A saved ship, a payphone, and good costumes.

• How live events are made. Not a standard video recommendation, this: while not technically an advert, it's basically a careers expo for the live events industry, showing off all the possible jobs to a high school or university audience. And it's very clearly paid for by one company in particular. But: it's also very, very good! The highest-level overview possible, twenty minutes of fast-paced detail about how "band wants to tour" becomes "tens of thousands of screaming fans in an arena", using a combination of shiny motion graphics and highly-professional location footage. Honestly, there could be a separate twenty-minute video about every job mentioned. (Thanks Zane for sending this over.)
   
• CelGenStudios has bought and installed a payphone in his back yard. If you have to ask "why", this may not be the video for you. If, on the other hand, you'd like someone to infodump a load of details about payphones, PBXs, and surge suppression because they find it really interesting and think you will too, then I can recommend this video.
   
• Also, I know that most of my audience will already watch Kurzgesagt, one of the all-time greats of animated explainer channels: but their most recent video about falling for the oldest lie on the internet is particularly worth a watch. It's one of those stories about writing stories, a journey to track down the origin and truth of an obscure factoid, and it's a joy.
   

• Last year in the newsletter, I mentioned the FLIP, a US Navy research vessel that could flip from horizontal to vertical, changing from being a barge to a floating skyscraper: it was, after a sixty-year run, being decommissioned. Well: the FLIP has been saved! I've no idea whether it's going to be used as a PR exercise, an actual moving research base, or just as a museum: but I'm glad to hear it'll have a new life.
   
• A wonderful long read about designing a rollercoaster. Partly a profile — and perhaps a bit of myth-making — about rising star designer John Burton, but also a history of ride designers, a tale about how a ride is made, and a well-told story of a single construction project.
   
• Time for the annual "Mundane Halloween" contest in Japan! Here's a thread of translated costumes (with links to the originals), including "photo of your Dad when he was your age" and "one of those really low ceilings in Ueno station". As every year, absolutely worth reading.
   
• Metro Dreamin' is a web toy that "allows you to design and visualize the transportation system that you wish your city had". As far as I can tell, the submissions are a combination of very high-effort, earnest transport nerdery... and quick jokes.
   

And finally, over on TikTok: wrooeiieouuuuouuu (alternate link).

All the best,

— Tom