Roo's Letter

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205: Mechanical pencils
January 3, 2020
Hello. I’ve become mildly obsessed with mechanical pencils in the past few weeks. There’s something deeply satisfying about fiddling with their small,...
204: Podcast special
November 15, 2019
Hello. A colleague recently asked me for some podcast recommendations. I knew he liked Revisionist History and I was surprised he’d never heard of 99%...
203: Small steps
November 7, 2019
Hello. This is either a day early or a few weeks late. I took a short holiday to the south coast (In Dorset. I’d recommend it to anyone.) and then I felt a...
202: Area 51
September 27, 2019
Hello. Parliament streamed on Twitch I won't talk a lot about politics here (I'm still recovering from a stress headache which I think I gave myself from...
201: Move ahead
September 20, 2019
Hello. Coda. ’A doc as powerful as an app’ I really like Coda for building spreadsheet-like things in docs. Good for playing around with simple date and...
200: Chicken jackets
September 13, 2019
Hello. Quite a lot has changed since Roo’s Letter #199 (imagine reaching #199 and leaving it there!). In the last one, we were waiting for Article 50 to be...
199: Article 50
June 24, 2016
Hello. Has article 50 been invoked? (I made a thing) http://hasarticle50beeninvoked.uk Agile in the public sector (I gave a talk)...
198: Bendy bike
April 29, 2016
Hello. I've been kitting out a new office recently, and (carefully) buying useful things. Here are my equipping-an-office recommendations: Chairs: Okamura...
197: Memory game
April 8, 2016
Hello. The talented Dan Hough has created a really addictive Emoji based memory game. I’m totally hooked. https://moji.zone/ He put it up on Product Hunt...
196: Vague understanding
January 29, 2016
Hello. Zach Holman on startup interviewing “Every single product I’ve built in my professional career has not had a correct answer. It’s more akin to carving...
195: Trump diet
January 15, 2016
Hello. How Dan Catt makes podcasts http://revdancatt.com/2016/01/08/how_i_make_podcasts/ Magic Mirror for Raspberry Pi...
194: Total eclipse
December 19, 2015
Hello. A rare Saturday night newsletter this week. Blame it on Christmas holidays. Hope you are already feeling festive. Some lovely links for you......
193: Rock stars
December 11, 2015
Hello. Lego combination safe “A working combination safe built out of LEGO bricks” youtube.com/watch?v=H8z0f7kPQEw via @cackhanded Adele impersonates herself...
192: Proper agile
November 27, 2015
Hello. Reconfigure My friend Ian Hughes has written a sci fi book. It’s free until Monday. amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01720X7F0 These whiteboard pens are great...
191: Paint drying
November 20, 2015
Hello. Chipmunks songs from the 1980s sound pretty amazing when you slow them down soundcloud.com/alvin-thechipmunkson16sp/sets/sludgefest Daedelus compares...
190: Awkward pause
October 30, 2015
Hello. Nat B and Dan W have started a new studio exploring the future through research and prototyping http://buckleywilliams.com/...
189: Serious matter
September 25, 2015
Hello. Freedom of Information request to Cabinet Office “Obviously this is a very serious matter. ... What budget has the government setting aside for this...
188: Nice bike
September 18, 2015
Hello. I should have mentioned this ages ago, but I changed jobs recently. Here’s what I’m doing now. www.livestax.com It’s my wife’s birthday in a couple of...
187: Tribal bureaucrats
August 28, 2015
Hello. Githug “a practical way of learning git. It has a series of levels, each requiring you to use git commands to arrive at a correct answer”...
186: Sliding scale
July 31, 2015
Hello. Matt Gray: Receiving Weather Satellite Images for £8 mattg.co.uk/words/noaa_sdr A Visual Introduction to Machine Learning r2d3.us/visual-intro-to-...
185: Male gamers
July 24, 2015
Hello. Maciej Cegłowski: Web Design - The First 100 Years “…technology hasn’t changed the world because we haven’t cared enough to change it. There’s a...
184: Leaving London
July 3, 2015
Hello. Sit down, shut up and pass it on medium.com/@fitzsimple/sit-down-shut-up-and-pass-it-on-b2b9979797d DeepDream Wow...
183: Lego rental
June 4, 2015
Hello. We Love Bricks - UK Lego rental club “A monthly subscription of £7.99 allows you to rent one set at a time, but as many sets as you want each month....
182: Loving something
April 17, 2015
Hello. News! Coates and Webb: Thington Congratulations, Tom and Matt! medium.com/welcome-to-thington/from-product-club-to-thington-inc-1e97846e48fe Giles...
181: Beautiful presentations
April 10, 2015
Hello Wardley value chain maps I invited Simon Wardley to teach a bunch of us about his mapping techniques. Here are the notes I took. slack-...
180: Already broken
March 28, 2015
Hello. I wrote something about hidden stress rooreynolds.com/2015/03/22/hidden-stress Kate Heddleston on Criticism and Ineffective Feedback (via @leisa)...
179: Gathering feedback
March 22, 2015
Hello Nemawashi (根回し) “Going around the roots”. Quietly laying the foundations for a change: talking, gathering feedback. wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemawashi Guido...
178: Well deserved
March 13, 2015
Hello. MySociety is looking for a new CEO Is this you? Or someone you know? Here’s how to apply mysocietyltd.theresumator.com/apply/90hjUD/Chief-Executive-...
177: Worst website
March 6, 2015
Hello. “The Awl receives the most pitches from the people who pitch the most—the same people who flood every open submissions box on the internet: dudes....
176: Foie gras
January 30, 2015
Hello. The Allusionist podcast https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-allusionist/id957430475 Head shots of hand models http://www.oliandalex.com/head-...
175: Limbo time
January 9, 2015
Hello. New Clues “We, the People of the Internet, need to remember the glory of its revelation so that we reclaim it now in the name of what it truly is.”...
174: Increasingly harmful
December 12, 2014
Hello. Blockbox is a set of simple ideas and prompts to help you re-think your writing project gilest.org/blockbox.html World’s Simplest Electric Train...
173: More frequently
December 6, 2014
Hello. Wanderers - a short film by Erik Wernquist “a vision of humanity’s expansion into the Solar System” vimeo.com/m/108650530 The Bureau of Small...
172: Extremely detailed
November 14, 2014
Hello. It’s Like They Know Us (Parents will enjoy this, via @jabley) itsliketheyknowus.tumblr.com Stereographic Lampshades (via @marxculture)...
171: a threat
October 24, 2014
Hello. Neil Williams on sketchnoting "Sketchnoting made me feel like a participant not a spectator” medium.com/@neillyneil/confessions-of-a-first-time-...
170: Improve dramatically
September 26, 2014
Hello. Who is U2? whoisu2.com The Onion on GitHub (the satirical news organisation also has satirical open source repositories) github.com/theonion Game:...
169: Fitted tightly
September 5, 2014
Hello. YouTube: making a knife with only common tools - time-lapse youtube.com/watch?v=_5LXpgSzKyQ Finding School Shoes “in the last four shops I went into,...
168: Constantly attacked
August 22, 2014
Hello. Civilians in Abandoned McDonald’s Seize Control of Wandering Space Satellite betabeat.com/2014/08/civilians-in-abandoned-mcdonalds-seize-control-of-...
167: Predict anything
August 8, 2014
Hello. How much underwear to pack vs how many washes you’ll have to do on a trip (via tinyletter.com/puntofisso) medium.com/@sofauxboho/pack-like-a-...
166: Dating montage
August 1, 2014
Hello. I hope you're all enjoying life. I'm feeling a bit frazzled at the moment but things are, you know, good. I don’t usually link to work stuff but here...
165: Not original
July 18, 2014
Hello. There might be some lightning near you. Here’s a lovely live lightning map via @alby blitzortung.org/Webpages/index.php?lang=en&page_0=12 “Dear Tim....
164: Avoid advertising
July 4, 2014
Hello. The internet’s leading community of Goat Parkour enthusiastsreddit.com/r/Goatparkour Russell Davies: Consumers, users, people, mammals...
163: Beautiful newspaper
June 13, 2014
Hello. Guys With Zooey Deschanel’s Eyesguyswithzooeyes.tumblr.com Chicks with Steve Buscemi’s eyes chickswithstevebuscemeyes.tumblr.com PaperLater...
162: Endemic disadvantage
May 30, 2014
Hello. SIGGRAPH 2014 As ever, some wonderful stuff here this year Technical papers preview trailer: youtube.com/watch?v=u3Z1hDwGEmMThe papers themselves:...
161: Dangerous sentence
May 11, 2014
Hello. Ghostbusters Lego via @cackhanded brickset.com/article/11166 What the British mean This is still doing the rounds, several years...
160: Steady decline
April 11, 2014
Hello. “As of today, we have left Flickr (including The Commons). We’ve seen a steady decline in the engagement level at Flickr and it was clear it was time...
158: Teleporter accident
March 21, 2014
Hello. “in order for us to create experiences that are not superficial, experiences that deeply empower people, we must build beautiful, seamless experiences...
158: Freeform jazz
March 8, 2014
Hello.Nocturne (for using your Mac in the dark) has been reborn as Tranquilitywww.pixio.com/peace-and-quiet-for-your-eyesHow to live like a king for very...
157: Question mark
February 28, 2014
Hello. Unauthorized Use of Paramount Pictures Corporation Properties"it has come to our attention that a user of your website, @555uhz, is distributing the...
156: Cardboard box
February 18, 2014
Hello. These usually come out on Friday, so this one is either a bit late or a bit early. Fax your GP to opt out of data sharingThe fact that faxing is the...
 
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