The neo-Neolithic! new musical instruments! and a typewriter.

21st August 2023

Heads up! This newsletter is more than eight months old. Links may be out of date or lead to unexpected places, or the context may have changed. Please handle with care.

Hello!

Remember the video about cryonics a few weeks ago? Well, this week there's a sort of counterpoint: a visit to a modern long barrow, which is very much more about accepting death than fighting it. I have no idea how this video will be received, but it's a lovely story.

And over on Lateral, we're on a mission to nowhere, as Ruth Amos and Shawn Brown ('Kids Invent Stuff') and Dani Siller ('Escape This Podcast') face questions about bread balls, maligned musicals and profitable postage. Stick around to the end for a clip of me singing Gilbert and Sullivan.

Now, I've been on the road filming a Very Big Project this week, which means I've not spent much time on YouTube. But I have found:

Andrew Huang and Rob Scallon play a newly-invented musical instrument: the harpejji, an electric piano-guitar hybrid. Watching musicians jam and learn at the same time is really interesting. The Guardian has a great story about the inventor, and how he's one of the very rare people who's invented a successful, new instrument. And if you want to hear what is sounds like when it's played by someone experienced: here's a harpejji cover of Bohemian Rhapsody.
Jade, from Up and Atom, tells a story about mathematics and infinity, starting with real numbers and leading all the way to transcendent ones.
Rosie Barnes, PhD mechanical engineer, runs down the state of low-emissions concrete in less than eleven minutes. This is really good science communication: tightly scripted, not a word wasted, and clear graphics where they're needed.
Mike Boyd finds out that backing up a trailer is much harder than you'd think. (A lot of bleeped swearing.)

What about away from the world of video? Well:

An update on the Gotthard rail tunnel! Last year, I made a video about how the world's longest rail tunnel is kept safe. Despite all the automated checks: the tunnel is going to be closed for months after a freight train derailed inside. No injuries, but a lot of infrastructure damage, and there are going to be some tough questions about how it happened.
A great clickbait title: "Disney World is hell on earth, and it's only getting hotter". This is mostly just a summary of the increasing unpleasantness of visiting the 'most magical place on Earth', between the increasing temperatures and the increasing money-grabbing.
One for desktop users: realistic typewriter simulator! Includes several authentic frustrating features. (Thanks Tom C for sending this in!)

And finally, streetlights keep turning purple. Here's why.

All the best,

— Tom

« Previous

Index