Featured Links - April 8, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

The hydro marsh

• Throngs of Himself. "Paul Linebarger wrote science fiction as Cordwainer Smith. His multiple selves did not stop there." Long and fascinating article about an author who deserves to be better known.
• The Far Right Is Crawling With Eclipse Conspiracy Theories. "Everyone has lost their goddamn minds." I guess this is nothing new and I'm not surprised that Alex Jones and all would have fit perfectly into a Babylonian mindset.
• HarperCollins made a tiny tweak to its book design—and has saved thousands of trees as a result. "The publisher is reducing the number of pages in its books by tweaking their fonts and layout." When I was working as a technical writer, I always tried to reduce the page count in long documents, though my font choices were more limited than those at HarperCollins.
• Breakthrough in prime number theory demonstrates primes can be predicted. In terms of significance, this is the mathematical equivalent of Einstein's theory of relativity, assuming their research is verified. The examples in the paper look convincing, but the formal math is far beyond me. However, I have seen reports that people haven't been able to confirm some of the examples, so this may be one of those too good to be true bits of research. Remember cold fusion?
• A Vigilante Hacker Took Down North Korea’s Internet. Now He’s Taking Off His Mask. 'As “P4x,” Alejandro Caceres single-handedly disrupted the internet of an entire country. Then he tried to show the US military how it can—and should—adopt his methods.'
• Make Beautiful Things: The Aesthetic Drive Behind Rocket Lab’s Rise in Aerospace. "Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck has some unique approaches to innovation—and they seem to be working." Their next rocket is really interesting. 
• Buried rivers flow under Canadian cities, hidden in a labyrinth of tunnels and sewer pipes. "Will we revive them or let the waterways fade from memory? Jaela Bernstien and Emily Chung uncover hidden rivers across Canada.‍" This is an excellent interactive article. 
• Lawsuit filed against LG over appliance malfunction due to allegedly faulty parts. "It's a tremendous hassle. I think they should make it right." We have one of these fridges; I am keeping my fingers crossed we aren't one of the ones who have a problem.