Things of note for the week ending Sunday August 21st, 2016.
1. A YEAR WITHOUT OLIVER SACKS
A year ago today I published FToF 138 and the first item on that list was Oliver Sacks’ last article before his death, Sabbath. A year later, a friend of his, Orrin Devinsky, remembers him once more and considers how he might look upon the world today.
A short read but a worthwhile one.
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2. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT CODE IS RUNNING IN MY BODY
The headline ALONE on this had me hooked.
Marie Moe is a cyborg who runs on proprietary software she can’t trust. She’d like to change that.
At age 33, Marie Moe learned that her heart might fail her at any moment. A computer security expert in Norway, she found out she has a fairly common heart condition that disrupts her normal pulse, so she had to get a pacemaker. The surgery was quick and uncomplicated. Just a few weeks later she was able to travel to London for a course on ethical hacking.
And it’s happening right now.
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3. THE FOUR WOMEN OF WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
For item number three this week, we turn to old school men’s style mag, GQ.
And we’re going to be looking at WWE Wrestling.
Specifically the women of WWE.
‘Oh, women and wrestling? It’s a GQ must!’ Well, yes, kinda. BUT… ‘The Four Women Saving Wrestling‘ isn’t just a reason to talk about two subjects that historically work well with the publication’s audience. It’s actually a fantastic quartet of tales about empowerment, feminism, and the real off-screen battle / movement to have women’s wrestling recognised as a key component to regular WWE programming.
Good read.
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4. STUFFED ANIMALS – WHAT?
Staying on the wrestling theme for a moment, we turn to Rio 2016. Did you see any of the wrestling? (I didn’t). If you did then you would’ve seen the Olympic mascot being thrown into the ring.
Why?
Yahoo Sport (no laughing at the back) has the answer.
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5. NO MAN’S SKY: A PITCHING MASTERCLASS
I’m still nuts about No Man’s Sky (examples: here, here, and here – deal with it) and yet trying to explain it to anybody really does get difficult sometimes.
It goes like this:
‘This game is amazing!’
‘Yeah? What’s the objective?’
‘Well, you’re technically trying to find your way to the centre of the galaxy…’
‘Got it’
‘…but that’s not really the point; I mean – there’s no rush’
‘Huh?’
‘It’s about the journey, not the destination’
‘I don’t get it’
‘There’s 18 quintillion planets!’
‘Huh?’ *stares blankly*
Over and over…
Now, imagine having to do that to a global audience. Think about it. That’s what the game’s creators had to do. They had to find a way to explain a game that is really quite difficult to explain.
Rami Ismail took a look at this process and unpicked the strategies and choices that Hello Games made during this process.
Really interesting.
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6. OLYMPIC RACES, IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD
What would Olympic races look like if they took place near you? The New York Times (and, it has to be said, the NYT’s coverage of Rio2016 has been outstanding (see this beautiful Simone Biles piece for just one example of this) has put together this interactive website that maps Usain Bolt to your address so you can see just how quickly you could make that train…
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7. DEATH TO COMMENTS
NPR killed the comments section on its website – and the stats behind the decision are really interesting.
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Bonuses this week are all hand-picked just for you.
- Best. Pokemon. Evolution. Ever.
- An American Doctor Experiences the NHS. Again.
- No idea what film to watch tonight? Here’s some inspiration.
Until next time my friends.
Whatley out.
