Trivia (should have been 12 October)

Private Area: 1965
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave

1965
“Entertainer Johnny Carson working on the Tonight Show. Includes Carson standing backstage”
From photos taken for the Look magazine article Johnny Carson, the Prince of Chitchat, Is a Loner
View original post

==========================================
A beginner’s guide to drills and bits
Steve Hoefer returns with another guide to some of the things that make civilized life possible.
via Boing Boing
There are a dizzying number of ways to put a hole in something. Choosing the right way not only means that you get the right hole in the right place, but that you get it with the least amount of trouble and without damaging the material, your tools, or yourself.
Continue reading

==========================================

Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate

Barmy inventions
The Victorian age abounded in amateur tinkerers. Let us praise the inventions – collapsible hats, revolving heels – that didn’t change the world… more

==========================================
Office Networks Reveal Which Co-Workers To Avoid During Infectious Outbreaks
via MIT Technology Review
Some of your co-workers are much more likely to spread disease than others. Now a new study of office networks reveals how to spot them.

Continue reading

==========================================
Affecting sculpture about our relationship to technology
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

Soheyl Bastami’s Extreme: an Iranian sculptor’s beautiful and trenchant take on our relationship to technology.

(via Super Punch)

==========================================
Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate

History of beer
Babylonians, shamans, monks, farmers, patriots, industrialists: Brewers are an ancient and odd bunch. Every beer tells a story… more

==========================================
Knowledge is a sobering thing
via McGee’s Musings by Jim McGee
I sometimes wonder whether the thing that scares people about knowledge and science is how it can make you feel small and insignificant. This image is a visualization of the newest knowledge about where we on Earth fit in the universe. They’re calling it “Laniakea.”
It’s a very long way from when we thought that the Sun revolved around the Earth. For me, it engenders a sense of awe; what reaction does it trigger for you?
Continue reading

==========================================
Pop songs as sonnets
via Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

There’s a more readable image and further information here.

==========================================
Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate

Does time have a future?
One second per second is the speed of time, right? Not necessarily. It depends where (and when) you are.Unpacking a cosmic riddle… more

==========================================
Is ‘Progress’ Good for Humanity?
via 3 Quarks Daily by Jeremy Caradonna in The Atlantic

Rage against the machine: Luddites smashing a loom
(Chris Sunde/Wikimedia Commons)
The stock narrative of the Industrial Revolution is one of moral and economic progress. Indeed, economic progress is cast as moral progress.
Continue reading