can a painting drive a person to madness?

Three great stories today, all weirdly revolving around technology. The first, a Washingtonian article on Green Bank, West Virginia, home to the Robert C. Byrd radio telescope. What having that telescope in their backyard means is that there is a 13,000 acre “Quiet Zone” surrounding it, which means that cell phones, wifi, and radio broadcasts aren’t allowed. “This is pretty fascinating on its own, but what’s interesting is the groups of “technosensitives” that are moving there to get away from radio waves.

Secondly, an overview of the Museum of Soviet Arcade Games in St. Petersburg which is fascinating:

And, unlike machines in the West, every single machine that was produced during Soviet-era Russia had to align with Marxist ideology.…It means presenting work as physical labor, promoting Communist patriotism, and glorifying habits of mind that were appropriate to Marxist thinking….Instead, the most popular games were created to teach hand-eye coordination, reaction speed, and logical, focused thinking.

Finally, an article about making a whisky glass that works in zero-G. This is about more than just the making of the glass (which is fascinating), though, and goes into a long analysis of how drinking and pouring liquid works in space, how they can design around it, and the history of alcohol in space (spoiler: there hasn’t been a lot of it)

Related sidenotes: the Naval Academy is reinstating celestial navigation AND apparently there are Pluto truthers.

Today in Hamilton: Three Treasury Secretaries have now seen Hamilton, which is the best. If you’re in New York, someone has outlined a rather nice walking (+ subway) tour of major sites of Hamilton’s life (I did not realize that the dueling grounds Weehawken was JUST across the Hudson, so history major #fail). FiveThirtyEight analyzes the speed of Hamilton, calculating that it manages to fit in 20K words in 2h 23m, with almost double the words per minute of its closest competitor, Spring Awakening, and almost triple that of Pirates of Penzance.

I am always in favor of articles that begin “can a painting drive a person to madness?” so allow me to recommend this overview of cursed paintings and artifacts. I want a deeper dive, but it’s a fascinating overview. I also love the fact that Man Proposes, God Disposes (above, showing the aftermath of Franklin’s lost expedition, so please get yourself lost in that Wikipedia wormhole) is covered by a Union Jack during student examinations because it’s thought to bring bad luck.

Long Reads: the evolving nature of emoji as language—this is more than just the “is it or isn’t it” usual discussion, but dives deep into what emoji would need to become a language, and how far it’s already progressed.

Etcetera: Someone (my hero) has crowdfunded a pizza. Telling a love story via Instagram. Mr. Bananagrabber strikes again.