August 31
Poll: many Americans would worry about the safety of a Covid-19 vaccine that's pushed out before testing is completed. One possible scenario: Trump pressures the FDA to approve an untested vaccine before Election Day.
Mark Mothersbaugh nearly died from Covid-19. He was on a ventilator for 10 days and was delusional. "...these kids sold me to an ambulance company that then got some sort of a payment for delivering Covid patients to their ICUs. I totally believed it."
August 28
Oh man, Chadwick Boseman died today aged 43. He'd been fighting colon cancer for 4 years.
Some advice from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the media, truth, and how to stay informed. "There is a BIG difference between a fact and the STORY."
The Apple Store: It Floats! (Apologies to Ivory soap, but Singapore has a floating Apple Store now.)
August 27
Timely action and a coordinated public health response were much more important in determining the Covid-19 infection rate in cities than was density. In separate studies of Chinese and US urban areas, "no correlation is found with density".
Patricia Lockwood writes, hilariously & poignantly, about her coronavirus illness. "I knew I was out of immediate danger when I stopped worrying about what my corpse would look like..."
Frog and Toad Tentatively Go Outside After Months in Self-Quarantine. "Toad woke up. In his bed was last night's dinner plate. And last night's water glass. And last week's pile of laundry."
August 26
In the US, we're entering the 6th consecutive week of 1000+ Covid-19 deaths every weekday. That's a 9/11 every three days. For weeks.
In the past, tuberculosis outbreaks led to schools holding classes outside, even in winter. (Check out the photos!) Why can't we figure out how to do this to get kids to school & keep them and teachers safe?
Public health officials have certified that polio has been eradicated from the continent of Africa. The top 5 reasons the polio virus was defeated: 1. vaccine 2. vaccine 3. vaccine! 4. magical thinki...nope, still vaccine. 5. VACCINE!
August 25
A screenwriter's manual written in 1919 lists the 37 different types of stories, incl. "possessed of an ambition", "loving an enemy", "adultry with murder", and "an innocent suspected".
August 24
Dorothy Parker Explains Remote Kindergarten. "Money cannot buy health, but it sure as hell could have hired an excellent tutor for a small learning pod."
August 22
August 21
The Criterion Collection includes more than 1000 films by more than 450 different directors. Only 4 of those directors are Black Americans. (And only 7% are women.)
August 20
The Anti-Capitalist Software License. "This license exists to release software that empowers individuals, collectives, worker-owned cooperatives, and nonprofits, while denying usage to those that exploit labor for profit."
From Harvard Business Review, An Interview with Janelle Monáe. "[My job at Office Depot] was getting in the way of my focusing on what I needed to do as an artist. When they fired me, I had no excuse. I had to go all in on my career."
August 19
The Case of the Top Secret iPod. "I have a special assignment for you. Your boss doesn't know about it. You'll help two engineers from the US Department of Energy build a special iPod. Report only to me."
Here are the five finalists for the design of Mississippi's new state flag. They're finally ditching the Confederate imagery.
I'm not sure I can stand to read this right now: An Oral History of the Bush-Gore Florida Recount. But wow, they talked to the right folks from both sides for this.
An oral history of the "steamed hams" scene from The Simpsons. "Aurora borealis?! At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?"
Tim Wu on the case for banning TikTok. "China keeps a closed and censorial internet economy at home while its products enjoy full access to open markets abroad. The asymmetry is unfair and ought no longer be tolerated."
August 18
This book looks fascinating: What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World. "What might assistance based on the body's stunning capacity for adaptation – rather than a rigid insistence on 'normalcy' – look like?"
While resizing an image, this photographer noticed that the AI upscaling software he was using inserted a tiny image of Ryan Gosling into his photo. "There is checkbox if you don't want the software to identify faces..."
August 17
Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. "This wasn't the kind of movie everybody liked, but it was the kind of movie certain people loved, with an intensity that felt personal." Due out Nov 17.
Pure Skill Minesweeper, a version of the popular game "where you will never be penalised when forced to guess". But bad guesses (i.e. when a safe move can be deduced) will be punished.
Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between The World and Me is becoming an HBO special "based on the 2018 adaptation and staging of the book at the Apollo Theater". Debuts this fall.
August 16
August 14
We Will Pay for Our Summer Vacations With Winter Lockdowns. "The rise in infections in Europe seems particularly linked to activities like barhopping, clubbing and partying among younger people..."
If you're like me and watch absolutely no political TV/video coverage, you might not know how to pronounce Kamala Harris's first name. This video will help. (It's "COMMA-LAH".)
August 13
Apple just booted Fortnite from the App Store. Epic Games is one of many companies now protesting Apple's exorbitant 30% cut of App Store revenues.
August 12
Some compelling evidence that SARS-CoV-2 spreads through the air, not just through droplets. "It's unambiguous evidence that there is infectious virus in aerosols."
August 11
Historian Allan Lichtman's 13 Keys to the White House has correctly predicted the outcome of every Presidential election since 1984 (and retrospectively to 120 years ago). His system predicts a Biden win this year.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic, there were scattered protests against wearing masks. In SF, ppl were fined or jailed. "Some gave fake names, said they just wanted to light a cigar or that they hated following laws."
August 10
The Kardashev Scale. Categorizations of "Type I, II and III civilizations [are] based on their ability to extract and utilize the power in their planet, star and galaxy, respectively."
From Nature: How the pandemic might play out in 2021 and beyond. "This coronavirus is here for the long haul – here's what scientists predict for the next months and years."
Download the plans to build a nesting box for the Great Crested Flycatcher. They're declining in population in the Northeast, Midwest, and the Southwest.
August 6
Scientists rename human genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates. "It looks like you're entering genetic data. Would you like me to muck it up for you?"
New York's Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the NRA alleging fraud and seeking to dissolve the organization. The NRA is a terrorist organization – good riddance.
A meticulous restoration of Manhatta, a short documentary film about NYC made by Charles Sheeler and Paul Strand in 1921. It's considered the first avant-garde film made in America.
Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die. Great piece by Ed Yong on how the human immune system works, both generally against viruses and specifically against SARS-CoV-2.
August 5
August 4
We Need to Talk About Ventilation. "How is it that six months into a respiratory pandemic, we are still doing so little to mitigate airborne transmission?"
August 3
Nirvana's "Come As You Are" as an old-fashioned swing tune. How can something so wrong feel so right?
Loved seeing @austinkleon and his boys' artwork in the NY Times! "I never went to art school, but being home with my kids turned out to be more inspiring than any art school I can imagine."
Ed Yong: How the Pandemic Defeated America. "How did it come to this? A virus a thousand times smaller than a dust mote has humbled and humiliated the planet's most powerful nation."
"We should be hopeful about the prospects of a vaccine for Covid-19." The natural decrease in antibodies after an infection is not cause for alarm.