No.108 Asides

It’s 2020 and you’re in the future. Some perspective on history, the present, what’s older, what’s closer, and some mind blowage at Wait But Why. “[R]emember when Jurassic Park, The Lion King, and Forrest Gump came out in theaters? Closer to the moon landing than today.”
Woah. 😍 🎨 Stamps, Scientific Charts, and Hand-Drawn Maps Occupy Every Inch of Travel Notebooks by José Naranja. (Via Jason).
HackCurio: Decoding the Cultures of Hacking. Biella Coleman is founder, editor, and curator so you know it’s going to be on point. “Hack_Curio is a video portal into hackerdom that helps explain why hacking is one of the most important phenomena of global culture and politics in the late 20th and early 21st century. Our site features short video clips that are accompanied by a brief explainer about the footage.”
Crows could be the smartest animal other than primates. “The specific kind of brain they have doesn’t really matter – corvids and primates share some of the same basic capabilities in terms of problem-solving and plasticity, or being able to adapt and change in the face of new information and experiences. This is an example of convergent evolution, where completely different evolutionary histories have led to the same feature or behaviour.”
🧵 by Jack Appleby: Star Wars just had 10+ min event in Fortnite that included:- an exclusive movie trailer premiered INSIDE the game- a custom game scene w/the Millennium Falcon - a live interview w/ JJ Abrams- PLAYABLE LIGHTSABERS Quick thread + analysis.
🚙 The Rivian pickup’s real edge over Tesla’s Cybertruck isn’t its battery. “The company’s own vehicles, as well as Amazon’s and Ford’s, will all be built upon the company’s so-called “skateboard” chassis. It packages together the battery, suspension, braking system, and mechanical components all below the height of the wheels, lowering the vehicle’s center of gravity. That improves handling and increases storage space, the company says.”
💨 🧠 Air filters create huge educational gains. “[M]ath scores went up by 0.20 standard deviations and English scores by 0.18 standard deviations, and the results hold up even when you control for “detailed student demographics, including residential ZIP Code fixed effects that help control for a student’s exposure to pollution at home.””