🖥Retro Internet Adventures, Modular Shoes (You Can Buy), and the AutoChef 9000
gears for breakfast
Hey friends! Welcome to this week’s edition of “The Land of Random.”
I have some TREEMENDOUS news (Oh Lord - Dad joke) this week.
I had a massive stump (probably weighed 400 pounds altogether) in my yard that - despite my amateur knowledge of fulcrums and levers - I was COMPLETELY unable to move.
SooooOOOoo - I rotted it over about 8-10 months.
I drilled holes, put in Epsom salt (and water), and covered it with a tarp.
I let that stump cook (I added epsom salt two more times) until it was mostly rotted.
Then - I broke it up with an axe and mattock.
I’m SO glad to have that out of my yard. Phew!
Next on my list is buying dirt for our garden beds - cuz planting season is racing by.
Oh! I got a Steam Deck a few weeks ago. It’s a pretty fun device - It was pretty hard to decide between the Lenovo Legion Go and the Steam Deck, but I chose the Steam Deck.
Perhaps in a few years I’ll consider the Onexplayer X1 to replace all my devices.
If you want to keep an eye on some really cool tech - a new kind of tablet safe on the eyes is coming out. It looks really cool. . . especially since
is involved. :)Let’s dive in, shall we?
🖥Retro Internet Adventures
Remember the old days of the Yahoo homepage?
Don’t worry - Ytoo! is here to replace it.
The site is a cornucopia of fun websites to explore. A creator named VegBao created the site with the following goals.
Then, one night in 2024, I had a brilliant idea. Since I had gathered so many links to retro websites, why not make a portal site dedicated to English content with a nostalgic vibe? And that’s how Ytoo! came to life. Ytoo! is more than just a link-sharing site. It’s a way to inspire more people to join the fun, to create their own websites, and to share what they’re really passionate about. It’s about breaking free from the chains of social media likes and algorithms, encouraging creative exchanges, and sparking inspiration. The goal? To make sure that the next Y2K is not just about “artificial” intelligence but also filled with more “human” intelligence. (source)
Just like Yahoo of old was a gateway to the internet - so is Ytoo!
It’s a gateway to a world that exists entirely outside the realms of Dopamine chasin’ Facebook, Instagram . . .
From music like Poolsuite to YouTube recreations like WeVidi - every site has been chosen to give a alternative experience to the typical web.
Rusty from “Today in Tabs” expressed a deep frustration with the current internet world in a recent issue of his newsletter.
Ryan Broderick recently wrote something like “the internet is just three and a half websites now,” but the internet is so broken that neither of us could find the post where he wrote it. Google is so bad that I couldn’t manage to Google up an article about how bad Google is. Social media is useless across the board, and Reddit IPOed today so it’s thirty seconds to midnight for our last source of human posting, the content of which is already being ground up into fanciful information-like blurbs on those Google result pages that don’t point anywhere. (Source)
Rusty is right - the current web is busted - so we need to make websites.
Sadly, I’m not a member of his paid discord - otherwise, I would’ve hopped into what I bet was a fascinating conversation.
We need to make webrings too - so we can explore outside the confines of Google’s broken world.
The first step? To start exploring the alternative web.
Go check out Ytoo! It’s the most fun you’ll have on the web in a long time.
👟Modular Shoes (you can buy)
I once read about a wonderful recyclable modular shoe concept.
It looked awesome - but alas not a real shoe.
Some companies have experimented with modularity - like this Vans shoe.
or nnormal with different soles.
Meet Roku - truly modular shoes.
Each shoe is made of six different parts - sock, upper, laces, cord, footbed, and outsole.
Designed for recyclability and also made of recycled parts that you can repair or replace, with Roku we contribute to creating a more circular economy. (source)
The shoes are designed with circular recycling in mind. Buy your shoes - swap out components as they wear out, and send the worn out parts back to be recycled again!
Each shoe component is created from recycled materials - ranging from 51 - 100% recycled!
You can buy packs of shoe parts to swap out as you will. Want red soles instead of white soles tomorrow? Just rebuild your shoes!
Now - the price is NOT cheap. $210 for these shoes.
However - you could hypothetically swap out components the rest of your life and just buy new parts as you need them. And send in the old parts to get reused!
A lot better than any other pair of shoes you own, eh?
Check out the Roku shoes at the link!
🥓AutoChef 9000
Have you ever wished that a robot would cook you breakfast?
I mean - c’mon. Sometimes it would be nice.
Creator Gregulations makes a robot who can cook him breakfast.
The video is a masterpiece. How in the world does this video only have 63000 views.
Like seriously - this guy was just humble posting across various subreddits a little over a week ago. (That’s how I found it initially).
Seriously - if you click or watch one thing in this newsletter, pleaseee let it be this.
From welding to DIY electronics, coding, and 3D modeling - this guy BUILDS THE DANG THING.
and it works too!
Beans, boiled eggs, sausage, and buttered toast.
All programmable for the next morning from an app he custom built himself.
I hope Gregulations puts out lots of videos over his Youtube career, because he definitely deserves to do serious numbers on views and subs.
Go watch the video! (and subscribe)
🐙The Land of Random
Into The Land of Random we dive dive dive.
Hypersplit
Reverse engineer from the world down to the atomic level. It’s a simple click style game - but a TON of fun. Eventually you get so deep you run out of things to click on.
Dannarchy
Super wild Neocities style website. There’s a lot of fun little things to explore on this awesome personal site - from little blog posts to music recommendations.
Yarharr! Pirate Radio
Dive into the fascinating economics of illegal radio stations. (YOO the FCC was raiding pirate radio stations in 2018. That’s nuts). It’s worth the read.
Puter Web Browser
The super nifty Puter (OS in your browser) has added an internet browser. So! You can browse in your browser.
Japanese Rescue Food
Emergency food in Japan? Very interesting!
Long Winded 404
Quite possibly the most complicated long, long-winded 404 page you’ve ever seen. I am sitting here laughing as it keeps going and going . . .
Jam Calendar
A neat little app I saw on ProductHunt. It’s an app designed for busy families to coordinate their schedules. Interesting enough of a niche that it has potential!
🌷Walled Garden Finds
Now this was a crazy e-ink phone back in the day.
This recipe looks easy, but I know it would take forever.
FROGGO where are you going?????
This feels meta. not real.
Niceeeeeeee. Howls Moving Castle
🤖AI AHHHHHH
I don’t know if I believe it - but an interesting opinion about how AI may get lazy.
Want to create an AI text adventure game?
People make Claude do the most terrifying things.
That’s all for this week. See you next time!! Unless you want to be horrified by an AI clickbait Facebook Group.