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Ideas for progress

Payment processor Stripe is now a publisher, with the launch of Stripe Press, offering what looks like an intriguing collection of largely reissued titles, included such worthwhile authors as Tyler Cowen and Martin Gurri.

The site has an innovative layout as well. Give it a scroll.

Payment processor Stripe is now a publisher, with the launch of Stripe Press, offering what looks like an intriguing collection of largely reissued titles, included such worthwhile authors as Tyler Cowen and Martin Gurri.

The site has an innovative layout as well. Give it a scroll.

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The lost genius who changed everything

The new biography of John von Neumann, The Man From The Future, sounds absolutely terrific:

The smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Self-replicating moon bases and nuclear weapons. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable man: John von Neumann.

Born in Budapest at the turn of the century, von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived. His colleagues believed he had the fastest brain on the planet - bar none. He was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory. He created the first ever programmable digital computer. He prophesied the potential of nanotechnology and, from his deathbed, expounded on the limits of brains and computers - and how they might be overcome.

Get your copy here.

The new biography of John von Neumann, The Man From The Future, sounds absolutely terrific:

The smartphones in our pockets and computers like brains. The vagaries of game theory and evolutionary biology. Self-replicating moon bases and nuclear weapons. All bear the fingerprints of one remarkable man: John von Neumann.

Born in Budapest at the turn of the century, von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived. His colleagues believed he had the fastest brain on the planet - bar none. He was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory. He created the first ever programmable digital computer. He prophesied the potential of nanotechnology and, from his deathbed, expounded on the limits of brains and computers - and how they might be overcome.

Get your copy here.

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The Helsinki bus station theory of creativity

I’ve been in Helsinki for the weekend – watching chessboxing and drinking beer. In honour of which, this theory from a Finnish-American photographer, based on Helsinki’s bus routes.

[T]he Helsinki theory suggests that if you pursue originality too vigorously, you'll never reach it. Sometimes it takes more guts to keep trudging down a pre-trodden path, to the originality beyond.

I’ve been in Helsinki for the weekend – watching chessboxing and drinking beer. In honour of which, this theory from a Finnish-American photographer, based on Helsinki’s bus routes.

[T]he Helsinki theory suggests that if you pursue originality too vigorously, you'll never reach it. Sometimes it takes more guts to keep trudging down a pre-trodden path, to the originality beyond.

Read the whole thing.

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Lying about living

Craig Brown on the art of biography.

[T]he artificiality of the genre is helped neither by the slippery nature of memory, nor, indeed, by the slippery nature of biographers. Everyone who has ever written non-fiction will know that, from paragraph to paragraph, perhaps even from sentence to sentence, one is always obliged to pick a version of the truth: every available source has a slightly different tale to tell. It would be tedious to present each different version of each event, or the finished book would be impossibly long, and impossibly boring. So which to choose? And how do you know if it is the right one?

Read the whole thing.

Craig Brown on the art of biography.

[T]he artificiality of the genre is helped neither by the slippery nature of memory, nor, indeed, by the slippery nature of biographers. Everyone who has ever written non-fiction will know that, from paragraph to paragraph, perhaps even from sentence to sentence, one is always obliged to pick a version of the truth: every available source has a slightly different tale to tell. It would be tedious to present each different version of each event, or the finished book would be impossibly long, and impossibly boring. So which to choose? And how do you know if it is the right one?

Read the whole thing.

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Be Prepared

Via the newsletter of Dominic Cummings – a mischief-maker, but also a smart person who’s good at thinking ahead:

If you will live in the UK over the next 6 months take steps to ensure you and your family can cope with a ~4 week major disruption — e.g a cascade of logistics and energy failures. The only safe assumption is that the true situation is much worse than the media are telling you. This was true in spring 2020 and autumn 2020. It’s true now.

Via the newsletter of Dominic Cummings – a mischief-maker, but also a smart person who’s good at thinking ahead:

If you will live in the UK over the next 6 months take steps to ensure you and your family can cope with a ~4 week major disruption — e.g a cascade of logistics and energy failures. The only safe assumption is that the true situation is much worse than the media are telling you. This was true in spring 2020 and autumn 2020. It’s true now.

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Our last, best hope for peace?

Babylon 5 is returning to TV, helmed by the original writer and all-round creative mastermind JM Straczynski. Babylon 5 was always ahead of its time: one of the first shows to make extensive use of CGI, and the originator of the multi-season story arc (sustained over five years!) paving the way for today’s golden age of longform TV. Despite the limits of the show’s budgets in its first iteration it had ambition, heart and prescience, with its rather darker take on spacefaring future that echoes a lot of contemporary themes. Straczynski also cut his teeth making The Real Ghostbusters far better than an animated kids show had any right to be. Prepare for something special.

Babylon 5 is returning to TV, helmed by the original writer and all-round creative mastermind JM Straczynski. Babylon 5 was always ahead of its time: one of the first shows to make extensive use of CGI, and the originator of the multi-season story arc (sustained over five years!) paving the way for today’s golden age of longform TV. Despite the limits of the show’s budgets in its first iteration it had ambition, heart and prescience, with its rather darker take on spacefaring future that echoes a lot of contemporary themes. Straczynski also cut his teeth making The Real Ghostbusters far better than an animated kids show had any right to be. Prepare for something special.

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Great newspaper corrections

Sometimes words get away from you… This gardening correction is my new favourite. Although the NYT correction over the true author of Dracula is also pretty special.

whose-seed.jpg

Sometimes words get away from you… This gardening correction is my new favourite. Although the NYT correction over the true author of Dracula is also pretty special.

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Culture war roundup

Anne Applebaum decried “cancel culture” for the Atlantic

Rod Dreher sympathised but thought Applebaum was naive about the role of the left in what’s going on

Adam Gurri thought her piece was anecdotal and lacked substance

Tyler Cowen has attempted to look on the bright side of “wokeism”, suggesting it is the banner of an Americanised international class, and a net good, despite being “stupid and inflexible”. (NB: sometimes hard to tell if Cowen means what he says or indirectly provokes critics to state the flaws in the arguments he offers)

Rod Dreher didn’t like it at all

Anne Applebaum decried “cancel culture” for the Atlantic.

Rod Dreher sympathised but thought Applebaum was naive about the role of the left in what’s going on.

Adam Gurri thought her piece was anecdotal and lacked substance.

Tyler Cowen has attempted to look on the bright side of “wokeism”, suggesting it is the banner of an Americanised international class, and a net good, despite being “stupid and inflexible”. (NB: sometimes hard to tell if Cowen means what he says or indirectly provokes critics to state the flaws in the arguments he offers.)

Rod Dreher didn’t like Cowen’s piece at all.

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The magical power of the TV guide

What’s the most important invention of the twentieth century, and why does no one use it any more? Matt Locke makes a good, brief case for the television schedule.

For nearly a century, a simple list, based around the hours of the day, structured the daily habits of millions of people, shaped the careers of politicians and celebrities, and powered a multi-billion dollar advertising industry.

The power of a timetable that coordinated millions of people’s viewing habits was huge. Not only because large numbers of people could be influenced by the same shows, but because everyone knew that everyone else was watching, generating common knowledge.

Common knowledge is a fascinating topic, vital for brand advertising but also for many forms of social coordination.

In Television is the New Television, Michael Woolff argues that effects like this are underappreciated and TV has more value than people realise even in an internet-enabled age.

But perhaps the interesting question is what happens when always-on streaming video leaves audiences fragmented and breaks the coordinating power of a shared schedule? And as algorithmic streams attempt to fill the gap, what does that do to our society?

What’s the most important invention of the twentieth century, and why does no one use it any more? Matt Locke makes a good, brief case for the television schedule.

For nearly a century, a simple list, based around the hours of the day, structured the daily habits of millions of people, shaped the careers of politicians and celebrities, and powered a multi-billion dollar advertising industry.

The power of a timetable that coordinated millions of people’s viewing habits was huge. Not only because large numbers of people could be influenced by the same shows, but because everyone knew that everyone else was watching, generating common knowledge.

Common knowledge is a fascinating topic, vital for brand advertising but also for many forms of social coordination.

In Television is the New Television, Michael Woolff argues that effects like this are underappreciated and TV has more value than people realise even in an internet-enabled age.

But perhaps the interesting question is what happens when always-on streaming video leaves audiences fragmented and breaks the coordinating power of a shared schedule? And as algorithmic streams attempt to fill the gap, what does that do to our society?

Read More
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Give us air

A very good essay from The Atlantic exploring how we might rethink the way we ventilate buildings. It’s not just that the pandemic has created a new airborne risk but it’s made it clearer the risks that already existed that we were overlooking.

“‘We had done such limited research before on airborne transmission of common infections,’ Samet told me. This just wasn’t seen as a major problem until now.”

A very good essay from The Atlantic exploring how we might rethink the way we ventilate buildings. It’s not just that the pandemic has created a new airborne risk but it’s made it clearer the risks that already existed that we were overlooking.

‘We had done such limited research before on airborne transmission of common infections,’ Samet told me. This just wasn’t seen as a major problem until now.

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Norm Macdonald has gone to glory

Norm Macdonald is no longer one of the funniest men alive. Scarce copies of his wonderful fabulist non-memoir, Based on a True Story are currently selling for $500 on Amazon.

Norm divided the crowd, but he had an unflinching commitment to the power of jokes to shock us out of our complacency and into moments of both childlike delight and darkly adult recognition. Beneath the under-stated, plain man exterior was a mind like a knife. He was well-read, thoughtful, and serious about his Christian faith. He focused all that talent on making people laugh. There was nothing like him.

Norm Macdonald is no longer one of the funniest men alive. Scarce copies of his wonderful fabulist non-memoir, Based on a True Story are currently selling for $500 on Amazon.

Norm divided the crowd, but he had an unflinching commitment to the power of jokes to shock us out of our complacency and into moments of both childlike delight and darkly adult recognition. Beneath the under-stated, plain man exterior was a mind like a knife. He was well-read, thoughtful, and serious about his Christian faith. He focused all that talent on making people laugh. There was nothing like him.

Read More
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Two Cold War accidents that nearly turned Eastern England radioactive

The first nuclear near-miss at RAF Lakenheath, an American airbase in Suffolk, England, took place on 27 July 1956.

According to a top-secret US government telegram at the time: ‘Preliminary exam by bomb disposal officers says a miracle that one Mark-6 with exposed detonators sheared didn't go.‘

“Firefighters rushing to the scene were, according to historian Jim Wilson, met with a convoy of cars packed full of American women and children frantically trying to get away from what they thought was impending doom.

According to one report one airman dashed from the gates of the base to get a taxi, and told the driver: ‘Go anywhere, just get away from here!’“

(The second one could also have started World War III.)

The first nuclear near-miss at RAF Lakenheath, an American airbase in Suffolk, England, took place on 27 July 1956.

According to a top-secret US government telegram at the time: ‘Preliminary exam by bomb disposal officers says a miracle that one Mark-6 with exposed detonators sheared didn't go.’

“Firefighters rushing to the scene were, according to historian Jim Wilson, met with a convoy of cars packed full of American women and children frantically trying to get away from what they thought was impending doom.

According to one report one airman dashed from the gates of the base to get a taxi, and told the driver: ‘Go anywhere, just get away from here!’”

(The second one could also have started World War III.)

Read More