Catch up links

To extend the discussion of some of the posts over the past few months. For browsing, study, and amusement.

Read time: Are you kidding? Click on these, and you’ll be gazing at your screen for hours! This week: To end the year, some casual browsing related to posts from 2022. Next week: Some plans for 2023 — articles and new directions. A lightweight read to begin the year.

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I often run across articles that relate to topics I’ve written about. Readers send me links, too. I think it’s good to share a selection of them, grouped under the titles of posts I’ve written, just so that people can catch up if they enjoyed a post or so that they can catch up on one they missed. Everyone can get an update.

Such grouped resources simplify diving in — even if it’s just into a new rabbit hole. Some of the links may lead to paywalls, the spawn of the devil. You can avoid them sometimes by doing a web search of titles. Often authors or others have posted PDFs of academic articles — legally, too, I believe.

If you run across a resource that you think I’d enjoy, let me know with an email to technocomplex@substack.com.

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Muzak. Like the air, only sweeter

“I can’t remember where I heard it first but you would get tastes in old people’s houses, the dentist office, momentarily while changing the radio station to find something else….” Valenti, IV, Sam. “Herb Sundays Presents...” Substack newsletter. Herb Sundays (blog), November 13, 2022.

Herb Sundays Presents...

Just because I think it’s cool

Though I could classify it with my post on how flying has fallen almost as low as its in-flight menus. I just might be tempted to make a trip like this one, actually.

On the 20th day of the Artemis I mission, Orion captured the Earth rising behind the Moon following the return powered flyby. The 3 minute, 27 second, return powered flyby burn, committed the spacecraft to a Dec. 11 splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. NASA Johnson. Flight Day 20: Orion Captures Earth After Lunar Flyby. December 5, 2022. Photo. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/52546840431/. Rights: CC-NC-NoDerivs

I'm more beautiful than 40% of the Spice Girls.

Despite the title of this post, it’s not about my good looks. It’s also not entirely about my misadventures as I “broke in” my new fireplace insert. (Which is working fine now, thank you very much.) But this one will add to the sounds of your life, kinda like my fire alarms did. It’s reported that the thing works much more frequently than you might feel comfortable with:

Bradshaw, Kyle. “This App Beeps Every Time Your Computer Sends Data to Google.” 9to5Google (blog), August 22, 2022. https://9to5google.com/2022/08/22/app-beeps-send-data-google/.

But, still, about those Spice Girls: Petrusich, Amanda. “The Boundless Optimism of the Spice Girls.” The New Yorker, November 7, 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/14/the-boundless-optimism-of-the-spice-girls.

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Billion-Dollar babies. Fake and real, too?

Speaking of beauty, How about some fake beauties to go with whatever they’re selling?

Kense, Jasper. “Digital Humans Are Here. They Sound and Look Just like Us.” Medium, October 5, 2022. https://uxdesign.cc/digital-humans-are-here-they-sound-and-look-just-like-us-f1563c96e5f8.

Yoonnyung Lee, Julie, and Amelia Hemphill. “K-Pop: The Rise of the Virtual Girl Bands.” BBC News, December 12, 2022, sec. Asia. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63827838.

MoToR eyeglasses

This guy has a nice collection of lots ’n’ lots of car pictures, along with these covers of MoToR magazine.

Just A Car Guy. “Just A Car Guy: MoToR The Automotive Business Magazine from 1903 to 1940, and They Had Some Cool Art on the Cover,” February 11, 2016. https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2016/02/motor-magazine-from-1903-to-1940-and.html.

Tweetle-dee, tootle-dum

The Musk-scented Twitter story became even weirder than I expected — a testament that wealth (however Mr. Musk’s is diminishing) doesn’t correlate with intelligence or a keen understanding of democracy or much else, I guess. I have to admit that I became weary of the Muskian antics, which only seemed to rival the kind of theatrics and clownishness that our dear former and decidedly un-reelected President was able to muster. Mr. Musk has chosen his company, perhaps he’s even chosen well or at least representatively.

I’m done with this story, by the way, and so are many others.

Mark Dykeman

of

How About This

announced on his Mastodon account (@markdykeman@mastodon.online), "My New Year's Resolution is to never speak of the #birdsite or its owner in 2023.” I hope he keeps it. I’m with him on this.

Gardels, Nathan. “Musk Must Read This.” Noema, November 11, 2022. https://www.noemamag.com/musk-must-read-this.

And to brush up your French (or use Google Translate): Audereau, William, and Damien Leloup. “Complotistes, homophobes, néonazis… Dix comptes emblématiques de la dérive de Twitter sous Elon Musk.” Le Monde.fr. December 9, 2022. https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2022/12/09/complotistes-homophobes-neonazis-dix-comptes-emblematiques-de-la-derive-de-twitter-sous-elon-musk_6153754_4355770.html.

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