This month is all the stuff that reminds me that I’m old, cause I find it interesting. I’ll try my best to make it relatable to all of you without going off the rails too much, and hopefully you find some usefulness out of it. We’ll start off with some weird tech that I thought was 100% a scam product category. So apparently in recent years, personal “air conditioner” devices are a thing. I thought they were those cheap neck fans that have been around forever. But apparently, they actually have Peltier technology in them and cool your neck and face. Additionally in Japan, there has been innovations in developing a lot of personal cooler devices (and even clothing!) to help beat the day-to-day heat. I’m actually curious how these products actually work out and have plans to look into the Reon Pocket if it ever goes on sale over here in the states (I need an easy return policy if I don’t like). If any of you have personal experience with these particular units, please let me know in the comments.
Consumer product testing channel Project Farm recently did a fun little video looking at YouTuber merch (shirts) to see which ones held up and which ones didn’t. If you wish to skip the intro and head straight into the testing portion, it starts at 5:13 in the video. Considering these shirts on average cost $30 to $50 shipped, you would expect a lot of them to be pretty durable and last a while. Surprisingly the results are all over the place, and you can watch the video for the finer details.
There use to be a saying on the internet that states, “Just Google it”. Well that saying doesn’t really have any weight anymore in 2024. Google as a search engine is absolute garbage in the modern era, and I highly recommend you look up an alternative if you actually want to find anything useful nowadays. My personal choice is DuckDuckGo or Brave Search - but whatever other option you like - stick with it and encourage others to make the switch. I would also switch browsers away from Chrome, if possible unless you want your ad blockers to slowly one by one be banned.
I’m a huge fan of silent (or minimal talking) travel vlogs around the world. They allow you to experience a place you’ve never been before with as much immersion as humanly possible. There’s a time and place for narration and a host for sure, but excessive commentary on top of grating music can ruin any first impression of a place quite quickly. So, I was delighted to stumble across this video of an atmospheric tour of Minatur Wunderland in Germany with no music or host talking. It combines two minor hobbies of mine into one - silent travel vlogs and miniatures / models. It’s a bit on the lo-fi side of life, and I hope you find it equally enjoyable when you need to unwind a bit.
Artist is Gil Elvgren
Artist of the month is the late Gil Elvgren who passed in 1980. Since this update was really Gen-X boomer focused, I might as well link my very first pin-up poster I had in college at the age of 18! Although not the exact same image I had back in the day, I still remember the on-campus store owner who sold me the poster and the funny conversation we had because of it. You can click on the picture for a link to Nylon.Net who has an entire archive of Gil Elvgren’s works!