Heya,

It's been a slow week for me as I adjust to working in the attic surrounded by too many teddy bears and a farm puzzle that whinnies like a horse every time I stand up.

This week:

👛 Inside the Blockchain Service Network.
✒️ Great animations with CSS and JS.
👩‍⚕️ Dr. Seuss meets Dr. Dre.

Enjoy,

Chris.

Bizarro Devs  

Fun things to do while we wait...📆

Reading and learning opportunities have been one bright spot over the last few weeks. The Public Books Database has a ridiculous amount of books available from university presses like MIT, Johns Hopkins, and Monash (oi!).

For left field learning, maybe you'd be interested in a course from Disney Imagineers? It is focused on theme park development, which is probably not great for a side-hustle. However, it does cover everything from story development and conceptual design to math, physics, and engineering and their relationship to immersive experiences.

Idle playthings A bunch of Virtual museums from around the world. My trip to the Bradman Museum was well worth the three hours of lost productivity. For the cricket agnostic, I'd also recommend Pavillon de l'Arsenal in Paris and Berlin's Bode-Museum, which are set up best for virtual tours.

Follow hyperlinks to discover the quickest route between two Wiki points with The Wiki game.

Music from all over the world with Radio Garden. I left the radio tuned to my home town's local station.

Or, for NiN lovers, their latest ambient albums are available for free. And they are very, very good.

Something for Slack Dr. Seuss and Dr. Dre come together in this rapped version of Fox in Sox.

Bizarro Devs  

Blockchain's back, back again. 🏗️

Bros and Lambos is usually what I snicker when I think of the blockchain. But, clearly, I'm behind the times because China will be launching its platform, the Blockchain Service Network (BSN) by the end of the month.

Like Lego but with laundry The network is intended to give developers an opportunity to use existing programs or build tools without committing to building their own framework. This could bring blockchain-based business costs down by a significant margin.

Tech drop This has been in development for some time and China currently holds the most Blockchain patents in the world. This is alongside the push to become a (the) world leader in AI and robotics in the next five years.

coindesk.com  

1. What should you do when a web design trend becomes too popular? I have given this article multiple shares over the past few weeks. A good, common sense guide for picking when to follow and when to go your own way.
2. Impressions is a deepfake app that can turn you into Arnold Schwarzenegger. *Whisky and Lulu not available.
3. I said I would take this time to work on my WordPress project. I did not. However, this older article covers the hidden costs associated with WordPress for people who aren't as lazy as I am.
4. Another great batch of remote working tips covering everything from work through mental health to building trust. The best tip? Match your suave vest with your favorite pajamas in case a client calls.
5. A great demo of a rapid layers animation using GSAP.
6. Fullstack is a simple block stacking game.
7. Habitica is a habit tracking app with strong gamification. They had me at the pixels.
8. Related: a to-do list terrarium. Tick off your chores and watch little plants grow. Cute.
9. How to write better UX copy. I love any article that shames the shamers. I hate the little "No thanks, I don't want to be the fairest in all the land" confirm shaming that you see on so many sites. It's just a crappy way to channel desire.
10. A contest to create bad logos.

Bizarro Devs  

That's the week done for me.

If you have any links to share, then hit reply on this email. All replies go straight to my inbox and I read everything.

If this is you first time here and you're into it, then sign up here.

Hasta la vista,

Chris.

Bizarro Devs