Cool Stuff Daily

Latest Episodes:

Mon. 02/08 - A Live Animated Stage Production... Wait, what? Feb 08, 2021

Show notes

How the Royal Shakespeare Company is using live motion capture to animate a virtual show in real time. A case study of a California town who has this whole pandemic response thing down. A 3D printed house has hit the market on Long Island. And there’s actually still more to say about Four Seasons Total Landscaping? Plus some related recommendations.

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Links:

Is this an avatar I see before me? Audience takes to stage in virtual Shakespeare play (The Guardian)
Remote actors thread (Brendan Bradley, Twitter)
Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company)
A California University Tries to Shield an Entire City From Coronavirus (NY Times)
A 3D printed house is for sale in New York. Builders say it will cut housing construction costs (CNN)
A 3D-Printed Home Just Popped up on Zillow for a Cool $300,000 (Gizmodo)
Biggest 3D Printed House in America ALMOST COMPLETE Part 3 (Jarett Gross, YouTube)
At Foggy Pine Books, Customers Like Tom Hanks Know Every Book Is An Adventure Waiting To Happen (The Late Show, YouTube)
Opportunity Knocks | Fiverr Big Game Commercial Extended Cut (2021) (Fiverr, YouTube)
Inevitable Four Seasons Total Landscaping doc to be titled Four Seasons Total Documentary (A/V Club)
My Recent Media Diet, the Still Isolated Edition (Kottke)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Fri. 02/05 - This Is Your Brain On Juggling Feb 05, 2021

Show notes

How learning to juggle is the perfect example of what happens to your brain when you learn a new skill. A new literary version of Street Fighter II. Why Burger King France is handing out free potatoes. And, following on yesterday’s story about the fetus album, a three-year-old has written a completely delightful new album with her dad.

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Links:

Here’s What Learning to Juggle Does to Your Brain (Wired)
STREET WRITER: The literary video game we didn’t know we needed. (Literary Hub)
The Reason Burger King France Drive-Thrus Are Handing Out Bags Of Potatoes (Mashed)
A 3-year-old wrote a delightful electro-pop album and her dad produced it (Boing Boing)
QuQu by Juni x Dada (Bandcamp)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Wed. 02/04 - An Unborn Baby's Debut Album Feb 04, 2021

Show notes

We were bracing for a flu and COVID double whammy of a winter, but it never came. What happened? An intriguing new community initiative taking off in Europe to help prevent the mounting problem of electronic waste. And have you heard of fetuscore? Ok, it’s not a thing yet. But it may be soon because there’s a new album coming out that was recorded by a baby before she was born.

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Links:

The Pandemic Broke the Flu (The Atlantic)
The country rejecting throwaway culture (BBC)
An unborn baby is releasing an album, paving the way for fetuscore (A/V Club)
Unborn Baby Records Debut Album (Consequence of Sound)
Luca Yupanqui: Sounds of the Unborn (Sacred Bones)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Wed. 02/03 - Are We Too Cynical for Viral Stunts These Days? Feb 03, 2021

Show notes

What causes ice ages? The science behind your frying pan. You know, the one that’s supposed to be non-stick but isn’t. Scientists explain why. Other scientists have engineered spinach to send emails. Sort of. And did you hear about the Hollyboob prank? If not, or if you supremely don’t care, it may say more about our current relationship to viral stunts than the stunt in question.

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Links:

Ice Ages: What Causes the Earth to Freeze Over Every Few Million Years? (Discover Magazine)
Glad You Asked: Ice Ages – What are they and what causes them? (Utah Geological Society)
The un-ice age (Earthdata, NASA)
Scientists Explain Why Food Still Sticks to Your Stupid Non-Stick Pan (Gizmodo)
Scientists have taught spinach to send emails (Euro News)
Nanobionic spinach plants can detect explosives (MIT News)
Spinach email joke (Ambrose Persimmon, Twitter)
Why an influencer turned the Hollywood sign into the Hollyboob sign (CNET)
'Hollyboob' and the End of the Viral Stunt (MEL)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Tue. 02/02 - How Frozen Helped Solve the Dyatlov Pass Mystery Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

How a 1970s seat belt crash test and the animated movie Frozen helped potentially solve the 62-year-old Dyatlov Pass mystery. A fascinating correction to something I said yesterday about Langston Hughes. And remembering Captain Sir Tom Moore.

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Links:

Has science solved one of history’s greatest adventure mysteries? (National Geographic)
9 Russian Adventurers Mysteriously Froze to Death. A New Theory Explains Why (Wired)
Langston Hughes Just Got a Year Older (New York Times)
Captain Sir Tom Moore dies aged 100 after contracting coronavirus and pneumonia (Sky News)
You'll Never Walk Alone - Captain Tom Moore, Michael Ball & The NHS Voices of Care Choir (Decca Records, YouTube)
05/20 episode featuring Captain Sir Tom Moore (Kottke Ride Home)
Home Movie: The Princess Bride (Kottke)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Mon. 02/01 - February's Mars Invasion Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

Sharing some thoughts from Langston Hughes on this first day of Black History Month, and questioning what makes someone a hero in our history books. Plus, the discovery of a new blue pigment. And all the Mars news for February.

Sponsors:

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Links:

We Are the American Heartbreak: Langston Hughes on Race in a Rare Recording (Brain Pickings)
Langston Hughes Reads Langston Hughes (Open Culture)
How We Celebrate Black Heroes Can Obscure How Change Happens (NY Times)
13TH (Netflix)
For the First Time in 200 Years, a New Blue Pigment Is Up for Sale (Smithsonian)
Meet YInMn, the First New Blue Pigment in Two Centuries (Hyperallergic)
YInMn Blues: The Discovery that Startled the World! | Mas Subramanian | TEDxUNC (TEDx, YouTube)
NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover landing will be must-see TV (CNET)
NASA Mars Perseverance rover: What to expect on landing day (CNET)
February’s Gonna Be a Big Month for Mars (Wired)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Fri. 1/29 - What Your Tone of Voice Could Say About Your Music Taste Jan 29, 2021

Show notes

What did everyday Romans in Pompeii eat? An archaeologist has tried to reconstruct their meals. Merriam-Webster has added 520 new words to the dictionary. How do they decide which words get added? And a sci-fi dictionary to explore this weekend. Plus, Spotify wants to try to guess your music taste based on the tone of your voice.

Sponsors:

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Links:

Reconstructing the Menu of a Pub in Ancient Pompeii (Atlas Obscura)
2000-Year-Old Snack Bar Unearthed in Pompeii (Kottke)
We Added New Words to the Dictionary for January 2021 (Merriam-Webster)
Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Spotify wants to suggest songs based on your emotions (BBC)
New Spotify Patent Involves Monitoring Users’ Speech to Recommend Music (Pitchfork)
‘Just The Way You Are’: Music Listening and Personality (Spotify)
Techmeme Ride Home
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Thu. 1/28 - Legal Protections for Sounds & Smells in France Jan 28, 2021

Show notes

The mathematics of knitting. How France is trying to legally protect smells. A cautionary tale that will inspire you to go check on your office building if you’ve been working from home and no one’s done that for a few months. And a horrifying new product from Kraft Mac and Cheese.

Sponsors:

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Links:

How one physicist is unraveling the mathematics of knitting (Science News)
The Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Rural France May Soon Be Protected by Law (Atlas Obscura)
This Startup Left Its Office When Covid Hit. The New Tenants? 20,000 Bees (Inc.) h/t Today In Tabs
Bees Swarm Times Square Hot-Dog Stand (NY Times)
Kraft Launches Pink Mac and Cheese for Valentine's Day That Tastes Like … Candy? (NBC Chicago)
Kraft Is Releasing A Pink Candy-Flavored Mac And Cheese For Valentine's Day, And The Internet Is Losing Its Mind (BuzzFeed)
Thu. 11/12 - How Many Holes Does a Straw Have? (Kottke Ride Home)
Topology 101: The Hole Truth (Quanta)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Wed. 1/27 - Putting Your Money In GameStop is Old News Jan 27, 2021

Show notes

A brief dip into the GameStop Wall Street mayhem. A new water-is-wet kind of study proving that money indeed can buy you happiness. And the story of some students who just found out their new professor this semester has been dead for two years.

Sponsors:

Audible, audible.com/kottke or text kottke to 500-500 to start your 30-day free trial
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Links:

How GameStop found itself at the center of a groundbreaking battle between Wall Street and small investors (The Guardian)
Happy birthday, Guy Fieri (Garbage Day)
Send This to Anyone Who Wants to Know WTF Is Up With GameStop Stock (Vice)
Brief GameStop explainer and updates (William LeGate, Twitter)
The First National Bank of GameStop (Kottke)
Can Money Buy You Happiness? Yes, But There's a Catch (Bloomberg)
Dead Man Teaching (Chronicle)
Teacher tweets (Aaron Ansuini, Twitter)
Kottke.Org
Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Tue. 1/26 - Werner Herzog on Skateboarding Jan 26, 2021

Show notes

New DNA analysis upends some long held assumptions about the evolutionary background of dire wolves. How Adobe Flash broke an entire railway system. Astronomers have discovered a sextuply-eclipsing sextuple star system. Say that six times fast… And the definitive Werner Herzog interview on… skateboarding.

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