Hello internet friends,

Hashtag relatable: I Rented Friends to Be More Popular on Instagram
We’ve all been there, right?

Talking about Instagram: last week the whole Ten Years meme came and went. Obviously I did it, too, and maybe I shouldn’t have because what if it all has been a big conspiracy? Facebook’s ‘10 Year Challenge’ Is Just a Harmless Meme—Right? Good god. Also rather interesting: Why you’re seeing the 10-Year Challenge everywhere
Thanks, Vox.

(There’s a special place in hell for the people who posted the “The only ten year challenge you should be concerned about” image meme. Yes, we know the planet is fucked. Yes, we’re all concerned. Congratulations, you’re a lot better than we all are by reminding us that having some fun online isn’t really something we’re allowed to do anymore.)

The one thing I asked myself when reading this article: With ingestible pill, you can track fart development in real time on your phone – how’s the IFTTT integration?

I have no idea how valid this article is: dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets – but the whole thing just sounds very fascinating. Dead drops with bluetooth beacons! How cyberpunk.
The whole bluetooth thing is going to be very interesting anyway – and it will get even more exciting: This tiny Bluetooth chip doesn’t need a battery because it harvests energy from the air

Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

have you seen the latest internet outrage? No? Well, this is usually how it goes: The 29 Stages Of A Twitterstorm In 2018

🚨🚨Danger Danger🚨🚨

I’ve been saying this for years: Productivity is dangerous.

If you’re waking up at 4 a.m. to write 1,000 words about how you write 1,000 words every day, what are you actually getting done? Just stay in bed.

But you know – this will probably not be an issue anymore soon. So how will we handle it? Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs Probably we’ll all be writing 1,000 word Medium dot com essays about productivity.

Freedom and Fun

I sort of stopped reading The Awl after they jumped back and forth between Medium and their own WordPress installation, each time messing up their feed. And I might not have been the only one, because now Awl Ends.
The End of the Awl and the Vanishing of Freedom and Fun from the Internet – from what I can gather it is mostly the vanishing of getting paid for freedom and fun, right?

Sad Robot

This is kinda sad: Fabio the robot sacked from supermarket after alarming customers
I’d be delighted to have a little robot to show me where to find the toothpaste and stuff.

Hug your robot!
Toodles!

Hello internet friends,

well, that was a bit of a crappy week, wasn’t it?
The only thing that sort of fills me with some hope for the future were the Women’s Marches on Saturday – well done, ladies. You’re the good ones in this situation.
(Oh, by the way: if you think that what the world needs right now are strong, authoritarian and nationalistic leaders, you are invited to click the unsubscribe link in the footer of this email.)
((No, if you want to unsubscribe anyway – how dare you! – I don’t necessarily think you’re one of those people.))

Onwards to our usual escapism!

The pinacle of escapism is Star Wars and because we’re now living in a world where this is provided to us on a yearly basis, we’re looking forward to the next one, which will now be called “The Last Jedi.”
And now we have a couple of months to wonder if “jedi” is plural or singular and if singular, if it is female or male. Oh the nerd joy!

More nerd joy! Logarithms! I honestly have forgotten all about them. Which is obviously so much of a mistake that to atone I even link to Forbes. (I honestly don’t know how that helps. The article is pretty good, though – even if you’re not too firm on the logarithms.)

Instagram news! If you’ve noticed that Instagram keeps changing around stuff you’re not alone. (And if you’re grumpy about it, because you’re getting older and you’d rather like things to stay the way you’re used to them, hi! Welcome to the club.) Either way – here’s an interesting look into the way Instagram is changing.

Very fascinating: the history of headscarves. Including a lot of on-the-ground reporting from the Headwrap Expo in Detroit, which is apparently a thing.

And now for something completely different: the history of hiding alcohol. Cheers to that.

Toodles!

Hi internet friends,

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

Don’t be like Bill.

Space News!
The alien megastructure that is probably a bunch of comets is probably not a bunch of comets.
Apparently there is a planet in our solar system that we don’t know about. I’m not sure why they insist on calling it Planet Nine, though. You heard about Pluto? That’s messed up, right?

Chicken News!
When chickens go wild is an interesting article about wild chickens on Kauai. There is also an amusing gif.

T-Shirt News!
Someone bought 800 t-shirts and measured them. And washed them and wore them and measured them and washed them and… (Not a single someone, obviously.)

Tennis News!
Remember last week’s tennis kerfuffle? (I almost forgot, tbh.) Well, apparently “that’s what tennis players do."

Racist News!
Turns out you’re just as racist as everybody else, you are just better at hiding it. Well, at least if you’re a white American, which – let me look at my subscriber statistics – you are probably not.

Be safe, be less racist and maybe have a tea.