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The Dull Side of the Internet.

  A quick note of thanks. 

Ernie Smith

Once upon a time, there was a blogger named Ernie. He wrote about politics and breaking news stories on Tumblr. He was sick of it. But he enjoyed the weird fun stories that he would occasionally run across.

Eventually, he decided to make a newsletter. This was in 2015 when newsletters like Today In Tabs were kind of cool. Earlier in his life, he was really into websites like Fark and This Is True. And he wanted to revive some of the weirdness of the internet he grew up with.

So he built this thing.

The second issue was about Mirsky’s Worst of the Web, a legendary early blog highlighting horrible sites, because that was the kind of vibe he wanted to bring back. Mirsky’s site, which turns 30 years old this week, lasted 20 months. Tedium is now officially 10 years old.

Anyway, here’s where Tedium stands after all this time:

Email Whenever

He used to stick to a strict schedule, but that stressed him out. Now Tedium sends roughly 3x per week, with a goal of two issues in the middle of the week and one on Sundays. The mid-week issues are more commentary-driven and the weekend issues are research-driven.

Tech, culture & history

Overall, the focus of this thing is bringing a broad perspective to the world through the lens of history and pop culture, using the internet to surface those things. But he likes tech so much that half his posts are about Linux and Apple. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

No paywalls, light ads

You know all those Substacks that ask you to subscribe every single issue? We don’t do that. We’re more subtle. Instead, we use this platform to promote our editorial and consulting offerings, with a tip jar that you can support on Ko-Fi or Patreon. Take your pick.

Our editorial goal is to outlive Substack. Your subscription is part of our master plan to make this happen. (Tell others.)

Ten of our best posts (okay, eleven)

  1. The Year Canada Recalled Pop. The story of how Canadian bottle-reuse regulations led to a situation where Anne Murray was (and many other people were) injured by an exploding pop bottle.
  2. Circles And Slashes. It’s hard to describe, but the circle-slash logo is everwhere, but it is hard to figure out where it came from. Eventually, with a little crowdsourcing, we figured it out: It was literally designed by a committee.
  3. Junk Food’s Happiest Accident. You would not believe where cheese curls/cheese puffs came from. Total accident that turned into a junk food dynasty.
  4. The Death of the Key Change. A piece by Chris Dalla Riva that blew up the internet in a way few blog posts do. How culturally relevant was it? Both NPR and Rick Beato covered it.
  5. Power Struggle. A story about those on-batter power meters, how they’re made, and the bizarre patent battle that emerged when the tech first hit the market.
  6. Big Email Energy. Why do some marketing emails or editorial newslettrs “jump” in Gmail, while others don’t? It turns out that the links, not the images, may to to blame.
  7. So Many Random Phone Numbers. Our most popular post of all time, this piece highlighting weird telephone numbers you can call reflects just how strange our phone system once was.
  8. The Case Of The Missing Channel. From longtime contributor Andrew Egan, this piece highlights the story of a silent cable channel that was intended to allow children to read picturebooks on a television screen. What a wild thing.
  9. The Man With 400 Albums. David Buck, a longtime contributor, has published many pieces about weird music and novelties. But he entered through the front door with this iconic piece about R. Stevie Moore.
  10. Does One Line Fix Google? We stumbled upon a way to fix Google and turned it into a pseudo-search engine. Total accident. Now a comically large number of folks have used udm14.
  11. Silicon Persistence. We are nerds at heart, and we’ve probably never covered anything as nerdy and unique as the SGI enthusiast scene. Coolest thing ever.
Power Struggle Junk Food’s Happiest Accident< The Man With 400 Albums The Death of the Key Change The Year Canada Recalled Pop So Many Random Phone Numbers

Anyway, thanks for reading, for signing up, and for all the rest. We can’t do this without you, even though we’re just staring at a pane of liquid crystals on a glass substrate. Keep checking your inbox to learn why it will never again be the same. Keep us going forever. (And follow us on Bluesky.) Ensure Substack didn’t know what hit it.

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