worth reading: august 28-september 16, 2024

too many links, as usual

“The Asteroid-in-Spring Hypothesis” by Kerry Howley (unpaywalled)
- insanely riveting paleontology drama. consider this quote: "The field of paleontology is mean. It has always been mean. It is, in the words of Uppsala University professor Per Ahlberg, “a honeypot of narcissists.” It is “a snake pit of personality disorders.” “An especially nasty area of academia,” the Field Museum’s Jingmai O’Connor calls it. Among the subfields, nastiness correlates with the size and carnivorousness of the creature under study, the comity possible among those who study ammonites being unlikely among those who study T. rex."
“Can a YouTube video really fix your wet phone?” by David Pierce
- belated song of the summer is “Sound To Remove Water From Phone Speaker ( GUARANTEED )”
“The Bookmaker” by Leif Weatherby and Ben Recht
- one of several interesting critiques of Nate Silver's new book
“America Must Free Itself From the Tyranny of the Penny” by Caity Weaver
- Caity Weaver never misses!!
“Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art” by Ted Chiang
- kind of tired about discourse on this one but any Ted Chiang article is always an interesting read
- An interesting response (thanks EM!) “Ted Chiang Is Wrong About AI Art” by Matteo Wong (unpaywalled)
- And another response: “Even if AI makes art, it may be bad for culture” by Henry Farrell
“Who Gets to Kill in Self-Defense?” by Rachel Louise Snyder
- content warning for domestic violence / gendered violence
“Break Up Big Econ” by David Deming
- lol I just thought this was kind of funny. break up big econ! (I wonder if anyone would describe economics as "a snake pit of personality disorders"?)
“List of pangrams” by Richard Rutter
- particularly enamored by “Foxy diva Jennifer Lopez wasn’t baking my quiche.”
“The neolithic dad guide to what time to leave for the airport” by Stephen Collins
- good stuff
“Where MAGA Granddads and Resistance Moms Go to Learn America’s Most Painful History Lessons” by Laura Jedeed
- this one rocks. go go Colonial Williamsburg!
“Why Physics Is Unreasonably Good at Creating New Math” by Ananyo Bhattacharya
- cool!
The Temu croissant lamp TikTok by @froginahatgirl
- hate linking a TikTok but this one is mesmerizing. the sound it makes at the end...
“38-pound rescue cat Crumbs gets stuck in shoe rack while trying to escape from fat camp: ‘He caused a ruckus’” by Ben Cost
- worth it just for the photo of the cat stuck in the shoe rack.
“How to Monetize A Blog” by this guy named Tyler
- gotta open this one on desktop to really appreciate the gonzo web design