Kickoff For February 26, 2024
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
It might seem like this week’s edition of the Kickoff is a day late. It is, and yet it isn’t. Due to some family matters, I’m in a locale where today is Monday. Nice to have the best of both worlds every so often …
With that out of the way, let’s get this Monday started with these links:
Why you age slower on a plane (and other incredibly strange effects of relativity), wherein we learn about the hows and whys of travel altering the passage of time, and how that can affect us (in almost imperceptible ways) even when travelling here on Earth.
Weird HTML Hacks, wherein we learn about 10 tricks that web designers used over the years to get around the limitations of HTML and of web browsers.
Iron in Spinach, wherein we learn the truth about how much of the mineral is in the leafy green vegetable, and about some of the misconceptions around that.
An ancient technique can improve your attention span, wherein we learn about the concept of cognitive currency, how it evolved to help humans survive, how it’s been circumvented by modern distractions, and how we can regain a bit of it.
Why Are We Still Doing What Simon Says?, wherein Joanna Goodrich explores the enduring popularity of a simple electronic game that debuted in 1978.
Rereading My Childhood, wherein Timothy Baker reflects on how our early reading, and our reading any of that again decades later, is an exhilarating, fascination, and often contradictory set of experiences.
The Master Forgers Who Saved Thousands of Lives During World War II, wherein we learn about the Ładoś Group who, working out of the Polish embassy in Switzerland, created fake passports to help Polish Jews escape the Nazis.
Making Magnetic Media, wherein Ernie Smith explores how 3M became a huge (and hugely profitable) player in the floppy disk market, and why the company bailed from that market in the 1990s.
Interstellar astronauts would face years-long communication delays due to time dilation, wherein we learn a bit about the science of long-distance communication, further reinforcing the fact that interstellar travel would be a lonely journey.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.