October 31
October 30
How to Run a City Like Amazon, and Other Fables. "What would it be like to live in a city administered using the business model of Amazon (or Apple, IKEA, Spotify, Tinder, Uber, etc.)?"
The system of tipping in America sucks. "Why are we still crowdfunding worker salaries when tippers so clearly do not know what the hell they're doing?"
October 29
A 108-Year-Old Woman Recalls What It Was Like to Be a Woman in Victorian England. She was born in 1868, could have "heard stories about Napoleon at her grandpa's knee", and lived to be interviewed on color TV.
The internet is 50 years old today. "In a notebook entry for '29 Oct 69' we can see a particularly important notation at 22:30 (10:30 pm): 'Talked to SRI, Host to Host.'"
More details on Elena Ferrante's next novel. Title: "The Lying Life of Adults". US pub date: June 9, 2020. First line: "Two years before leaving home my father said to my mother that I was very ugly."
October 28
The Dallas Museum of Art is asking people to share sounds from around the world for an interactive sound installation by designer Yuri Suzuki. Upload yours here.
The Millennial Raven. "Once upon a midnight dreary, Tinder swiping, buzzed and weary, I asked Siri about my sushi ordered one hour before."
October 25
A fun analysis of the on-screen graphics of TV broadcasts of baseball. "Outs come in threes, not twos. If you must represent it by a series of faux light bulbs, you should have three bulbs."
I know a lot of teachers read the site. Here's how educators are using the NY Times' 1619 project to change how slavery is taught in schools.
The 20 defining comedy sketches of the past 20 years. My two faves: More Cowbell and Black Jeopardy with Tom Hanks.
October 24
Farewell to the Can Opener Bridge. Durham, NC is finally raising a low overpass that destroyed hundreds of too-tall trucks and a source of viral videos for more than a decade.
Really good review of the new MoMA by Alexandra Lange. "The expanded Museum of Modern Art is so big, you may need GPS, and you'll definitely need a snack."
These U.N. Climate Scientists Think They Can Halt Global Warming for $300 Billion. The plan involves rehabbing 900 million hectares of land to sequester a massive amount of CO2.
I love this story of an usher who took it upon herself to organize the women's bathroom line during the intermission of Hamilton. "After two weeks of porcelain chaos, she knew she had to do something."
Vaccines!! WHO has announced that 2 out of the 3 wild poliovirus strains have been eradicated. The other type is only found in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where conflicts are hindering vaccination efforts.
What's CRISPR Doing in our Food? "Senior scientist Dennis Romero tells us the story of CRISPR's accidental discovery — and its undercover but ubiquitous presence in the dairy aisles today."
October 23
Cory Doctorow reviews Margaret Atwood's excellent The Testaments. "This is a book about how fragile our norms are, and the incredible resiliency of the people who are ground underfoot when those norms are jettisoned."
October 22
How to travel like a local. "It's important to keep in mind that you're a visitor. It all may seem wondrous to you, but to them it's their home. Treating it, and them, with respect will go a long way."
David Lebovitz celebrates 20 years of writing about food online. "Who knew when I started posting a bunch of random thoughts, ramblings, and recipes online in October of 1999, that I'd be doing it this long."
During their lifetimes, whales capture an enormous amount of carbon. "When they die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean; each great whale sequesters 33 tons of CO2 on average." A tree absorbs 48 pounds of CO2/year.
The 2019 Squirrel Census of Central Park. "There are an estimated 2,373 eastern gray squirrels in Central Park."
Jack Conte of Patreon is giving away a $50K "Super Patron" arts grant to a "serious creator who is ready to focus solely on making art". I'm not eligible (where was this 15 years ago?) but perhaps you are?
October 21
October 18
October 16
San Francisco's MTA has voted unanimously to ban cars from Market Street. Replacing them will be wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and a streetcar loop.
The 2nd edition of Erika Hall's Just Enough Research is coming out soon. Hall told me there's "a whole new chapter on surveys, which are mostly a bad idea".
October 15
Since 2013, carbon emissions from transportation have been rising in the US, sharply in some areas. Blame low gas prices and more lower-mileage pickups & SUVs on the road.
October 14
October 12
Eliud Kipchoge broke the 2-hour barrier in the marathon. On a flat course with dozens of pacesetters to help him, he finished in 1:59:40.
October 11
What Happened to the West Village? The newest "anti-urban" residents have changed the neighborhood. "They don't interact with the city at all; they have a suburban existence."
October 10
The updated terms and conditions for Earth. "You get one (1) Earth™. If you permanently damage your Earth™, you will not be able to trade it in for a new one."
Really interesting discussion of the women on Succession and how they do (and don't) wield power. "I'm left with this sense that pretty much every expression of female power on the show backfires in some way."
Are we living in a simulation? "If our reality were a simulation, how could we possibly step outside it to confirm?"
October 9
An interview with pilot Tammie Jo Shults, who landed Southwest flight 1380 when an engine failure blew a hole in the cabin. This woman has pure ice water in her veins.
Amazon is introducing a Kindle for kids. It includes a case, a 2-year replacement guarantee, and 1-year subscription to a extensive collection of books.
October 8
Wait, the last woolly mammoths died out only 4000 years ago?! They were still alive hundreds of years after the Giza pyramids were built and indoor plumbing was used in the Indus Valley.
Writing advice from JK Rowling. "You can't be a good writer without being a devoted reader."
October 7
The Morals That Determine Whether We're Liberal, Conservative, or Libertarian. The first embedded video is a nice short intro to moral foundations theory.
Dissatisfied with a series of eye exams and suboptimal glasses, Oliver Eidel ordered his own optician kit for 190€ online and did his own eye exam. "This was hands-down the best pair of glasses I ever had."
Photos of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It's wild that they brought in people from around the world and essentially put them on display in a human zoo.
October 4
Sweater weather is here! "The moment when your rain boots and your flip-flops cross paths on your shoe rack long enough for a shoe high-five."
It's time to ban cars from Manhattan. "Instead of small steps, we need to take one big leap: ban cars."
Poll: You can insert the word "fucking" into the William Carlos Williams poem "This is Just to Say" exactly once. Where would you put it?
In the "red zones" of Christchurch, NZ, suburbs rendered uninhabitable by earthquakes, nature has reasserted itself in the absence of humans. The before/after photos are wild.
Thermal video footage of dancer Kylie Shea. "We filmed this late one night on a tennis court in the freezing cold to watch and study how my body heats up when I dance. My core was the first to fire up..."
October 3
How to Get Away With Gerrymandering. "A leaked audio recording reveals how [Republican] state lawmakers are taught to trash evidence, avoid the word gerrymander, and create an appearance of bipartisanship."
J.D. Salinger's Spider-Man. "Where I want to start telling is the day I got bit by a radioactive spider at Midtown High School."
How Japan Became a Pizza Hotspot. "I've eaten at Seirinkan probably 200 times since it opened. I've never seen anyone else besides Kakinuma touch the pizza."
The 20 best films of Aardman Animations. Chicken Run takes the top spot while my personal favorite The Wrong Trousers is #3.
October 2
In 1976, Kodak developed an experimental 8mm movie camera that fit into a pocket and filmed continuously. "The design goal was to develop an automatic, pocketable movie camera to encourage filmmaking."
Advice gleaned from Anna Wintour's Masterclass on creative leadership. "On feedback, make it fast and make it direct."
This to That is an internet classic: it offers advice on how to glue different materials together. The submit button reads "Let's Glue!"
October 1
