April 30
This is fascinating: mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome have allowed scientists to track the spread of the virus around the world. Seattle/SF viruses came from China, but NYC's came mainly from Europe.
April 29
The Nude Selfie Is Now High Art. "It has become an act of resilience in isolation, a way to seduce without touch."
For his 68th birthday, Kevin Kelly shares 68 bits of unsolicited advice. "Gratitude will unlock all other virtues and is something you can get better at."
Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing. I found this "here's what we know so far" piece by Ed Yong on the pandemic to be helpful.
From Nature, a quick summary of the various approaches being used to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. Over 90 vaccines are currently in development.
April 28
The Pandemic Shows What Cars Have Done to Cities. "Along streets suddenly devoid of traffic, pedestrians get a fresh look at all the space that motor vehicles have commandeered."
How the pandemic will change American retail. "The big will get bigger as mom-and-pops perish and shopping goes virtual. In the short term, our cities will become more boring."
9 Ways Schools Will Look Different When (And If) They Reopen. "Schools can open up, but some parents might still choose to keep their children at home."
Missed this news last summer: Madeline Miller's Circe is being turned into a series for HBO Max. I *loved* the book.
April 27
The Boston Globe ran 21 pages of death notices in the Sunday edition this weekend. That's 3X more than last year at this time.
Also from the Netherlands: Amsterdam will use the "doughnut" economic model to rebuild the city in the wake of Covid-19. "The goal of economic activity should be about meeting the core needs of all but within the means of the planet."
A manifesto for economic change after the Covid-19 crisis by a group of Dutch economists. "2) Build an economic framework focused on redistribution, which establishes a universal basic income..."
Global coronavirus death toll could be 60% higher than reported. "Excess mortality has risen most steeply in places suffering the worst Covid-19 outbreaks, suggesting most of these deaths are directly related to the virus..."
7 things we must do before we open up America, based on advice from experts who have had the most success (and learned the most from failure) in combating Covid-19. Test, trace, and isolate, but also "don't try to go back to 'normal'".
April 24
The Manifesto of the Idle Parent. "We pledge to leave our children alone (that should mean they leave us alone too)."
People who survived severe Covid-19 infections will experience chronic health problems, PTSD, cognitive decline, etc. that will last for months and years. "I worry that...the virus will cast a long shadow in its wake."
April 23
After closing her 20-year-old restaurant Prune due to the pandemic, chef Gabrielle Hamilton wonders if it has a place in NYC anymore. "The restaurant as we know it is no longer viable on its own."
Comet 2I/Borisov is just the second known interstellar visitor to our solar system. Hubble data indicates the carbon monoxide-rich comet may have originated "from a circumstellar disk around a class of star called a cool red dwarf".
On the surprising intimacy of virtual communication. "The unfamiliar intimacy of online classes makes the attention to each student feel more live and personalized, not less."
Dr. James Hamblin on why some people with Covid-19 get sicker than others. "There's a big difference in how people handle this virus. It's very unusual. None of this variability really fits with any other diseases we're used to dealing with."
Craig Mod wrote an account of his 8-day walk along the historic Ise-ji pilgrimage route. He begins: "Allow me to share what I love about a good walk in Japan..."
April 22
Sean Woods rides around NYC during quarantine, documenting the uncomfortable silence of the city for Rolling Stone. "The city has the edge of the Seventies or Eighties — when crime and crack dominated life here."
April 21
This Website Will Self Destruct. "You can send me messages using the form below. If I go 24 hours without receiving a message, I'll permanently self-destruct, and everything will be wiped from my database."
Tracking "excess deaths" provides a more accurate picture of the toll of the Covid-19 pandemic. "In New York City, the number [of daily deaths] is now four times the normal amount."
Zeynep Tufekci writes about the problems with the World Health Organization. "It is also true that in the run-up to this pandemic, the WHO failed the world in many ways", mainly because it lacks independence.
We Are Living in a Failed State. "The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective. [The US responded with] shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering."
April 20
Hong Kong (pop. 7.5M) has had only 715 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 4 deaths as of March 31, all without the need for a lockdown. How did they do it? They followed WHO advice early and implemented vigorous test & trace protocols.
BBC has launched a huge education initiative for students at home due to the pandemic. Guest teachers include David Attenborough, physicist Brian Cox, actress Jodie Whittaker, and footballer Sergio Agüero.
April 19
April 17
I Went to Hogwarts for Seven Years and Did Not Learn Math or Spelling, and Now I Can't Get a Job. "You may or may not be aware, but the economy has changed, and the need for my skills defying Lord Voldemort has lessened."
This made me laugh SO SO hard. Man, I needed that.
April 16
How to build your own Nintendo Switch at home. I might have to resort to this if Nintendo doesn't figure out their supply issues...
April 15
A list of magazine stories that inspired entire movies (like Hustlers, Spotlight, Argo, Adaptation, The Fast and the Furious (!!), and Boogie Nights).
Advice from a scholar who studies distrust of science on how to talk to coronavirus skeptics. "We reject scientific findings because we don't like their implications."
Singapore had a seemingly very organized & thorough response to the Covid-19 pandemic and still had to lock the country down. How does that inform our thinking going forward?
A great review of Halt and Catch Fire, still an underrated gem of a show. "One of my favourite things in the show is how the characters age, how they escape their old loops, how they become more themselves, and where they end up."
How long does the SARS-CoV-2 virus last on surfaces? The answer is complicated and depends on several factors. "We really don't want people to think there's a binary threshold between when things are dangerous and when they're safe."
April 13
Informative thread about Wuhan emerging from lockdown. People are getting tested to be able to travel & return to work, most are still afraid to go out to eat/shop, ppl are buying cars to use instead of public transport.
Director Sarah Polley complains about the awful, trope-filled movie we are all living through right now. "So much heavy handed foreshadowing. The apocalyptic footage from Wuhan, the super villain American president, the whistleblower dying..."
April 12
April 10
In lieu of the NBA season, ESPN will televise a HORSE tournament beginning April 12. Among the competitors are Chauncey Billups, Chris Paul, and Paul Pierce.
"The Republican Party does not believe in free and fair elections, where free means equal access to the ballot and fair means equitable rules and neutral procedures." They just want to win.
Loved this Fran Lebowitz interview about being quarantined in NYC. "The only thing that makes this bearable for me, frankly, is at least I'm alone."
Gary Hustwit's free film for this week is his documentary on design legend Dieter Rams. I'm gonna set some time aside to watch it this weekend.
Austin Kleon made 30 "quaranzines" over the past month. You can read them all here and watch instructions on how to make your own tiny zines.
April 9
The official NASA Acronym Dictionary is 256 pages long. "LASSO: Laser Synchronization from Stationary Orbit" (p. 124).
Colornames is a collaborative effort to name all 16.7 million colors in the RGB color space. Recent names include Spray Painted Grass, Surfing On A Sunny Day, and Red Enough To Not Be Pink.
Dave Eggers imagines a briefing by the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The twisted joke here is that surprisingly little of this is actually made up. "MAN WHO MAKES PILLOWS: I am a man who makes pillows."
A look at how jigsaw puzzles are made. Demand for puzzles has shot up with so many people looking for pandemic quarantine activities.
April 8
This Woman Can Smell Parkinson's. Fascinating, people with Parkinson's disease give off a distinct odor that some "super-smellers" can detect (even ahead of symptoms). The women in this article even predicted a diagnosis just by smell.
The rise of quarantine UX: How COVID-19 has upended the very idea of convenience. "Much of the last decade of smash-hit UX has been more or less abandoned in the wake of COVID-19."
Reminder: wearing a mask or staying six feet away from people is not an invitation to continue your normal routine or to gather regularly with groups of friends. The best advice is still to stay home as much as possible.
This Video Has 5,152,061 Views (and counting). The clever title is just a hook for a discussion about the pros & cons of online platforms & their APIs.
For the past few weeks, I've been sharing selections from my daily work playlist in this Twitter thread. Think of it as a kind of soundtrack for @kottke.
Watch as Jeremy Blake makes a track on the Teenage Engineering OP-1 portable synthesizer. What a fun little machine.
This is one of the best DIY mask designs I've seen. Two thin layers of cloth with a pouch to insert a paper towel or tissue. Tested with a single paper towel, the mask achieved "73.7% filtration efficiency at 0.3 micron".
April 7
Film release delays caused by the pandemic. Black Widow, Wonder Woman, The French Dispatch, Top Gun, Indiana Jones, Bond, and Minions have all been pushed back months.
April 6
A personality quiz that will tell you which fictional characters you most resemble. This got me pretty well: Sam Tarly from GoT and MCU's Bruce Banner. Lisa Simpson, Lester Freamon, and C-3PO all in my top 25.
Really interesting thread from virologist @PeterKolchinsky about how SARS-Cov-2 goes about its business in the human body. SARS-Cov-2 "is stealthier [than SARS-1], spreading first before revealing itself (and causing harm)."
April 5
I baked a loaf of this white sandwich bread last week and it was delicious. Flour + yeast + water is an ancient magic – no wonder so many folks have gotten hooked on bread baking.
The Vermontilator: Scientists, engineers, and doctors at the Univ of Vermont "have developed a new design – and built a working model – for a simple, inexpensive ventilator". They're seeking FDA emergency approval.
April 3
This is one of the many horrifying stories of what dealing with a Covid-19 infection is like, but what struck me is the 4 sick people in NYC who weren't tested and aren't part of the official infection count. How many others are there?
This could be helpful for researchers and media: aggregated and anonymized foot traffic data from Foursquare showing where people are & aren't going in different parts of the country. Raw data available, updated daily.
A look at how restaurateur Tom Colicchio shut down his business due to Covid-19. As Colicchio says, he was luckier than most, but this same thing, at different scales & degrees, happened all across America.
April 2
NASA is reintroducing its 70s "worm" logo. It'll be displayed on the side of the Falcon 9 rocket that will take astronauts to the ISS.
Ching Ming Stories is encouraging families in the Chinese diaspora to observe the tradition of Ching Ming (remembering ancestors) virtually this year. Includes a discussion guide to help get you & your family started.
How South Korea Solved Its Face Mask Shortage. "Neighborhood pharmacists and government intervention were the secret weapons." Good government matters.
April 1
Stop Trying to Be Productive. "Staying inside and attending to basic needs is plenty."
Wimbledon has been cancelled due to COVID-19. First time since WWII. "There will be no professional tennis anywhere in the world until at least 13 July."
Damon Lindelof is writing a serialized story for Nextdraft called Something, Something, Something Murder. "I heard them whispering... I heard them say murder and then the floorboard creaked and they stopped."
Overly descriptive color palettes. Colors include "isotopic light periwinkle", "unstatesmanlike reddish grey", and "acanthoid bubble gum pink".