The Oldest Ecosystems, Most Expensive Paintings, Possibly Overrated Restaurants, etc.
In which the world is changing rapidly... but we adapt.
📸 50 Years Ago in Photos: “Half a century ago, President Richard Nixon resigned from office, streaking took off as a fad, and the stuntman Evel Knievel attempted to jump across a canyon in a rocket motorcycle. Also in 1974, the boxers Muhammad Ali and George Foreman fought in Zaire in a match dubbed the ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s career home-run record, the tightrope walker Philippe Petit walked across the gap between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Turkish military invaded Cyprus, and much more.”
🌎 The Earth’s oldest ecosystems, and what they say about resilience. “Life is a system that actively sustains itself. The laws of thermodynamics dictate that everything in the universe will inevitably fall apart, dissolving into a homogenous mush. Living systems use available energy to temporarily evade this outcome and maintain their improbably organized structures. More than genetics or reproduction, it is this capacity for self-preservation that unites life at every scale, from protist to prairie.”
🤖 AI is clearly changing music forever. “What’s important is that this is just the beginning. All of these songs merely represent the worst this technology will ever be.” Listen to the examples in the article. They’re mundane, but not too far off from the most vapid of pop music.
🖼️ The most expensive paintings ever sold.
📲 A writer faked their way as an Instagram poet. To immediate results. “Writing the poems was easier than I expected. It was liberating to have absolutely zero standards. As long as it was shit, it got the green light. By the end of the first week I'd written 40 awful poems. I was averaging about 50 likes on each post, and my account – which had only been active for seven days – had already amassed 281 followers, which is fucking absurd.”
📀 Are DVDs poised to make a comeback? On some level. “U.S. consumer spending on at-home entertainment grew by more than $6 billion in 2023. While the numbers remain dismal when you include the sinking ship that is DVDs, 4K UHD Blu-ray sales were up 15 percent just in the last quarter of 2023—due in large part to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which sold out in under a week. Nolan, a very outspoken proponent of physical media, went as far as calling streaming services ‘evil’ when explaining his push for high-quality physical releases.”
🍽️ Are some of the world’s best restaurants much more than over-the-top immersive experiences? “This year’s third-best restaurant, offers ‘stunning wine and incredible food.’ That sounds stunning! And incredible! You know, though, the thing I’m wondering about this experience of a lifetime is whether I’m going to have a good time. But that’s not a question the World’s 50 Best Restaurants is set up to answer.”
📩 Clue: This naturalized U.S. citizen who hosted my favorite gameshow for 37 years is being honored with a Forever stamp.
✌️ Stay cool out there, and remember to keep the Hoping Machine running.
Love,
Luke
