Liberté, égalité, Mbappé
France crushed Croatia in the World Cup final, and just as social media was alight with memes and cartoons, so was WhatsApp. In the rapid-fire 90-minute match, I must have received over 30 cheesy forwards about the World Cup. 9GAG’s website was churning out memes like butter on an automated farm, and I couldn’t help wondering, “Did their online team get paid overtime for this?”
Memes ranged from cruel to utterly sweet, and I’m going to place a spotlight on the latter. One post stated, “As the poorest country in Europe, being in second place was still our biggest success. I’m proud of you Croatia.” After all, as I’m sure many of you have read, Croatia won more hearts than anything.
Another shared a picture of French president Emmanuel Macron jumping around in glee, proving there’s no need to be a diplomat at these things all the time — be a fan, because sports shouldn’t be involved with politics.
Level up, Kylie
Last week, Forbes labelled Kylie Jenner a self-made billionaire-to-be; naturally, social networks went red because the definition of ‘self-made’ was at debate. When New York Daily News shared the story on their Twitter, they popped in the line: What are you doing with your life? This obviously invited a spectrum of responses which had me playing invisible cheerleader to those who acknowledged their own amazing achievements.
@shawndecker replied, “I was diagnosed with HIV at age 11 in 1987. My parents were told I had 6 months to 2 years to live. I’m turning 43 on Monday and I’ve spent the last two years educating about HIV through writing, speaking and laughter.” Everyday people like @GameyMcTwat responded, “I’m a mental health nurse who’s spent every day for the last 15 years doing what he loves, to support my family and the clients I work for. I’ve prevented suicides, supported people through the darkest psychotic episodes imaginable and try daily to make a difference to those in need.” Such responses celebrated the accomplishments we don’t see every day and publicised to the extent of Jenner’s. Keep those responses coming in, we should keep celebrating people around us.
Just like the Jetsons!
When Palo Alto-based startup Opener unveiled a prototype of a flying car named BlackFly, I was aghast that I wasn’t there to test-drive, I mean, test-fly it. Not that I own a pilot’s licence.
I delved into Opener’s website and was impressed by the minimalist design of the personal aviation vehicle, which almost resembled a very large drone. With fault-tolerant design, including an isolated, distributed battery system, I feel the invention has made it to Marvel movies before the Internet. More than that, the flight video is entrancing, looking like something out of a sci-fi film.
Rants and ramblings across cyberspace
