An airdrop! a correction! and terrible birds!

18th December 2023

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 Links may be out of date or lead to unexpected places, or the context may have changed.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

Hello!

Is it weird that I've had multiple videos this year involving large quantities of insects? Probably. But nevertheless, this week: here's why the government drops millions of flies on California!

And over on Lateral, two new players! Hannah Witton, Mike Boyd and Geoff Marshall face questions about versatile voting, clever creatures and brick buildings.

Also, an update: last week, I said that, for a small swathe of the world, the star Betelgeuse was going to appear to vanish for a few seconds due to an asteroid eclipsing it. I made it the most important thing in the newsletter! I put it in the title! And, to be fair, a disappearing star is what a lot of reports said would happen. Unfortunately for anyone who stayed up late to see it, it was underwhelming, and the star just dimmed for a few seconds, almost imperceptibly. However, it's likely to provide some wonderful data for astronomers.

What else have I found on YouTube this week? Well:

The YouTube algorithm recommended me a video essay called "The State Birds Are Garbage" and I'm so glad it did. Jon Bois-style graphics, good punchlines, and some on-location filming with a camera that's out-of-focus so often that I think it's actually a stylistic decision.
The entirely of Taskmaster's most recent season (strong language) is on YouTube and available to watch for free in most countries outside the UK. (In the UK, it's on Channel 4's streaming service.) Shows that have been going for so long usually don't have this much life still in them: the most recent season has one of the best ensemble casts they've ever picked, and if you're looking for a new show to binge-watch, this is a good choice.
And I make a cameo in Karen Puzzles' new video about chess-clock puzzling!

Other interesting links I've found this week:

In 1989, Tommy Tutone released a song called "867-5309/Jenny". What happened to the poor schmucks who actually had that phone number?
Some long-dead satellites are still transmitting thanks to a quirk of technology, and the signals they produce are eerie.
"Daylighting" intersections saves lives. Why don't more US cities do it?

And finally: this might look like a terrible TikTok "man on the street" interview. It's not.

Next Monday... well, next Monday is Christmas Day! But the release schedule will go on as usual, there'll be the video and newsletter, because I really, really don't want to break the ten-year streak this close to the end. See you then!

All the best,

— Tom

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