Hello, and Happy Diwali to everyone! Before I start, I’d really like it if you could give me some feedback or suggestions. This is a totally one-directional thing, and I would appreciate very much anything you have to say. Just reply to this email :)
- The Last Whale Hunt for a Vanishing Alaskan Village
In a way, the machine was like Western civilization: People came to rely on it but could never depend on it.
- Karl Marx, Yesterday and Today
The nineteenth-century philosopher’s ideas may help us to understand the economic and political inequality of our time. - The scientists who make apps addictive - Interesting read about psychologists who are now worried about the persuasion that is built into modern apps. We keep checking our phones for the small, infrequent bursts of dopamine, and that is making us the worse for it.
In theory, we can all opt out of the loops of incentive and reward which encircle us, but few of us choose to. It is just so much easier to accept and connect. If we are captives of captology, then we are willing ones. - People Are Tweeting Hilariously Terrible Book Reports As If Donald Trump Wrote Them - I don’t normally share these list posts, but this is positively hilarious. Wait, did I say hillaryous?
- The Moral Cost of Cats - Cats are one of the biggest factors at play in the decline of avian populations. They may seem innocuous, but outdoor cats are a big danger, so much so that it leads to advocacies like these :
In high-priority areas there must be zero tolerance for free-ranging cats. If the animals are trapped, they must be removed from the area and not returned. If homes cannot be found for the animals and no sanctuaries or shelters are available, there is no choice but to euthanize them. If the animals cannot be trapped, other means must be taken to remove them from the landscape—be it the use of select poisons or the retention of professional hunters. - The Opposite of a Muse - A beautiful longform piece about Isabelle Mège, who for the last twenty plus years has been contacting photographers to photograph her. She collects all the pictures as a project, and it’s interesting to see why she does this. Truly the opposite of a muse, where she is the one in charge, accepting and rejecting potential photographers as she sees fit.
- Why Doctors Without Borders Refused a Million Free Vaccines - To make a statement. Donations are always given with the aim of extracting another favour in return later, and Doctors Without Borders has made it plain that this is not agreeable to them. Nice read.
- Still ticking: The improbable survival of the luxury watch business
And then there were items such as the Aeternitas Mega 4 from Franck Muller, assembled from 1,483 components. This would announce the hours and quarter-hours with the same chime sequence as Big Ben. At its launch, it was heralded by its makers as the most complex wristwatch ever made, and a grandiose work of art. In addition to its 36 “complications” – a complication is essentially a nice gimmick – was the ability to tell the time.
Another complication was that it cost £2.2m. - Eyes Aloft - Superb piece about ‘the sublime occupation of planespotting’. Enthusiasts who capture photographs and data about planes as and when they leave and arrive at airports around the world are not only fulfilling their hobbies, but are crucial, in their own way, to national and international security. Couple this with Airportraits - a mind blowing collection of Photoshopped images showing a montage of planes over the airports of major cities. Here’s a sample.
- The Lost Virtue of Cursive - As somebody who loves writing cursive with a five-year old fountain pen, I completely agree with this piece. Cursive is an art and shouldn’t be lost.
- [Video] Japanese Hakone Marquetry - Watch, because it’ll make you melt in satisfaction. A Japanese art of handcrafting beautiful puzzle boxes from just wood.
Have a great weekend!