Cool Stuff Daily

Latest Episodes:

Mon. 1/11 - Tim Berners-Lee's Quest to Restore Balance to the Web Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

It’s time for two writers to pay up on a 25-year-old bet about whether tech would destroy civilization. Tim Berners-Lee’s new quest to transform the web into the one he envisioned when he created it. How the most recent COVID-19 Stimulus Bill created a new National Park––and also may reveal previously classified government research on UFOs?

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Fri. 1/8 - What Folklore Can Teach Us About Conspiracy Theories Jan 08, 2021

Show notes

What folklorists can teach us about the structure and resilience of conspiracy theories. The genome of the platypus has been sequenced, and it’s just as weird as you’d expect. And a Swedish film festival that’s sending one person to an abandoned lighthouse on a remote island for a weeklong stay without any human contact or outside communication.

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Links:

Folklore structure reveals how conspiracy theories emerge, fall apart (Ars Technica)
A TikTok Twist on 'PizzaGate' (NY Times)
#166 Country of Liars (Reply All)
Behind the Curve (Netflix)
Rabbit Hole (NY Times)
Now We Know Why Platypus Are So Weird - Their Genes Are Part Bird, Reptile, And Mammal (Science Alert)
Film festival invites fans to watch movies alone on a Swedish island (CNN)
Swedish film festival offers abandoned lighthouse screening (A/V Club)
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Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Thu. 1/7 - Dude, IceBots on Mars! Jan 07, 2021

Show notes

A prototype for self-repairing planetary exploration robots made of ice. The surprising history of the word “dude.” And a new Danish children’s cartoon about the misadventures of a man with a huge dong. Yep.

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Robots Made of Ice Could Build and Repair Themselves on Other Planets (IEEE)
The surprising history of the word ‘dude’ (BBC)
dude, n., adj., and int. (Oxford English Dictionary)
mobile, n.2. (Oxford English Dictionary)
John Dillermand: New Danish children's TV show features a man with a massive penis (CNN)
John Dillermand is kid's TV about a guy with an elastic dick (A/V Club)
Denmark launches children's TV show about man with giant penis (The Guardian)
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Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Wed. 1/6 - The 60s Spy Satellite Helping Today's Environmental Scientists Jan 06, 2021

Show notes

Space missions to keep your eye on in 2021. How satellites built to spy on the Soviets have helped unravel environmental mysteries. Why the dark ages aren’t considered so dark anymore. And a completely perplexing auction from David Hasselhoff and his 14 foot replica doll.

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Six space missions to look forward to in 2021 (The Next Web)
It Spied on Soviet Atomic Bombs. Now It’s Solving Ecological Mysteries. (NY Times)
Inside the C.I.A., She Became a Spy for Planet Earth (NY Times)
A Point in Time: The Corona Story (Public.Resource.Org, YouTube)
Go read these stories about the use of spy satellite images in environmental studies (The Verge)
Just How Dark Were the Dark Ages? (Discover)
David Hasselhoff auctions off a terrifying 14-ft. replica of himself (A/V Club)
For Auction: SPONGEBOB THE MOVIE "BIG DAVE" (#0112) (Live Auctioneers)
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Tue. 1/5 - A Nanny Cam to Keep You On-Task? Jan 05, 2021

Show notes

People who are choosing to be surveilled by strangers and productivity nannies in order to stay on task while remote working. A 3D-printed hydrogel inspired by cephalopods that changes shape when exposed to light. And UK officials have arguably messed up a commemorative coin, again.

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People are hiring productivity nannies to watch them work (Wired)
Shape-Shifting Hydrogel Mimics Octopus Skin (Futurity)
Let us finally resolve the octopuses v. octopi debate (Quartz)
Plural of Octopus: Octopi vs. Octopuses vs. Octopodes (Merriam-Webster)
HG Wells fans spot numerous errors on Royal Mint's new £2 coin (The Guardian)
Here’s a nice, low-stakes problem: the Royal Mint’s HG Wells coin is riddled with errors. (LitHub)
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Mon. 1/4 - Time Confetti & the Quantum Internet Jan 04, 2021

Show notes

What “time confetti” is and how to stop spreading it everywhere. A new development in the teleportation of information that means good things for the possibility of quantum internet. And how TikTokers raised a million dollars for The Actors Fund over the weekend with a crowd-sourced fan-created musical, inspired by Ratatouille.

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How to get your time confetti under control (Timely)
Everything You Need to Enjoy One Tech-Free Day a Week (Wired)
High-fidelity, long-distance teleportation paves way for quantum internet (New Atlas)
The delightful Ratatouille TikTok musical has already sold more than $1 million in tickets (The Verge)
How a Ratatouille Musical Came Together on TikTok: WATCH (Vulture)
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Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Wed. 12/30 - The Cognitive Case for Talking To Yourself Dec 30, 2020

Show notes

Why talking out loud to yourself is actually an important cognitive skill, or so I’m telling myself. A new population of blue whales with a distinct song was recently discovered in the Indian Ocean. And a new AI that will hilariously and viciously judge your taste in music.

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Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking (Psyche)
A New Population of Blue Whales Was Discovered Hiding in the Indian Ocean (NY Times)
Yes! A Previously Unknown Population of Blue Whales Has Been Heard in The Indian Ocean (Science Alert)
How Bad Is Your Spotify? (The Pudding)
A New Musicians' Union Wants Spotify To Pay Up (WBUR)
Support Artists Impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic (Bandcamp)
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Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Tue. 12/29 - How Humans Began to Read and Write Dec 29, 2020

Show notes

How is it that humans figured out how to read? New cosmological findings that may finally solve the Hubble tension. And, more monoliths continue to pop up, a look at two of the more interesting ones from this past week.

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Reading, That Strange and Uniquely Human Thing (Nautilus)
Language is a tool, a technology (NomeDaBarbarian, Twitter)
Astronomers Get Their Wish, and the Hubble Crisis Gets Worse (Quanta)
Mysterious monolith appears in Pittsfield (WCAX)
Photos of gingerbread monolith (Alexis Gallagher, Twitter)
Christmas Day Wonder: Gingerbread Monolith Mysteriously Appears at SF Park (KQED)
Gingerbread monolith delights San Francisco on Christmas Day (AP)
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Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Mon. 12/28 - What If 2020 Was Just One Big MMORPG? Dec 28, 2020

Show notes

How your brain takes out the trash while you sleep. The English man who crossed the Alps on a space hopper. And a subreddit where over half a million people pretend our world is just one big MMORPG.

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Deep sleep drives brain fluid oscillations (Science)
During deep sleep, the brain does housekeeping (Reuters)
Brain pumps comment (Christopher Mims, Twitter)
Experience: I crossed the Alps on a space hopper (The Guardian)
The Extraordinary Steven Payne Documentary Official Trailer (Regijus Simkevicius, YouTube)
What if life were a video game? These 650,000 people imagine it that way. (Washington Post)
Outside: The free-to-play MMO, on reddit (r/Outside, Reddit)
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Jackson Bird on Twitter

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Wed. 12/23 - Leave Out Porridge for Belligerent Elves on Christmas Eve Dec 23, 2020

Show notes

How Star Wars toys have changed over the years and why it may not be a good thing for kids. What if there were tons of alien civilizations elsewhere in the Milky Way but they’re all long since dead? And the Danish tradition of leaving porridge out on Christmas Eve to bribe mischievous elves.

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