March 31
Great essay about how you should learn a little bit of programming so that you can automate some of the repetitive tasks in your life. "Don't learn to code – learn to automate."
I don't know John Siracusa (he's a friend of friends) but lots of what he has to say here, particularly about work/life balance and negotiating your "maximum capacity", resonated with me. Good luck going indie, @siracusa!
Study: Highlighting COVID-19 racial disparities can reduce support for safety precautions among White U.S. residents. You saw this early on in the pandemic, esp in conservative circles: when we learned who was most at risk, concern evaporated.
March 30
A reformed jewel thief says that you want 4-door sedan with "boring paint" as a getaway car. "You want to blend in. That's the getaway. You're not gonna outrun the cops, this is not Baby Driver."
100,000 Stars is a zoomable, draggable simulation of the 119,617 stars in our stellar neighborhood and it works entirely in the browser. Very impressive. "Loading the galaxy, please wait..."
This is the only thing I've read about the Smith/Rock Oscar fracas because Wesley Morris wrote it. Smith, Rock, Jada, Denzel, Sean Combs, Questlove, Lupita, the Williams – "a remarkable convergence of Black celebrities".
March 29
In an old timers game in 1982, 75-year-old Luke Appling (who made his MLB debut in 1930) hit a home run off of Warren Spahn. Age schmage – a sweet swing is a sweet swing.
Shrinkflation and "5 fewer Doritos". In order to avoid raising their prices, brands are shrinking the sizes of their products and charging the same price, e.g. Gatorade shrunk their bottles from 32oz to 28oz.
This move by Golden State's Jordan Poole, in which he splits two defenders by going between his legs twice, is perhaps the best basketball highlight I've ever seen. Even in slow motion, it looks absolutely impossible.
Because of the climate crisis (melting glaciers). Switzerland's cartographers are having to redraw the country's topological maps. "Only three cartographers at the agency [are] allowed to tinker with the Swiss Alps."
March 28
The sad tale of the world's largest bee. Presumed extinct, it was recently rediscovered in Indonesia, but conservation efforts have sputtered and the publicity has made the bee a target for rare animal collectors.
Interesting evolution of the design of the NY Times' maps of the war in Ukraine. Early maps over-represented Russian advances while later maps showed what each side in the conflict was doing more accurately.
Questlove's Summer of Soul won the Oscar for Best Original Documentary. Well-deserved! Great film.
How Joe Manchin Aided Coal, and Earned Millions. "At every step of his political career, Joe Manchin helped a West Virginia power plant that is the sole customer of his private coal business. Along the way, he blocked ambitious climate action."
March 25
March 24
According to CDC tracking data, the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has completely disappeared in the US, supplanted entirely by the 3 Omicron sub-variants. And BA.2 is rapidly gaining in relative prevalence.
Huh, I was unaware of the progress being made on electric airplanes. The long-haul stuff is still going to be fuel-powered, but it seems like shorter routes via electric will be feasible within the next decade.
Design documentary Helvetica came out 15 years ago. It's streaming online for free for the next week in celebration.
March 23
Both poles are experiencing "unprecedented" heatwaves. "Antarctic areas reach 40C above normal at same time as north pole regions hit 30C above usual levels."
March 22
A list of the strongest materials on Earth, including spider silk that's 10X stronger than kevlar and a lighter-than-water fiber that can stop bullets. Diamond doesn't even make the top 5.
March 21
What It's Like to Get Worse at Something. "I had been skiing since childhood. Why did I suddenly suck at it?"
A Houston townhouse with an interior inspired by Friends. "There's a Central Perk and your very own Friends fountain replica (mural)."
From epidemiologist Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, here's what we might expect from Omicron BA.2 here in the US. "This is also the perfect time to get boosted, get vaccinated, and order your second set of free antigen tests."
Once again, America is in denial about signs of a fresh Covid wave. "In the past couple of weeks, UK, Germany, France and others are experiencing a new wave. The US should get ready." Only 29% of the US pop. has had 3 shots!
March 19
Christopher Alexander, best known for his book A Pattern Language, has died at the age of 85. His work and humanist perspective was really influential for me early on in my career.
It Could've Been the World's Largest Potato, if Only It Were a Potato. "We're good at growing potatoes in New Zealand, but we're not that good."
March 18
Patrick Radden Keefe: How Putin's Oligarchs Bought London. "From banking to boarding schools, the British establishment has long been at their service, discretion guaranteed."
March 17
Clip from Late Night with David Letterman where his guest is Fred Rogers, who talks about meeting Eddie Murphy. It's from 1982, just 2 weeks after the show premiered. Neither Dave nor his audience quite knows what to make of his earnest guest.
Well, this is a lot of fun – play online with a trio of Roland music machines: the TR-808 drum machine, the TB-303 bass synthesizer, and the SH-101 synthesizer. There's even a record button, so you can d/l the tunes you make.
A forthcoming book by Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn: Lost Objects: 50 Stories About the Things We Miss and Why They Matter. "What is it about these bygone objects? Why do they continue to haunt us long after they've vanished from our lives?"
I feel like I've featured this before (or something like it), but it's worthwhile so: City Roads will give you a bare-bones map of every road in a given city. Try it w/ NYC, Shanghai, Paris, or Berlin.
March 16
Why is Russia invading Ukraine?, a recent episode of Vermont Public Radio's But Why: A Podcast For Curious Kids.
You Don't Really Ever Own an EV. "If carmakers can dictate how you use your car, do you really even own it?" (Most of this applies to any vehicle with an extensive software component.)
March 15
The 2020 US census undercounted Hispanic, Black and Native American residents. The pandemic & Republican meddling hampered efforts at an accurate count, but the census also chronically undercounts those groups.
Small independent creators on Vimeo are seeing massive increases in their monthly bills. Pay up or leave, says Vimeo.
Over two dozen family members whose loved ones have died due to OxyContin addiction were able to address members of the Sackler family directly in court for the first time. "You murdered my daughter and destroyed my family."
An appreciation of the old-school Chowhound by Robert Sietsema. "Chowhound was at least partly responsible for setting us on the culinary path we're on today, one that's more inclusive and less Euro-centric."
The commercials to showcase the incentives for electric cars in Vermont are embarrassingly bad. This makes people want to buy EVs?
Today is Equal Pay Day in the US for 2022. "This date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year."
March 14
50 years after playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Al Pacino looks back. "It's a piece of work that I was so fortunate to be in. But it's taken me a lifetime to accept it and move on."
March 10
How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Help Win the Civil War. "The nearly 1,000 bite-sized telegrams that he wrote during his presidency helped win the Civil War by projecting presidential power in unprecedented fashion."
Looking back to the birth of Google, situated above a beloved bookstore. "The nerds upstairs had a cheap plastic banner made with the Google name emblazoned on it...[it] was an embarrassment and an eyesore."
March 9
Working with Edward Lorenz, programmers Ellen Fetter and Margaret Hamilton (who would later work on the Apollo program) played a pivotal role in the birth of chaos theory. "Today, [they] would have been listed as co-authors on that seminal paper."
As an experiment, Dr. Tab Combs removed any signs of being a woman from her Twitter acct. The result? Less mansplaining, harassment, and threats. "For the first time, I felt like the expert my friends & colleagues say I am."
Are Gas Prices Too High? Or Is Your Car Too Big? "What if, facing those high prices [in 2012], we had made changes on the demand side instead?"
March 8
I, High-Powered Fashion Editor Miranda Priestly, Demand an Assistant Who Is Terrible. "If you should falter, even once, I vow that I will become briefly aggravated with you and then keep you in your position."
A 4-year-old unvaccinated child has tested positive for polio in Israel. It's the first case there since 1989. (Something tells me we'll be seeing more of this.)
"The European Commission on Tuesday outlined its strategy to cut [natural gas] import needs from Russia by two-thirds this year." It's amazing what can be done when the urgency is there...
Interesting post from Cameron Sun about how he visualizes numbers. "Nine is a monolithic block with a slot gouged out of it, for receiving a one. It functions like a hook, peeling off a one from any number it's added to."
The Restorative Joy of Cycling by @pomeranian99. "When I arrive home, I feel like I've microdosed the pure essence of urban life. I've been *in* the world."
The 2022 Tournament of Books is underway! Over the next month, 16 books will be narrowed down to one. I have read a remarkable number of these...I can judge if there's an injury. Put me in, coach!
The Gender Pay Gap Bot is retweeting International Women's Day posts from companies/organizations and highlighting the gender pay gap, e.g. "In this organisation, women's median hourly pay is 24.4% lower than men's."
March 7
Worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has claimed at least 6 million lives. Almost a million of those are in the US. "Public health experts agree that six million is a vast undercount and that the true devastation will never be precisely known."
Design Emergency: Building a Better Future. "Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time."
Playing Wordle collaboratively. "When we play together, there seems to be a correlation between how many guesses and how much fun we have. The more time it takes the better."
Turning the Focus on America's Oligarchs. "Could the scrutiny of Putin's favored billionaires hastened by the war in Ukraine extend to the hidden money that subverts democracy in the United States?"
March 4
March 3
March 2
March 1
Data visualization of the common household types in the US. In 2021, 28% of US households were single people living alone, 22% were married couples w/ no kids, and 21% were married couples with kids.
An interview with "veteran Russia watcher" Fiona Hill on what she thinks Putin and Russia are up to in invading Ukraine. In her opinion, would Putin use nuclear weapons? "Well, yes, he would."
Parents of trans kids in Texas are already being investigated for child abuse after Gov Abbott's order last week. One woman who works for the state has been placed on leave from her job and is being asked for her child's medical records.
Goodreads lost all of my pal @nelson's data last week. Nine years, 600 books, 250 reviews: all gone, seemingly forever. "In 35 years of being online I've never encountered a company with such callous disregard for their users' data."