Thom's Link Emporium - 0022 - 20 June 2022
Another week of mostly lovely weather and the mosquitos really have been using my legs as an all-you-can-eat buffet. Maybe I’m OK with this being basically all of the British summer. It’s been an amazing week for cricket, so apologies in returning to that for another intro. First England went and won their second test match in a row, doing so with an extraordinary performance by Jonny Bairstow. Then, in a game against The Netherlands, the ODI team beat their own record to get the highest score ever in an ODI (498). In doing so, Jos Buttler (delightfully called “Yoss” by the Dutch commentator) almost beat the record for the fastest ever century, held by a certain man called Jos Buttler. In summary, it was fun and it’s been lovely to have a week that even without the cricket, has been my best for some time.
Links
People looking angry in local papers - a greatest hits post. For those of you who miss out on your local press, this is a good insight into the sort of thing you're missing out on.
Ed West on British Twee and the Platinum Jubilee. Very true.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury wrote a letter to a six year old who asked "who invented god?" and the answer is lovely, and perfectly pitched.
Another article from Alex Hern from earlier in the month when his identity was stolen to flog a doomed cryptocurrency (is there any other type?)
Randall Monroe of xkcd is publishing a second volume of his wonderful "What If?" column. (First book). As a taster, here he is answering how many banana's you'd need to use their radioactivity to power a house.
Listening
Arcade Fire covering Harry Styles's As It Was (song of the year?) is the sort of delightful crossover that I enjoy very much
Reading
I’ve been tearing through Dreaming the Beatles by Rob Sheffield, after having it recommended to me by other Beatleheads since it was published. They were right, it’s an excellent book. It’s probably one for those who already know enough about the band that they get most of the references, perhaps? It’s certainly not a biography in the normal sense, more a collection of excellent essays about The Beatles and the sixties. If that sounds even slightly near the street that you’re up, I recommend exploring.
Watching
I’m watching my way through the Jurassic Park films. Not because I’m excited by the new one, but more because I’m interested in why the first is undeniably a classic and all of the rest have been disappointments.
It happens quickly since The Lost World: Jurassic Park (the second film) is already not a patch on its predecessor. The effects have got better, but the plot has got so, so much worse. You can see all of Spielberg’s touches in the second film, but they feel pedestrian, almost like it’s a parody of a Spielberg film. And they go downhill from there.
Quote
It is the duty of machines and those who design them to understand people. It is not our duty to understand the arbitrary, meaningless dictates of machines.
Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things
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