Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCCCXLIV

[NickFitz]

Time to tear yourself away from the horrors of the news and read something enjoyable instead

• Master and Commander - ”When a scraggly band of folk musicians arrived to tour the UK, residents of a small Welsh town were enamored—until they learned that the band’s leader ruled with an iron

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[NickFitz]

It'll soon be spring, but it's still a bit breezy out so you're better off staying glued to your screen and reading this lot for now

• The 'Godmother' of Weed vs. Her Uncle, the DEA Agent - ”Cannabis officials courted a rising pot star to join New York’s legal market. Then a stunning police

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[NickFitz]

So now measles is back? Oh well, it's another good reason to stay in and read this lot instead

• Wildlife attacks and strange animal behavior — fake images spark conservation concerns - That cool animal video you shared may be AI slop: ”Conservationists warn that increasingly realistic AI-generated

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[NickFitz]

Another busy Monday for me! Oh well, only eight weeks until Easter

• It Was the Most Violent Prison in America. Then the Guards Went on Strike - ”What happens when a group of men, incarcerated under bleak conditions, are left to govern themselves? In Walpole State Prison in 1973, ‘peace

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[NickFitz]

Is it just me, or does Mandelson Resignation Day seem to come around earlier every year?

• Brass Bands - Rachel Armitage heads to the Royal Albert Hall for some stirring music: ”The first brass band contests were held in the 1850s. The early proponent Enderby Jackson, inspired by agricultural

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[NickFitz]

One of those weeks where I have to look up the Roman numerals to make sure it isn't something weird like "IL" at the end

• Plume: A tale of murder and martyrdom in the Everglades - The story of the dark fate of a pioneer in nature conservation: ”July 8, 1905. A blood-soaked, small wooden

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[NickFitz]

Gloomy sort of weather out there, but it's always sunny on the Internet

• Double Take - ”Bigfoot isn't real, but black bears are—that’s the subtext of a recent study by Dr. Floe Foxon mapping bear populations relative to cryptid sightings. That study, published in 2024, sparked my interest

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[NickFitz]

Another peaceful Monday ruined by people expecting me to work! But I managed to cobble this lot together so you can have a better afternoon than I will

• The Two Faces of Lummie Jenkins - ”The people of Wilcox County, Alabama, remember the longtime sheriff as a god or a monster—it just

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[NickFitz]

Back to the grindstone. Oh well, it'll give you time to read this lot rather than doing things with your family and friends

• Playing Santa Does Strange Things to a Man. What It Did to Bob Rutan Was Even Stranger. - ”Bob Rutan is legendary among the tight-knit fraternity of Macy’s Santa

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[NickFitz]

Rather late today as I got engrossed in something earlier and forgot what day it was!

• The strange fate of Flight 2069 - 25 years ago today: ”Months before 9/11 a passenger seized control of a Boeing 747 and nearly crashed it into the Sahara. Everyone survived but no one quite recovered. How

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[NickFitz]

Ho ho ho, and all that! It’s up to you whether you read this lot now to get in a festive mood, or take the “Bah! Humbug!” approach of saving them till Thursday and telling the rest of the family you’ve got some important reports to look through

• Secrets of the Christmas Tree Trade - ”Turf wars.

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[NickFitz]

Dunno about you but I’ve finished work for the year, so I have more time to find fine reading matter like this

• Walking into disaster: the narcotrafficking scandal that blew up the BVI - Trouble in paradise: ”[Premier] Fahie was incensed. The intervention of the British navy was, in his view,

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[NickFitz]

Extremely busy today, as it’s my last working week of the year and I want to leave things in good shape for my benighted colleague who’ll have to keep going for a week or so longer

• 14,445 and Counting - ”Inside a Texas nurse’s quest to document the life and death of every woman killed

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[NickFitz]

Take a break from eating all the chocolates in your Advent Calendar and read this lot before you make yourself puke

• ‘I knew in my head we were dying’: the last voyage of the Scandies Rose - ”When a fishing boat left port in Alaska in December 2019 with an experienced crew, an icy storm

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[NickFitz]

Yet another busy Monday morning! I don't really mind as I'm working on something interesting these days, but it does get in the way of posting stuff like this

• Pizzastroika - ”In 1990, in the last breaths of the Cold War, a delicious act of American subversion unfolded in Moscow. It’s

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[NickFitz]

Another busy Monday morning! It's almost like they think I should be doing work rather than assembling fine reading matter for you all

• The Scammer Next Door - Indian journalist Snighda Poonam takes advantage of a scam call to find out more about the world of lottery fraud: ”The caller

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[NickFitz]

Running a bit late today! It's been a busy morning

• How HS2 built a bridge to nowhere - A remarkable story of bureaucratic failure: ”A state-of-the-art road bridge has been built deep in the heart of rural Buckinghamshire. Designed to carry traffic over the HS2 railway, there's just one

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[NickFitz]

I forgot to revert the title last week after the holiday/Louvre special the week before

• The Blue Book Burglar - ”The Social Register was a who’s who of America’s rich and powerful—the heirs of robber barons, scions of political dynasties, and descendants of Mayflower passengers.

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[NickFitz]

Back to work for me this week. Oh well, soon be Christmas

• 70 years ago, a Colorado man plotted to kill his mother. How he carried it out shocked the nation. - Talk about overkill: ”The bomb plot that brought down the United Mainliner over Weld Counry killed 44, showed planes could be

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[NickFitz]

I'm off this week. Reports that I started my holiday with a flying visit to Paris at the weekend are completely unfounded

• The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist - ”Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics

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[NickFitz]

Another Monday that isn't a Bank Holiday? Shameful! I suggest taking back your time to read this lot in protest

• In Search of Michelle Vanek - ”She was the only hiker ever to die while seeking the summit of central Colorado’s most famous 14er. A member of the successful search team investigates

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[NickFitz]

No meetings for me today other than standup, but it turns out that's even worse - I have to work instead!

• Extremely offline: what happened when a Pacific island was cut off from the internet - When an undersea volcano cut Tonga off from the Internet, it meant a lot more than being unable

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[NickFitz]

Had a narrow squeak today when I almost reposted a link I'd already posted in 2018! Luckily I realised it was old enough that I might have posted it before and checked

• The human stain remover: what Britain’s greatest extreme cleaner learned from 25 years on the job - Meet the man who cleans up

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[NickFitz]

Happy autumnal equinox! The sun crosses the equator at 19:19BST, so here's some reading to pass the time till then

• The Florida Divorcée’s Guide to Murder - ”Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors inspired a triple murder and led to a major First Amendment case. Still, the book

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[NickFitz]

My Monday has started with a cold; maybe this selection of fine reading matter will help ensure yours is a little more enjoyable

• ‘The forest had gone’: the storm that moved a mountain - Extreme weather in the Alps: ”On a small ledge in the Swiss mountains, 200 people were enjoying a summer

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[NickFitz]

When I finished work on Thursday, I had no meetings today except the morning standup. Yet somehow I've been in meetings virtually all morning, and don't have time for lunch yet because there's another one in a few minutes. Good thing I was able to get this choice collection of reading matter assembled...

[NickFitz]

I'm back at ClientGov now, but will I let that prevent the flow of links to stuff you can waste your time on? Certainly not!

• 99 Problems: The Ice Cream Truck’s Surprising History - Despite the Americanism “ice cream truck” in the title, this piece is mainly focused on the great British ice

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[NickFitz]

Final day of my holiday today

• The Great French Fry Mystery - A peculiar crime wave in Toronto: ”When an A&W takeout bag appeared on my neighbour’s porch in the middle of the night—followed by another, then another—I became obsessed with solving a fast food whodunit that was as

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[NickFitz]

Final week of my holiday, and at least the weather's cooling down a bit

• The Worm Hunters of Southern Ontario - From the “jobs you didn’t know existed” department: ”To successfully catch a Canadian nightcrawler, you have to approach it a little like you’re a cat. The worm—fat, pink, undomesticable,

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[NickFitz]

My holiday continues, and it looks like I'll even get "the weather for it" - except that I can't stand hot weather

• Whiteouts, Ice Roads, and Wolverines: What Working at a Diamond Mine in the Far North Is Like - The perils of life in the far north: ”The cold that ripped through

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[NickFitz]

Sorry about the weather - I'm on what the permies call "annual leave", so expect the tempests to continue with ever-increasing vigour

• The Talented Mr. Bruseaux - Dodgy business in the 1920s: ”He made his name in Chicago investigating racial violence, solving crimes, and exposing

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[NickFitz]

Busy week for me as I move from one project to another. But I'm taking most of August off, giving me plenty of time to read more interesting stuff like this

• Disneyland of the Dead - Ralph Jones finds out about the problem of overcrowding in cemeteries: ”London’s Highgate Cemetery shows us just

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[NickFitz]

I wonder if the Girl Guides have a new badge for "wasting time on the Internet"? If so, this lot will give you a head start

• The Hideaway - ”Two long, tall barracks came into view, mirror images of each other. The severe silhouettes, matching blocks of Soviet Lego, were softened by shades

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[NickFitz]

Running a little late today as I had to do some actual work this morning. Outrageous imposition

• Conversations With a Hit Man - ”A former FBI agent traveled to Louisiana to ask a hired killer about a murder that haunted him. Then they started talking about a different case altogether.” David

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[NickFitz]

Anyone for tennis? No? Good, then you'll have time to read this lot instead

• The radical 1960s schools experiment that created a whole new alphabet – and left thousands of children unable to spell - ”The Initial Teaching Alphabet was a radical, little-known educational experiment trialled in British

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[NickFitz]

Warm out again, so it's a good job there's no need to go out there when the Internet has this kind of stuff to offer

• Why does Switzerland have more nuclear bunkers than any other country? - Going underground: ”Switzerland is home to more than 370,000 nuclear bunkers – enough to shelter every

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[NickFitz]

Just because a certain person is trying to start World War III, that's no reason not to waste time reading this lot

• A Crushing Wave of Snow - ”Thirty-five years ago this July, an avalanche killed forty-three climbers on a mountain called Lenin Peak. I witnessed the disaster and have lived with

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[NickFitz]

Looks like some of us are getting a heatwave. But of what importance is that when the Internet has such riches as these?

• Trial by Fire: The crash of Aeroflot flight 1492 - ”On the 5th of May 2019, travelers at Moscow’s biggest international airport were greeted by the astonishing sight of a

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[NickFitz]

Posting these a little early today because I've got one of those meetings shortly, where you can't be sure if it'll last five minutes or fifty-five

• The Stalingrad Incident - ”Robert Robinson was walking home on the cobblestone sidewalks of Stalingrad one night when a Russian coworker

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[NickFitz]

That's the Bank Holidays out of the way until August. Nothing to do now but try to look busy while reading this lot

• The Longest Journey - ”Lena Rowat skied 1,600 grueling miles across the Coast Range to quiet her demons. But she didn’t begin to silence them until tragedy struck.” Perilous adventures

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[NickFitz]

Gloomy clouds? Chance of rain? Yes, it's a Bank Holiday! Another good reason to stay in and read this lot

• An English gentleman, a crooked lawyer: the secrets of Stephen David Jones - ”With his brilliant mind and impeccable credentials, it’s little wonder that wealthy clients trusted him with

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[NickFitz]

More light reading to pass the time until next week's Bank Holiday

• ‘It was as if someone had been murdered’: the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree - ”I set out to answer the question a whole nation has been asking: what made two men cut down the Sycamore Gap tree?” Andrew Hankinson, who

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[NickFitz]

Lovely weather today, because it isn't a Bank Holiday

• Deliverance - ”A telekinetic teenager became a convicted killer. Can a group of strangers prove that Christina Boyer is really a victim of injustice?” I suspect that in Alabama, being perceived as some kind of witch doesn't help h

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[NickFitz]

Some stuff to read while the family complain about being stuck on a windswept bench on Skegness seafront

• All That Glitters - ”His alleged victims say he bribed New York Police Department officials, stole millions in diamonds, and persuaded Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Kim Kardashian to shill

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[NickFitz]

For the eight hundredth time, stop working and read this stuff instead

• “The Trolley Solution” - A short story by Shiv Ramdas about AI: ”From the moment the text message arrived with an aggressive ping, Ahmed knew something was amiss. Oh, it read innocuously enough, just the one line from Niyati

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[NickFitz]

Should you happen to be a contracting Cardinal, here's some stuff to read on the flight to Rome

• Codename: Chilbom - ”On a fall morning in 1976, a bomb exploded in the middle of Washington. The shock waves were felt for the next 30 years.” The tangled web of US and South American politics

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[NickFitz]

We're nearly at the season of multiple Bank Holidays! Until we make it, this lot should help to pass the time

• The Strange But True Story of the Witches’ Circle - ”I don’t believe in witchcraft, ghosts, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or anything else that can’t be proven to exist via science

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[NickFitz]

Some respite from watching the numbers go down around the world

• The Balloon that Fell from the Sky - High drama: ”Fifteen teams lifted off from Switzerland in gas ballooning’s most audacious race. Three days later, two of them drifted into Belarusian airspace—but only one would survive.”
• Ukraine’s

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[NickFitz]

I've got way too many meetings today, but I managed to put this lot together while people were talking about some boring stuff

• World War II’s Only Canine POW Survived Shipwrecks, Crocodile Attacks, and Japanese Prison Camps - The story of Judy, a pointer who served in the Royal Navy and RAF among

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[NickFitz]

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, and I was just on a Teams call with somebody who looked dreadful and was sniffling a lot, so now I'm wondering if I've seen my own future. Better get this lot posted while I still can

• The Worst 7 Years in Boeing’s History—and the Man Who Won’t

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