đ»Recreate Saturday Morning Cartoons, The AI DJ, and Invest in Whiskey
and drink it too!
Hey friends!
Welcome to this weekâs edition of The Land of Random.
Iâve been grinding along through Atomic Heart - Iâm currently stuck on a boss I like to call âTHE SPINNING BALL OF DEATH.â
Hopefully, I beat the boss this week - but who knows.
Did you watch that season premiere of the Mandalorian? What a fantastic first episode. They are really leaning into nostalgia.
and for my fellow Star Wars Rebels fans - SPACE WHALESSSAMIRIGHT?
My wife and I built our first-ever brick wall with cinder blocks and mortar - and itâs quite a lot of fun! I believe that weâve stopped the encroaching yard and its dirt from further attacking our patio - or at least weâve bought ourselves a few more years haha.
Mortar is quite unstable - you have to put in just enough water to keep hanging on a trowel at a 90-degree angle. (At least thatâs what YT told me - Feel free to correct me in the comments).
Next stop is buying wildflower seeds and starting our garden!
I got access to the Bing AI chat tool - and Iâve been trying to see how wild its answers can be. As you can see - the programmers have really dialed âdown the funâ since all the drama last week.
It didnât like that answer at alll . . . . .
Letâs dive in, shall we?
đ»Recreate Saturday Morning Cartoons
Streaming is convenient - but it removes the magic of ye olde cartoons.
Oh - I missed last nightâs episode of The Last of Us? Iâll just stream it online.
I was watching Pokemon with my kids the other day - and wondered what it would be like to recreate some kind of Saturday Morning Cartoons vibe - but without the ads of Cable TV.
No Iâm not buying you that Hot Wheels Set. Itâs $60. For $60 I can buy like all the hot wheels sets from the past decade on Facebook Marketplace in one go.
Thereâs actually a few tools you can use to emulate a Saturday Morning Cartoon style playlist - with online videos, or with your personal media library.
First up - is Plai.tv
This tool will let you build playlists from any supported video source. I say supported - because so far the only supported source I can find is Youtube.
I tried Tubi, and Crunchyroll - those didnât work. I doubt Hulu or Netflix would work, if the free stuff wonât.
However . . . you could easily create a fun playlist from just Youtube videos.
The more powerful solution is to run from your own personal media collection.
Itâs called Channel Two, and itâs a GitHub repository that allows you to run your very own tv channel!
All you have to do is download the github, set the schedule from the videos you own in your directory, do a bit of this and that . . . and you can have your very own TV channel running in no time!
Check them out at the link!
đ¶The AI DJ
Spotifyâs AI DJ may be one of the first useful AI products that Iâve seen so far.
A forerunner - so to speak - of the AI revolution to come.
Hereâs the trailer
The DJ is an AI generated voice - based on Xavier âXâ Jernigan.
To create the voice model for the DJ, we partnered with our own Head of Cultural Partnerships, Xavier âXâ Jernigan. Previously, X served as one of the hosts on Spotifyâs first (and personalized) morning show, The Get Up. His personality and voice resonated with our listeners and resulted in a loyal following for the podcast. His voice is the first model for the DJ (source)
Xavierâs voice is quite soothing - and sounds realistic enough to feel more personal than Alexa or Google Assistant.
Think of DJ as an ongoing version of your Discover Weekly, old music, likes, and release radar - all in one - with a fun voice!
The DJ knows you and your music taste so well that it will scan the latest releases we know youâll like, or take you back to that nostalgic playlist you had on repeat last year. (source)
Iâve spent quite a bit of time listening - and itâs a very different vibe than anything else Iâve ever encountered on Spotify. Itâs honestly most similar to a Pandora-type experience.
Ah yes - remember Pandora? Itâs still around.
Iâm most excited about the generative AI aspect that Spotify is integrating.
Generative AI through the use of OpenAI technology. We put this in the hands of our music editors to provide you with insightful facts about the music, artists, or genres youâre listening to. The expertise of our editors is something thatâs really important to our philosophy at Spotify. (source)
At the moment, the AI seems to be limited to just little tidbits of info about the music you listen to - but what if you could converse with it? ask it what genres are similar to a particular song.
Or tell news headlines? the weather? stock price announcements?
That would be cool.
Go check out the Spotify announcement at the link!
đ·Invest in Whiskey
Why invest in crypto, stocks, or gold when you can invest in whiskey?
Thereâs a company called VinoVest that will let you invest in whiskey casks - which is pretty neat.
Stocks go up and down, and economies change - but alcohol is always in demand.
Perhaps whiskey could be like collecting old unopened lego sets?
IF only we all bought and saved lego sets 20 years ago - because theyâre outperforming gold and stocks.
Vinovest gives you the modern complexity/vibe of Robinhood - but with wine or whiskey.
Hereâs a screenshot from their site of what a particular wine investment dashboard might look like.
Very Sheikh. I get âpretty numbers go upâ which is really all I want from modern investment tools.
Vinovest serves as a kind of middleman. You invest with them - they give you pretty dashboards - and they store all your investments.
We authenticate, store and insure your casks for you. Fancy a drink? You own your whiskey, so just ask and weâll send you a sample. (source)
You can do this with wine too! You own it - so all you got to do is ask.
Vinovest currently offers American and Scotch whiskey - and the casks typically start at $1500 apiece.
Thatâs the minimum deposit too!
The minimum deposit starts at $1,500 because Whiskeyvest only offers entire casks. (No bottles here, folk.) When you consider that a 53-gallon barrel holds 266 bottles, youâre getting quite the bang for your buck. (source)
Thatâs quite an eye-opening discount - especially with average math.
266 bottles x avg mid shelf whiskey $35 = $9,310
Thereâs only a 2.5 percent management fee a year - which isnât very much considering that this includes full insurance.
At the moment - my spare $ goes towards building a actual savings account, debt, or home projects - but some day Iâd like to give this kind of investment a shot!
Go check out Whiskeyvest at the link!
đThe Land of Random
đđđ„'đ€ đ„đđ đŁđđđđ đ
đ»đđ§đ đđđ„đ
Myspace on Squarespace
An absolute mad lad rebuilt the Myspace theme on Squarespace.
Stealth Camper
You see this and think âoh itâs a work vanâ - you donât think âoh this is a luxury stealth camper.â
Facebook Llama has been Leaked
Some anon leaked a LLM from Facebook. Hereâs a link to the Hacker News chat - lots of interesting speculation about AI, turning tests, and other such tidbits.
The Benefits of Coffee - 1792 edition
Remember that the s kinda looks like an f.
How Much Do the Eggs Cost?
Track the cost of a dozen eggs across the country with this nifty little interactive map.
Infiltration Zine
An ancient zine about exploring those âplaces youâre not supposed to go.â There are many interesting articles about exploring boats, tunnels, and more.
Make Pixel Art with a 3D printed Kit
Iâll have to give this a shot!
đ¶TikToks You Canât Miss
Galavant was a hilarious show fr
George Washington watching in confusion.
Iâve never seen a duck look this confused
I know these exist but still find them hard to comprehend
He absolutely ignored the Choose Your Own Adventure option
đ»Vybes
Macroblank has fantastic vibes
Thatâs all for this week! See you next time.
https://www.vinovest.co/help/what-is-the-difference-between-the-offerings
Hell yeah, excited for your gardening era!