Ah, welcome to the new year! 2026 has not been kind to us (already), but maybe this year will shape up a little better in the months to come. Regardless, I skipped last month’s Cool Things in lieu of a marketing post (boo), so I’ve got some neato things saved up for you to include in this month’s Cool Things edition. Let’s go!
It’s a great time to roll out an auto-updating copyright year
Sick of always updating the copyright year on your website’s footer? Here’s some code snippets you can use to have it automatically update! Handy!
Disney’s Animatronics: A Living History
I watched this documentary (it’s an hour and forty-five minutes long) about Disney’s animatronics and all of the technology that was built and discovered because of it. I do find the Lincoln animatronic creepy, however. It doesn’t come up to present time, but it tells you a lot about the history of automatons and such. It’s a little dry (there’s some , but I found it wholly fascinating to watch.
There’s a follow up I need to watch posted a month ago, but it’s four hours long (wow) so I’ll have to put it on when doing some in depth work.
Pecan pie without corn syrup
Someone I know requested I make a pecan pie. I’m not a pecan pie fan, but I gave them the choice of a standard recipe, or a historical recipe that pre-dates the invention of corn syrup that was suggested to me on Bluesky. They chose the historical recipe, and it was a hit. The recipe, supposedly from around 1914, uses brown sugar, milk, pecans, flour, and eggs. Overall seemed both easy and tasty!
Where to get stickers printed
Ever wanted to make stickers? Here’s a list of places you can easily make stickers with some real cool options:
Wanna learn how to tie shoes?
Both a blast from the past but also regularly updated and just plain old awesome, Ian’s Shoelace Site shows you everything you’ve ever needed to know about shoelaces. Tying them, the history of them, and so on! You can even visit daily for a “shoelace photo of the day” to see what cool shoelaces people have.
Pintopia 2026 is next week!
Are you a pin collector? Will you be joining us for Pintopia 2026? I’ll have a project there with tiny filler pins of silver robot heads. There’s 200+ pin, plush, and ita bag projects so you’re sure to find something you’d like in the mix! Should be fun! Check it out on the Pintopia site.