Links I have known and loved in Q1 2026

I’ve decided to do a recap of all the links I collected in the first quarter of 2026. I think it’s a good exercise to evaluate what’s worth remembering, and what’s not.

So, let’s go. Full disclaimer: I may not know anymore why I bookmarked this shit. So, let’s go.

US sanctions lock International Criminal Court judge out of daily life. Ah, I remember this one. Some judge said mean things about Trump, and then the US cancelled her credit cards. Crazy story.

Amiga Graphics Archive. I was looking for inspiration in the past, how the pixel style can help me look at photography and convert it.

CXR Six Leg Truck Bed Rack for the Toyota Tacoma. I was looking at American trucks (or rather, trucks used in America), and started thinking about equipment and modifications. Window-shopping things I don’t need, in a different country.

GDQ SNES VODs. I was, again, looking at retro-pixel graphics to help me find a new language for digital art. Personal language sounds better. This is a directory of video game speedruns of old Super Nintendo titles. Just slow it down or pause it, to look.

Naval Engineering - Building a Wooden Warship, Timber, Nails and Curves. Ah, yes. Another history youtube video. I rarely watch any of those. This one is probably by Drachinifel, a super-nerd when it comes to naval history.

Atari ST Fractal Engine. What if I would take old software to create shapes for new paintings? That’s what I thought when looking at this archive of Atari ST games and software.

SPK: Turn Illness into a Weapon. Turning illness into a weapon? Sounds awesome, it also involves Jean-Paul Sartre, somehow. Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv. Not sure what this is, I think it was used by an old industrial band for inspiration, and I didn’t know what it meant. And now I forgot! Will get back to this. Thank you, recap.

Copper wire vs bananas vs mud - An interconnect test. This was a test to see if audiophiles can tell the difference between a $500 cable or a piece of banana. Astounding results, for those who think they’re not idiots.

Tiny Vinyl. Baby vinyls for hipsters and jokers and sexy mommas. No, but really, I can’t hate these, they look hilarious. No idea about the cost.

93km air conditioned covered cycleway proposed for Dubai. Cycling through my Dubai, eating a lot of peaches. Who doesn’t want to cycle around the desert - oh wait, it’s air conditioned. I love it.

Cogmind. “Cogmind is a sci-fi roguelike epic in which you play a robot building yourself from components found or salvaged from other robots. Explore a living, breathing world through turn-based tactical combat, or sneak, hack, and fly your way to victory” Aha. Probably thought this was interesting, and worth a buy (during a sale, maybe the one in June 2026).

Group C by Autodromo. This is a cool, yellow, digital watch, that costs a lot. Nice.

The database for all G-Shock lovers. See the above entry. I got into retro digital watches, because I’m a hipster.

Axial SCX 30 vs Redcat ASCENT 32 - Which One Should You Get?. Remote controlled cars have come a long way. But I have no use for them. Still, interesting. Maybe for a project, later on? Who knowzzz.

Far-right character’s monologue prompts violent scenes at German theatre. An incredibly stupid incident. A play about fascism in modern-day Europe results in the audience attacking the actor playing the fascist. WTF? What is reality, even?

“I Have Been Here Too Long”: Read Letters from the Children Detained at ICE’s Dilley Facility. Horrible read, kids writing letters in detention centers, a modern reenactment of Anne Frank writing her diary in the attic.

Austria - Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners. A nifty website for visualizations regarding the world economy. Bookmark-worthy, good find.

Donkervoort Cars. Donkervoort Cars. Vroom-vroom made in the Netherlands. Very nice. Very expensive! Manual.

Johann Georg Hamann. A guy from the German romantic period. I started listening to Isaiah Berlin’s lecture series on Romanticism. Get it on Youtube, search for “Isaiah Berlin Romanticism”. Six episodes. Or something. Not long. But worthy of your time.

Doomed Megalopolis. A sick looking anime I never heard about. From 1991. Back when Anime looked great. Ha-ha. No, but seriously, awesome times for japanese cartoons.

Belgium at risk of becoming ‘narco-state’, judge warns. Drugs are fucking up the Belgian civil society. A sad spectacle. No money, mo problems.

The Taylor Swift effect: US vinyl sales top $1bn for the first time since 1983. Swifties getting crazy about the black gold. Collecting memorabilia of their god. Sacrificing their hard earned cash to appease their idols. Blablabla please sub to my substack.

Esoteric and mystical old LA spots?. I continue to be fascinated by LA, so I keep reading the LA reddit sub to find out more about accidents on the freeway. And the beauty between the trash.

Where math meets art and craftsmanship: Iranian architectural mastery. Patterns and mysticism. Right up my alley. Will study and borrow/steal/inspire whatever.

Johannes Itten - 7 Color Contrasts - Presentation by Martin Knobel. A presentation on Itten, a guy who thought about colors. During the Bauhaus era. In the Bauhaus? Probably. German guy.

Cannibal Corpse Albums Ranked From Worst to Best. Start of my journey through music of the past, taking a break from K-Pop. This escalated to researching the music of today, because I was really clueless about the last couple of years in electronic music. And Pop and Metal.

A Dictionary of Color Combinations. Buy a dictionary of color combinations from Japan. Why not. Pantone is also selling a book of their swatches (?), but it’s expensive.

For Restaurants, Sweeping the Floor is Equivalent to Cooking Great Food. Saw a video about marketing and the guy mentioned a quote by von Mises, arguing that sweeping the floor in a restaurant is as valuable as the cooking of great food. Because it contributes to the overall positive experience the customer will come back for. Interesting. Know very little about von Mises. BTW, the quote is a bit wrong, von Mises used the example of a candy wrapper and the taste of the candy.

And that’s it. Left a lot of shit out, no use for that. But that’s a fun list, innit? Stay tuned for Q2 coming soon, because that’s not far anyway anymore. Basically I got the idea to do this yesterday, and decided a couple of weeks late won’t matter.