Five things on Friday #128

Things of note for the week ending Friday June 12th, 2015.

Things of note for the week ending Friday June 12th, 2015.

5TOF

1. ENGINEERS IN THE MIST
Regular readers will know how much of a passion I have for the words that appear on the website social-creature (the author of said words isn’t so bad either) however, the latest post ‘Engineers in the Mist‘ covers five days of hanging out with the startup millennials of San Francisco; their loves,  lives, passions, desires, sexual habits, and more.

Example:

We wake up in a Mongolian yurt. It’s sunny and warm out here in Colfax, and we are sitting by a pool waiting for breakfast as hawks fly overhead.

People are talking about working at pre / post IPO companies as different career strategies; “making money off the speculation;” “upside.” People are talking about deciding whether to work at Stripe, Slack, Reddit. People are talking about strategically deciding to work at a series B company; “career scoping.”

This is how people talk. And oddly it already feels less grotesque than it did yesterday. We become accustomed to things. These are just the elements of their actual lives. They can’t help it any more than you or I can help the inevitable echo chambers of our lives. We are all stuck in our own myopias.

A better insight into this absurd life of the cali-culture perhaps there has never been.

Honestly, this is one of the best things I’ve ever read.

2. THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

THE CREW OF AWESOME

Back in the day, four crazy mobile geeks used to a weekly half hour show about the most exciting things happening in mobile technology that week (seriously, it’s nuts when you think about it now).

The trio of presenters (above) were Ben Smith, yours truly, and Dan Lane. We each had our specific areas of expertise and for the latter, Dan, his thing was being a back end kinda guy. He knew, loved, and worked in the tech that went into the actual telecommunications business.

Such was the breadth and passion of Dan’s techno-know-how, he once actually tried to set up his own mobile network.

Not. Kidding.

This is his story.

3. HANNIBAL
So Hannibal is back on TV. Season 3 kicked off in the UK this week and, of course, it is AMAZING.

If you want to know why it’s so good, just go and watch it (see item 3 in FOTF #77 for my last ZOMG HANNIBAL IS AMAZING outburst) but that’s not why it’s here this week. No no.

To celebrate the return of this incredible show, some genius (also ridiculously in love with this fantastic series) over at Grantland has gone and made a mini Hannibal colouring book.

And it’s awesome.

hannibal_lecter

hannibal_cello1

IMAGE

The My Little Pony is a nice touch.

4. BLACKBOARDS
This is wonderful.

blackboards

While undergoing renovations last week, workers at Emerson High School in Oklahoma City made a surprising discovery: when removing several old chalkboards they found an even older set of chalkboards hidden in the walls. Apparently the school didn’t remove or even bother to erase the oldest boards they replaced back in 1917, leaving various lessons and illustrations untouched for nearly a century.

I have no more to add. Just go and look at the pictures.

5. WATER TOWERS

postcard_benfleet_115__Medium_ (1)

I spent my childhood admiring the water tower in the above photo but not once did I ever stop to wonder how it work or what it was for (instead opting to create large drawn out fantasy fiction stories about how evil wizards and dragons lived therein).

Fortunately, Mental Floss have answered the question I’ve never asked:

Exactly how do Water Towers work?

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

  • APPLE STUFF AND NONSENSE

Is Apple Music / Beats 1 the end of radio/Spotify? No, of course not. Is Apple Pay coming to the UK a massive deal? No, of course not. But if these things are of interest to you, then please, by all means, go and listen to the latest episode of the five star rated podcast, The Voicemail.

  • MEX SHATTERED DREAMS

The actual name of this piece is called ‘shattered images’ but I prefer my title. Whatever. This is taken from the MEX newsletter (an excellent read) and covers a core 21st century issue for the clumsy and the unlucky. Give it a go.

  • AMAZON STUDIOS FINDS DON QUIXOTE

Terry Gilliam is at last being given the opportunity to create the forever-unfinished cinematic work of ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’. I’m including this piece of news for two reasons. One, this is great news (I love Gilliam and his work); two, if you haven’t seen it then please do seek out the documentary about his last [failed] attempt to make said film, Lost in La Mancha.

 

Right then, the weekend is here.

GO GET IT!

GO GET IT

 

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Author: James Whatley

Chief Strategy Officer in adland. I got ❤️ for writing, gaming, and figuring stuff out. I'm @whatleydude pretty much everywhere that matters. Nice to meet you x