Masterpieces by Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Seurat soared in New York on November 9, shrugging off geopolitical turmoil, rising inflation, and fears of a recession. In an unprecedented evening, “Visionary: Paul G. Allen Collection Part I” at Christie’s achieved $1.5 billion, the highest total ever recorded in a single auction.
https://news.artnet.com/market/paul-allen-sale-report-2207858#.Y20sDfz_y4w.twitter

Seville is digging sustainable cooling - literally, building subterranean canals powered by renewable energy to help cool part of the city above. https://www.pctcartuja.es/en/proyecto/cartuja-qanat

"Mehta’s interview with Dorsey two years ago – in which Dorsey wrestles with issues of free speech, content moderation, geopolitics, hacking, and brand safety – was fascinating at the time. But in the context of Twitter’s future, it’s also become an important historical document that bears watching once again." https://pgsignal.com/2022/11/08/can-advertisers-still-trust-twitter/

New research in mice shows that repeated, brief wake-ups at night are a normal part of sleep, and may actually indicate that you slept well. https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/brain-wake-up-sleep

A curated collection of HCI demo videos produced during the golden age from 1983-2002 https://jackrusher.com/classic-ux/

Researchers from Osaka University have developed a way of printing edible QR codes—a kind of barcode—within cookies, meaning that the tag is embedded within the food itself. Crucially, the tag doesn’t change the flavor or outer appearance of the cookie, and can be read using a backlight while the cookie remains intact. This new method has great commercial potential for improving food safety and traceability in an environmentally friendly way.
https://www.alphagalileo.org/en-gb/Item-Display/ItemId/226103

Later, the manager found the boy and said, "I was impressed with the way you got yourself out of that situation earlier. We like people who think on their feet here. Where are you from, son?"
"Canada, sir," the boy replied.
"Well, why did you leave Canada?" the manager asked.
The boy said, "Sir, there's nothing but whores and hockey players up there."
"Really!" said the manager. "My wife is from Canada!"
The boy replied, "No kidding?! Who did she play for?" /fin

Walking into the back room, the boy said to his manager, "Some asshole wants to buy a half a head of lettuce." As he finished his sentence, he turned to find the man standing right behind him, so he added, "...and this gentleman kindly offered to buy the other half." The manager approved the deal and the man went on his way. /2

A man walked into the produce section of his local supermarket and asked to buy half a head of lettuce. The boy working in that department told him that they only sold whole heads of lettuce. The man was insistent that the boy ask his manager about the matter.
/1

In 2002 Lehrer remarked... “Things I once thought were funny are scary now. I often feel like a resident of Pompeii who has been asked for some humorous comments on lava.” (2018) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03922-x

When the printing press made its debut in Europe in the 15th century, thousands of old texts were ‘recycled’ for use as binding material for newer books. In 2015, researchers at Leiden University started using an x-ray technique to reveal these texts. Some are up to 1,300 years old. https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2015/12/digitally-leafing-through-invisible-books

The Commodordion is an 8-bit accordion primarily made of C64s, floppy disks, and gaffer tape.
https://linusakesson.net/commodordion/index.php

"If you are in a leadership position, think about your resource allocation and what that says about your priorities. Pay the maintainers. Pay your on-call staff. Pay your tech writers." https://redmonk.com/rstephens/2022/11/01/kindness-and-staffing

A text-based, multiplayer role-playing game based on the works of Terry Pratchett, the Discworld MUD has been in constant service for 30 years
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/sep/28/we-can-continue-pratchetts-efforts-the-gamers-keeping-discworld-alive

The phrase “You are Not Expected to Understand This” is probably the most famous comment in the history of Unix.
https://thenewstack.io/not-expected-understand-explainer/