A weekly collection of links to interesting things curated by Colin Wright.
Abandoned Weather Station
In September '21 we went on a long-awaited trip to Chukotka and Wrangel Island. We sailed along the coast and covered more than 1200 miles of untouched landscapes, villages lost in time, spots with various fauna and seas full of life. One day, bad weather was expected, so our captain approached a small island, Kolyuchin, to take shelter from the storm. Kolyuchin is known for the polar weather station that operated on it in Soviet times. Though the station was closed in 1992, the abandoned village still stands on the island. The stormy wind, rain, and neglected buildings on the rocky shores all made everything appear super surreal. Suddenly, we noticed movement in the windows of the houses. Someone took out some binoculars and we saw the heads of polar bears! The fog, a place long deserted by people, polar bears — it was the perfect setting.
What I Learned Failing to Finish a Game in 2024
At the start of the year, my focus was on multiplayer—specifically, “how the hell do you make a multiplayer game?”
After diving into articles (shout out Glenn Fielder ) and studying the multiplayer quirks, I settled on a turn-based combat RPG. Games like Baldurs Gate 3 and the Divinity series are absolute classics that I would find huge inspiration from.
Kinship was designed as a 4-player, online co-op RPG. Players could choose from the classic classes—Fighter, Mage, Rogue, or Cleric—and battle through an isometric world. The combat system was simple, with basic attacks and spells, and the enemies (mostly slimes, for now) moved and attacked in turns.
Software Folklore
The best hardware bug I heard of was of a high-speed train in France that would just randomly do emergency stop in service, but only when passengers were on board.
Every time it happened, they took it out of service, and found nothing wrong. So they put it back in service, and it would eventually do an emergency stop.
During one test run, a test engineer riding the train went to the toilet, and as soon as he flushed the toilet, BANG! emergency stop.
He radioed the engine, and asked "what did you just do before it braked?"
It Pays to Have Long Hair and a Beard in Utah—Jesus Models Are in Demand
Models who look like Jesus are in high demand in Utah. That’s because for a growing number of people in the state, a picture isn’t complete without Him. They are hiring Jesus look-alikes for family portraits and wedding announcements. Models are showing up to walk with a newly engaged couple through a field, play with young children in the Bonneville Salt Flats, and cram in with the family for the annual Christmas card.
Since being recruited about four years ago, Sagers has posed as Jesus nearly a dozen times. Others have done so far more often, charging about $100 to $200 an hour to pose with children, families and couples at various locations in the Beehive state.
Walmart Employees Are Now Wearing Body Cameras in Some US Stores
Walmart, the largest nongovernmental employer in the U.S., is testing the technology after smaller retailers started trying body cameras at their own stores as a way to deter theft. Body cameras and the footage they gather are commonly advertised as a way to prevent shoplifting, but Walmart intends to use the tech for worker safety — not as a loss prevention tool, according to a person familiar with the program.
Sky Skimmers: The Race to Fly Satellites in the Lowest Orbits Yet
Several companies are now trying to do something even more impressive. They are developing technology to harvest molecules from the thin layer of air that is present in VLEO in order to actually propel satellites here. Such a system, called Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP), has been made possible by advancements in electric and ion propulsion in recent years. In essence, it involves fixing a large bucket or opening to the front of the satellite, into which gas molecules from the atmosphere flow before they are ionised to create plasma that generates thrust.
Archivists Work to Identify and Save the Thousands of Datasets Disappearing From Data.gov
As people in the Data Hoarding and archiving communities have pointed out, on January 21, there were 307,854 datasets on data.gov. As of Thursday, there are 305,564 datasets. Many of the deletions happened immediately after Trump was inaugurated, according to snapshots of the website saved on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Harvard University researcher Jack Cushman has been taking snapshots of Data.gov’s datasets both before and after the inauguration, and has worked to create a full archive of the data.