Archive (Page 2) • Roo's Letter • Buttondown

155: Just advertising

February 7, 2014

Hello. John Gruber asks what’s Microsoft's “a computer on every desk and in every home” for 2014 daringfireball.net/2014/02/microsoft_past_and_future...

January 31, 2014

Hello. How to make a fake bagvia @alby, who says “This video of a bag company CEO explaining how to fake one of his bags really makes me want to buy one of...

153: Considered pseudoscience

January 24, 2014

Hello. It was declared ‘Blue Monday’ again recently. It’s still bullshit.www.badscience.net/category/blue-monday/ “the whole concept is considered...

152: Feral chickens

January 18, 2014

Hello. Beardy Dads My friend @knolleary and I have started making a podcast for dads. I hope you like it. http://beardydads.co.uk (If you'd like to...

151: Prevent damage

January 10, 2014

Hello. We're finally home from the hospital now, and Oliver is doing well. My Flickr stream continues to be my release valve for excess domestic cuteness. I...

150: Crudely conceived

January 3, 2014

Hello. I’m a father! Oliver Robin Reynolds was born on new years eve (three weeks early) weighing 2,050g or 4lbs 8.5oz in old money. He’s utterly adorable....

149: Christmas song

December 20, 2013

Hello. NORAD Tracks Santa’s Path on Christmas Eve Because of a Typo http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/norad-tracks-santas-path-on-...

148: Two Americas

December 13, 2013

Hello. Watchification “TV worth watching” (it’s back) http://watchification.com Ampp3d http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/ http://martinbelam.com/2013/ampp3d-is-live...

147: Shopping lists

December 6, 2013

Hello. Average faces in movies http://ssbkyh.com/works/portrait/ Charlie Kaufman on screenwriting “if you don’t risk failure, you’re never going to do...

146: Distress call

November 29, 2013

Hello. One of my (many) old, ugly and abandoned pages for which I bear responsibility is fizzkeeper.org, (“More information on fizzkeepers than you could...

November 22, 2013

Hello again. Microwave cooking set to sad music (via B3ta. This actually made me quite hungry) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTp1iWAHHko Spruce Stoves (via...

144: Funeral selfie

November 1, 2013

Hello. Funeral selfie collection http://selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com A work one: here’s Mike Bracken talking at Code for America about redesigning government...

October 25, 2013

Hello. Sad Etsy Boyfriends http://sadetsyboyfriends.tumblr.com/ Giles Turnbull: My blue room “The Blue Room is decorated like British aunts in the 1980s used...

142: Alan Yentob

October 11, 2013

Hello. Small Cubes that self-assemble via Ben Jackson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZbJS6LZbs The Fox newsroom has gone a bit weird...

141: Independently chosen

October 4, 2013

Hello. The story behind @horse_ebooks http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/horse-ebooks-and-pronunciation-book-...

140: Intellectually unappealing

September 27, 2013

Hello. The IT Crowd is coming back for a final episode, tonight http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-it-crowd Molly Crabapple: Passing time in Gitmo...

139: Most impressive

September 13, 2013

Hello. “Instead of trying to get Matthew Green’s blog off their servers, the deans should be trying to get more faculty into blogging and into the public...

138: Appropriately adopted

September 6, 2013

Hello. James Burke predicted the future in 1973. Now he does it again (Audio, 13 minutes, via the brilliant gorjuss mailing...

August 30, 2013

Hello. First of all, thanks to everyone who pointed out that the National Report piece on Arizona straight-to-gay conversion was not what it may have seemed....

136: Coffee shops

August 23, 2013

Hello. They’re using it at coffee shops! (via @tomcoates) http://usingitatcoffeeshops.tumblr.com Wringing out a wet towel in orbit...

135: Brazen attempt

August 16, 2013

Hello. Sega games online http://www.ssega.com Martin Belam: Dear Mothercare, our daughters can aspire to more than this...

134: Closed room

Hello. Tonight, Matthew, I’m going to be Stevie Wonder (You wouldn’t get this sort of thing on Stars in Their Eyes)...

133: Richard Madeley

Hello. Richard Madely and Susie Boniface have a plan to fix the internet (via @jack_franklin) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7tbt6lZTFc Richard Madeley (A...

132: Expensive notebooks

Hello. Lego Stilettos (via Anna Pendrich) http://fashionablygeek.com/shoes/lego-stilettos/ Legoleg (via Ben Jackson)...

Hello. The Beaver Trilogy (definitely not what you probably think) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnQBtfy8lA8 The quickening pace of modern life “…and if...

130: Casual objectification

Hello. Why Spiderman Is Such A Good Dancer “...auditory rhythms can drive visual rhythm perception, especially when the visual stimuli are continuous,...

129: Nothing wrong

Hello. Do you want to be in the IT Crowd Special? “…expect very little remuneration, possibly (definitely) even as little as none”...

128: Twin Peaks

Hello. Nukemap (“It has never been easier to put a 50Mt H-bomb on the Eiffel Tower”) http://www.nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ 3D latte art (via @aleksk)...

127: Wood special

Hello.In celebration of our new log burning stove being installed this week (not by me, I hasten to add. By professionals who know how to do these things...

Hello. It’s not about the nail ("and all my sweaters are snagged")https://vimeo.com/66753575 Shift Run Stop episode 67 (We had a lot of fun making this)...

125: Direct fire

Hello. Let's start with some correspondence from the lovely correspondents. Olivier Legris writes: “Regarding the ”special screening“, there is one in Paris...

124: Information display

Hello. You know how the sing-a-long-a-… format works? Special cinema screenings of ‘Grease’ (or ‘Mama Mia’ or ‘Sound of Music’ or similar) in which the...

123: Outlandish costume

Hello. Making Mordor’s Economy Work “What a mess an orc would have made of crops we can only imagine...” http://www.centives.net/S/2013/making-mordors-...

122: Fire special

Hello. A delayed Roo’s Letter this week but it’s a fire special to make up for it. We’re getting a Clearview Pioneer 400 log burning stove installed, just...

121: Limitless quantities

Hello. Jon Ronson On… “Each week in a series of interviews, short location reports, scripted monologues, phone calls etc, Jon Ronson delves into a world of...

120: Dull witch

Hello. Hyperlapse “experiment for creating interactive Google Street View hyper-lapse animations” https://vimeo.com/63653873 http://hyperlapse.tllabs.io/ How...

119: Jet propulsion

Hello. NASA remotely controls Athlete rover with Leap Motion “In an unexpected demonstration at the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco,...

Hello. “Never add a possessive or plural ‘s’ (or hyphen) to ‘LEGO’ & always add a descriptive noun (eg LEGO bricks)”...

Hello. The Up-goer Five Text Editor Can you explain a hard idea using only the ten hundred most used words? (see also http://xkcd.com/1133/ which inspired...

116: Subtle changes

Hello. Eulerian Video Magnification for Revealing Subtle Changes in the World “to reveal temporal variations in videos that are difficult or impossible to...

115: Terra Tubes

Hello. Radiolab: Speedy Beets “Late in life, Beethoven got his hands on a metronome, went back into his symphonies, and marked them with tempos that are...

114: Bee rumble

February 22, 2013

Hello. Elephants have a special ‘bee rumble’ they use to warn each other about bees. “elephants not only flee from the buzzing sound but make a unique...

February 15, 2013

Hello. Robert Krulwich - Ultra Ever Dry “a nano-tech coating you can spray on any number of different surfaces … It’s superhydrophobic (it repels water) and...

February 8, 2013

Hello.Third World Problems “not every aspect of the life of those who are terribly poor is terrible poverty” http://storify.com/flashboy/third-world-problems...

111: Interesting things

February 1, 2013

Hello.Jargone A simple bookmarklet that highlights jargon words on any page (I made this) http://github.com/rooreynolds/jargone Tweetping Twitter activity in...

110: Major scale

January 25, 2013

Hello. Video: Memorex “Memorex is a 50 minute VJ odyssey, a tribute to an entire generation who grew up with only a TV and a VCR for a babysitter.”...

109: Unclaimed land

January 18, 2013

Hello. Panasonic Toughpad press conference “A second man takes the stage. His name is Jan something, Head of something at Panasonic. His presentation uses...

108: Unexpected journey

January 11, 2013

Hello, and happy new year. The Onion: Gorilla Sales Skyrocket After Latest Gorilla Attack “The answer is fewer gorillas”...

107: Less relevant

December 21, 2012

Hello. I’m going quiet for a couple of weeks after this. Hope you have a lovely Christmas. Radio Roundabout - 3-5pm today http://www.radioroundabout.com/ iOS...

106: Pencil Sharpening

December 14, 2012

Hello. Winter is coming. The nights are getting longer and the weather is getting colder. As usual, I’ve been sitting on the edge of the Internet fishing for...