Axodys 10C Edition

The new iPhone SE may seem like a sad, recycled phone but it's more than that. WSJ's Joanna Stern (with the help of an animator) brought the budget phone to life to explain how its performance and camera tricks make it a worthy option—even compared to its expensive, bigger iPhone 11 siblings.

I always enjoy Joanna's appearances on the Talk Show with John Gruber and this review of the iPhone SE is pretty great.

Today's crazy random YouTube find: a couple guys purchased Cerro Gordo, CA and the surrounding property for $1.4 million and now they're posting videos about life in a mining ghost town up on a mountain next to Death Valley. Pretty interesting and secluded summer getaway/pandemic isolation spot; based on the first video I'm guessing it's completely inaccessible during the fall and winter months when the snow arrives. Not sure how viable of an endeavor this actually is, but looking forward to seeing what happens next.

98.css is a CSS library for building interfaces that look like Windows 98.

This is a really cool computer nostalgia project, but now I want a classic black and white Mac version to exist.

📚 I discovered One Man (★★★★★) by accident while catching up on Charles Stross's blog thanks to a guest post by author Harry Connolly. Seattle author, interesting premise, intriguing sample chapters, $5, why not? The book didn't disappoint at all with fantastic world building, interesting characters, and an intense fantasy noir thriller plot that doesn't let up. Seems like this book could be the start of a great series, hopefully there will be more.

We’ve seen Trump tweets as hilarious sandals, and now one anonymous Twitter user has put 45’s online ramblings into a whole new, equally amazing context: supervillain dialogue.

The account, called President Supervillain, inserts Trump’s tweets and other quotes into classic comic book panels featuring the Marvel Nazi villain, Red Skull.

Pretty fitting, no?

PresVillain has been going strong for over three years now and today's comic is particularly good.

Consider what Trump did in those few sentences:

1) Made clear that Kemp does not have his support for reopening parts of the state's economy, providing him plausible deniability if things turn bad

2) Said Kemp is free to make his own decisions, even if those decisions are -- in Trump's mind -- very bad and wrong

3) Made sure the people of Georgia know he loves them very much, especially those who use nails salons and tattoo parlors

One plausible theory I heard for Kemp pushing for reopening so early (beyond outright incompetence) was because Georgia Republicans want to minimize the number of out-of-work people that qualify for unemployment. But I have to believe he was expecting a pat on the back from Trump, not the knife he actually got.

Joseph White ("zep") of Lexaloffle, the creators of Voxatron and PICO-8, coined the term "fantasy console" and describes it as:

"A fantasy console is like a regular console, but without the inconvenience of actual hardware. … It is similar to a retro game emulator, but for a machine that never existed."

Here, we want to highlight the best Fantasy Consoles for learning code and game development and help you choose which one is right for you!

Really thorough comparison of the three most popular fantasy consoles right now: PICO-8, TIC-80, and Pixel Vision 8. I've fiddled around with all three and really like them all, but have the most experience with PICO-8.

The best chart and explanation I've seen for why COVID-19 is nothing like the flu and why we had to shut the country down.

Joint statement from the governors:

COVID-19 has preyed upon our interconnectedness. In the coming weeks, the West Coast will flip the script on COVID-19 – with our states acting in close coordination and collaboration to ensure the virus can never spread wildly in our communities.

We are announcing that California, Oregon and Washington have agreed to work together on a shared approach for reopening our economies – one that identifies clear indicators for communities to restart public life and business.

It's mind boggling that states on the west and east coast have had to do this because of the unchecked incompetence in the executive branch, but here we are.

A collection of custom styles available for Marked 2. Have your own and want to share? Use the Custom Style Uploader to submit for review.

I've been using Marked for years, but this is a really cool source of custom style sheets that I only just became aware of.