A couple of months back, I mentioned that I was toying with the idea of a paid email letter. Sadly, that idea got crushed under the weight of expectations and of its viability. Oh, well ... That doesn't mean I won't try to come up with another idea. As always, I'll keep you posted.

With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:

Your bad habits are destroying your charging cables — A look at some myths, and realities, of why we all seem to have at least one (probably more than one) dead USB cable. After reading this, I'm half expecting a crop of USB cable influencers to sprout up soon ...

From the article:

A key source of strife comes from cables that are too short for the job, Hyers says. If you're stretching the cable out to make it reach a socket, you're hurting it. Or, if you find yourself lying in bed (or anywhere else for that matter) with your phone plugged in, pulling the connector at a sharp angle to keep using it, --- title: Kickoff For 18 May, 2026 ---you're asking for trouble.

Helium Is Hard to Replace — A look at the utility of a gas that's used for more than inflating balloons, and at the fragility of its supply chain (which has recently been badly disrupted by an unnecessary war).

From the article:

What I find interesting about helium is that in many cases, it’s very hard to substitute for. Helium has a unique set of properties — in particular, it has a lower melting point and boiling point than any other element — and technologies and processes that rely on those properties can’t easily switch to some other material.

How to invent a realistic language for fictional speakers — A fascinating overview of how constructed languages (conlangs for short) are developed and, to some small degree, take hold in the real world.

From the article:

Creating a conlang involves much more than stringing together some make-believe words. Languages are complex machines with many interlocking parts, and linguists must wield their expertise in these systems to create functional languages that suit their fictional speakers. That careful engineering not only adds depth and realism to many fantastical realms. It may also offer insight into the nature of language itself.

The Forgotten History of Hershey’s Electric Railway in Cuba — How a country's hunger for chocolate led to the creation of both the ultimate company town and a long-lived railway line in America's nearby Caribbean neighbour.

From the article:

Initially, the Hershey Cuban Railway consisted of a single 56-kilometer-long standard gauge track on which ran seven steam locomotives that burned coal or oil. But due to the high cost of the imported fuel and the inefficiency of the locomotives, Hershey began electrifying the line in 1920.