Category: Cool Stuff On The Internet

Things that interest me, inspired me, made me laugh, or taught me something.

Jimothy!

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Yesterday, I came across this post about Jimothy, something of a celebrity here in Seattle. The official description of him is simply that he’s a “deformed and belovedly bedraggled raccoon”. Perhaps he’s something of a mutant. I’m no biologist, so we’ll leave it there for now.

For me, though, the most delightful part of the story was brought about by Matt Inman (of the Oatmeal…yeah, I have a well-documented love for his work) this morning.

Ah, I thought it was perfect! Jimothy has made it as a Seattle cultural icon!

So, I hope that this gives you a positive energy boost to launch you into the weekend.

Some wisdom from the Oatmeal

Carl SetzerLeave a comment

Just a quick bit this Friday.

I’ve long loved Matt Inman’s “The Oatmeal” (for instance, he’s long held the top spot in the Webcomics section of my blogroll). Most of the time, his work is pee-your-pants funny. Sometimes, though, it’s incredibly insightful. Today is one of the more insightful moments.

Anyway, I highly recommend subscribing. He doesn’t spam and, again, does great work.

I love this Avalanches Video

Carl Setzer
youtube logo on smartphone

I came across The Avalanches, and this video, years ago. I’ve become quite fond of them ever since. I just love this one, though. It’s a clever song, and cleverer (is that a word?) video. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it this Wednesday!

I’m fascinated by this AI music video

Carl Setzer2 Comments
stylized ai typography on pink background

I often listen to these AI-generated tracks. I find them soothing. Many of the videos, though, are wild in their AI mistakes/hallucinations. I’ve seen boats and airplanes zooming backwards, people walking through walls, each other, all kinds of things. At least once, a person launched upwards into the air, up into the sky. Now, this one below is interesting as the subject remains pretty still (he is supposed to be a whirling dervish, though), but this cloud of sand billows out from his stationary feet. Besides that, I find the colors rich and vibrant, the details nice, but the billowing sand is…odd.

Anyway, I hope your Wednesday was fantastic and that your June is off to a good start.

A Bit Of Wisdom

Carl Setzer2 Comments
close up photography of owl

I identify with this far more than I should admit. Anyway, this dude’s beard is pretty epic, too. Anyway….

It is interesting, as I look back, how important being “cool” was. Way back. And how that’s pretty much completely faded. Maturity, I suppose. Or just exhaustion. I have the bandwidth for that bull$!*t.

Ah, the Oatmeal!

Carl Setzer

I’ve long been a fan of the Oatmeal. Sometimes crass, sometimes disturbing, sometimes thought-provoking, and always funny.

This one speaks to me and my overactive mind. Perhaps a bit too well. I guess it’s good to be seen. I guess.

Tonight’s Haiku

Carl Setzer3 Comments

the bumblebee lives
underneath the same sunlight
as the hummingbird

Some Podcast Fun For Your Listening Pleasure!

Carl Setzer
greyscale photography of condenser microphone

I’ve long been a fan of Wil Wheaton. So it was pretty delightful to get the email (that’s how I consume most of my blog posts right now) letting me/us know that he was on the Katee Sackhoff podcast. Which got a “wait, what!?! Katee Sackhoff has a podcast? Man, it really bugs me that I missed that. However, I don’t really follow her, so I guess I can excuse myself. I have fixed that, though, by subscribing.

Now, I’ve been aware of Katee for years. I remember back in 2003 the launch of the new Battlestar Galactica, and the furor/uproar/noise about Starbuck being a woman! In my circle of geeky friends, I seemed to be one of the few unbothered at all by that. Mostly, I like to see what the creators create. I really liked this Starbuck! I thought she was an amazing, dynamic, complex, and interesting character. (*Sidenote: in hindsight, the character that should’ve caused the most consternation was Commander Adama, who was NOT even close to the Lorne Greene character.) And I love the character Bo Katan from Clone Wars and The Mandalorian.

I thought she did an amazing job as host. Guiding the discussion just enough to keep things moving (Wil did a nice job as a guest, too) without tripping over her guest. They clearly value each other, treat each other with grace and respect. It was just so delightful.

Wil was on to promote his new podcast “It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton“. Now, I need to confess that I haven’t listened to any episodes yet. Que a whiny “there’s so much content…” bit. I had every intention of changing that state. However, I feel the need to move the timeline up on that. Yeah, the reason I pushed this podcast to “I need to listen to this…today…” was simply having two people who I value together. Those sorts of alignments need to be celebrated.

I’ll post when I’ve given Mr. Wheaton’s project a listen. Hey, let me know: have you listened yet? What do you think?

Some Random Observations

Carl Setzer1 Comment
road landscape person grass

Well, it’s the last day of April. So now we move past April showers into May flowers, right?

Anyway, Pinterest dished up some fun images today that I wanted to share.

As many of you know, I love cycling. This little collection of drawings delighted me deeply.

And I’ve felt the delight of this one:

This was from an ad, but really felt cool. When I was living the hardcore “bike life”, u-locks were a bit of a pain to manage. I either had mine tucked in a backpack or mounted to my downtube. Neither were optimal. Then I came across one of these:

I would’ve LOVED this back in the day!

Seeing this makes me miss those days and make me want to up my biking game.

Now for a wee shift. I found this motivational statement that deeply resonates with me.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a fantastic last day of April and launch into a May that meets all your needs and drives you forward.

AI Generated Island Vibes

Carl Setzer

I have a fondness for YouTube music videos and often play them in the background while I’m working. Lately, I’ve been feeling island vibes, so that’s what I’ve been choosing. Today, this one rolled into my algorithm and, well, AI is struggling.

The music is fine, pretty much spot on for my mood. But the video, though…oh my! We have cliffs that move into each other, and then fade away, boats just appearing in bays, a speed boat zipping across the sky, and my favorite: two party boats, one of which is speeding backwards with another boat, right off the stern, moving at the same speed but sideways. Ah, physics!

So, AI is pretty amazing and has a lot to offer, but it’s not quite ready to take over the world.