Fark NotNewsletter: Have you been Farking for half your life?

This is a multi-part message in MIME format... ------------=_1675881855-59865-29513 Content-Type: text/html Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable [3D"The](3D")= > [3D"Facebook"](3D") [=3D"Twitter"](3D") [3D"Totalfark"](3D") Having trouble reading thi= s email? View it online [here](3D". Comments thread: [ 46500](3D" Unsubscribe links are at the bottom of this message. =20 =20 ________________________ A message= from Drew Curtis: ___________________= _____ Hey everyone, hope your week was well. = The second week of February is always an interesting time. My bir= thday's on 7th, which comes on the heels of dry January and for me is the g= astronomic equivalent of going from zero to lightspeed. I turned 50 = this year, which is extra wild because Fark started this week back in 1999 = just after I turned 26. Fark is almost as old as I was when I started= it. Fark is 24 years old this week. I'm not sure= on what day exactly - when I go to the Farkives to look at the earliest li= nks from 1999, the closest actual date I can nail down is Feb 12th, the tim= estamp on the second link ever posted. Fark didn't run on a database = back then so we don't have full link data - in fact Fark didn't start runni= ng on a database until June of 2000, 18 months later. I don't remembe= r this clearly but I'm pretty sure I was updating Fark with three to five l= inks per day back in the beginning, so odds are very good Fark's birthday i= s Feb 12th. I wrote the html by hand on a Unix equivalent of n= otepad, which is why it looks like it does. Not that other websites w= ere much more complicated, check out [spacejam.com](3D")= for example. They had better(?) graphics, not much else. = Next year Fark turns 25 and I've got a few things planned for that= . In particular, I wrote a book during the pandemic about what a long= strange journey it's been. Fark's had a front row seat to the evolut= ion of practically the entire known online ecosystem. I do talk about= what came before but there's not much of that left around anymore. &n= bsp; Unrelated to all this, I got emailed by a Farker whose company= had been experimenting with advertising on Reddit. He figured that a= dvertising on Fark would work at least as well, so they tried a couple spon= sored links and were very happy with the results. I'm not super surpr= ised, Farkers have always been great about helping out fellow Farkers. = ; This week he suggested trying a sponsored email post. We haven't do= ne one of these in a long while, so long that I actually forgot we'd ever d= one one before. So I looked up the current basics of email advertising and = wouldn't you know it, it's unnecessarily convoluted and overly complicated = just like everything else. So given that I'm totally unable to predic= t how this is going to go, I told him we'd try it this week and if it worke= d to their satisfaction they could pay us later. [Faddom Hybrid Application Dependency Mappin= g free trial](3D" So what is this product you may or may not ask?&nb= sp; Super specialized as it turns out. In fact, if you don't work in IT, go= od luck figuring out what this does. If you -do- work in IT, and in p= articular if you're in charge of needing to figure out how the hell your co= mpany's current on-premises and cloud IT infrastructure is configured, Fadd= om is a hybrid application dependency mapping tool that has a free trial fo= r a product that documents all your servers, applications, and their depend= encies in a little as 60 minutes and updates it in real time. Like I = said, not something everyone would need. Turns out though that for at= least a few folks, it's something they very much need. Do you happen= to be in the same boat? Come give it a shot. These guys are he= lping us keep the lights on and the hamster fed. Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern the [Fark News Live= stream](3D") returns! However, I'm counting on the news cycle to come u= p with stuff other than balloons in the next 24 hours or we might have a ha= lf-hour show. ________________________ End&= nbsp;Drew transmission ________________________&n= bsp; Top Comments= n> Some of the top-voted smartest and funniest comments from the pa= st week Funny: Shostie pretty accurat= ely described [what the Tesla Cybertru= ck looks like](3D"https://w=) brap shared [an Anne Hathaway story](3D") coffeetime at= tempted [self expression through dance=](3D"=) duppy was [i= nspired to make a change at work](3D" Petite Mel pointe= d out [a drawback to Hey Nurse= !'s suggestion of a good place for a winter vacation](3D".=) koder [made a bad situation eve= n worse](3D"=) olorin604 let us know [the best way to drive across flooded roads](3D") weddingsinger knew what to= do when it's minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit Three Crooked Squi= rrels told us [how to really= enjoy the cold](3D=) I Have A Bo Burnham GIF For That f= ound that [watching "Friends" finally = paid off](3D"=) Smart: jars.traptone fig= ured that [it's time for extraterrestr= ials to do us a favor](3D"=) mrmopar5287 thought [American police could use a strategy that les= s killy police use](3D") gilgigamesh suggested [listening to a particular podcast episode to learn&= nbsp;how a scumbag gained his audience](3D") foo monkey = identified [the person who got the mos= t enjoyment out of an SNL State Farm commercial parody](3D".=) Thing= ster explained [why painti= ng brick houses makes them less mighty](=3D" Uranus had&= nbsp;[a vacation idea for those cold winter= months](3D") RogermcAllen [wasn't so impressed by "the quietest room in the world"](3D" = Wadded Beef shared a story = that's somewhat related to Cindy Williams' death Notabunny gave [practical advice for th= e newly homeless](3D"https://w=) Outshined_One discussed [a change in the demands of job candidates sinc= e the beginning of COVID-19](3D") CSB Sunday Morning theme:&= nbsp;[The = first book you read as a child](3D") Smart: MrBallou= [still hasn't finished reading "= Swiss Family Robinson"](3D".=) Funny: Dear Jerk = ng> [discovered a love of books](3D") Politics Funny: AirForceVet came up with&nbs= p;[a plan after learning about the unreaso= nable hospital bills people receive after giving birth](3D") Exile= On Beale Street considered [Jim Jordan's role in Congress](3D" scottydoesntknow w= as concerned [when a Chinese spy ballo= on was shot down](3D"=) This Is Bold Text named [Donald Trump's portion of the Bible](3D") Jeff5 thought about [th= e F-22 that was flown in the mission to take down a surveillance balloon fr= om China](3D" Politics Smart: thisispete = g> listed [some of the ways in which m= any countries provide support for new parents](3D"=) NeoCortex42 = strong> had [many questions about the = anti-drag queen hysteria](3D"=) hubiestubert discussed&nb= sp;[options for changes to the tax code](3D")= unixpro looked at [what culture wars are doing to education in Florida](3D" likef= unbutnot pointed out that [a= ll of this has happened before](3D" Top Contest Entries Some of the top-voted conte= st entries from last week Photoshops: RedZoneTu= ba [moved into a high-tech city= a> verchad](3D"=)[showed off= a snake of unusual size](=3D" whatsupchuck [made a vodka machine](3D") MathProf = gave us [an exciting new way to serve= bass for dinner](3D"=) Herb Utsmelz [took revenge on this contraption](3D") RedZoneTuba = strong> made [a shiny, all-natural hos= e](3D"=) RedZoneTuba discovered that [the Soviet Union contributed to the Enterprise](3D") Stephen_Falken [just neede= d some mushrooms](=3D" RedZoneTuba [redecorated the bar at the Overlook Hotel](3D" samsqu= atch [brought a famous cousin to = the Hair Ball](3D"=) Farktography theme: [Simply Beautiful 3](3D") This Farktography cont= est ended in a tie with Lovesandwich's [nature walk](3D") and MorningBreath= ong>'s [washing machine](3D"=) Fark Headlines of the Week= > A selection of some of the top headlines from last week France an= d Australia to supply Russia with several thousand 155mm artillery shells. = They'll be sent via Ukraine, and arrive a few at a time [Phortunate Phrogger phinds Phoenix, p= hosters phun phinagling phreely phrom phast, phlustered phreeway phliers](3D")= > [Mod squab nabbed in Ma= d Square](3D"=) [Cowlision takes ou= t Tesla. Cow was in self-driving mode. Tesla investigating because steaks a= re high](3D"https:/=) [Pentagon tracking Chinese = spy balloon over US, waiting for 98 more before they release the nukes](3D"https://=) [Man in black leaves jawbone with gunslingers, flees across dese= rt](3D"=) [As he strikes the match, he c= asually glances out the gas station window. His eye twitches involuntarily](3D"=)[98 luftballons](3D"=) [Joe Manchin sees himself as a= "shuttle diplomat" although most people on both sides wish he'd be more of= a Challenger](3D") [The Netherlands and Germany are merging th= eir armies into one big sleevie](3D"ht=) [Attorneys general from 20 slave states warn CVS and Walgreens about inter= fering with their property](3D") [Dead dog bites congressman](3D") [Gu= nn to use Batman](3D" [Philip= s screws 6,000 workers](3D=) Adira the red panda, a tree-dwelling species, shocks zookeepers with h= er daring escape in which she... climbs a tree Fark Weird News Quiz (brought to you by= ox45tallboy) Another fun time on last week's= Quiz, where I was sorely disappointed that the Chinese spy balloon was sho= t down before we could implement "Operation Make A Giant Sign That Says 'Xi= Eats Boogers.'" Hopefully a camera survived the landing and the recovery t= eam made funny faces at it before they disconnected it. On the Quiz itself,= jurisenpai came out on top with 951, followed by Denjiro in second with 948 and No Catchy Nicknam= e in third with 929. OtherLittleGuy made fou= rth with 922, and NM Volunteer rounds out the top fiv= e with 902. The hardest question on last week's Hard Quiz was about= a railroad worker named Richard Sears in 1886 and what he bought up and so= ld at a huge profit before moving to Minneapolis and meeting a guy named Al= vah C. Roebuck. Only 21% of quiztakers knew that Sears instantly thoug= ht of his coworkers working on the railroads when he had the opportunity to= buy a bunch of wristwatches on the cheap. In an industry so dominated by r= igid adherence to schedules, the convenience of being able to see the curre= nt time without digging out your pocket watch was a boon. Roebuck was = a maker of watches, and together they launched the first Sears & Roebuc= k mail-order catalog in 1888, featuring watches and other jewelry - small i= tems that were cheaply transported by rail. The easiest quest= ion on last week's Hard Quiz was about which type of fitness class was crea= ted by Colombian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez in 2001, 9= 0% of quiztakers knew he was responsible for Zumba, the fitness class that = teaches you how to dance like Ricky Martin. At least, that's what I'm told = - we just now got Pilates in my neck of the woods, and I'm not sure if we'r= e ready for "She Bangs." The hardest question on last week's Easy Q= uiz was about musician Tom Verlaine and the band he fronted for the highly = influential 1977 album "Marquee Moon." Only 60% of quiztakers recogniz= ed his band Television, who were one of those groups mainly listened to by = other musicians and not really massively popular in mainstream culture. See= , this was the 70s when a new TV cost about a month's salary and peopl= e didn't want to listen to television, they wanted to watch it. The easiest question on last week's Easy Quiz was about on which show th= e late Cindy Williams first appeared as Shirley Feeney before getting her o= wn show Penny Marshall's Laverne DeFazio. 90% of quiztakers knew that "Lave= rne & Shirley" was yet another spin-off of "Happy Days," a show I'm sur= e they were glad they exited before any of that shark jumping business. Fun= fact: "Mork & Mindy" was also a spin-off of "Happy Days." If you missed out last week, it's a great time to [catc= h up on the Fark Weird News Quiz](3D" now that you know a few of the answers= . Congratulations once again to the winners, and we'll do it all again on F= riday. --------------------------------------------------------------- ([Fark.com](3D"") sent this newsletter emai= l to: {EMAIL}) To stop these emails, go to the Notifications tab of your [MyFark profile](3D"https:=) to change your subscription preferences. Or, [click here to unsubscribe](3D") from newsletter emails, even if your Fark login isn't '{NAME}'. [Click her= e to unsubscribe from ALL Fark emails](3D"). Fark, Inc. PO Box 1291, Versailles KY 40383 = ------------=_1675881855-59865-29513--