Frontier Cities
Nick Allen | IM-1776 | 19th July 2024 | U
The wannabe Mars colonists have the right idea but the wrong location. Here on Earth, there are hundreds of thousands of acres of US land currently under federal management, out of which parcels of about 50,000 acres could easily be carved to create "frontier cities". New technologies, philosophies and ways of living could thrive in such a planned metropolis. A fresh start without a rocket (2,500 words)
Your Body’s Updated Terms Of Service
Chas Gillespie | McSweeney's | 18th July 2024 | U
Thoughts on ageing, expressed via a tech-style service agreement. Includes thoughts on diet, the life of the mind, the benefits of getting older, and a tally of which organs are still functioning. On exercise, I draw your attention to point b: "If your physical pain ever starts to feel depressing, it could help to look on the bright side: if you were a hunter-gatherer, you’d probably be dead by now" (1,000 words)
Poetry Of PhD Acknowledgements
Tabitha Carvan | ANU College Of Science | 11th July 2024 | U
Always read the acknowledgements of a PhD thesis. They reveal something of the isolation involved in pursuing research and the academic life — "six years is a long time", as one writer wryly admits. Thanks to loved ones are expected and plentiful, but baristas, dogs, typists, Dave Grohl, and unborn children also merit mentions. A nuclear physicist says it best: "You are all precious like stardust" (2,600 words)
The Bank Of England’s Greatest Crime
Calvin Po | Spectator | 6th July 2024 | M
The worst thing the Bank has ever done is the 1916 demolition of large portions of its own premises. Designed by Georgian neoclassical architect John Soane, this sprawling complex of vaulted and domed spaces is a great loss. It had "an elemental classicism that harks back to the Roman Baths of Diocletian or the Byzantine Hagia Sophia, a geometric sanctification of high finance" (1,500 words)
from The Browser six years ago:
One Last Blockbuster Night
Justin Heckert | Ringer | 19th July 2018 | U
A decade after the rest of America gave up on video rentals, the country’s last Blockbuster stores are closing in Alaska. “This business went from nothing to an integral part of American culture over the course of five or six years. And when it started dying, it didn’t take long. Over half of the country was in a video store in a period of about six or seven hours on Friday and Saturday night” (9,300 words)
Podcast: The Art Of Rest | Intelligence Squared. Scientist talks an audience through evidence-based sleep advice, and posits theories for why the pandemic made our rest worse rather than better (60m 05s)
Video: Letter About A Very Grumpy Cat | YouTube | Letters Live | 5m 39s
Woody Harrelson reads a 1963 letter from John Cheever to a friend who had given him her grumpy, quarrelsome cat, causing a years-long rift in their friendship. "He is not a forgiving cat. Indeed, he is proud"
Afterthought:
"It was no wonder that people were so horrible when they started life as children"
―Kingsley Amis