🕵️♂️Forgotten Patents, Prefab Cabins, and Aliexpress Finds
I found a better mouse
Hey everyone! How’s your Monday going?
We’re gearing up to start planting our garden here soon in the next few weeks - and planting flowers too.
There are quite a few “residual” flowers left over from the old owners of the house (daffodils, something else I don’t know yet) so I need to make some notes of where the daffodils are so I can move the bulbs around in the Fall.
However . . . you should know I’m deeply tempted to go rogue and completely cover our front and back yard with red creeping thyme.
The Wildflower mini meadow beckons
Atomic Heart is everything I’ve wanted in a game since I played The Last of Us 2. It’s so good.
Epic story, a game where I can run and gun OR be kinda stealthy - but not have to be Deus Ex stealthy. Where I have enough ammo, but not an eye-watering amount. Where there’s cool lore, conversations to explore, and interesting puzzles.
I’m hoping to be completely finished with the campaign by next week.
Did you see that Artifact News is completely open to the public now?
I’ve been reading more articles each day - still haven’t gotten it to show me anything too far outside the norm (Gizmodo, Techcrunch, etc).
I’m glad Instagram FINALLY got rid of the shopping tab. Perhaps we’re moving back to the good old days.
Let’s hop on in!
🤔Forgotten Patents
Patents have been around since the 15th century - starting with the Venetians trying to protect their glass-blowing secrets.
Hundreds of thousands of patents are filed here in the USA every year . . .
How many do we actually see come to life? I’d be willing to bet that thousands of epic inventions languish in old dusty files all over the world . . . or locked up in top secret locations.
Conspiracy theories abound about Nikola Tesla’s earthquake machines
but I digress . . .
A think tank called Atelier 21 is exploring many of those old forgotten patents - and bringing to light old inventions.
Led by Carles, a French-Swiss designer, the project is from design-led multidisciplinary research think tank and “citizen laboratory”, Atelier 21. Design Week spoke to Carles and team member and historian Loïc Rogard, ahead of the pair presenting their work at the 2023 Engadin Art Talks in Switzerland. Starting in 2015, the team – made up of “designers, engineers, electricians, artists, DJs, a sound designer, archivist and historians” – has dug deep into archives around the world, bringing back to the surface thousands of inventions. “We exhumed a lot of pioneers, inventors, social innovations, science fiction and art that can help us face ecological transition”, Carles says. (source)
Isn’t that awesome?
It got me wondering about the status of expired patents.
Apparently - you can buy them if the original creator forgets to pay the “maintenance fee” to renew the patent.
AND - there’s websites you can use to explore expiring patents - like PatentsExpiringToday.com
It’s absolutely fascinating. You can even click on each patent - and check out the accompanying Google file with allllll the relevant info.
like the “Scuba wet suit with constant buoyancy.”
You can also search for patents on the United States Patent and Trademark Office too!
I bet some of these expired patents could be used to make some decent money.
Go check out more about Atelier 21 at the link - they’ve discovered some pretty cool stuff.
🪵Prefab Cabins
I’m always obsessed with cool prefab cabins. The idea of buying some minimalist aesthetic vibey cabins and sticking them on a few dozen acres sounds awesome
A Latvian company called MyCabin is selling cabin kits -ranging from one to three cabins.
Just check out these beautiful buildings. So much light!
One is the home (1 BR, 1 loft), one could be used for an office, and the other is a utility/sauna building.
It’s a really unique use of “space separation” - one that I don’t see often among tiny home competitors.
You could buy two of the “home” units, two office spaces, and a utility building for a larger family - or stick with one home unit to keep things lowkey.
It’s a different approach than Boxabl - where the idea is to blend all the units into one dwelling.
This is one dwelling - but multiple separated spaces. There’s something intriguing about having to venture out into nature multiple times a day in order to enter different parts of your dwelling space.
Rather than leaving your work behind at your desk - you can leave it in an entirely separate building. Complete separation!
For the purposes of my family - I could see living in something like this in a few decades - once the kids move out haha.
Go check out more pictures here in this awesome Dwell article or check out the site at the link!
🕵️Aliexpress Finds - 2
I bundled 2 batches of stuff into one video this time around. My favorite find?? a FANTASTIC $4 computer mouse. I also have some footage of my desktop setup in here if you’re interested - lots of glowing purple lights haha.
What else should I add to my desk?
The time has certainly come to stop adding lights to my desk - that much I’m sure of.
🐙The Land of Random
Let’s get random, shall we?
Why Spices are Good for Us
Spices are good because they are good for us.
Wikenigma
The Wikipedia for Unknowns.
Cursed CSS
Warning, this website may cause your eyes great confusion and frustration.
Play Counter-Strike in your browser
and it works too! I love that people set up this kind of stuff. The first browser download takes quite a bit of time, but you play right in your browser.
Is it a Rick Roll?
You can’t resist the urge to find out.
Calculate Expenses on digital paper
It’s a really neat Github for doing quick calculations.
Don’t Stare at the Bear
or you get the glare. Cute art by KSUWABE
🎶TikToks You Can’t Miss
Professor, may I see your math on this?
The fact that this social media strategy works in insane
Nope. UhUh. Noooooooooo
Very cool but don’t point that at the sky.
Where’s the Aliexpress clone
I can’t think of a time I saw ice cream in a game. hmm.
*Sigh* Types in Adventure gyms near me
📻Vybes
A combination of lofi and background sound - this is the perfect background vibe for a work session. I like it because you have to mess around a bit to find the combination of music/background noise that you like.
That’s all for this week! See you next time.