Five things on Friday #113

Things of note for the week ending Friday 27th February, 2015.

I’m writing this to you from Sydney, Australia (G’Day, etc). The above photo was snapped as we came into Singapore on the way over. Bloody beautiful if you ask me.

Want some decent music to listen to while you read? Flick on over to yesterday’s Three Track Thursday and put some new music in your ears as you read on.

Shall we?

1. CLASS, IN THE PAST

Nothing like kicking off a list of THINGS YOU NEED TO SEE with a link to a list of THINGS YOU NEED TO SEE, right? Right.

In short, here is a link to a website that shows you (on one uber-long scrollable page – not split over several pages – oh no. Bonus points for that) ‘47 photos that prove people had more class in the past‘.

There’s a lot to love at that link.

Sigourney Weaver in a suit is a definite highlight.

Meow.

2. LEGO SPACE BOT
This is so much better than it sounds.

On Tuesday, I was sat in a restaurant in Manly Wharf, casually browsing Twitter, waiting for the next boat to arrive after finishing of a rather lovely steak and chips when suddenly and out of nowhere, someone retweeted @LegoSpaceBot into my stream.

My response was thus:

Having an effing fit re: @LegoSpaceBot MY ENTIRE CHILDHOOD JUST CAME FLOODING BACK. WOW.

— James Whatley (@Whatleydude) February 24, 2015

And it’s true. I was.

I had so much Space Lego when I was a kid but (and I’m sure most of you would be the same) you probably remember the amazing things you built (I dunno, like a moonbase maze for your hamster or perhaps a monorail track that could deliver bourbon biscuits from the top of said maze right up to the side of your cabin bed), not the original sets they came in.

Well @LegoSpaceBot changed all that.

Simply put: it’s just a bot, tweeting images from catalogues and original boxes, of the entire Space Lego range and IT. IS. AWESOME.

LOOK!

AAAAAAMAAAAAZIIIIING.

From the super-massive Space Police ship (that had a secret car in the front) to the actual space monorail kit that I sellotaped to the walls around my room, to even more awesome Space Police Lego kits; if you had Space Lego when you were a kid, @SpaceLegoBot is your new best friend.

If only there was a way to repurchase them all somehow (damn).

Speaking of space…

3. THE SPACE WALK IN YOUR HANDS
This really blew my mind last week. I don’t know if you were paying attention last week but the astronauts up on the International Space Station had to do an eleven-hour space-walk to help prep the ISS for the arrival of commercial space taxis.

Care to read that sentence again?

Go on. I’ll wait.

Space. Taxis.

But that’s not the mind-blowing part. Oh no. This Tweet from Ben Hammersley was what really baked my noodle –

I will never tire of watching live helmetcam from the ISS spacewalks on my damn phone while I walk down the street. Hell yes, humanity.

— Ben Hammersley (@benhammersley) February 21, 2015

I read that. Retweeted it. Then did it myself.

I was travelling in a car at the time and being able to produce this MAGIC for all to see really was quite something.

As Hammersley says: watching someone WALK IN SPACE while you’re WALKING ON THE PLANET BELOW via a 5″ sheet of glass that is streaming said footage to you LIVE as you’re walking along the street is LIVING THE FUTURE stuff.

Wanna do it yourself next time?

You’re gonna need this link.

4. ONE SIZE [SOCIAL MEDIA IMAGE SPEC] FITS ALL

I recently worked up a new Twitter image template with one of the creative directors at Ogilvy based upon the whole ‘2:1 size is what you need for Twitter!’ thing being total bunkem (but we’ll come back to that).

I wasn’t planning on sharing it quite yet as I’m preparing a Twitter Card Masterclass: Redux presentation (as a follow up to the super popular original preso) and this was going to be a major part of it.

It probably still will be.

However, not being one to deprive people of useful information, I thought it’d be worth highlighting that a very smart chap over at Rackspace has also spotted this error on Twitter image sizing (basically, 2:1 is right, but you need padding or a ‘safe zone’ for text) and went about finding the correct image size for not only Twitter but for ALL platforms.

Important note: this is not a list of what size image you need for each social platform, but one master image size that works across all.

What I’m trying to tell you is: THIS IS REALLY USEFUL.

You’re going to want to bookmark this: ‘One image to rule them all‘

5. FEMINISM IS NOT A FOUR LETTER WORD
Shall I tell you what IS a four letter word? THOR.

THOR is a four letter word. Not keeping up? Hang on, wait a second. You did know that THOR in the comic books is now a woman, right? Not that THOR the man we know and love has become a woman. No no. But that THOR (the man) is now Thor-the-unworthy and the powers of THOR (ergo ‘THOR’) have been bestowed on someone who is worthy. That someone is a woman and she is a badass.

[additional reading]

Some readers have been quite vocal in their disapproval of this decision and MARVEL, in its infinite wisdom, has continually given those readers a big F U. Which, fair play to MARVEL, doesn’t get any bigger than when it appears in the pages of the book itself.

It’s as easy as one…

…two…

…three.

Love. It.

via The Verge.

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Bonuses this week:

• This 15min Power Rangers ‘deboot’ is utterly fantastic. Not official. Not a pilot. Just one man’s take on a darker, edgier set of heroes. Seriously. PS. Not for kids.
  EDIT: Since adding this bonus item, SABAN, the creator of the original MMPR has issued a takedown notice; I’m hoping it’ll reappear online at some point. More here.
  
• The #OWNTHEARCH Twitter campaign by Wembley is a really nice idea.
• Google ‘Hacks’ – surprisingly useful (if you don’t know them all already).
• Last but not least, here’s the best LinkedIn article you’ll read this weekend.

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Enjoyed this? Tell a friend.

Whatley out.

Last updated by James WHATLEY at February 27, 2015.