It’s true, you know.
Man, we effed up so badly in about two generations, basically 100 years out of 20,000 years and now the irreversible we’re dead countdown is like 7 years if we don’t rapidly adapt? To watch it all disintegrate isn’t easy. BUT FUN STUFF TOO YA KNOW? It’ll be quiet soon enough, so don’t worry too much about where your tomato came from or that last work email where you misspelled some simple word. Nothing matters.
Random comments on this issue!
This is a fun one with less links and more embedded stuff, so you don’t have to!
– Andy will LOVE the Tesla math.
– The Nope file could be called DOPE FILES, and it is hopefully gonna be reoccuring. I always wonder if I should try para-sailing or wingsuits or do more extreme stuff and then I see what convinces me I am doing fine. I’ll climb on a fake indoor rock. Thank you.
– the train that lays it’s own tracks is SO COOL
– I do rabbit hole Letterman / Carson re: Leno and Conan a bit, but RIP Grodin that clip is gold.
-If you play music, you need to at least watch the Scandinavian girl’s hum search under “Music or Funny”. Speaking of music and not funny…
-The new Bo Burnham is rough, and important, and fantastic. It’s not standup. It’s transcendent art and music and poetry. On Netflix.
It’s a heartfelt 1h30m documentary of the pandemic as a musical that vibes everything from folk to Lin Manuel, and the commentary on the world and tech and life is rough and hard and good and important. There’s much joy, but existential moments abound. It’s REALLY wonderful, but atypical in its honesty and message of how we suffered the pandemic in a lonely liminal space. People like Panik should simply watch for the editing mastery of a single dude, alone. It’s on Netflix. It’s wonderful and sad and rich and lonely and important and that’s fine. https://www.netflix.com/watch/81289483
ALSO THIS GUY IS A GENIUS… he posted a “cover” of the song that can’t be taken down, and the song is actually Bo. Netflix both didn’t let Bo have control of his work (that’s a guess?) but were definitely not on the ball in having clips ready (unless they did let Bo have it and he wants people to see the special vs just clips).
Space & the start of the disaster movie
- I think David Attenborough is right. Why would you want to live on the Moon or Mars? Look at everything Earth has, and then think, “I want to live in the most unforgiving environment where there is literally nothing. What’s the point? It’s not going to be fun. Geologists might have a dynamite time, and sure science and the act of learning how to preserve our own lives. But still. Anyhoo… here’s a look at what the first moon colony will be like, per the European Space Agency
- I am sorry trying to joke but what else can I say… we underestimated the lower atmosphere’s warming for the last 40 years because satellites aren’t perfect, and neither are we, and the results could be EXTREMELY bad.
“Satellites May Have Underestimated Global Warming in the Lower Atmosphere Over the Last 40 Years” https://scitechdaily.com/satellites-may-have-underestimated-global-warming-in-the-lower-atmosphere-over-the-last-40-years/
“But our analysis reveals that several observational datasets — particularly those with the smallest values of ocean surface warming and tropospheric warming — appear to be at odds with other, independently measured complementary variables.”
- Woman in Motion tells story of how Star Trek’s Uhura changed NASA forever “If they let me in the door, I will open it so wide that they will see the world.” https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/woman-in-motion-tells-story-of-how-star-treks-uhura-changed-nasa-forever/
Science, Tech
- Okay, this is a doozy and an atypically larger segment than normal. In #0009 I talk briefly about how data is tied to thermodynamics, and, essentially, “information has weight, and there’s an impact to that in relation to our environments”.
This was the precise comment:
“Information is physical,”, ie if you erase a hard drive, there’s associated heat dumped into the environment, tying information to thermodynamics. More on that here: There are no unavoidable energy consumption requirements per step in a computer. Related analysis has provided insights into the measurement process and the communication schannel, and has prompted speculations about the nature of physical laws. https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.881299 from: https://unclefishbits.com/newsletter-0009-goddamnit-not-another-damned-tab-we-all-get-recreational-name-tags/
WELLLllllll…. a new paper discusses an information catastrophe, and we’re going to hear more about it. This newsletter was started to reduce clicks and help the environment with all the server farms… but I need to simply stop generating content? No no… like global warming where they say “reduce your personal emissions” as if personal responsibility will solve everything…. and then we let corps pollute tax free forever! This isn’t going to be solved on the ground level?
Or maybe it’s like when they tell millennials to buy a few less lattes and avocado toast if they can’t afford rent, instead of telling the boomer to stop buying mansions and yachts if they can’t afford to pay a living wage? HMmmm.
But here’s the rub: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0019941
- If you trust China (that’s loaded, sure)…. this is very interesting. It would be like discovering fire again, unlocking the new stage of human advancement….
China’s artificial sun (experimental fusion reactor) sets the world record after running at 120 million °C for 100 seconds. This temperature is 10 times hotter than the sun. https://www.sciencealert.com/china-s-artificial-sun-fusion-reactor-reached-another-milestone
But if skeptical the Joint European Torus has a similar design, and it took a photo of the plasma with a visible spectrum camera:
“It’s possible because the plasma is suspended in a vacuum by extremely strong magnetic fields”. “If/when someone can get one of these up and running in a stable format it will be capable of producing a massive amount of clean, low cost energy by converting hydrogen into helium. The nice thing is(over simplifying here) if it breaks it just shuts down and possibly the reactor eats itself, but it doesn’t have massive amounts of radioactive material to unleash on the outside world like a Chernobyl style meltdown”.
And someone figured out it will take 8.9 milliseconds to cook a pizza. https://www.reddit.com/r/ThatsInsane/comments/nr9y9h/chinas_artificial_sun_sets_the_world_record_after/h0h74lu
- How Do Animals Safely Cross a Highway? Take a Look. There are few things Americans can agree on these days. Wildlife crossings, it seems, are one of them. This article is superb and happy: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/31/climate/wildlife-crossings-animals.html
- Sure, it looks like it’s making color coordinated Hot Topic Forever 21 type bracelets, but whatever it is really doing is likely shattering a human soul that thinks they’ll have to compete. I assume there’s no competing. We can retire the John Henry Legend, then?
- Speaking of robot arms, how about a $500K robot arm with a 1000FPS 4K camera that can take 35GB of data in 3 seconds? Not to mention the other lenses he shows. Holy moly.
- GTAV using AI to enhance to reality level quality:
- Other than a potential rotar to the neck, and although a promo vid for the Aussie company, this is pretty amazing:
- On May 13th, it was reported by DriveTeslaCanada that the Model S Plaid had broken the quarter-mile record that the Bugatti Chiron Sport set in 2018. The Bugatti completed the 1/4-mile in 9.4 seconds with a speed of 158 MPH. According to the report, the Model S Plaid successfully completed the 1/4-mile at Famoso Raceway in 9.247 seconds at 152.09 MPH, Jay Leno said during the Spike’s Car Radio podcast. https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-s-plaid-quarter-mile-record-jay-leno-confirmed/
I’m brick dumb. The Bugatti is lighter at a higher speed but was slower than a heavier Tesla at a slower speed? Obviously I failed math. Then I sat on this… the below info is correct.
The Tesla covers more ground at lower speeds because it’s not linking up, and the electric acceleration is so powerful that it made up the ground such that it’s possible to have a quicker time while also going slower, because of the acceleration. SO AMAZING.
- Cops are using Batman style lassos now:
THE NOPE FILE
- This Leopard Tank emergency breaking test looks cool, and you want to think the Dutch army knows it can trust their tech… but man this feels stupid. But it’s also a badass, and the relief they are genuinely expressing is wild…
- Never, ever, ever, ever.
- Not that I won’t, just that I can’t. Been watching climbing vids again, and excited to get back out there!
Magnus Midtbo’s one finger pull ups. When you climb for a decade professional, you might be working out different muscles than the rest of us:
MUSIC
- So many will vibe the pain:
- Bo Burnham helped awaken a love for Michael Penn, an undervalued folk artist. Some talented filmmakers, The Brothers Quay, made a video for one of my favorite songs in history, and it’s worth a watch:
- Since folk ain’t no joke, have an Icelandic crooner named Mugison. His last album here: https://www.mugison.com/music
And here’s a cut:
- And while we’re on the subject of Iceland, this guy paints words in your mind with tapestries of sound:
FUNNY, SOCIETY, CULTURE, AND PEOPLE
- 11 year old art prodigy in Lagos, Nigeria:
- Jim Morrison’s (do I need to say The Doors?) Little Sis caretaking his vision and writings, with a really in depth and great read on Jim wanting to walk away from music, go back to filmmaking and writing, and work on a real future with intention. I am in no use of more stuff, but I would love to borrow the book from the library eventually. It looks amazing.
Jim Morrison’s Sister Reveals His Last Wishes, From Wanting a Family to Quitting Music https://www.thedailybeast.com/jim-morrisons-sister-reveals-his-last-wishes-from-wanting-a-family-to-quitting-music
- When cultural appropriation literally saves culture. Things around culture are more complex than they seem. Combining and fusing cultures by informing them with other cultures is literally the goal… let’s marry all wonderful human cultures and traditions and then all of us can carry them forward, with respect. Look at fusion food! It’s the best. Just be kind. You need to read the comments on this video, of all the excited Navajo speakers just thrilled he’s learning and sharing his culture. WARM FUZZIES
- How to pronounce Zulu Clicks? You betcha. I could listen to the gent all day erry day..
- RIP GRODIN, tearing down Carson:
- Tommy Smothers as Johnny Carson is unbelievable:
- Which Rabbit Holed me as it does…. Conan got SO fucked and he’s the best in the business.
David Letterman Reveals His True Feelings about Jay Leno Hosting Tonight Show, Johnny Carson 1991… and it does feel like an obvious precursor to the Conan situation…
So, when Jay said “Don’t Blame Conan”, David responded. You need to know the best thing here, besides making fun of Jay Leno and calling him out, is that Dave has ZERO idea who Jimmy Fallon is, and called him “What’s his name? Lonnie Donegan???”
- This doesn’t seem the wise way to sell dessert.
- Fun clip of the fastest talking man, singing Michael Jackson’s Bad.
VEHICLES
Holy crap these cars in that setting: https://www.goodingco.com/auction/passion-of-a-lifetime/
High Speed Railway Train Track laying machines are unreal: