New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 35: Bounded and Boundless” — A collection of unusual books; NFTs and the long (and fruitless) quest for uniqueness; more on data sonification; the Women Writers Project; the history of podcasts from 1893-1911
Incredible update to Zotero (beta): fantastic built-in PDF reader with many annotation features; better notes; a new tabbed interface so you can have multiple items open at the same time; full support for embedded images. Team @Zotero killing it, as usual.
Find polar bears in remote camera feeds from Hudson Bay, and then decide where they rank in the “Polar Bear Fatness Index,” this is for science
We rarely speak w/ people beyond our social circles, but doing so can bridge divides through shared life experiences. On the latest @podcastwhatsnew from @NortheasternLib, my guest is @csmallstory of @everyday_boston, which facilitates those conversations.
The length of our dog’s legs singlehandedly destroys the theory of intelligent design
A question to ponder: Is cultural output better if it is paid for by direct subscriptions to individual creators, or by cross-subsidies that support those creators within larger structures, such as institutions?
The latest NASA videos have a nice Space: 1999 vibe
Digital art sold as “authentic” using a blockchain/NFT is the latest version of a concept successfully pioneered by Sol LeWitt, William Gibson, and…the Wu-Tang Clan
Don DeLillo’s White Noise reads very differently after the experience of the last year.
You look nice today, New Hampshire
On the What’s New podcast from @NortheasternLib, I talk with @julia_flanders and Sarah Connell about a decades-long effort to make overlooked early modern women writers not only more visible, but available for everyone to study and appreciate in new ways.
New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 34: Making Data Physical” — Representing data in the real world to make it more visceral and comprehensible; the galaxy of books and their connections, visualized; write an obit for your dead device + more
I believe we’ve reached Peak Winter
This good piece by @austinkleon, “Blogging as a Forgiving Medium,” is just as much about forgiving audiences.
Winemaking update: After our apparent success pressing the Zinfandel grapes we got from California, we are now trying to make a rosé from Syrah grapes from Oregon, and a batch of Chardonnay from Washington. Getting better at the chemistry.
The year is 2057. In Super Bowl LXXXIV, Tom Brady throws a touchdown pass to Gronkbot 3000, winning the first championship for Blockchain City.
Snow Belle
Is a sentiment that is autocompleted still a sentiment?
Larry’s interviews with Prince, one right after Prince brought down the house in 1981 with a mind-blowing guitar solo at a small Boston club, are each unexpected in their own way. (We are in the process of digitizing Larry’s interview tapes.) Tune in!
This week on the What’s New podcast from the Northeastern University Library, I spoke with Larry Katz, who was a music reporter for the Boston Herald for decades, about his encounters with Prince, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, David Bowie, and many others.
1 year ago @Northeastern launched its Covid-19 task force, making us one of “The Colleges That Took the Pandemic Seriously.” It gave us the longest possible runway to reopen w/ frequent testing, and time to completely redesign the library and its services.
New issue of my newsletter: “Humane Ingenuity 33: Bring Back the Color” — Why the objects around us used to be more colorful; how we can bring more unique experiences back to the internet, and why we need them; text for some art; Zoom over 300 baud + more
For our next What’s New podcast, I interviewed a music critic who interviewed Prince, Bob Marley, Barry White, and Aretha Franklin in the early 80s, and as you’ll hear I spent a lot of the show saying “wow!” and “really?”
Barry White on the backlash against disco music and discos in 1979: “People put titles on everything. Before those places were called discos, they were just clubs. After disco they became clubs again. Most people don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Shalanda Baker, Prof. of Law, Public Policy and Urban Affairs @Northeastern, has joined President Biden’s administration as Deputy Director for Energy Justice. We were fortunate to have Baker on @podcastwhatsnew to talk about what energy justice means.
