Occasional links - 31.07.2021
Hello,
Another week chalked up to experience but it's all good as it's the weekend now. One too many delicious home made gin martinis last night but coffee is now soothing the pain. Some chores await, some drinks with friends in Peckham tonight and a mountain bicycle ride with friends tomorrow in the UK Slop and Grime.
Hope you had a good week. I always love replies to this email (Thank you Julia!) so if you have something to say, do hit the reply button. It makes it slightly less like posting aimlessly into the void sometimes.
Ok, here's ten things that might be of interest for you.
If you start noticing a lack of booze on supermarket shelves this is why
An absolutely brilliant thread on logistics (stick with me here) starting with beer, Brexit, coronavirus and ending with tea, war and empire. There's also another from yesterday on Ski Yoghurt in the 70s. Again, really fascinating, I promise!
How Henry the vacuum cleaner became an accidental design icon
About a wholesome a story as you might imagine.
Casino carpets, Great Yarmouth
I had no idea there were so many casinos in Great Yarmouth.
I went to the Marble Arch Mound today
The story that broke out of arch-twitter this week and went mainstream - even The New York Times picked it up. For what it's worth I do think a folly is a lovely idea and architecture and pubic works can and should be frivolous at times, but this one falls short in so many ways. This topic also spurred this amazing thread of CG vs reality discussions - some real howlers in there. Do also check out the livestream of it. The one I remember the most was the GLA building in London that was meant to look like a pure glass bubble. Spoiler: it doesn't look like that.
lo fi merkelwave beats to relax/get nothing done to
One of the best things I've seen in a while. Angela Merkel narrating chilled beats - natürlich! I use brain.fm that does a similar thing and calms my busy mind to focus on work, albeit without our favourite German Chancellor. Thanks to Matt for the link.
Trainers & their matching cars
One of my favourite ones here. Via Present & Correct of course.
Bikepacking with Banjo
Banjo is a Jack Russell Terrier. Full article on bike packing dot com. I guess that is this weeks dog link. Here's one of me meeting three Border Collie puppies from yesterday.
The three-or-four-hours rule for getting creative work done
Oliver Burkeman with another fascinating article about work. Links back to last weeks podcast about us not being machines / computers.
Another week chalked up to experience but it's all good as it's the weekend now. One too many delicious home made gin martinis last night but coffee is now soothing the pain. Some chores await, some drinks with friends in Peckham tonight and a mountain bicycle ride with friends tomorrow in the UK Slop and Grime.
Hope you had a good week. I always love replies to this email (Thank you Julia!) so if you have something to say, do hit the reply button. It makes it slightly less like posting aimlessly into the void sometimes.
Ok, here's ten things that might be of interest for you.
If you start noticing a lack of booze on supermarket shelves this is why
An absolutely brilliant thread on logistics (stick with me here) starting with beer, Brexit, coronavirus and ending with tea, war and empire. There's also another from yesterday on Ski Yoghurt in the 70s. Again, really fascinating, I promise!
How Henry the vacuum cleaner became an accidental design icon
About a wholesome a story as you might imagine.
Casino carpets, Great Yarmouth
I had no idea there were so many casinos in Great Yarmouth.
I went to the Marble Arch Mound today
The story that broke out of arch-twitter this week and went mainstream - even The New York Times picked it up. For what it's worth I do think a folly is a lovely idea and architecture and pubic works can and should be frivolous at times, but this one falls short in so many ways. This topic also spurred this amazing thread of CG vs reality discussions - some real howlers in there. Do also check out the livestream of it. The one I remember the most was the GLA building in London that was meant to look like a pure glass bubble. Spoiler: it doesn't look like that.
lo fi merkelwave beats to relax/get nothing done to
One of the best things I've seen in a while. Angela Merkel narrating chilled beats - natürlich! I use brain.fm that does a similar thing and calms my busy mind to focus on work, albeit without our favourite German Chancellor. Thanks to Matt for the link.
Trainers & their matching cars
One of my favourite ones here. Via Present & Correct of course.
Bikepacking with Banjo
Banjo is a Jack Russell Terrier. Full article on bike packing dot com. I guess that is this weeks dog link. Here's one of me meeting three Border Collie puppies from yesterday.
The three-or-four-hours rule for getting creative work done
Oliver Burkeman with another fascinating article about work. Links back to last weeks podcast about us not being machines / computers.
How far you can check out of the culture of unproductive busywork depends on your situation, of course. But regardless of your situation, you can choose not to collaborate with it. You can abandon the delusion that if you just managed to squeeze in a bit more work, you'd finally reach the commanding status of feeling "in control" and "on top of everything" at last. The truly valuable skill here isn't the capacity to push yourself harder, but to stop and recuperate despite the discomfort of knowing that work remains unfinished, emails unanswered, other people's demands unfulfilled.
World War Speed: The Drugs that Won WWII
I accidentally started watching a programme on TV the other evening about how methamphetamine was used by both allied and axis forces. And not only that but you could buy a Benzedrine inhaler (amphetamines) from the 1930s to 1950s in the US to 'improve performance'. Added to the list of 'I did not know that'. It's an hour long documentary and really worth it.
The horse comforting cancer patients in Calais
No you're crying.
Hope you have a great weekend.
Love as always,
Andy x
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