> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://birchtree.me/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# 🎆 End of the Year Blowout! (Newsletter #96)
- URL: https://birchtree.me/blog/birch-bark-96/
- Published: 2021-12-31T10:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2021-12-31T10:00:00.000Z
- Author: Matt Birchler
- Tags: newsletter, #Import 2023-06-01 22:41, #Import 2025-03-29 19:29

Hello and welcome to the first brand new issue of The Birchtree Newsletter! The back end has been swapped out, so there may be some bugs here and there, so let me know if you notice anything and I'll do my best to resolve anything ASAP.

As always, thank you for reading and happy new year!

## The Links

- [The Original Prince of Persia in JavaScript](https://princejs.com/?ref=birchtree.me)
- [Doodle CSS](https://chr15m.github.io/DoodleCSS/?ref=birchtree.me) is a delightful CSS library for making your next side-project fun as hell.
- [UI trends from 2021](https://blog.tubikstudio.com/review-ui-design-trends/?ref=birchtree.me)
- [Most Alexa users just use the voice assistant to play music, set timers, and control smart lights.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-22/amazon-s-voice-controlled-smart-speaker-alexa-can-t-hold-customer-interest-docs?ref=birchtree.me) Many of us (myself included) may have overestimated how much people would use these voice assistants several years ago. They're still massively useful and I have several around my house, but they've reminded me that "the hot new thing" in tech almost never dominates the future, it's just a piece of the future.
- [This "paper bottle"](https://thedieline.com//blog/2021/4/12/hello-im-a-paper-bottle-turns-out-to-have-a-plastic-surprise-inside?ref=birchtree.me) has a sneaky surprise.

## The Videos

This one is a bit wild, but here's a demo disc Sony made in 1990 showing high definition video way before it became something reasonable to distrubute. I love seeing old things that look like they were shot today.

There are tons of good tips in here for effectively teaching board games to your friends and family.

Apparently, you can control the guards in the closing sequence of Metal Gear Solid by plugging in a second controller. This game is over 20 years old and there are still secrets coming out about it. Games are magic.

Fun deep dive into how Blink-182 changes pop-punk.

## The Tweets

> Just saw a tweet saying “Both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated can catch Covid.”   
>  
> A doctor responded: “Both Serena Williams and I can play tennis."
> 
> — Young Daddy (@Toure) [December 29, 2021](https://twitter.com/Toure/status/1476289342557626368?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=birchtree.me)

> The year of Linux on the desktop. [pic.twitter.com/A7k5XuIIui](https://t.co/A7k5XuIIui?ref=birchtree.me)
> 
> — Den Delimarsky (@DennisCode) [December 27, 2021](https://twitter.com/DennisCode/status/1475343774695886849?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=birchtree.me)

> DAD: Let's watch a movie   
>  
> (Three minutes later on the couch) [pic.twitter.com/BUa9FYIpSm](https://t.co/BUa9FYIpSm?ref=birchtree.me)
> 
> — John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) [December 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/JFrankensteiner/status/1474900188858925067?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=birchtree.me)

> “buying nfts supports artists!!!” ok but what has been stopping you from pay artists thousand of dollars before nfts ???? hell you can pay me thousands of dollars for my art and i’ll even get crazy and send you it’s physical form
> 
> — ☆ parisian cowgirl ☆ (@cartierdior) [December 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/cartierdior/status/1474974416937361409?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=birchtree.me)