For me, this week's central question is which word should I trademark?
In other news, we have the importance of good health for the profitability of your organs. I also found an awesome pop-up book and the numbers behind the world's dullest programming language.
So let's sit back, kick back, and see what Star Wars lacked.
πΈοΈ The Cool Side of the Web
Two centuries of US immigration visualized on a map with flying dots. πΊοΈ
A very cool animated WordPress site with the top 3 countries from each era alongside a tally of the total migration numbers
Polisis gives you the privacy policy skinny from thousands of websites. π΅οΈ
The privacy policies are broken down into manageable, clear sections like data collection, 3rd party sharing, data retention, your choices, rights to edit etc etc.
Watching Grass Grow is a bizarre website.
Auto-play audio warning
If you like DIY web design in the vein of GeoCities, then this one is for you. Every rule of design and UX is, aggressively, stomped on.
π€ Robots et. al.
Robots can grow humanoid mini-organs from stem cells faster and better than people. π§ π
The era of the artisanal mini-organs is over. The era of digtisanal mini-organs has just begun.
βοΈ Tools and Resources
UI Goodies is a treasure trove of UI resources for designers and Front-End folk.
The complete toolbox
It covers everything from accessibility to animations. Grab some icons, browse frameworks, and make memes from stock photos. Top, top, top resource.
Retro terminal brings back the CRT charm of yesteryear.
This is.
Great.
Looks exactly like the real thing β€οΈ Choose from classic C:\ IBM Dos, > Default Amber, or $ Default Green.
Ruin My Search History will do just that.
Not sophistimacated; it just runs Google queries in a separate tab.
Let's all agree to switch to Duck Duck Go already.
Sortd is a Gmail app that transforms your inbox into simple lists. βοΈ
With so many people reading your Gmail you really need an app to help everyone stay organised.
CodeMaid is an open source visual studio extension to cleanup, dig through and simplify your code.
It was popular on Reddit which is impressive for an unrecycled post.
π Job of the week
If you're good with algorithms and 3D bio-printing thenorgan design could be the job for you. π¨οΈπ
A good human organ designer is needed to adapt and invent algorithms:
"that can generate 3D human organ structures that adhere to known rules governing physiological structure and function."
π·οΈ Design & Development Arena
Oldest domains in the .com, .net, and .org TLDs.
That's interesting man
Digging in to find the oldest registered domain names.
TYPOP-UP is a beautiful pop-up book explaining the basic rules of typography.
Beautiful Words
Created as part of an MA in Design; it's real and it's spectacular.
Mozilla are working on a voice-controlled web browser called Scout. π
Full disclosure: I recently moved back to Firefox, and I am in love with everything Mozilla atm (they also have this accessibility inspector).
People don't think COBOL is sexy anymore.
Deep dive
Learning COBOL could actually be quite profitable. It powers $3 trillion in commerce every day, the people who know it best are retiring, and it is very expensive to replace.
π€ Articles of interest
'Star Wars' fatigue is a myth. The suits messed it all up. π
My diagnosis? The franchise has a huge Wedge Antilles deficiency.
What was #cockygate?
The true story of how an author managed to get the word cocky trademarked. It also led to this bot which notifies fiction writers of crazy trademark claims.
The first nation-state in space was declared in 2016 and this is an interview with the President. π
Asgardia has over 200,000 citizens and a satellite in orbit. Next up: UN and Olympic representation. You can learn more on the website.
π Backwards talking dreams - Fun stuff
Maply is a crowdsourced map for finding and sharing what's happening in your neck of the woods.
Way less intrusive and creepy than Facebook's suggested events which make me feel a bit like Bob.
Robotics Engineer Barbie builds robots, and teaches kids to code. π
Ken, however, is a whole 'nother story.
It's not often that someone will proudly list "beach bum" as a profession. Indeed, at the ripe age of 57, Ken has managed to be a beach bum for over 24 years, and an escort for 11.
An interview with the founders of the best podcast network: Gimlet.
Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber talk about creating content that has a genuine connection to its audience.
Outro
And that's the end of the week already. I hope you'll join me in wishing for the Rogue Squadron movie.
In the meantime, if you are looking for paper organs, then please tweet me. I have an old Xerox printer that can do wonders with kidneys.
Forwarding the newsletter is a nice way to crowdsource happiness. π€
If you receive this email in a forward, then feel free to sign up and you'll get the URL of a paint drying website.
Stay safe out there,
Chris