🌴Enter The Dark Forest

Build your own internet corner

Hello friends! Welcome to this week’s edition of The Land of Random.

If you’re stateside, I hope you’re having a good Memorial Day!

A Whataburger opened up here in Columbia, so we checked it out . . . pretty good food! Not as good as In-N-Out, of course.

Did you hear about that guy buying 40 Pizza Huts and converting them to the old, true style? checkered table cloths, booths, Pacman, the works.

We have one in Nashville - it has all the retro vibes!

Last weekend we went to Nashville and visited the Frist - it was a lot of fun showing our kids different art pieces AND letting them play on the second floor. There’s a whole interactive art area that’s AWESOME.

Did you see that second batch of UFO stuff from the Pentagon? Lots of the grainiest footage you’ve ever seen.

We finished the last season of The Boys a few days ago, and now we’re watching The Night Manager.

I’ll be honest - we gave up on slogging our way through Buffy/Angel. Maybe we’ll go back to it . . .

OH - also - if you have a controller that “drifts” you’ve GOT to check out DriftGuard. It’s a free web app for fixing your controller. It apparently works pretty well too!

Let’s dive in!

🌴Dark Forest OS

Last week I talked about “the zombie web” and how bots are taking over the internet.

Yes - there’s been a renewed interest in Indie Web projects - from Nekoweb to Neocities, and sites like Status Cafe or Melon Land.

There’s a new player in the space - Dark Forest OS, and it has finally launched to the public.

The homepage is quite intriguing - with lots of interesting tidbits like this.

A private internet? interesting. intriguing.

I signed up, and created a page for “The Land of Random.”

Basically, it’s a place to host a group with chatrooms/blogs/links - in public, or private mode.

It’s a cool version of “Skool.” Instead of just being a paid group app with a post-style feed, you click on apps and such.

“Chat” launches a very simple “live chat.”

You can add multiple chats - like I added a “share cool links” one.

“Blog” launches a feed where you can add blog posts/announcements / Twitter style notes.

Currently, Chat, Blog, and Groups are the only ones available. You can also add links as icons.

I don’t know what Keys, Newsletter, Treasury, or “your own apps” can do but I’m intrigued - especially by Newsletter.

You can discover other people’s groups, create your own, or . . . wonder about all those invite-only groups.

So - here’s the vibe i’m getting from Dark Forest OS.

Myspace-esque energy - but with a touch of Discord and Substack.

The benefits of social media (community/place to share) but with privacy / no ads / no AI Cat videos.

Whimsy - with the realism that we need live chat/blog functionality.

You can’t code your own space or anything, but depending on what you can do when you add your own apps - that particular itch might be scratched.

Go check out Dark Forest OS here. Start a group.

or join mine at the link below! Could be fun. Only 100 can join through this link so get clicking.

🐙The Land of Random

Links from the vast recesses of the internet . . . whither shall we travel?

Desktop Aquarium

Brb I need some glass and silicon, cuz this is AWESOME.

AI Earbuds

Eventually, AirPods will have cameras, and most premium earbuds, but for now - it’s unknown stuff like this.

GuluGulu

A neat little “old web” search engine. Reminds me of Wiby - but this only has 10,000 links.

Tiny Visitor Counter

Add a teeny tiny visitor counter to your website - old school style.

Cool Kids Toys

This is a really neat collection of thoughtful kids toys. There’s a lot of cool stuff!

That’s Amazeballs

balls bouncing through mazes. infinitely

Payphones are back

Voip ones anyway. One lone engineer starts building free-to-use VOIP payphones. how cool is that??

That’s all for this week. See you next time!