Kickoff For July 10, 2023
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.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
****The crazy plan to explode a nuclear bomb on the Moon**, wherein we visit one of the stranger episodes in the Space Race, sparked by a serious research paper, involving a proposal to put some fear into the Soviets by dropping a hydrogen bomb on the lunar surface.
How Google Docs Proved the Power of Less, wherein we learn how the search engine company’s online word processor survived and thrived not by trying to mimic its desktop counterparts, but by being lean and subtracting rather than adding features.
Why willpower is overrated, wherein we discover why some psychologists believe that self control isn’t the key to leading a good life, and why it seems like it is.
Bucky Fuller’s Most Complex Invention May Have Been Himself, wherein we learn a bit about the famed inventor, and about the public image he crafted for himself which was, in many was, at odds with his true self.
Why the Floppy Disk Just Won’t Die, wherein we learn why the obsolete storage medium is still in use today, as well as the problem facing those users as supplies of those disks are becoming more and more scarce.
The Merchant, the Marriage, and the Treaty Port: Reassessing Ōura Kei, wherein we learn about the important but little-know titular merchant from Nagasaki, and some of the challenges that she faced as a successful female business person in a very patriarchal society.
The Invention of the Polygraph, and Law Enforcement’s Long Search for a ‘Lie Detector’, wherein we learn about the origins of the polygraph, and how law enforcement first tried to prove that this unlikely contraption worked.
Can We Make Bicycles Sustainable Again?, wherein Kris De Decker looks at how environmentally unfriendly the manufacturing of bikes is, and at some ways in which to make that manufacture more sustainable.
The Sanctions Age, wherein we learn about the effects of unilateral American sanctions on other nations, and about the knock-on effect of some of those sanctions on both countries allied with the US and firms from those countries.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.