COOL THING OF THE DAY!
A History of Early Bookcases, Cupboards, and Carousels
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2024/07/28/early-bookcases-cupboards-and-carousels/

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Scientists built a functional computer with human brain tissue
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-built-a-functional-computer-with-human-brain-tissue

I'm so sad about this.

Women in Agile Europe on September 18th in Prague https://womeninagile.eu

Who Pays Technical Writers: a website that connects writers to publishing opportunities https://whopaystechnicalwriters.com/

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is really a large matter — it’s the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” — Mark Twain

Enel North America will deploy over 6,000 sheep at eight Texas solar farms in the US’s largest announced agrivoltaics agreement.
https://electrek.co/2024/08/15/enel-is-sheep-texas-solar/

Do you think anybody would still be impressed by this?

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AI’s ability to learn from large amounts of data and respond to complex scenarios makes it particularly well suited to the task of keeping the grid stable, and a growing number of software companies are bringing AI products to the notoriously slow-moving energy industry. https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/11/22/1083792/ai-power-grid-improvement

In 2025, British Telecom plans to shut off its ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) and PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) services entirely, in favor of modern technologies like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). https://tedium.co/2024/01/12/isdn-history-retrospective/

4-year-old accidentally shatters Bronze Age jar at museum
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/28/style/israel-haifa-museum-boy-breaks-artifact-hnk-intl/index.html

The Platform Governance Archive “collects and curates policies of major social media platforms in a long-term perspective.” https://www.platformgovernancearchive.org

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"Researchers at Stanford University and the American University of Beirut (AUB) have developed a portable antenna that could be quickly deployed in disaster-prone areas or used to set up communications in underdeveloped regions. The antenna, described recently in Nature Communications, packs down to a small size and can easily shift between two configurations to communicate either with satellites or devices on the ground without using additional power." https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/01/new-portable-antenna-help-disasters

TIL the Chinese term 面试陪跑 literally “interview running companion:” To attend a job interview where the candidate is already chosen and you are just there to maintain the illusion of fairness.

The new digital price tags could be updated at any time from a central computer or employee handheld device, creating the possibility that a price could change from the time a consumer picks an item off the shelf to the time they arrive at the cash register. https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/digital-price-tags-with-real-time-updates-proposed-by-kroger-walmart-and-others-raise-privacy-concerns/

Along with the Ruby Slippers, the Smithsonian has some fabulous footwear in the collections.
https://www.si.edu/spotlight/shoes

I'm not sure how "underrated" these are (the El Rancho Motel in Gallup, really? and I like it a lot but wouldn't call it "luxury"), but this is a nice listicle of smaller ma-and-pa hotels.
https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/underrated-route-66-motels