Another year, another bunch of stuff that's probably more interesting than work 
Happy invoicing!
- The Curious Case of Nebraska Man - ”A fossil tooth, a splashy debate, and a strange chapter in America’s long history of science denialism.” Warning: contains William Jennings Bryan
- Spotlight on the Decomposers: Inside the Mysterious Lives of Fungi - Cool fungus stuff: ”Fungi are very special organisms. Scientists don’t really know how to classify them, so they have divided the world of living things into plants, animals, and fungi… Many of them are important tree allies.”
- An Illustrated Tribute to the Sato’s Beaked Whale - Cool whale stuff: ”Devon Bidal, one of Hakai Magazine’s associate editors, wrote a story this year about the first confirmed live sighting of an elusive species: Sato’s beaked whale. The story inspired artist Rozi Hathaway to create this graphic version. Hathaway added some original reporting to the story, including more background on the tenacity and dedication of Hal Sato, a whale enthusiast in Japan, who spent so much of her time looking for—and photographing—these evasive whales.”
- So your grandmother is a starship now: a quick guide for the bewildered - Nature brings advice for those whose relatives are having their consciousnesses uploaded to pilot interstellar craft: ”Old age is full of lifestyle changes… Your grandmother is becoming a starship! She has gone through many phases in her life already — infant, child, teenager, young adult, student, worker, in many cases spouse, parent, retiree. She has had hobbies like knitting, volleyball and carbon mitigation. She has travelled in planetary atmosphere whenever her circumstances allowed. Now she is uploading her consciousness into a starship! The circle of life is beautiful.”
- Colour Analysis Charts by Emily Noyes Vanderpoel (1902) - ”Looking at times like some kind of strange fusion of De Stijl abstraction and Tetris, these wonderful colour charts are taken from Color problems: A practical manual for the lay student of color, a book by the American artist Emily Noyes Vanderpoel (1842-1939)… Vanderpoel — who primarily worked with watercolours and oils, and held the position of vice president of the New York Watercolor Club - doesn't really elaborate on the process by which the blocks of colour come to be arranged in the specific arrangements we find.” The full book is, as you might expect, available on the Internet Archive: Color problems; a practical manual for the lay student of color where, in the preface, Noyes explains her intent: ”To combine the essential results of the scientific and artistic study of color in a concise, practical manual, and to classify the study of color in individual eyes, in light, in history and in nature, has been the aim of the author of this book” though I'm not sure that makes it much clearer. Nice charts though
- Obituary: The Hardy Tree, St Pancras Old Church - The famous tree surrounded by gravestones has fallen: ”The old ash tree didn’t know how old it was, but it knew it had been here through many winters and seen many changes before old age finally felled it.”
- SCP-3008 - A warning to those who are considering a Bank Holiday trip to IKEA: ”SCP-3008 is a large retail unit previously owned by and branded as IKEA, a popular furniture retail chain. A person entering SCP-3008 through the main entrance and then passing out of sight of the doors will find themselves translocated to SCP-3008-1… SCP-3008-1 is inhabited by an unknown number of civilians trapped within prior to containment. Gathered data suggests they have formed a rudimentary civilisation within SCP-3008-1, including the construction of settlements and fortifications for the purpose of defending against SCP-3008-2.” Expand the content under "+ Transcription of journal recovered from Incident 3008-1" at the bottom for an account from within…
- Why the super rich are inevitable - Alvin Chang on an inevitable consequence of our economic system: ”Why do super rich people exist in a society? Many of us assume it's because some people make better financial decisions. But what if this isn't true? What if the economy – our economy – is designed to create a few super rich people? That's what mathematicians argue in something called the Yard-sale model”
- Investigating An Abusive Email - ”This year brought an unusual start to my Boxing Day morning. As I do most mornings, I sat down with a coffee and checked email. This time, though, there was an email which really stood out, carrying the subject line 'kill yourself nazi'.” Ben Tasker explains how he used simple techniques and readily available services to find out as much as seemed worthwhile about the anonymous abuser.
- AP's top 2022 photos capture a planet bursting at the seams - The year just passed in photos, from Associated Press: ”Taken together, they can convey the feeling of a world convulsing — 150 Associated Press images from across 2022, showing the fragments that make up our lives and freezing in time the moments that somehow, these days, seem to pass faster than ever.” This tree burning in a California wildfire in September was photographed by Ringo H.W. Chiu.
Happy invoicing!
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