🥕🥕An Ode to Gardens, Synthwave Dreams, and the AR Laptop
Coming to a Cafe near you?
Welcome to The Land of Random my friends!
It’s another week here in Tennessee, and it’s been slowly getting hotter every week.
I’m currently debating whether or not to attempt the McKay’s 50th anniversary road trip. McKay’s is a GIANT used books/vinyl/comics/electronics store that has 5 locations across Tennessee and North Carolina.
If you visit all 5 on July 9th, you get $800 of trade credit.
Here’s the details if you’re interested.
It’s been a wild ride on the interwebs this week with all the Roaring Kitty drama. I really wasn’t too involved, to be honest.
The thought of professional investors in suits and ties nervously waiting for a live stream from a Redditor and Memer is hilarious on so many levels.
The Cosmos Pinterest alternative went live recently, so I still need to try that out.
Shout out to Pinterest for still functioning on my ancient iPad Air stuck on IOS 9.3.5
Oh! Remember the Cheez-it diner from the other week? They sold the Cheez-it jukebox on Ebay.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
🥕🥕An Ode on Gardens
No - not an actual ode. Sadly.
The Garden has ROARED to life this last week.
It feels like we’re enjoying fresh beans or carrots every other day!
There’s something incredibly joyous about growing food. It’s a lot of hard work (tilling soil, planting, weeding, watering, negotiating deals with the Peter Rabbit Cartel) but once I’m plucking vegetables to eat - it all feels worth it.
Yanking a carrot out of the ground, washing it off, and eating it - well the best explanation is . . .
We have 5 large raised garden beds - and most of our produce is growing happily.
A few things failed - like our Strawberry seeds, but we’ve been able to eat carrots, zucchini, beans, and lettuce.
The potatoes are growing quite well - I’m most curious about what these will taste like.
The NEXT project is trying to grow produce indoors. I’ve printed an entire aeroponic planter (from the guy who made this design) and need to finish assembling it before Winter comes.
I wholeheartedly recommend gardening - even if it’s a single potato plant in a 5 gallon bucket in the corner of your living room.
🎶Synthwave Dreams
I’ve listened to Synthwave for years (open Youtube for a late-night writing session) but it’s only in the last few years I’ve only started curating a playlist.
(If you might remember - I’ve been trapped in phonk for around 2 years. Synthwave is my new current obsession).
I have to say - the breadth of synthwave styles available these days is incredible.
(Chillwave, Horror, Scifi, Outrun . . . and more)
When Lofi Girl introduced a Synthwave channel - that was a big indicator of Synthwave’s rising popularity.
Here’s my playlist. My goal is to get this to 10 hours long eventually.
I’m 31 years old, so I know it’s false nostalgia to enjoy the 80’s vibes, but I did grow up on the A-Team, Chuck Norris, and a LOT of similar content.
Ever since Stranger Things, a lot of content is 80’s influenced these days - and hey - I’m here for it.
Cocaine Bear, Strangers: Prey at Night, games like Cyberpunk 2077.
I know fashion wise we’re in the 90’s creeping into the early 2000’s (hello knee length converse and chunky skate shoes).
Horror is one of the BIGGEST synthwave subgenres. Here’s a pretty epic playlist. Most of these songs would be right at home in a slasher or zombie movie.
Here’s another playlist I really like - it’s very much that 80’s “out late night driving under the neon lights” vibe. There’s chillwave, scifi, and other influences in this one.
Get listening to some retro vibes!
🕶The AR Laptop
The AR laptop is one of those devices where I think - well. This just might work.
It’s essentially a laptop with a pair of glasses instead of a screen.
Here’s what it looks like.
and here’s the vision.
Oooh. Lots of screens and tabs.
The specs are rather interesting too. 16 gigs of ram, 8 hours of battery life, 128 gigs of storage - nothing too crazy.
The glasses are stored within the very handy case. Here’s a hype video that gives a solid demo of how you’d use it.
The “Space OS” is also quite intriguing. It’s “built for the modern Web, so anything you do on the Web, you can now do - in space.”
Perhaps it’s some kind of Chrome or Linux build? I can’t find any details.
I’m curious to watch deep-dive reviews when it comes out! Does it actually stand up to a workday? Is it comfortable to use for long periods of time?
We’ll have to wait and see!
🐙The Land of Random
Let’s wander through some random internet finds, shall we?
The Abandoned Sea Forts
I had no idea people explore these! Based on all the random junk in them, it looks like they’re well traveled.
Post Apocalyptic Screen
Turn heads at the office or at home with this creepy website screensaver.
Ezine Memoir
An interesting (and honestly at times quite dark and creepy) memoir ezine projec
Grooved
Ever wonder if your record player was properly calibrated? Give this app a whirl!
Convos
A simple web app for using IRC! Very cool. I need to find some interesting IRC chats . .
What does a city sound like?
Playing the geographical data of a city! Some of them sound pretty cool. (Don’t forget to try changing between instruments).
Nightmare Kart
What if Bloodborne featured kart racing? Horror cart racing. Hmmm. It’s free too!
That’s all for this week! See you next time!
Unless you want to read this interesting take about the next wave of hardware.