As per recent tradition, I'm posting Friday Links on Thanksgiving in case you need a distraction from whatever holiday disaster might be happening around you.
I also traditionally take Friday off after Thanksgiving, and I'll be doing that again this year. See you all on Monday.
Leading off, a long and fascinating read: A Man of Parts and Learning Fara Dabhoiwala on the portrait of Francis Williams.
If you'd prefer an audio deep dive, here you go: The Most Iconic Electronic Music Sample of Every Year (1990-2023).
Maybe the nerdiest LOTR thing I've ever seen: Satellite Photos of Middle Earth.
Okay, this is the ultimate long read. The Digital Antiquarian, which is legendary, has a sister site called The Analog Antiquarian, and it has an 18-chapter post about Magellan. Here's chapter one, and you can find the rest of it from there: Chapter 1: East to Asia, West to Asia.
From Wally, and wtf is up with these custom popcorn buckets and why in the world do people want them? AMC Reveals Its Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim 27-Inch Popcorn Bucket. I prefer turkey, but lasagna isn't bad, either: How Thanksgiving Lasagna Became an American Staple. With links for more information on most of the films: 31 Titles Are Eligible for the Animated Feature Film Academy Award This Year.
From C. Lee, and it's an interesting look at food spending: Mapped: How Much Americans Spend on Groceries in Each State. I don't have either problem they mention, fortunately, because I have a huge sweet tooth: Britain’s postwar sugar craze confirms harms of sweet diets in early life. An excellent read: To invent the wheel, did people first have to invent the spindle? A bizarre and fascinating bit of history: Scientists Put Cats in Microgravity to See What Would Happen. Weasel alert! Children’s slippers stolen in night at Japanese preschool, police identify weasel who did it. This is unfortunate: Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is losing players midway for an unfortunate reason – its target audience has grown old and farsighted. It looks fantastic: Retro beige PC case goes from April Fools' joke to retail — SilverStone's sleeper PC with modern internals ships in Q1 2025.
I have this sign on my study door now:
Telling the story will take the better part of the week, because it's interesting and has quite a few twists and turns.
To be clear, I'm fine. I got punched in the stomach by a homeless man who has some serious mental health issues while I was on a walk downtown. It was a hard punch, but I had on a puffy jacket that absorbed enough of the blow that my discomfort today is minor. I also live with a lovely physician who examined me as soon as I got home. The force of the punch was on my stomach muscles, not my ribs or internal organs.
In its entirety, it's quite a story, and I didn't want to start telling it today and then have to pick it up again on Monday. So I'll start at the beginning of next week.
Yesterday I did something goofy and C said "The weird in me salutes the weird in you." That's the best description of a relationship I've ever heard.
Leading off this week, a fantastic read: As NASA increasingly relies on commercial space, there are some troubling signs.
From C. Lee, and it happens on the regular: When the Mismanagerial Class Destroys Great Companies. This is a brilliant read: A Different Dust Bowl. This is unexpected: Early puberty may be linked to a common chemical used in personal care products. Ack! Reusable water bottles have more bacteria on them than dog bowls and toilet seats, study finds. This is very cool: There's an optical illusion hidden in San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid. Oops! Mattel accidentally linked a *orn site on Wicked doll packaging. This has enormous possibilities: New thermal material provides 72% better cooling than conventional paste. An excellent read: The ironic god of overly familiar Osaka. A very odd trend: Why are cassette and CD players so bulky now? This is a wonderful story: 79-year-old Japanese granny who fell in love with Initial D sports car finds perfect new owner.
From Wally, a coffee nerd alert: Bloom Phase: How to Read the Bubbles In Your Coffee. This is short but terrific (drawing comics professionally): The Wisdom of Wally Wood. A long read on a pivotal American Revolution battle: Trenton 1776. I was totally blown away by how many flavors of potato chips ("crisps") they had in England: The crunch, the flavours, the rituals: how crisps became a British snack obsession.
I sent this in in text form to Eli 23.3 today:
I had a crazy idea to write a book called "Embrace the Pain: the New Science of Stretching" and fill it with pseudoscience and speculations about cavemen and become an international fitness phenomenon but I don't have the energy to go on Oprah.
The scary thing is I think this would probably work.
C has a better idea, though: a small volume of "curmudgeon haiku."
Leading off this week, a terrific read: How a stubborn computer scientist accidentally launched the deep learning boom.
This is so outstanding: The Onion wins Alex Jones' Infowars in bankruptcy auction.
Amazingly talented: Jon Batiste Hears Green Day for the First Time.
No surprise: Nearly three years since launch, Webb is a hit among astronomers.
An excellent read: 'You mean I have to stop my experiment?' Not all Nobel laureates react the way you might expect.
From C. Lee, and it's terrific: Who Invented These Everyday Items. This is thoughtful: A day to reflect on life, aging and our own mortality. A brilliant innovation: Japanese team makes concrete in different way to cut CO2 to zero. This is helpful: Location tracking of phones is out of control. Here’s how to fight back. Good grief: Hospitals adopt error-prone AI transcription tools despite warnings. This is pathetic: Big Tech Is Going to Take Ass-Kissing to New Heights.
From Wally, and it's a great idea: Space stations are loud — that's why NASA is making a quiet fan. This is an utterly fantastic read: I … Am Herman Melville!: Sam Weller details the tempestuous collaboration of Ray Bradbury and John Huston on the production of the 1956 movie “Moby Dick.”
Did I mention Eli 23.3 is running a marathon two days after Thanksgiving? It's hard to keep up.
He called me three weeks ago and said his friend was going to run the Hamburg marathon in September/October but didn't because of illness. So they're going back together, have plotted a course accurate to the meter, and will run it in the very early hours of the 30th. He doesn't care about a t-shirt or a finisher's medal; he just wants the experience.
His training base is going to be low--maybe 25 miles a week--but I have decades of experience running low-mileage marathons (or used to), so we talked for a while about strategies. Marathons are all about making good decisions during the race.
If anyone can make good decisions in the moment, it's him, so he should be fine. He ran a half-marathon this morning at an easy pace and said it felt great, so he's adapting quickly to longer runs.
I told him I'll be thrilled when there's another member of the family marathon club.
