5 Intriguing Things
"DisneyCollectorBR is a faceless YouTube channel giant that is consistently among the site’s top most viewed per month. In April, the channel was the third-most viewed worldwide, coming in right behind Katy Perry. During the week of July 4, the DisneyCollectorBR channel received more views in the United States — 55 million — than any other channel on YouTube, according to data from OpenSlate. Despite the channel’s massive, sweeping, and somewhat perplexing popularity, no one — neither the toddlers who watch with near-religious fervor and their parents, nor executives deeply embedded in the YouTube ecosystem and its economics — seem to have much of a clue who’s behind it."
+ There's something about the big fingers next to the tiny toys that creeps me out. But I am over the age of three, so what do I know?
2. Yeah, airships should definitely make a comeback. On aesthetics alone.
"An American company called Aeros is one of the forerunners in the modern airship movement. It launched a high-tech cargo airship called the Aeroscraft last year. Aeros’s prototype is able to carry payloads of up to 60 tonnes. The company is now developing a ship that will more than double this weight. The airship was designed through a partnership with DARPA and NASA. It can achieve a vertical takeoff and landing with no ground support."
3. The complexities of "bibliotherapy" in prisons.
"From 1947 until 1968, Herman Spector was employed as senior librarian at San Quentin. He put in place a meticulous, long-term program offering 7-days-a-week library access and a choice from over 33,000 titles. By the end of his tenure he stated (not estimated, for he knew every book checked out) that 3,096,377 books had circulated through his system. His project drove up prisoner literacy and had inmates reading 98 books/year. The project sounds nothing but positive and indeed it brought about much self improvement. But, remember this was a grand experiment with a captive audience and Spector had total control over the reading lists – and latterly, the outward correspondence and writing by San Quentin inmates. Spector employed censorship as readily as he conducted reading groups and assigned classic texts."
"A struggling Korean baseball team have invented a novel way to improve atmosphere at their matches - by bringing in a crowd of robot fans. Hanwha Eagles supporters not able to get to the stadium can control the robot over the internet. The bots can cheer, chant and perform a Mexican wave... 'There is also potential monetisation. You can charge, even if it's a small amount, to give fans a different kind of viewpoint.' Football fan John Hemmingham, who runs the famous England supporters brass band, saw the funny side. 'What happens if a robotic fan misbehaves?' he joked. 'Gets aggressive, abusive, spills a drink... I can see it being fraught with danger. What if it sits in the wrong section? A robotic hooligan!'"
5. How will we listen to music in the future?
"The future of streaming also depends at least in part on whether people prefer to choose their own music (the Spotify model) or have choices made for them (the Pandora model). Back in the days of vinyl records and bakelite radio sets, everyone had a mix of both. Will it be the same in the internet era? Lefsetz, the industry analyst, thinks not. He wrote in his recent post that 'we live in an on-demand world,' and so Pandora’s strength will diminish, though it will survive in some form. 'There’s a market' for passive listening, he added, '[b]ut not run by algorithms, but people'—i.e., by radio stations, both traditional terrestrial ones, and digital ones, like SiriusXM."
Today's 1957 American English Language Tip
causerie. An informal newspaper article (or address) esp. on a literary subject, appearing as one of a series. Named after Sainte Beuve's Causeries du Lundi (Monday Talks).
+ You're welcome, design-and-innovation-firm event planners.
Faceless YouTube Channel Giant