Five things on Friday #165

Things of note for the week ending Friday February 26th, 2016.

Things of note for the week ending Friday February 26th, 2016.

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People of the Internet, hello.

Oh, that reminds me of something. Do you have to give presentations or ever have to speak publicly at all? Next time, instead of saying ‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen’ – say instead ‘Ladies and gentlemen, good morning’.

You see, by the time you’ve finished saying the former, the crowd have only just realised you were talking to them but missed the first bit because they were looking at their phones/still talking etc. In the case of the latter, you’re addressing the crowd first and only then do you say ‘Good morning’ (or good evening, or whatever).

Try it.

And when it works, explain it to the audience too.

Right then, we have some things to get through don’t we?

Onwards!

1. #OBAMAANDKIDS

This hashtag is adorable*.

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There’s so much to say about this wonderful, wonderful thing. Business Insider has a great run down of the 60 best photos, Twitter made a moment, and Time has a piece on it too.

This:

We’ll probably never truly be able to measure the impact that President Barack Obama has had on our children. As we enter the final year of his presidency, we will cherish and hold onto the great moments of progress and accomplishment. We will celebrate not just Barack Obama as a president, but also as a husband and a father. A man who has led this country with a deep love for all of it citizens, especially the ones who have yet to understand the historical meaning of the past eight years.

Beautiful.

Go browse the links above and enjoy.

*Yep, never said that before.

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2. NASA’S TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

These have been around the block over the past fortnight but they’re simply too gorgeous to ignore.

Visit Mars!

mars

Visit Europa!

europa

Visit HD 40307g!

superearth

There are more (with some interesting copy too) over at the source.

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3. WATCHING ROCKY II WITH MUHAMMAD ALI

This is one of my favourite reads of the week:

ali

July 31st, 1979. And this Roger Ebert is at Muhammad Ali’s mansion to accompany him to a special screening of the newly released Rocky II.

It’s at this point in the FToF proceedings that I tend to pull out a direct quote or paraphrase something from the article I’m imploring you to read.

Not this time. No no.

This time you’re just going to have to go read it (it’s won’t be disappointed).

_—_

4. PHOTO OF THE WEEK

You’ve all seen it.

zuckerbergvr

But what you may not have seen is this killer opening paragraph from The Verge:

The image above looks like concept art for a new dystopian sci-fi film. A billionaire superman with a rictus grin, striding straight past human drones, tethered to machines and blinded to reality by blinking plastic masks. Golden light shines down on the man as he strides past his subjects, cast in gloom, toward a stage where he will accept their adulation. Later that night, he will pore across his vast network and read their praise, heaped upon him in superlatives, as he drives what remains of humanity forward to his singular vision.

AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING.

That is all.

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5. CAKE OR DEATH?
This isn’t an Izzard story (but I do love this retort) – sorry. It’s just an excuse to post some photos of amazing cakes.

Don’t want death? OK – cake it is.

All out of cake

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There are many more…. at the link!

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… ./

Bonuses this week are as follows:

  • Beyonce at it again? And by ‘again’ I mean, this example from ages ago. The FTC will not be happy, yo.
  • Lol.
  • I’m a big fan of The Awl but this week’s edition properly made me laugh.
  • Remember in November (see item 2) when I said that Facebook’s new ‘immersive ad’ unit would launch in Q1 of 2016? Nailed it.
  • I wrote a blog post this week about how the launch of Sky Q made me reconsider my Sky TV package, end up cancelling the whole thing, and replace it with an Amazon Fire TV. It’s one of the most popular posts of the past 12mths. If you missed it, you can find it here.

And that’s it, I’m out.

Anyone got a Darth Vader outfit I can borrow?

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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