• James Burke did great scientific mini-series, and someone adjacent, earlier, was Alan Whicker -‌- he had a documentary show called "Whicker's World" which ran for thirty years. Here's one about where the monied set partied, in the inter-war period, the Most beautiful Hotel in the World, what they called the Too-Kay, the Royal Picardy in Toquet on the French coast, demolished 1968 after being abandoned for many years.
  
  
• At Nag on the Lake, the Bolwoningen Ball Houses, affordable, government housing in the Netherlands, c.1980. Nice, like an alien village in a science-fiction.
  
  
• Five Ways SF Writers Sidestep the Problem of Relativity.

• Astro Pic of the Day: Jupiter's Swirls from Juno. Another amazing Juno photo.
  
  
• At Megalithic Marvels, a weird place in Turkey/Türkiye: the Rock Tomb of Kapilikaya. More about this at the Art of Wayfaring.

• In Rolling Stone, How 'Disney Adults' Became the Most Hated Group on the Internet. On Reddit, anyway.
  
  
• The Rolling Stones promoting their first LP on the Mike Douglas show, in 1964. An earliest TV appearance, they play Carol, Tell Me, Not Fade Away and I Just Wanna Make Love to You; and curiously, they're not lip-synching the first and third numbers; but the second and fourth are the studio recordings. Don't miss the break with lucky fans Gloria, Donna and Susan.

• Incredible Singapore time-lapse, the Lion City II - Majulah by Keith Loutit. (The first one, where he does weird things with focusing, not recommended.)
  
  
• At Mac's Motor Garage, the Ford Falcon Death Cars of Argentina. For nearly eight years, one of the most bone-chilling sights was the sudden apearance of a green Ford Falcon at one's front door. This early 60s Falcon they kept producing there, year after year; it's also one of the seven strange Fords you'll never see.
  
  
• At Vox, How some people get away with doing nothing at work."Funemployment" was always my goal, before retirement.
  
  
• In Smithsonian magazine, the Unsuccessful WWII Plot to Fight the Japanese With Radioactive Foxes. 'Wild Bill' Donovan figures prominently in the story (the OSS decided to release 30 glowing foxes in Washington, DC's Rock Creek Park to gauge the reactions of the locals) but there's no mention of these phosphorescent kitsune on his Wikipedia page.

• A trio of solid film noir finds in the Internet Archive: The Dark Corner (1946), The Narrrow Margin (1952), and Blast of Silence (1961).
  
  
• Boston magazine: What's the difference between [New England] Steak tips and [California] Tri-tips?

• Sounds of the Parks. Lengthy natural sound samples, from national parks around the world.
  
  
• Banknote World reports: the Novelty Zero Euro, with pics. Note these zero Euro bills cost €2.
  
  
• Mohit Bhoite's page of his electronic circuit sculptures -‌- wonderful!
  
  
• NPR goes on a ride with Boot Girls, two women challenging Atlanta's extreme parking enforcement industry. Seems that Georgia allows (or allows its cities to allow) parking violation enforcement contractors' trespassing onto private property.

• At CNN Travel, Weird and wonderful trains that break the rules. My score here is just three out of ten; like to go back to Chengdu to ride that glass-bottomed Panda Train, among other things.
  
  
• In Slate, the Arlington Way and the Legacy of the Missing Middle. The end of single-family zoning is quite distressing to some suburbanites, but not me. Disclosure: my mid-90s condo was in Arlington, but I'm unfamiliar with (although not surprised by) this 'Arlington Way'.
  
  
• At Amusing Planet, the Black Woman Who Was Exploited for her Big Booty.
  
  
• David Bronner's psychedelic justice trip, from the local free weekly (which stopped print publishing when the epidemic began). I never buy his magic soap, but I've known people who swear by it, and the unorthodox package design is refreshing.

• From The Jesuit Review: When your car causes you to sin. It is obvious that driving does not encourage us to be our best selves. An extreme case: Wealthy Russians hire ambulances to cut through Moscow traffic, said 'ambulances' actually customized with plush leather interiors.
  
  
• The Story of Connie Converse, in The Awl (2009-2018). In 1974 this unsuccessful singer-songwriter wanted a new life, so she loaded up her VW beetle and drove away from Ann Arbor, never to be seen or heard from again.
  
  
• At Vintage Everyday, Photos of the Citroën DS, the Classic Luxury Car Way Ahead of Its Time. One of the ugliest cars ever, to some; but they intrigued me when I first went to Europe. Although most often black in my recollection, this colorful pair out front of a West Berlin dealership is a photo I took in 1978.

• Just Delete Me -‌- a directory of direct links to delete your account from web services, each labeled according to unsubscribing ability: Easy, Difficult, or Impossible.
  
  
• The Sword and the Sandwich is going through Wikipedia's List of Notable Sandwiches in alphabetical order. Updated weekly since October 2021, and they're only now finishing up the "D"s. Drill down, these are great.
  
  
• In the Washington Monthly, Birch of a Nation -‌- who was John Birch, and what was his Society?

• EyeCandy -‌- click any image to get lost -‌- endless tables of short animations.
  
  
• The Calculus Affair -‌- When Tintin entered the Cold War, at Polygon.
  
  
• A trio of in-depth reviews of favorite old 'cult' films. The Criterion Retrospective on Kiss Me Deadly; Retrospective/Review covers Excalibur (and other King Arthurs) and, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, Brows Held High discusses Koyaanisqatsi and its Complex Legacy.
  
  
• Plus one more video, for training cashiers in 1965: How to Be an Effective Supermarket Checker: The Front Line.

• At Childhood Relived, Who Loves The Family Circus? "Not Me."
  
  
• A new assortment: Top twenty free films on the Internet Archive, an annoyingly link-free listicle.
  
  
• Strangest videos nomination: Theâtre du Châtelet's 2012 production of John Adams' Nixon In China. Opera's bad enough, but opera set to minimalist music?

• Two from This Is Colossal -‌- rich, organic textures of soil, stone, and timber by Ukrainian artists Andriy and Olesya Voznicki, amazing. Also, Raffaele Salvoldi's Architectonic Installations -‌- Elaborate Towers from Basic Building Blocks. My first take: they're popsicle sticks, but no.
  
  
• In the news, Illinois man fatally shot by neighbor while using leaf blower. I'm not surprised; if I was armed you might be reading a story like this about me. Opinion in the Washington Post doesn't get it, claims the shooting is among recent, high-profile incidents of people being shot while doing mundane, everyday actions, from ringing a doorbell to pulling into a driveway. No, Timothy Bella, this is not the same, he was provoked. James Fallows DOES get it, his latest sub-stack on the topic promises relief: Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers Are Going Away. Really. He's my champion anti-blower crusader.
  
  
• Also from James Fallows, (since I just discovered his 'Breaking the News' repository, and he's one of my favorite journalists), 5½ Simple Things I Learned About China.
  
  
• Beamer, Dressman, Bodybag by Alexander Wells, who lives in Berlin. On the unexpected joys of Denglisch, Berlinglish & global Englisch.

• At Politico, Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. It's Not Even Close, by Colin Woodard, who wrote American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. Maps galore; enlightening.
  
  
• Also at Politico, Why China's police state has a precinct near you.
  
  
• Seven photos at Vintage Everyday: Yuri Gagarin and His Matra Djet Sports Car in 1965.
  
  
• Messy Nessy's Erica Blank delves into the Forgotten Charm of Barbershop Occupation Mugs. I recognized these (but had never seen one until now) from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, when Francie's mother had her retrieve her father's, after the funeral.

• A pair of new, official Beatle videos: I'm Only Sleeping and Here, There and Everywhere (featuring Lucy in the Sky).
  
  
• Extraordinary Richard Misek documentary: A History Of The World According To Getty Images.
  
  
• I learned about tightening nuts & bolts way before I ever heard the kinda hincky "rightie tightie, leftie loosie" mnemonic. When forced into some odd orientation by the task at hand, I use the right-hand rule to remember. But the equivalent expression in Spanish is worth noting:
  La derecha oprime, la izquierda libera.
  "The right oppresses, the left liberates."

• Hell Gate NYC on the new skyscraper, opening soon, the first across the river from Manhattan: the 'affordable' apartments at Brooklyn's futuristic, sinister stalagmite ain't cheap.
  (archive link)
  
  
• Architectural Digest: the 37 Most Beautiful Train Stations in the World.
  
  
• A video collage: Best Cinematic Shots from François Truffaut films.

• Tokyo Weekender on Japan's Most Elusive Train: Doctor Yellow, a pair of yellow shinkansen specifically for diagnostic/maintenance tasks. Related: at CNN Travel, New trains and new rail routes to experience in Japan.
  
  
• There's a lot to explore on Floor 796, an intricate mosaic of animated GIFs. Drag to navigate; click for more info; about (Google translation from the Russian).
  
  
• Probing why 'March Of Time' narrator Westbrook Van Voorhis sounded like that led me to this Babbel magazine Announcer Voice article, says it's the trans-Atlantic or more commonly Mid-Atlantic accent, a contrived blend of British and American English (rather than how they talk in Philly and Baltimore, the region 'Mid-Atlantic' more commonly refers to, today). Lots more good stuff at Babbel.

• Bored Panda posts a collection of Stunning Pencil Sculptures by Jennifer Maestre.
  
  
• Finally found them (and I've been searching for some time), The March of Time newsreels I had on a VHS in the late 80s, from which I'd dubbed some clips used in a variety of subsequent audio projects. They were America's Youth, from 1940; Youth in Crisis (1943), and Teen-Age Girls (1945). Watching such one always wonders, why did announcers lighten up and stop talking like that?
  
  
• "Rainbow Grandpa" Huang Yongfu creates wildly popular tourist attraction in Taiwan: Taichung Rainbow Village.

• Cinema Blend has five recommendations for fans of the movies who only want to see color. A quote for them:
  
  "Life is in color, but black and white is more realistic."
  - Samuel Fuller
  
  
• Rowan Oats: IKEA Wants Me To Think They're Nice. Includes a history of, from a Swedish POV.
  
  
• Rest Of World on ciclomotores, the DIY motorbikes of Latin America; essential for delivery drivers, a nightmare for everyone else.

• Kottke: the Sun, in all its glory.
  
  
• At This Is Colossal, Kaci Smith Weaves Colorful Patterns into Miniature Looms Fashioned from Wishbones and Branches.
  
  
• The World's 20 Most Beautiful Cities. I've only been to seven of these. Also, 15 of the Oldest Cities in the World...my score here, only four.

• Rotating Sandwiches.com. It is what it is. Kinda like converting your monitor into a microwave oven.
  
  
• Buzzfeed.News: A journalist believes he was banned from Midjourney after his AI images of [45] Getting Arrested Went Viral. Dunno from Midjourney but they're good images, way more realistic than what I posted here in 2020.
  
  
• CNN: Astronaut Sultan Alneyadi sees 16 sunsets daily on the ISS. How will he observe Ramadan? Also discusses Jews, mentioning Jeffrey Hoffman, NASA's first Jewish male astronaut, spinning a dreidel during a shuttle mission in 1993. Note that Judy Resnik was our first (she died aboard the Challenger in 1986).

• Umberto Eco: Ur-Fascism. Prodded me into finally looking up/learning what that 'ur-' prefix is all about.
  
  
• Clive Thompson: The Restorative Joy of Cycling. Feel like crap? Get on a bike.

• It's International Happiness Day. That NPR blog with the silly name asked photographers around the world for photos from their archive that capture gratitude and kindness.
  
  
• I remember in 1964, seeing a TV show about Glen Canyon. This was when the dam was being finished but Lake Powell hadn't formed yet. I was amazed, the canyon looked fascinating, and unlike our TV set at that time, the pictures in this article are in color. High Country News: Glen Canyon revealed.
  
  
• Linus Boman: Why Clip Art Was Everywhere... Until It Wasn't. I was almost oblivious about the methods of Desktop Publishing, although familiar with the results. Seems Powerpoint's to blame for clip art's demise. Among other things, Linus also delves into the wonton AKA the chop suey: How this font became the face of Chinese food in America. Just wish he didn't feel compelled to twitch his still images (deemed necessary in order to retain eyeballs, I suppose.) Confession: this font appears on my Hong Kong Neon page.
  
  
• Five special versions of songs that are now available on the new box set, "Joni Mitchell Archives Vol.2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971)" -‌- demos for A Case Of You & California, a song called Hunter, River (with French Horns) and Urge For Going (with Strings!)

• Mentalfloss: 13 Authors Whose Deaths Were Stranger Than Fiction.
  
  
• NPR: After 10 years as pope, Francis continues to reshape the Catholic Church. Selfish conservatives hate him -‌- tough.
  
  
• Also at NPR, Raccoon dogs may have been linked to the pandemic. What are they? I was under the impression that the tanuki was a mythical creature.
  
  
• In defense of the landline telephone, at Lifehacker. I miss mine; wish I had access to an office, in order to use theirs.
  
  
• Why Nobody in Japan Knows of Baskin-Robbins despite 1000 stores. If you ever have the opportunity, try their Musk Melon ice cream, which I've only seen in Japan. Journalist TR Reid characterized its flavor as "sublime."

For reference, the current Filipino flag, and something else from Asia, similar: the flag of Malaysia.

• At Design You Can Trust, a set of Wonderful Photos Of The Sinister 1960 Cadillac. These are all Eldorados without any of the lower fins (which the GM engineers called skegs) which sprouted on all the '61 Caddies.
  
  
• A Brief History of Teenagers, at the Saturday Evening Post, five years ago.
  
  
• More floppy: BuzzFeed News reports, Chuck E.Cheese still uses Floppy Disks to make its Rodent Mascot Dance. I've been inside that place once or twice but never seen the dancing robots, just bad pizza and a lot of kids. Regarding floppies, however, I used the 8- and 5-inchers at work but got the most utility out of the 3.5"s. For over ten years they were essential for transfering the links & etc found at work back to the home computer -‌- a perfect fit in the shirt pocket, but eventually replaced by a flash drive on my key-ring.

• Without calling it "near beer" -‌- Weak but powerful: The legacy of 3.2% beer endures. Unmentioned is how, at least in my experience, this stuff wasn't labeled any differently from the cans and bottles of their high-test brothers.

• Lifehacker says Your $2 Bill Might Actually Be Worth a Lot More and although it's an interesting overview; it's up to the first comment to address which bills specifically might be worth more'n face.
  
  
• Wired: Why the Floppy Disk Just Won't Die.
  
  
• Messy Nessy on Wendy Carlos.