Extra Future

Year: 2017

  • The Quintessential Americanness of Juneteenth

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Vann Newkirk on the most famous American emancipation holiday][link], and why it must be celebrated: >Juneteenth, rather, celebrates a belated liberation. Enslaved people in the Confederacy who didn’t manage to escape to Union lines or find themselves in occupied territory were not all made free by Lincoln’s proclamation, and had to await the end of…

  • Algorithm designs seven million different jars of Nutella

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [An article about a cool thing with a goofy lede][link]: >An algorithm has *usurped the traditional role of a designer* to generate millions of unique packaging designs for Nutella. Emphasis mine. It’s goofy because nothing usurped anything. A designer created an algorithm to create variations. It’s just a different kind of design. [link]: https://www.dezeen.com/2017/06/01/algorithm-seven-million-different-jars-nutella-packaging-design/ “Algorithm…

  • Traces I

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Traces I][link] is the sound of synthesizers wrapped in cheesecloth being broadcast from the last radio tower of a dying world… in the shape of a 5-track pay-what-you-can album on Bandcamp. I’m enjoying it a lot. You can contribute to [the artist’s patreon][patreon], too. [link]: https://rooksfeather.bandcamp.com/album/traces-i “Traces I” [patreon]: https://www.patreon.com/rooksfeather “Rook on patreon”

  • Conservatory Of Flowers Live Stream of Amorphophallus Titanum Bloom

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park is doing [a live stream of their Amorphophallus titanum, aka Corpse Flower, blooming][link]. This plant blooms once every 10 years, and during the bloom grows almost two times its normal size and emits a foul stench for two days before shriveling up and starting over. It’s pretty…

  • The Library of Congress is Adding Webcomics

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    “Dinosaur Comics!” “Hyperbole and a Half” and “xkcd” are among the initial class of now-nationally-archived webcomics I grew up reading. [The Washington Post][link]: >The library will announce Tuesday that the Webcomics Web Archive is officially launching at loc.gov as part of its growth in “born-digital” collections. > >The first phase of the webcomics online collection…

  • The Verge on Pinboard’s Acquisition of Delicious

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Apparently Maciej acquired it for $35,000][link]. Former Delicious community manager (and fellow [waferbaby][wafer] alumni) Britta Gustafson is running [the twitter account][twitter]. [link]: https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/12/15746916/pinboard-founder-maciej-ceglowski-interview-yahoo-delicious-fandom “The founder of Pinboard on why understanding fandom is good for business – The Verge” [wafer]: https://waferbaby.com “waferbaby” [twitter]: https://twitter.com/delicious “Delicious on Twitter”

  • Stop TrumpCare in June: Action Plan

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    Indivisible has [a complete guide to letting your lawmakers know that they need to oppose Trumpcare][link]. Make use of it. [link]: https://www.indivisibleguide.com/resource/stop-trumpcare-june-action-plan/ “Stop TrumpCare in June: Action Plan – Indivisible Guide”

  • #c0ffee is the color

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    A [beautiful list of valid HTML colors which are also english-language words][link]. There’s a poetry to how some of these match up; “defied / #DEF1ED” for example seems perfect somehow? [link]: http://c0ffee.surge.sh/ “#c0ffee is the color”

  • Singer IZEK Sewing Machine/Nintendo Game Boy Color Instructional Video VHS

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    Phil Nelson
    in

    [What a zany thing to have existed][link]: >This is the instructional video that was bundled with the Singer IZEK sewing machine/Game Boy Color combo. Hopefully this will help others who may be struggling to set up or operate their IZEKs or for those who just want to enjoy awesome VHS goodness! via [Frank Cifaldi on…

  • You Are Not Google

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    A [longish read][link] which is better summed up at the very top: >[…] if you’re using a technology that originated at a large company, but your use case is very different, it’s unlikely that you arrived there deliberately; no, it’s more likely you got there through a ritualistic belief that imitating the giants would bring…

  • Motherboard: The Hidden Stories Lingering in RadioShack’s Bankruptcy Auction

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    Apparently there are now [about 70 Radio Shacks left][left] across America. I’ve scavenged a few closings here in San Francisco. I will cherish those still-overpriced-at-70%-off toggle switches forever: >But buried in the recent news about store closings—which have largely decimated a chain of thousands of locations—is the fact that the company is auctioning off much…

  • Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech

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    by

    Phil Nelson
    in

    [Kottke][link]: Bob Dylan finally delivered his Nobel Prize lecture in the form of a video (you can also listen to it on Soundcloud). Over the course of just 27 minutes, he talks about his influences, both musical and literary, and muses on the differences and similarities between music and literature. Listening to the speech, instead…