A weekly collection of links lovingly curated by Colin Wright.
By Fighting the Ozone Hole, We Accidentally Saved Ourselves
“The Montreal Protocol was a win for diplomacy and the stratosphere. But unbeknown to its signatories at the time, the agreement was also an unexpected ward against climate catastrophe. As new research shows, the aptly named ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) that created the hole over Antarctica are also responsible for causing 30 percent of the temperature increase we saw globally from 1955 to 2005.”
New Proof Finds the ‘Ultimate Instability’ in a Solar System Model
“In 2009, a pair of astronomers at the Paris Observatory announced a startling discovery. After building a detailed computational model of our solar system, they ran thousands of numerical simulations, projecting the motions of the planets billions of years into the future. In most of those simulations — which varied Mercury’s starting point over a range of just under 1 meter — everything proceeded as expected. The planets continued to revolve around the sun, tracing out ellipse-shaped orbits that looked more or less the way they have throughout human history. But around 1% of the time, things went sideways — quite literally.”
It Will Cost Up to $21.5 Billion to Clean Up California’s Oil Sites—the Industry Won’t Make Enough Money to Pay for It
“The report broke down the costs into several categories. Plugging wells, dismantling surface infrastructure and decontaminating polluted drill sites would cost at least $13.2 billion, based on publicly available data. Adding in factors with slightly more uncertainty, like inflation rates and the price of decommissioning miles of pipeline, could bring the total cleanup bill for California’s onshore oil and gas industry to $21.5 billion. Meanwhile, California oil and gas production will earn about $6.3 billion in future profits over the remaining course of operations, Purvis estimated.”
The Two-Century Quest to Quantify Our Senses
“One day in the year 1840, a man opened his eyes and couldn’t see. This was it, the “final blow,” as he later wrote in his diary. It was as if the man, a renowned German medical doctor turned professor of physics, had inexplicably gone blind overnight. But his condition was not new. It was the dramatic culmination of months of unexplainable symptoms that had befallen this scientist: bursts of light in the eyes, headaches, nausea, lack of appetite, insomnia, and neurosis. Little did the scientist know, however, that his dire situation would eventually result in something remarkable — a startling revelation that would forever change our understanding of the human senses and how they would come to interact with machines.”
I’ve Been Single for Decades; the Effect on My Finances Has Been Staggering.
“Debt became a means of maintaining a veneer of comfort and a pretty life, of keeping up with others. I’m not always excessive in how I’ve attempted this. I’ve bought myself supermarket flowers since my early 20s. Bunches of daffodils, tulips, ecstatically sculptural two-pound gladioluses—like flower versions of icicles—and all types and colors of cheap roses. I stockpile cheap pink grapefruit-scented bubble bath, never scrimping when I pour it under the running water. I buy good salted butter, olive oil, dark chocolate with salted almonds in it. I have ways of positioning these as essential to maintaining my well-being.”
Early Computer Art in the 50s and 60s
“Around 100 years after Babbage and Lovelace discussed the Analytical Engine, a mathematician named Ben Laposky was inspired by an article written in Popular Science which suggested that decorative patterns could be created using oscilloscopes. Laposky began creating his “electrical compositions” in 1950, using a cathode ray oscilloscope along with electronic circuits like sine wave generators. He captured the moving outputs using long exposure photography. In later pieces, he rotated filters in front of the screen to add colour to the images.”
Americans Abroad
““I don’t mean gringo in an offensive way,” he said. I did a combination of waving my hands and shaking my head, searching for some internationally recognized gesture for “no offense taken.” Daniel continued: “Gringo used to be a slur. But now we use it to mean outsider.”
He could have used it as a slur for all I cared, as I enjoy indulging in one of the favorite activities of the American abroad: judging other Americans abroad.”
If you’ve found some value in this email, consider supporting this project by becoming a paid subscriber or buying me a coffee. You can also support all my projects by becoming an Understandary member.