"The site feels a little emptier, though certainly not dead. More like the part of the dinner party when only the serious drinkers remain. Whiskey is being poured into wineglasses, and the cheese plate has become an ashtray."
(gift link)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/magazine/twitter-dying.html

The world’s longest suspension bridge is history in the making. After 2,000 years of political and technical hitches, Italy says it’s finally ready to connect Sicily to the mainland. https://www.wired.com/story/the-worlds-longest-suspension-bridge-sicily-italy/

A study on how Dominos (and Pizza Hut) use dark patterns, UX tricks and design psychology to overcharge customers.
https://builtformars.com/case-studies/dominos-pizza

Good explanation of #loadbalancing, but OMG what a wonderful way to get the concepts across! https://samwho.dev/load-balancing/

In May 1971, the librarian at the Troy Public Library wrote to dozens of actors, authors, artists, musicians, etc., asking them to write a letter to the town's children about their memories of reading and the importance of libraries. You can read the marvelous responses. And you should.
https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/a-library-is-many-things

Guitarist Peter Buck: “If, on the way to the first day of recording Murmur, we had chanced upon a radio rebroadcast from exactly forty years previous, we would have heard speeches from Franklin Roosevelt, news about World War II, and the swinging sounds of Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller. Forty years is a looong time.” https://www.brooklynvegan.com/r-e-m-reflect-on-murmur-on-its-40th-anniversary/

If you’re feeling imperfect — read this. The imperfect is beautiful, and you are, too.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210107-kintsugi-japans-ancient-art-of-embracing-imperfection

"Satellite imagery could help paleontologists spot promising fossil sites before trekking into remote places. New research from the lab of UO paleontologist Edward Davis in the Department of Earth Sciences shows that satellite data can reveal large individual fossils from the air, allowing field researchers to embark on more targeted searches on the ground." https://around.uoregon.edu/content/satellite-imagery-could-improve-fossil-hunting-remote-sites

Shout out to maps! I don’t know where I’d be without them.

“The old joke was that during the war, the Germans didn’t have to seek out any Soviets—all they had to do was listen for their ticking watches and shoot in that direction.”
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how-the-soviets-revolutionized-wristwatches/

Simulate a galaxy in your browser with the aptly-named Galaxy Simulation, which generates beautiful images of space https://galaxym.ovh

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Fleming told a friend: ‘I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories.’ https://crimereads.com/how-ian-fleming-wrote-casino-royale-and-changed-spy-fiction-forever/

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#Babylon5's production designer John Iacovelli has passed away.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-04-15/john-iacovelli-dead-set-designer-la-theater

It was supposedly an era of countless rules of social etiquette, especially for women, who we’re so accustomed to imagining just sitting around stiffly in their corsets drinking tea. But isn’t there something endlessly unusual and curious about seeing Victorians slumped over in a drug den getting high?
https://www.messynessychic.com/2023/04/14/a-brief-compendium-of-vintage-opium-underworlds/

Thieves tunneled through a coffee shop bathroom into an Apple store and stole $500,000 worth of products. https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7bmw4/thieves-cut-through-coffee-shop-wall-to-pull-off-dollar500000-apple-store-heist

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If you don't subscribe to this newsletter from historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky, I recommend you do. This essay on Abraham Lincoln is fabulous.
> He understood presidential power, and more importantly, he understood where that power ended. But he also knew what the war required of him to win. And he was willing to do it and hoped Congress would make it legal later or that history would forgive him. That takes extraordinary bravery and also maybe a bit of insanity.
https://lindsaychervinsky.substack.com/p/on-this-day

Old Saturday Evening Post cartoons in honor of Tax Day. https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2023/04/cartoons-tax-cracks/