Newsletter #0044: Nature isn’t natural anymore. If we have to fix the climate, that means nature would be controlled. End of an era.

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I’m reminded of the NES 8-bit quit screen, where Nintendo accidentally had a cathartic and mind blowing message to all of us.

 

Nature isn’t natural anymore (see below). If we have to fix the climate, that means nature would be controlled… also not natural. What is “natural” anyway? But I salute nature, deepest of apologies for the last few hundred years of our machinations and industry, & hopefully we’ll step in and control the heck out of it. 

To be in an era where we witness the start of the end of natural processes, in the panicked hope we can become talented enough to create and manipulate our biosphere’s climate such that it might continue to welcome and sustain us? It’s unbelievable, but we can mourn and carry on. We’ve done it before.

 

I had quoted Carl Sagan’s chilling prophecy from 1995 on what the future may hold (last week’s newsletter), and I’ve been mulling over his book, “The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark” for some time, in context of his predictions and those truths.  I am reminded of the last paragraphs of the book in context of how so many have been manipulated like clay into believing whatever is helpful to the powers that be, who want to remain in power. This is equally as chilling:

“Education on the value of free speech and the other freedoms reserved by the Bill of Rights, about what happens when you don’t have them, and about how to exercise and protect them, should be an essential prerequisite for being an American citizen—or indeed a citizen of any nation, the more so to the degree that such rights remain unprotected. If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.”

Read it: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17349.The_Demon_Haunted_World

 

 

YOU SEE THAT 6th TESTIMONY ON TUESDAY 28th June from Cassidy Hutchinson?

Image

 

 

 

“God is an utter maniac”. This Fry response on the idea “What if, upon your death, God turned out to be true?”… so important to ask the questions about “God’s Plan” when it doesn’t comfort vs terrify:

 

 

 

 

THE FUTURE IS NOW, IT IS WORSE THAN DYSTOPIANS IMAGINED:

An “influencer streaming factory” in China.

This is an older article, in a nicer setting. https://www.vice.com/en/article/pgzamm/chinas-live-streaming-factory

 

 

 

 

Philosophy

 

The unrescued I will rescue

The unliberated I will liberate

The uncomforted I will comfort

Those who have not yet reached paranirvana, I will cause to attain paranirvana

 

 

  • To test mediative patience in an aspiring Buddhist monk, they ask a “Koan”, which is a dialogue, question, or concept that tests their ability to find Zen. In fact… “what is the sound of one hand clapping” is a meditative Koan for people to find zen, by thinking about things with nebulous answers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koan

 

 

  • Miyamoto Musashi, also known as Shinmen Takez?, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten D?raku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and r?nin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 61 duels. His 21 principals for life, or The 21 principles of Dokkodo:

1. Accept everything just the way it is.

2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.

3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.

4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.

5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.

6. Do not regret what you have done.

7. Never be jealous.

8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.

9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.

10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.

11. In all things have no preferences.

12. Be indifferent to where you live.

13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.

14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.

15. Do not act following customary beliefs.

16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.

17. Do not fear death.

18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.

19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.

20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.

21. Never stray from the way.

 

SPACE

 

  • This is the start of Beltalowda (watch Amazon’s “The Expanse”) mining in the asteroid belts… it’s actually happening.

Airbus sending 3D printer to space station next year to pave way for off-Earth factories: Airbus plans to build satellites in space from space junk. https://www.space.com/airbus-metal-3d-printer-orbital-satellite-factory

 

 

  • Nothing is forever:

NASA Says the Voyager Space Probes are Powering Down by 2025… An era closes. https://futurism.com/voyager-space-probes-power-down-mission-nasa

 

 

 

  • James Webb reveal is coming! This is a test image. Those are all GALAXIES. Millions of planetary systems, how many are inhabited?

 

SCI / TECH

 

  • Fireworks are STUPID. Also, it was from cutting a firebreak, my house almost burnt down last Friday. For real. We’re a tinderbox.

Fireworks are out, drone shows are in this Fourth of July https://www.axios.com/2022/07/01/fireworks-drones-july-4th-independence-day

 

 

 

 

 

  • This is INSANE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Okay… some sort of algorithmic tech has to be behind this. You think it’s dominoes? What is happening?
@ideatimes

???Good job#viral #challenge #diy #satisfying #wow #gaming #play #ideatimes #tipsandtricks #oddlysatisfying #USA #cool #creative #handmade #xyzbca #fyp? #foryou #fyp

? Respect Sound – .

 

 

  • The world map we are used to distorts the actual size of land masses. For example, people think Antarctica goes on forever, and that Greenland is about the same size as Africa. This is called the Authagraph map, and it won a design award in Japan. If you fold the earth appropriately to get proper perspective, you’ll see the massive distortions we’re used to. Europe IS NOT that big. South Africa is bigger than you think, and AFRICA IS GIANT, while Russia is far less daunting.  I love this stuff.

This Weird Globe-Folding Map Isn’t Perfect, But It’s Close The almost perfectly-proportioned AuthaGraph Map won Japan’s biggest design award. There’s a clever map showing the discrepancy below, and then you’ve a video explaining why and how this happened. Articles:  https://www.wired.com/2016/11/weird-globe-folding-map-isnt-perfect-close/

& https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/finally-a-world-map-that-doesnt-lie

 

 

 

  • Brilliant short clip about the dehumanizing toxicity of smartphones, and how you might learn a lesson to better interact with an audience, group of employees, in a meeting, or at lunch, etc. Smart comments:

https://www.tiktok.com/@mintmillions/video/7114812918037859627

 

 

  • The science behind stepping on legos!

Why Walking on Legos Hurts More Than Walking on Fire or Ice Everything you wanted to know about the science and history of stomping on the toy blocks https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-walking-legos-hurts-more-walking-fire-or-ice-180970784/

 

Nature you sleepy but confused

 

Greenland shark may live 400 years, smashing longevity record Species is the longest lived vertebrate https://www.science.org/content/article/greenland-shark-may-live-400-years-smashing-longevity-record

 

 

 

Hank the Tank, a 500-Pound Bear, Ransacks a California Community - The New York Times

 

 

COMEDY

  • I sorta know this guy. He might even say we’re pals. MARK SMALLS. Find him. He’s brilliant. I saw an hour of crowd work a few weeks ago on a Tuesday, and it was glorious.

 

 

  • This guy on Tik Tok is pretty funny:
@semistupid

Adam Driver needs a nap #adamdriver @chubbiesshorts

? original sound – semistupid

 

@semistupid

Ben Affleck doesnt like to play house. #benaffleck #thetown

? original sound – semistupid

 

 

 

 

 

  • You should probably stir the middle a little bit, says a comic with OCD bonafides. He’s intensely perturbed:
@stoveraymond

#duet with @_frypopcorn

? Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show

 

 

MOVIES & TV

 

  • So, I made a list of some of the best younger directors of the last 20 years, namely that aren’t into intellectual property. A few have been pulled or pounced on by Marvel. It’s also wild how many get their first break via “shorts” nowadays, vs music videos or commercials. However, this list is alphabetized and somewhat inaccessible vs just perusing names and movies you may have seen. Any advice on how to make it more functional is welcome. Maybe a spreadsheet?

Up and coming or younger Directors to look out for.

 

 

  • Benicio Del Toro’s famous character line from Usual Suspects “He’ll flip you for real” is objectively based on this clip from the Thelonious Monk documentary “Straight no Chaser”:

 

 

  • This was truly one of the best hours I’ve spent in a long time. Lauren and I LOVE this stuff, but this was particularly enjoyable and interesting. This is about current TV roles, but they span across all their films, and they’re wonderful.

Brian Cox (‘Succession’), Michael Keaton (‘Dopesick’), Oscar Isaac (‘Moon Knight’ and ‘Scenes From A Marriage’), Samuel L. Jackson (‘The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey’), Tom Hiddleston (‘Loki’), and Quincy Isaiah (‘Winning Time’) joined The Hollywood Reporter to talk about their respective projects.

 

 

  • FANTASTIC mash up… Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul Tico with Marvel’s Thanos:

 

 

 

  • I remember this from sleepovers with people who chose to afford cable, unlike my house growing up thank you very much. This was SO COOL back in the day.

 

  • This isn’t necessarily movies or TV, but we’ve all seen a training video. This is fantastic:
@tawnyplatis

#voiceactor #corporateverse #officehumor #office #corporate #funny #voiceover #fy #fyp

? original sound – Tawny Platis

 

 

 

MUSIC

 

  • One of my current all time favorite artists, Jordan Rakei, took a chance on covering Jeff Buckley for his newer album, a compilation of wonderful artists on “Late Night Tales”. It worked out pretty well, methinks.

 

 

  • OK. So yes, we need to talk about a chart topping #30 1980s song all of a sudden being EVERYWHERE. That’s modern culture, and that’s tiktok, but I think the Kate Bush song is born of a pivotal scene in the new Stranger Things series on Netflix. Whatever got this unearthed, i welcome it. It’s so interesting to see the past woken up by the present with enthusiastic charm, to the point that the relatively rare jingle is on the hearts and minds of so many.

Whatever the case, this woman’s voice is UNREAL. Her runs, breath control, cadence, pitch, tone, confidence, etc… I just am blown away, and I’m not a vocal coach.  I only found this because vocal coach tik tok (yes, a think), was absolutely floored:

@elysebelll

BE RUNNIN UP THAT ROAD?????? #runningupthathill

? Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) [2018 Remaster] – Kate Bush

 

 

  • Frank Zappa discusses the obvious plagiarism of John Lennon when he stole one of Zappa’s songs. Completely.

The classic song that John Lennon stole from Frank Zappa and never paid for https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-song-john-lennon-stole-from-frank-zappa/

 

 

 

@claire.ernst

one of the most magical things I’ve ever experienced @Jacob Collier #nashville #jacobcollier #fyp?

? original sound – Claire Ernst

 

 

Society, Culture, People, Art!!

 

  • This is a guy in China doing truly amazing stuff with slo-mo!

 

 

9 tricks to hold your pee before reaching a bathroom - il Sanitario

 

 

  • Another Ethan Hawke moment. This guy seems so awesome and that we would be friends that I don’t even want to meet him and let him just exist how he exists. This is a truly breathtaking notion of existence: The human condition can cause pain, and art is a way to process and heal from it. That’s more my sentiment than Hawke’s, but boy… this is stellar:
@heynarwhal

This changed my whole perspective on art? #interview #ethanhawke #acting #movietok

? Get You The Moon – Kina

 

 

  • The history of pink lemonade is gross:

According to Josh Chetwynd, author of the book, “How the Hot Dog Found Its Bun,” there are two main claims to the title of pink-lemonade inventor — and neither of them sound very thirst-quenching.

The first attributes this beverage to a salesman, by the name of Pete Conklin, who sold concessions at the circus. When working a shift in 1857, he ran out of water to make his lemonade (with no access to a nearby well or spring).  “Pete sprinted into the dressing tent and came across Fannie Jamieson, one of the show’s bareback riders. She had just cleaned her pink tights in a vat of water, leaving the liquid looking a deep pink hue.” He used the water without a second thought, and sold it as “fine strawberry lemonade.” It’s reported that he “did double the business of ordinary refreshment and, allegedly, ushered in a new style of the drink.” The second claim to pink-lemonade fame is also a result of a lemonade mishap. According to a 1912 New York Times article, Henry E. Allott — a circus promoter, saloon-keeper and gambler — was the originator of this drink. “One day while mixing a tub full of the orthodox yellow kind he dropped some red cinnamon candies in by mistake,” the newspaper wrote. “The resulting rose-tinted mixture sold so surprisingly well that he continued to dispense his chance discovery.” This article, written after Allott had passed away, claims that he invented this drink as a teenager, which would date it to roughly 1872-1873 — 20 years after Conklin’s story. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-is-lemonade-pink_n_1503570 

Pink Lemonade - Celebrating Sweets

 

 

 

I didn’t understand adrenalin junkies doing stuff for views, but then I realized people have been adventurers to an absurd level for as long as we humans have existed. Whether out of necessity (finding far off lands to settle), or for the spirit of discovery, like Shackleton and the Endurance voyage.  Humans have put themselves at risk endlessly, with no seeming normative pay off or justification. This is the human spirit, the human condition, and a big slice of NOPE NO WAY NO NO NO NO NO NOPE NOPE. YES… my nethers clenched.

 

The whole video is interesting, if not a build up to dramatic tension.

 

 

 

  • This guy is tracking donations to politicians and everything else, including gun deaths.  The data is not surprising, but what a master of Excel and pivot tables!

https://www.tiktok.com/@thatnickpowersguy/video/7108182047528717614

 

 

  • Mt. Huah, Huashan, China. 6890 foot drop. (2100M)

Huashan is about 2 hours out of Xi’an, China which is otherwise famous for the Terracotta Warriors https://figosfromagio.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/huashan-the-most-wonderful-of-mountains-part-1/

Let’s keep the chaos going with this bizarre hike on Mt Huashan in China. OSHA is not overwatching in that region, and there’s even more insanity in the area, with hikes along dangerous man made aqueducts, and the like. But this thing is famous because it’s the most dangerous hike in the world. Angel’s Landing is for preschoolers.

 

 

 

  • These guys sped it up a bit, but what great dancing moves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • She was amazing. BETTIE PAGE, the pin-up queen and sleeved on many tattooed arms from fighter pilots to rockabilly bands. I’ve a lovely background in seeing these as a boy and curious about why I felt funny!

Bettie Page: Vintage photos of the “Queen of Pinups”, 1950s

 

 

 

  • The lumiere family goes on a road trip 1895. Upscaled, colorized. This is time travel.

 

 

 

  • Fun lesson in weird copyright stuff:

 

  • this is known as a copyright trap. this is real. essentially, they add jargon so if anyone copies the TOS or EULA, they legally can pinpoint to plagiarism because of stuff like this:

42.10. Acceptable Use; Safety-Critical Systems. Your use of the Lumberyard Materials must comply with the AWS Acceptable Use Policy. The Lumberyard Materials are not intended for use with life-critical or safety-critical systems, such as use in operation of medical equipment, automated transportation systems, autonomous vehicles, aircraft or air traffic control, nuclear facilities, manned spacecraft, or military use in connection with live combat. However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.

 

VEHICLES

 

  • We’re getting our first EV, so here’s a 6min review from the brilliant Rory Reid from Autotrader. This is the Polestar O2 concept. No, we aren’t getting it… it’s a concept. But it’s pretty, and I am finally tiring of maintaining ICE engine cars. You know in the last 3 months, I’ve had a 2011 mini cooper in the shop (now sold to them as is), another 2015 mini cooper in the shop, a 1995 YJ Wrangler in the shop, as well as my “computer on wheels” convertible that has so many “technology saves everything” gremlins, I am sick of it. So we’re getting a Polestar, and I’ll replace my current vert with this O2 in a few years:

 

 

  • LET US START WITH THE ANXIETY!!! YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES. Which would you choose….

 

Mine tunnel in Thailand (Kanchanaburi, Thailand – going to Saphan Nikhom Subdistrict, going into the Lao Bridge Village).

@ranya8881

?????????? #?????????????????????#?????????????????? #???????????????

? Dj Balada Boa X Pika Pika Kawenimeri – DJ USUP

 

or a Chinese parking garage? (can’t find source)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • This thing is amazing. Called the “Ark”, it’s quite the beast:

https://sherpatvsales.com/sherp-ark/

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • This new *paint* color (not coating like Vanta Black) absorbs almost 96%+ of all visible light, making this Porsche eerily dark.

 

 

 

  • Concept cars deliver the dream that becomes a mundane and prosaic sedan. This is Ford’s concept for the Probe. LOL

 

 

  • ROBOTIC TANKS? GREAT.

 

 

 

  • This isn’t even a recovery vs luck… this Rally driver needs a change of ALL THE CLOTHES:

https://www.tiktok.com/@nino_2828/video/7095145342726900998

 

 

  • This BMW Concept “Gina” is quite fascinating: “Light Visionary Model” is a fabric-skinned shape-shifting sports car concept built by BMW. GINA stands for “Geometry and functions In ‘N’ Adaptations” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_GINA

This first video is 1/3 the length of the below, coming in at around 4min. The 11 min below is more complete, and you get to see the shape shifting in higher resolution and greater detail, but this one really shows your the highlights:

 

 

The full video of what it does is a long symphony of extraordinary, like a Zeppelin made love to a shark. It’s fascinating when designers use concepts to think way outside of normative processes or rules from NHTSA. In fact, the biomimicry is absolutely my favorite thing. It’s as if it’s a living thing.

 

 

 

More on the concept, from a designer. Bangle is no joke.

 

BUT, BMW has had some lovely concepts over the years:

art-mg-bmwe25tc1.jpg

 

 

THIS THING!!!:

 

 

  • This is a sunburn and dehydrator bus. Cityrama Citroen 55 bus:

About Uncle Fishbits

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