June 26, 2021
The Tyranny of Spreadsheets
From a 13th c. merchant's annoyance at bookkeeping to VisiCalc to the recent UK Govt 'misplacing' 16,000 Covid cases, spreadsheets are the swiss army knife of data. A chapter adaptation from Tim Harford's podcast Cautionary Tales, an exploration of Excel and its limits.
Novels as a kind of literary seismograph
"Clashes of arms, he wrote, were usually preceded by wars of – and sometimes on – words, and therefore words could also be used to prevent them." From 2018 to 2020 the German government worked with a group of literacy scholars to anticipate geopolitical futures. [more inside]
Mechanical Displays: Fine Art Edition
BreakfastNY makes artwork out of hand-built mechanical displays, including flip-dot displays, 'brixels' (rotating mirrored bricks), and moar.
The Tri-State Tornado of 1925
The Tri-State Tornado of March 18, 1925, is the most destructive tornado on record in the United States. It was part of the deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history. This happened in the days before such events could be reliably forecast, and at a time when forecasters were forbidden to use the word "tornado." Stories from survivors are predictably chilling. Surviving the tornado required luck and a little counterintuitive thinking.
Network Effects
Why some biologists and ecologists think social media is a risk to humanity. "Seventeen researchers who specialize in widely different fields, from climate science to philosophy, make the case that academics should treat the study of technology’s large-scale impact on society as a 'crisis discipline'[:]...a field in which scientists across different fields work quickly to address an urgent societal problem."
Waiting for the Weekend
Japan proposes four-day working week to improve work-life balance - "The Japanese government has just unveiled its annual economic policy guidelines, which include new recommendations that companies permit their staff to opt to work four days a week instead of the typical five."[1,2,3] [more inside]
Julien Baker’s Long Journey to Loving Pride
“I’m bummed that it took me so long to be able to sit in queer joy.” - Julien Baker in conversation with Slate's Outward podcast. Extracted quotes on episode page worthwhile. Full interview (which ranges much wider and deeper) with Baker happens in the podcast play-gizmo at the bottom of the page, starting at 14:43, ending at 40:49. [more inside]
Dr Moebius I presume
Sable is a chill (at least in the demo) coming-of-age game with graphics that are clearly inspired by the famous French sci-fi artist, and a lovely low-key soundtrack by Japanese Breakfast. Demo available both for PC and XBox gives about an hour of gameplay (although I've played it much longer just to linger in the world).
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