a bunch of links, again. Because who doesn’t like links? Everybody likes links.

~

A ‘safe’ way to see Bangkok’s seedier side

The Bangkok Hangover Tour offers an imaginative and theatrical visit to some of the city’s best bars and nightclubs, and honors the Hollywood movie “Hangover Part II,” which is set primarily in Bangkok.
[…]
To emphasize that guests will be following some of that character’s footsteps, Hangover Tour guides stick a washable Maori tattoo on all the guests’ faces, heightening the sense of being in their own version of the movie.

Sounds great.

~

Fly Art

An homage to the finer things in life: Art and Hip Hop.

This is actually quite brilliant.

~

‘Neuromancer’ and I Are the Same Age

Neuromancer was ground zero for cyberpunk, a kind of science fiction that doesn’t point up, up, and away. Instead, like Gibson’s sprawling cities, it spreads out laterally, in layers of increasing density; cyberpunk is the science fiction of the visceral now, of encroaching slums, biotech, the degradation of flesh, vacuity, political corruption, the corporatization of the world, social disorder, dark alleyways, and new drugs.

Neuromancer is 30 years old this year and there will probably be many articles about it. I liked this one.
And if you haven’t read it yet, it might be a good idea to do so. In fact, almost all Gibson books are highly readable. (Now how do I get to work for Blue Ant?)

~

People tell me quite often that they don’t quite get my references or words that I use. Maybe I should start explaining things in footnotes and/or a website? Would you like that?

~

Peace out, yo!

Dominik

48: Hashtag

July 1, 2014

Hello!

I sure hope you are all doing well.

I just need to let you know that I walk around thinking that you folks are the smartest people possible, blessed with way more intelligence than the average person and of course a lot hotter, too.

Okay, done with the pandering, but of course it is all true. Which is why I always wince when one of my friends (i.e. you) says or does something that even I with my limited intellectual capabilities can recognise as something really, really dumb.

It doesn’t happen a lot, but sometimes even my extraordinarily intelligent and attractive friends share something from Upworthy on Facebook or link to a 9gag joke or committed some other internet etiquette atrocity. Really. And being the helpful nerd with a vast insight into how humans work, I want to help my friends – usually by telling them that they just did or said something so daft that even a shrew would be deadly ashamed being caught in a situation like that.

I don’t know why people usually get defensive and tell me to fuck off instead of organising a parade or at least buy a fruit basket for me. I clearly helped them, right?

Now today I happened to find a public Facebook post by a “German online thought leader”[1] who in all earnestness warned his… his… thought followers(?) – and I paraphrase – that manipulative click-baity headlines on Facebook manipulate people into clicking them. And that he also shared them in the past and that he feels very sorry for that.
No shit, Sherlock?
And people ate it up. They were very grateful for this information and that finally someone uncovered that conspiracy of manipulation.

I was completely stunned.

Both that these people didn’t already by default realise that these clickbait articles are evil and that they were so grateful for the fact that someone – finally – spoke out about it.

So, apparently to get people to realise they are doing dumb thing it doesn’t help to post links to Clickhole and yelling at them for not noticing that it’s satire – instead, people need to get told these very basic things.

I am still stunned.

Not you guys, though – I know you’re all a lot more intelligent than that.

Now which Game of Thrones character did you get in that quiz?

Dominik

  1. Gnnngnnngnnn.  ↩

46: Paleo

June 26, 2014

Hello, internet friends!

For no reason I could possibly remember, I watched the Google I/O keynote yesterday.[1] It was pretty bad. It started strong-ish, but turned sour pretty fast. The only people who seem to know how the products they were presenting actually worked was some lady engineer and this dude.

Because of reasons I am currently ingesting a lot of advice/history how people got to the point they are now a.k.a. famous/successful enough, that I’d know and probably even consume their content. If I understand the latest episode of Quit![2] correctly, it’s mostly showing up, doing the work, and reliably creating value for other people.
I was sort of hoping it would be not eating pasta or getting up early on the morning or something like that.

That’s it for this morning. I am spectacularly sleepy and tired – I need my 10 to 12 hours of sleep every night and there is no way I can get that. And by “no way” I mean – I don’t get to sleep until noon every day because you better don’t start believing it would be a good idea if I went to bed early.[3]

Dominik

  1. Actually, the reason might be the same reason why football seems to be popular in the US right now – it’s a live event with a global watercooler. (Twitter, in case you were wondering. Twitter is the global watercooler.)  ↩

  2. Or the show formerly known as Quit!  ↩

  3. As we have learned before, this is probably also not a way to make me happy and/or successful.  ↩

45: Brimful of Asha

June 25, 2014

Hello, internet friends!
I was about to write “Good Morning” but who am I to know at what time of day you are reading this email.
◔̯◔

It has been a while, but mostly because I have nothing to add to the global conversation.
And as you know, my expectations are always very high and while my religion has a wide open heart for achievers, it’s also pretty important to take it easy.
And yes, I did re-watch The Big Lebowski last night. For reasons.
Talking about achieving – I am “active” as a member of The Little Lebowski Urban Achievers Lending Team on Kiva. Maybe you want to join and help people achieve, too?
No funny stuff.
◔̯◔
Now why would I even want to add something to the global conversation? It is usually stupid, because people are stupid.
(Bonus points if you can spot the recursion.)
◔̯◔
You will probably not have noticed it, but the world must have ended – I just started following a brand on Instagram. Given that the brand in question is National Geographic, I guess I can be excused. Right? They got me with the apes.
◔̯◔
Take care,
Dominik

44: Rinse

June 20, 2014

Hello, internet friends!

Of course, because things are the way they are, I managed to find a whole bunch of interesting links just after I posted Wednesday’s email. Well – in fact I found one while writing Wednesday’s email and randomly pasted it under the email, thinking that I might write something about it, which I didn’t.

◔̯◔

Ever played any kind of modern video games that had some sort of magic happen in it? Chances are, you were spending “mana” to pay for that magic. But did you ever stop to wonder how an Austronesian concept became a video game mechanic?

◔̯◔

Pixel perfect: the story of eBoy is worth the lengthy reading time, too. There’s a video, but I did not watch that, yet.

◔̯◔

The Spiny Shell is the most profoundly existentialist element of the Mario canon.

Sure. (Remind me to check if my N64 is still working!)

◔̯◔

Yo! Yo? Yo me!

Have a nice weekend,

Dominik

43: Figs

Hello, internet friends!
I really don’t have much to say today, so here is an email that looks like my blog over on tumblr.1

(Hehe. A face palm in a dating app. Maybe a date palm? (I’m so, so sorry.))

Talking about Tumblr and Tinder: apps/websites whose main purpose is to meet people in a dating situation don’t really work for me. Neither those where I have to write something smart or where I have to present myself with photos. Not only because I am not very good at selling myself this way but also because it’s not the way I think of potential future partners.
What I’d really like would be a dating platform that just links to people’s Tumblr and/or Twitter account. It’s really more interesting to see what people (re-)blog or tweet than to read the hundredth variation of “I like to travel2 and do sports3, my favorite band is Coldplay, I like to go crazy4 and please only write to me if you read all of this.”


I rather see someone post a picture like this and have an instant connection through the shared interests in coffee and Twin Peaks.
◔̯◔
Have a nice day. It’s a public holiday here tomorrow, so: yay!
Dominik

  1. I still can’t get myself to say: “That looks like my tumblr.” ↩
  2. But not too much. It’s nice at home, too. ↩
  3. But not too much. Maybe a bit of jogging. And it’s only because I feel pressured by society to do it, really. But here we go: I like to do sports! ↩
  4. But not too much. I’m in my late 20s now. But still, you know. Have a drink outside. ↩