In 2023, McDonald's in China released a special Tetris LCD handheld that is shaped like a chicken nugget. For some reason, this was the tie-in for the 40th anniversary of the Chicken McNugget.
I wanted it immediately.
But, as I did not live in China and knew no one who could import such things for me at the time, I could not. So, I waited.
At Magfest, earlier this year, I saw this prize sitting on a shelf, mocking me. At nearly 50 bucks, I was tempted, but unwilling to buy it.
I forgot about it for a while when 7-Eleven announced their own new Tetris tie-in handheld, this time on a Slurpee cup. It reminded me of my long wanted chicken nugget handheld.
I went to eBay and found someone with a relatively high rating, selling them for less than 15 USD including shipping. So, I bought one. That was early April.
It arrived this week.
It's as beautiful as I expected.
No, but seriously, it's a functional LCD handheld that you can play Tetris on. It's adorable. It is literally easier to play Tetris on this, than on my phone.
Also, it's classic mode so if there is not space for the Tetromino block to do spin - it won't spin.
Anyway - short version: I imported for myself the Chicken McNugget Tetris game and it's silly fun.
Welcome back to another round of organic chemistry with MDMRN.
Once again, I've taken my molecular model kit to craft a new molecule. This one, frankly, I was able to craft using the pieces of the previous ones I presented before. While I didn't say it last time, the green represents a halogen, in this case specifically chlorine.
A hint is that the production of these types of compounds has been banned in numerous countries, including the United States. It was, historically, found in electrical transformers.
Can you guess what type of compound this is? Let me know in the comments!
Hunter found what he was looking for! This Star Wars action figure from The Bad Batch wound up finding The Stones to pass along to the Mondoshawan. Model designed by @Playactiontoys, printed live on https://twitch.tv/MakerDeck (of course)!
Is this a bad batch? No, it's not. It's an amazing batch of The Bad Batch. Star Wars is forever, for everyone (as is 3D printing). These action figure toys were designed by the skilled @Playactiontoys & 3D printed live on https://twitch.tv/MakerDeck :)
So, we're going back to organic chemistry everyone!
After my first post with my molecular model kit showing an environmental contaminant, I decided to post up another.
This one is a semi-volatile organic environmental contaminant that is commonly found in coal tar, mothballs, and mixed into creosote for rail ties. That distinct "mothball odor" is this compound! Fun fact - a human nose can detect the mothball odor before most standard electronic detectors of organic odors / vapors.
Can you guess the compound? Let me know in the comments!
Believe it or not, the record player is new. It turns out there’s a whole subset of the toy market for retro toys. It’s a bit different under the hood – I’ve had to fix it once already, and it’s actually chip-driven, not classic music box works. I figure it’s probably cheaper these days to make it with fewer moving parts.
Tech! Happily 3D printed just in time for #TheBadBatch series to (sadly) end, this is @Playactiontoys's latest action figure release. Created with a perfect array of Polymaker PLA colors on https://twitch.tv/MakerDeck live!
Friends, followers and musically curious onlookers, I could really use some listens today! I'm an independent #musician who makes weird, #psychedelic#ElectronicMusic for listening to from the couch. If you're new to my oeuvre, this is the best place to start:
If you're already familiar with that one, and/or like your #WeirdMusic a little more in the #drone, #ambient and #soundscape vein, your next stop is Metaphysical Shitposting, which you'll find here:
I don't talk about work here a whole lot, but I'm a chemical engineer by education and have been doing environmental engineering work for the past 17 years.
So, I have an organic chemistry molecular model kit that I have kept at work for years. I, periodically, make contaminants I've seen at various sites across my 17 year career cleaning up the environment.
Do you know what this chemical is supposed to be? Leave a comment below with your guess!
So, I have talked about how I've been doing a side-by-side comparison of stats for Instagram and Pixelfed by posting the same photos on both accounts.
Well, my pics tend to fall into certain well defined categories. So, I have been sorting the photos into the following and comparing average number of likes: Cats, Food, Flowers, Manga, and Selfies.
Based on these broad categories, I noticed a few hings. More info in the following toots.
Since January 2024 - here has been the average likes per post for those categories:
Cats - 25 (Insta), 35 (Pixelfed)
Food - 17 (Insta), 8 (Pixelfed)
Flowers / Bloomscrolling - 22 (Insta), 24 (Pixelfed)
Manga - 28 (Insta), 5 (Pixelfed)
Selfies - 25 (Insta), 10 (Pixelfed)
Toys - 20 (Insta), 8 (Pixelfed)
So, a few patterns emerge. First, there is not a lot of people noticing my manga posts on Pixelfed. That's apparent.
Second, the Fediverse loves cats. More so than Instagram! Same with flowers / bloomscrolling.
Food, selfies, and toy posts tend to average about the same per post on Pixelfed. 8-10 likes on average.
On Insta, selfies, manga, and cats do best. On Pixelfed, cats, flowers, and selfies do best.
Basically, on either platform - you can't go wrong with cat pics or selfies.
Now, on Insta, part of the manga boost is that I've been kind of into Mangagram - sharing posts, interacting with posts, etc on manga. Then again, I don't see a lot of manga in general on Pixelfed. Maybe it's me!
Favorite Scifi Toys v2
I talked about this before - name your favorite scifi toys. I'll go first:...