Kickoff For January 22, 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.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
Alien language: If we met extraterrestrials, could we talk to them?, wherein we dive into some speculation about how language throughout the cosmos may share certain features, about what characteristics the languages that extraterrestrials use might have, and how we might recognize them.
Winging It with the New Backcountry Barnstormers, wherein we enter the world of American recreational bush pilots who, for the thrill of it and for love of flying, take their small planes to place they’re not meant to go and who push those craft to their limits.
The ASUS Eee PC and the netbook revolution, wherein Corbin Davenport walks us through the history of the once-popular small computers and at what caused them to fade away.
‘Louie Louie’: The story behind the song everyone knows but no one understands, wherein we learn a bit about how the iconic pop song developed, and some weirdness about it that goes beyond the lyrics.
Repo Man, Cult Classic: Facts And Trivia About The Punk Rock Black Comedy, wherein we learn quite a bit about one of my favourite movies from the 1980s.
The People Who Ruined the Internet, wherein we step into the world of so-called SEO experts and learn a bit about why they do what they do, and why what they do isn’t any good for any of us.
Louis Armstrong’s Last Word, wherein learn about the perception of the legendary musician both when he was alive and after his death, and about Armstrong’s carefully-crafted plan to shape his own legacy.
The World’s First App Store, wherein we discover how Japanese computer users in the latter half of the 1980s bought software from automated kiosks.
An Entire Continent Went Missing—But Scientists Have Found It Again, wherein we learn about a prehistoric land mass dubbed Argoland, how it might have disappeared, and the research that went into rediscovering its location.
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.