When you are stuck in a chairlift for hours and you gotta pee, you have limited options. I feel sorry for this guy, but he'll be OK.

The Nintendo Switch has a 6.2-inch, 720p LED display. According to this Bloomberg article, it's possible we'll soon be seeing a new premium Switch model with a 7-inch, 720p OLED display.

From the Bloomberg piece:

Samsung Display Co. will start mass production of 7-inch, 720p-resolution OLED panels as early as June with an initial monthly target of just under a million units, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. The displays are slated for shipment to assemblers around July, the people said. Representatives for Nintendo and Samsung Display declined to comment.

…

"The OLED panel will consume less battery, offer higher contrast and possibly faster response time when compared to the Switch's current liquid-crystal display," said Yoshio Tamura, co-founder of display consultancy DSCC.

I'm so glad the amazing Tim Hunkin has a new video series about components! In the first episode, he takes a deep dive into chains — their history, how they work, how they've been refined over the years, and how they are used in machines.

I can't wait for Tim Hunkin's "The Secret Life of Components" video series

Profile of a whimsical arcade machine maker

Video: watchmaker services a 234-component Omega wristwatch

Robotic dog pants, dribbles warm saliva, and tries to bite you

Money laundering arcade game

History of safecracking

Julie Nolke is back with a funny sketch about the pleasures and perils of being an Instagram model. They share best poses, scoring free swag, and the need for a good boyfriend/photographer.

QAnon believers are fixating on these maps that say Washington, not Washington D.C. pic.twitter.com/j1EZmhabmU

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) March 4, 2021

It's official: the U.S. capital has been "dissolved." This breaking news is brought to you by the gentlefolk of QAnon. How did they learn that Washington D.C. no longer exists? Because one of their crack researchers looked at a Google map, and the letters "D.C." don't follow "Washington." And therefore, cogito ipso ergo sum pluribus facto unum — dissolved!

From Newsweek:

"Did maps always just say Washington? Thought it said Washington DC?," asked a user called @GhostEzra on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

Another user replied on @GhostEzra's channel—which has more than 214,000 subscribers and is popular with QAnon followers—writing: "I just searched Washington DC on my iPhone Apple Maps & it just shows Washington, no DC. This is the same for Google maps & mapquest.

"DC is dissolved."

Yep, you've got to wake up pretty early in the morning to fool a Qanoner.

[thanks, Patrick!]

I bought the Nobsound G3 2 Channel Bluetooth 5.0 Power Amplifier in 2019 and attached a couple of speakers to it. Now anyone in the family can play music, audiobooks, YouTube audio, and podcasts from their phone. It's tiny so you can hide in under furniture if you want it out of sight. It has far more power than I'll ever need, and there's no perceivable distortion.

I'm surprised I've never heard of these old TV shows. It's like they came from an alternate universe. Norby? In any case, the animation, lettering, and music is nice.

[via r/ObscureMedia]

Rep. Charlie Shepherd (R-Pollock) wants to make sure Idaho mothers are stuck at home where they belong. Here he is using Bronze Age logic to explain why a bill to increase access to early childhood education is a bad idea:

"I don't think anybody does a better job than mothers in the home, and any bill that makes it easier or more convenient for mothers to come out of the home and let others raise their child, I don't think that's a good direction for us to be going."

Much to Shepherd's delight, the bill failed to pass.

Bonkey's apartment tour is so realistic that I cringed my way through it.

Svaha Apparel crowdfunded a dress resembling NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover parachute and it's already 4X past its goal. Pre-order one for $70.

Perseverance worked out! We are in love with the design on the parachute that helped land the Mars Rover on the surface of this beautiful red planet. 

The patterns on NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover parachute, is a binary code where Red is for 1 and White is for 0. When decoded, the code reads "Dare Mighty Things". The design on the outer ring of the parachute shows the coordinates for JPL: 34°11'58" N 118°10'31" W. Could it get any better? Yes! We made a dress out of it and now you can make it happen! 

I like the size and green pages of the Rediform Memo/Subject Notebook.

It doesn't take up much space on my desk, and the spiral binding means I can fold the pages all the way back so it takes up even less space while taking notes. They're cheap, too, so I stock up on them.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says residents of the Lone Star Republic no longer need to put up with the inconvenience of having to wear masks in dry goods stores and ice houses or being restricted from sneezing on one another in saloons and honky-tonks. It's time to give coronaviruses the same freedom to roam the great Republic of Texas as its human brethren have.

From the press release:

"With the medical advancements of vaccines and antibody therapeutic drugs, Texas now has the tools to protect Texans from the virus," said Governor Abbott. "We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent."

Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi made a similar announcement: "Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules," Reeves tweeted. "Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed It is time!"

Trump cultists who worship health supplement pitchman Alex Jones and their god-emperor-in-exile will not experience cognitive dissonance when they see this video of Jones disparaging Trump. They'll reject it as Soros-funded fake news and turn their attention to Trump's inauguration on Thursday.

Kindles and other e-ink readers come with rudimentary web browsers. It's no fun to use them for regular web use, so Doug Belshaw made a directory of web sights especially useful for e-reader users. It's called eink.link.

From his announcement:

I'm someone who uses the web browser on my e-reader. I always have done, from the earliest Amazon Kindle I had, through to the bq Cervantes 4 I use these days. To scratch my own itch, I've created a new site: eink.link

As you'd expect, web browsers on e-readers aren't very capable. As websites get ever more bloated and complex, they render ever more poorly on these kinds of devices.

Simple, text-based websites work well, though. So I thought I'd begin to collect these and make them available for anyone to use. I'm not doing anything complicated: just using GitHub Pages to serve up a basic website that's styled Simple.css.

Right now, I've added one or more links in the following categories:

• Search
• Ebooks
• News
• Weather
• Social
• Technical

It's pretty awesome that I can download EPUB-formatted books directly from my e-reader's web browser directly to the device!

Vlogger Aaron Vankampen goes around to expensive houses with opulent cars in the driveway, knocks on the door, and asks the occupants what they do for a living. It's hard to believe people are willing to even speak to him, especially since he is videotaping them.

Answers to his question range from the jokey "flip burgers" to the serious "resource and staff augmentation." Some people even let him inside for a look-see. One guy gave him champagne and cannabis!

Dustin Curtis ("Designer. Investor. Nomad.") suddenly found himself locked out of most of his Apple services and multiple calls to Apple didn't help. He finally figured out the problem – a mistake with an equipment return led to an unpaid charge on his Apple Card. So Apple took the drastic step of kicking off the Apple platform and then not telling him what he needed to do to get back on.

From his post:

It appears as though charges from Apple are special, and if your account is not 100% current, Apple will quickly take drastic action. Unfortunately, this email got lost in my inbox and I didn't see it until I went looking. But it is extremely concerning for several reasons.

• Apple says it will hold my Apple accounts hostage in order to collect a payment.
• It says it is related to an iPhone when it was actually regarding a MacBook Pro. And iTunes no longer exists. The lack of attention to detail is not great given the seriousness of the threat that follows.
• It was sent when Apple Card was only a few days past due.
• It suggests that charges by Apple on Apple Card are different from other purchases, and this can have serious consequences. (Also: the Apple Card agreement does not mention this technicality.)