I enjoyed reading David Marchese’s interview with literary agent Andrew Wylie and found it worthwhile but Wylie himself is not my cup of tea.
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Entries for November 2023
A 4.5 Billion Year Video Timeline of Earth in 60 Minutes
To mark the 10th anniversary of their YouTube channel, Kurzgesagt has released a video timeline of the Earth’s evolution, all 4.5 billion years of it. The video is 60 minutes long, which means that each second shows about 1 million years. And it’s kind of a music video…of sorts? There’s talking but there are definitely stretches of just music and visuals…it’s not your usual science explainer video.
Hop on a musical train ride and experience how long a billion years really is. It’s the perfect background for your next party, a great way to take a break from studying, or a fascinating companion while you’re on the go.
After years of rumors, James Cameron has finally remastered The Abyss in 4K and is releasing it in theaters for one night only on December 6th. Here’s the trailer.
On the importance of language during conflict. “One simple word carries completely different meanings & each of those meanings is loaded with historical, cultural, and emotional baggage that can’t easily be unpacked or set aside.”
A Pocket-Sized Record Player Circa 1924
Before the iPod, before the Walkman, there was the Mikiphone, a portable record player that folded up into a case that you could fit in your pocket. Invented circa 1924, this portable phonograph was powered by a hand-crank and could play 10-inch records.
At first glance, the closed Mikiphone appears quite compact, easily fitting inside a purse.
However, it requires some assembly, with its components stored within the case, which, when shut, measures just 11.5 cm in diameter and 4.7 cm in thickness.
The recording head and a two-piece Bakelite resonator had to be connected to the foldout tone arm before the shellac disc could be placed on the turntable’s central pin.
This precision engineering feat was awarded first prize at an international music exhibition in Geneva in 1927.
Courtesy of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound, a demonstration of how to assemble the Mikiphone and play records on it:
(via clive thompson)
An incredible deep dive into the golden age of gadget catalogs. Love the bloggy voice…somehow I had never heard of any of these. These names though: “Our Space-age Product Catalog” & “Products That Think”. 😍
I watched David Fincher’s The Killer last night (loved it, actually) and enjoyed Max Read’s take: “…it reminds us that throughout his career Fincher has been in dialogue with the concerns of 4chan and the rest of Loser Internet”.
A 2-Minute Clip From 3 Body Problem
The premiere date for the Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin’s Three-Body Problem trilogy by Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff inches ever closer and, well, I just really want this to be good (because I enjoyed the book series so much). Between the teaser trailer and the clip above, I am cautiously optimistic. 3 Body Problem is out on Netflix on March 21, 2024.
Wow, Robert Butler directed the initial episodes for Batman, Star Trek, Moonlighting, Hill Street Blues, Hogan’s Heroes, and Remington Steele. Butler died earlier this month, aged 95.
Antidepressants or Tolkien? “Can you guess if the word is an antidepressants drug or a Tolkien character?” These were pretty tough actually.
If You Wish to Make an Apple Pie From Scratch, You Must First Invent the Universe
At the beginning of the ninth episode of his 13-part series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Carl Sagan says:
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
Taking a page from Sagan’s book, Zack Scholl made a site called Recursive Recipes, which allows you to drill down into the ingredients of some common foods, replacing them with other recipes.
A recursive recipe is one where ingredients in the recipe can be replaced by another recipe. The more ingredients you replace, the more that the recipe is made truly from scratch.
Here’s what the apple pie recipe looks like when you make everything you can from scratch:
You don’t quite begin at the Big Bang, but if you start with soil, a cow, and some seawater, it’s still going to take you almost 8 years to make that pie. The wheat needed for the flour, for instance:
Plant winter wheat in fall to allow for six to eight weeks of growth before the soil freezes. This allows time for good root development. If the wheat is planted too early, it may smother itself the following spring and it could be vulnerable to some late-summer insects that won’t be an issue in the cooler fall weather. If winter wheat is planted too late, it will not overwinter well.
This reminds me of Thomas Thwaites’ Toaster Project, in which he built a toaster from scratch:
Thwaites reverse engineered a seven dollar toaster into 400 separate parts and then set about recreating steel from iron ore rocks, plastic from microwaved potatoes and copper from homemade bromide mush.
(via waxy)
TIL there’s a whole genus of South American spiders whose species are named after people and things in the 1987 movie Predator, e.g. “Predatoroonops schwarzeneggeri”.
The teaser trailer for Netflix’s live-action series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. We are big Avatar fans in this house (my daughter has watched the original series like 6 times) and our general vibe is “uh, don’t screw this up!”
Coyote Vs. Acme Movie! Shelved?!
I just found out today that they made a movie version of Ian Frazier’s classic 1990 New Yorker piece Coyote V. Acme, in which Wile E. Coyote files a product liability lawsuit against the Acme Company.
Mr. Coyote states that on December 13th he received of Defendant via parcel post one Acme Rocket Sled. The intention of Mr. Coyote was to use the Rocket Sled to aid him in pursuit of his prey. Upon receipt of the Rocket Sled Mr. Coyote removed it from its wooden shipping crate and, sighting his prey in the distance, activated the ignition. As Mr. Coyote gripped the handlebars, the Rocket Sled accelerated with such sudden and precipitate force as to stretch Mr. Coyote’s forelimbs to a length of fifty feet. Subsequently, the rest of Mr. Coyote’s body shot forward with a violent jolt, causing severe strain to his back and neck and placing him unexpectedly astride the Rocket Sled. Disappearing over the horizon at such speed as to leave a diminishing jet trail along its path, the Rocket Sled soon brought Mr. Coyote abreast of his prey. At that moment the animal he was pursuing veered sharply to the right. Mr. Coyote vigorously attempted to follow this maneuver but was unable to, due to poorly designed steering on the Rocket Sled and a faulty or nonexistent braking system. Shortly thereafter, the unchecked progress of the Rocket Sled brought it and Mr. Coyote into collision with the side of a mesa.
My excitement was tempered almost immediately by hearing that Warner Bros. has shelved the completed film (starring John Cena & Will Forte and produced by James Gunn) in order to take a $30 million tax write-off.
In another maneuver by the David Zaslav-run Warner Bros Discovery to kill movies, we hear on very good authority that Warner Bros will not be releasing the hybrid live-action/animated Coyote vs. Acme, with the conglom taking an estimated $30M write-down on the $70M production. We understand the write-down for the pic was applied to the recently reported Q3.
What the fuck? Understandably, the folks who made the film are pissed.
I was lucky to help write on this. [Dave Green] spent years directing a hilarious heartwarming film that tested well with every audience. If great stories with beloved characters and A-list stars are getting shelved for tax write offs, why are studios even in the movie business.
Release the film, you cowards!
Update: Warner has apparently agreed to let the filmmakers of Coyote vs. Acme find alternate distribution for the film.
Warners declined to comment, but a good source tells me the decision was made this weekend by Warners film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, along with new animation head Bill Damaschke, after the online outcry by filmmakers and the animation community, as well as some heated back-and-forth between the studio and reps for the director and stars. Warners had agreed to pay the top talent their streaming bonuses despite the film being scrapped, but obviously, everyone involved in this project wants it to be released by someone.
And here’s a behind-the-scenes reel of the filming…it kept getting taken down from Twitter & YT but has found a home on the Internet Archive.
(thx, andy)
“I built a trading bot that buys stocks that are being bought by politicians. It is up 20% since it launched in May 2022. The market has been flat during the same time period.” More here.
Choosing a Leader Wisely
From Octavia Bulter’s Parable of the Talents:
Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.
To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.
To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.
Context and more from The Marginalian. (via @rowanwhite & kelsey)
“Sponge cities are reimagined urban areas that imitate the natural water cycle. They prioritize water management through green infrastructure like parks, wetlands, rain gardens, bioswales, and green roofs.”
The Art of Dried Flowers and Large-Scale Embroidery
Many thanks to Colossal for introducing me to artist Olga Prinku, who forages for flowers, branches, and other natural elements and incorporates them into large-scale embroidery works. Quite lovely. Check out more of her art on her website and on Instagram.
Congrats to David Wertheimer on 25 years of blogging. “My blog is still here, still publishing new content, at the same URL as when it was launched, and with almost all of the archives intact and readable.”
Deaf People Show Us How to Swear in Sign Language
From a series The Cut did called Deaf People Tell, a group of deaf people teach us how to swear and say bad words in sign language. I really liked the one for “bullshit”. Probably NSFW.
Dan Cederholm teamed up with Wilco to make a typeface based on a vintage sign in the band’s studio. “Hey, does Wilco need a font?”
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have previously produced Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Now comes the trailer for a third series about WWII: Masters of the Air. Coming to Apple TV+ in January.
The teaser trailer for Inside Out 2 — looks like there’s a new emotion in town (anxiety). I didn’t even know Pixar was doing a sequel…interesting.
Searching for Humanity in Fortnite’s Battle Royale
Nearly everything about Fortnite’s popular Battle Royale mode is geared towards creating conflict between its players. In this episode of Pop Culture Detective, Jonathan McIntosh explores whether you can be a pacifist in a virtual world filled with war and, beyond that, whether you can make friends with your fiercest enemy. As a Fortnite player who has qualms about even the cartoony violence in the game, I loved this video. It reminded me of Robin Sloan’s piece in the Atlantic from 2018: I Played Fortnite and Figured Out the Universe.
When they’re successful, these negotiations are honestly more nervy and exciting than the game’s most intense shoot-outs. I’m not the only one who thinks so. In forums dedicated to Fortnite Battle Royale, some players share clips of chance alliances, and others reply glumly: “Super rare to find someone [who] won’t shoot you when you emote.” I dream of a Political Fortnite in which victory goes not to the twitchiest sniper but the most charismatic organizer, with factions forming and dissolving… I imagine the fear and thrill of seeing not one but a dozen tiny silhouettes on the far ridge-a war band sweeping fast down the hillside. I’m outnumbered; can I convince them to let me join them?
(thx, andy)
Maybe you knew this but I didn’t: the Great British Bake Off puts the complete recipes for many of their challenges online, including what looks like all the technicals and 100s of bakes by contestants.
The Finalists in the 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are always a good time…and here are the finalists for the 2023 competition.
Jezebel, the pioneering site geared towards women, is being shut down by its parent company, effective immediately.
10 Rules for Drawing From Christoph Niemann
Illustrator Christoph Niemann shares 10 Things I Remind Myself Before I Draw. I’m a strong advocate of his 10th rule:
Sitting at my desk is always right. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to make good work. There are millions of tips and tricks and manifestos out there. But at the end there’s only one single truth for me: sit down and start drawing.
(thx, matt)
Lessons from Star Wars and Barbie about revolutions. “‘Barbie’ and ‘Andor’ are useful for those who want to understand why revolutions happen and what it takes for them to happen.”
Looks like Automattic is de-staffing Tumblr (moving folks to other projects) and basically putting the site on life support.
How to Navigate Using Nature
A quick and breezy introduction to some basic wayfinding techniques from Fran Scott and BBC Earth Kids. Unless you went to camp as a kid or have spent a bunch of time outdoors, at least some of these techniques will be new to you. I’d never heard of trees growing in a check mark shape. From natural navigation expert Tristan Gooley:
Obviously, all green plants need sunlight. So it’s logical that plants will, all things being equal, tend to grow more abundantly on the side the light comes from. In the northern parts of the world, where the sun is due south in the middle of the day, that means plants are growing more abundantly on the south side.
Try noticing this in a tree the next time you take a walk outside. You should see that there’s more tree on the south side, unless there are other factors-for instance there are amazing examples of glass buildings that can make trees grow the wrong way. But generally speaking, there should be more of the tree on the south side.
Gooley is the author of The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals — and Other Forgotten Skills and several related books. (via the kid should see this)
Creating a Gentle World on a Little Leaf
A man named Lito makes these incredibly intricate artworks using the natural canvas of tree leaves — he posts all of his creations on Instagram.
Quilt Bot: you upload a photo or an image and it’ll generate a pattern for a patchwork quilt.
I’ve Been To Over 20 Homeschool Conferences. The Things I’ve Witnessed At Them Shocked Me. “I pass another booth where a man and a woman are talking about gun rights… at a homeschool conference. Then I pass a Moms for Liberty booth.”
Amazing 8K Video of the Annular Solar Eclipse
Using a custom hydrogen alpha solar telescope, Jason Kurth took a collection of high-resolution photographs of the recent annular solar eclipse and arranged them into an 8K video of the event. The level of detail here is incredible — you can see solar flares and features on the surface of the Sun pulsing and shifting as the Moon moves across it. You can see a bit of Kurth’s setup on Instagram.
This is interesting: a new development in Phoenix is being built with mixed-use, no room or roads for cars, and more density than your average suburb. “Freedom is being able to just simply walk out and access places.”
The Whimsical Web: a hand-picked collection of websites that have some extra personality, fun, and weirdness. (Psst, have you tried my hamburger menu?)
The 10 Rules of Being Human
A few decades ago, Chérie Carter-Scott devised a list of 10 Rules for Being Human, which was published in her 1998 book If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules. These rules are often presented on social media as being “handed down from ancient Sanskrit” but their more recent origin shouldn’t keep us from learning what we can from them. Here they are:
- You will receive a body. You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth.
- You will be presented with lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called ‘life.’ Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.
- There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work.
- A lesson is repeated until learned. Lessons will be repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on to the next lesson.
- Learning does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
- “There” is no better than “here”. When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain a “there” that will look better to you than your present “here”.
- Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
- What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you.
- Your answers lie inside of you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
- You will forget all of this at birth. You can remember it if you want by unraveling the double helix of inner knowing.
Update: Chris Glass had a lovely experience with Carter-Scott’s book recently.
Just a short post of appreciation for The Kid Should See This. I was just looking at their top nav and it reminded me of the old school bounty of the original Yahoo! directory. 6000+ videos for curious learners of all ages. 👏
Free Speech Absolutists Explain Why People They Disagree With Should Be Fired. “If our livelihoods aren’t tethered to conformity and obedience, then what the hell’s the point of America?”
A falcon lost his ability to fly. Now the bird is an artist in Vermont. “He’s a little bird who think he’s a human.”
I don’t really know exactly what to say about this today, but Craig Mod’s thoughts on aloneness, solitude, therapy, and self-renewal really resonated with me.
A Human Deterioration. “I see people watching the horrible tragedy that is happening here as if it were a Super Bowl of victimhood, in which you support one team and really don’t care about the other, empathy becomes very, very selective.”
The Nature Conservancy’s Photo Contest Winners for 2023
The Nature Conservancy has announced this year’s winners of their annual photo contest. Collectively, the winning photographs “gave voice to nature and showed us the power and peril of the natural world”. As usual, I selected a few of my favorites and included them above. From top to bottom:
- Jaime Daniel Fajardo Torres: “This is a species of spider known as ogre spiders, of the genus Deinopis. The photograph was taken at night in the middle of a mature forest in northern Ecuador in the tropical rainforest of the Ecuadorian Chocó, a place considered a hotspot. The spider photographed was generating its egg sac with its own web.”
- HJ Yang: An orca attacks two seals in the morning on the beach.
- Jeanny Tang: “The holes dug by fish for spawning can be seen after the pond has dried up.”
(via in focus)
The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False. “It does not accurately describe either the foundation of Israel or the tragedy of the Palestinians.”
HBO’s The Jinx – Part Two will cover the course of the investigation of the crimes of Robert Durst since the first award-winning installment.
We Are Starlings: Inside the Mesmerizing Magic of a Murmuration. “A stunning picture book for young nature lovers about starlings and the fascinating phenomenon of murmurations.”
The Making of the Last Beatles Song: Now And Then
The four members of the Beatles, assisted by machine learning technology, come together one last time to record a song together, working off of a demo tape recorded by John Lennon in the 70s.
The long mythologised John Lennon demo was first worked on in February 1995 by Paul, George and Ringo as part of The Beatles Anthology project but it remained unfinished, partly because of the impossible technological challenges involved in working with the vocal John had recorded on tape in the 1970s. For years it looked like the song could never be completed.
But in 2022 there was a stroke of serendipity. A software system developed by Peter Jackson and his team, used throughout the production of the documentary series Get Back, finally opened the way for the uncoupling of John’s vocal from his piano part. As a result, the original recording could be brought to life and worked on anew with contributions from all four Beatles.
Here’s the result, a song called Now and Then:
I enjoyed Ben Lindbergh’s take on the new song and its recording.
A thought-provoking piece about how therapists are handling the climate crisis. “Human well-being has historically been linked to participation in a healthy ecocultural context. Living within a context that is obviously unhealthful is painful.”
Jazmine Hughes, an award-winning NY Times writer, agreed to resign after signing a letter of support for Palestinians & protesting Israel’s Gaza seige. The definitions of “public protest” & “independence” here are completely arbitrary.
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