Snap Camera Discontinued

The official announcement: On January 25, 2023, Snap Camera will no longer be available to use or download.

The online software alternative they are offering is apparently not very good. Snap Camera was an only very slightly helpful but immensely entertaining webcam filter suite that helped pass many long online meetings and classes during the pandemic years, so I’m sad to see it go. I did use it less and less over time, however, and only installed it so that I could blur the background during FB Messenger video calls for PC during the holidays.

Farewell, sweet filters!

Jointly-owned Copyrights

This is interesting: Several startups believe that web3 technologies will upend how authors make a living—and how we define who owns a story.

What if you could own a stake in Harry Potter?


What if the book series functioned like a publicly traded company where individuals could “buy stock” in it, and as the franchise grows, those “stocks” become more valuable? If this were the case, someone who purchased just three percent of Harry Potter back when there was only one book would be a billionaire now.


Just imagine how that would affect the reading experience. Suddenly a trip to Barnes & Noble becomes an investment opportunity. Early readers could spot “the next big thing” and make a $100 contribution that becomes $10,000 or even $100,000 if the book’s popularity grows. If readers could own a percentage of the franchise, they might then be incentivized to help that book succeed. They could start a TikTok account to promote the book via BookTok, or use their talents as filmmakers to adapt it to the screen. All of this stands to increase the value of their original investment.

Esquire: The Crypto Revolution Wants to Reimagine Books

Also, here’s a Bad Robot! video of the day:

Linkdump AF 2022

Across the Multiverse: A four chapter story with an epic revelation at the end.

I did not get that far, but I got a lot of chill.


Technicolor Tokyo: Screenshots from CyberPunk or real photos?


Phra Rahu: This week I learned of Rahu worship in Thailand, which is extremely interesting and apparently widespread, and although I’ve seen images and statues of Rahu before, I never really knew his story – it’s interesting!

The Story of Phra Rahu
There are many variations of the story of Rahu, which stem mainly from Hindu, Buddhist, Tamil legend. The most common legend is the Hindu one which describes Rahu as an Asura (demon deity) who was transformed into Rahu after drinking an elixir which would assure his immortality. The legend goes on to say that Rahu stole the elixir from the Hindu Deities, but he was seen by Chandra (the moon god) and Surya (the sun god). Chandra and Surya informed Mohini (the female avatar of Vishnu) who promptly chopped off the Asura’s head.
A small amount of elixir had already been sipped by the Asura before Mohini could chop off his head, so his head and upper body had already attained a state of immortality and became Rahu.
Rahu takes his revenge upon Chandra and Surya by swallowing the moon and the sun every time he sees them, thus causing an eclipse.

https://www.pattayaunlimited.com/thailand-deities-phra-rahu/

The Reddit Tidal Bore Videos

Sit back, relax, and be amazed by the wonder of cheap smartphones:

POV 1 – Blue Life Jacket Van Damme

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POV 2 – You May Poke Your Eye Out But Still Never Stop Smiling Girl

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POV 3 – (HOLY MOLY?) Red Shirt Guy with Gyroscopic Grip

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And of course, the brilliant Reddit stitch up of all 3 clips: 1 Wave, 3 Angles

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So what are we looking at?

This is a tidal bore, a strong tide pushing up a river. This one is locally known as a bono, or, a wave of seven ghosts, because there can be seven successive layers of waves. People surf on these, yo! It seems that the location is Cape Binjai, Sumatra, on the Kampar River. By all means, please subscribe to Rina’s YouTube Channel because she has the best smile even when getting bowled over by angry waves!

Thank you for reading this post and please excuse the crappy manual formatting above (necessitated by irritating autoplay videos) – don’t worry, I’ll never get around to fixing it properly!

Online learning

Saw this in my feed and it made me smile because my daughter had to sit next to me and take a swimming class online last term. The current term ends this month, and the kids in Thailand may be going back to school from next term, but who knows? A lot of it depends on if they actually get vaccinated or not (there’s still not enough of any kind to go around and the only one proven safe for kids is still Pfizer – which is in very short supply), but it’s been a while now.

Crown Desert Wreck

You can tell this ain’t Murica cuz there’s no booolet holes… and cuz, well, it’s a 1974 (zenki) Crown.

I found this very cool photo on FB.

The post said it was a “Kalgoorlie bush wreck.”

Google time…

Found it! This must be the coolest group on Facebook. Applied.

Note: Kalgoorlie was originally called “Hannan’s Find,” and what Hannan found was gold! So I guess Kalgoorlie is the Sutter’s Mill of Australia (both caused a gold rush in the 1800s).