Valletta, July 2019

This week’s Five Things…

1. Which city in the world is furthest from you? Furthest City has the answer

2. “You’d need to use an organic cotton tote bag 20,000 to make it greener than plastic”. An interesting article on common myths and misconceptions on going green.

3. Curious cockatoos have learnt how to open bins by copying other cockatoos do it first. Hopefully they’ll learn how to clean up the mess they make raiding the bins soon too!

4. Another bird related thing. Here’s a funny twitter thread of Pelicans trying to eat other animals.

5. The video for Beck’s remix of Paul McCartney’s song Find My Way, features a young Paul McCartney courtesy of deepfake and de-aging technologies. Clever!

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Ipswich, July 2021

This week’s Five Things…

1. I just finished reading Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club. Absolutely loved it. Also, more books should have chapters that short.

2. Having a video go viral might seem like a gateway to riches, but success doesn’t come that easy! “For those curious about the internet economy – this vid got 15M views here, 28M on TikTok, 30M on an IG meme account. But I didn’t make a penny from any of it!”

3. This interactive NY Times about Adam Ondra and the Olympic climbing events is really good. Particularly the last bit.

4. Henry the vacuum cleaner, accidental design icon.

5. I’ve been on a bit of a Beck binge recently. His album Colors, is a current favourite.

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Gulls of Ipswich, July 2021

This week’s Five Things…

1. “The secret to being good at anything is to approach it like a curious idiot, rather than a know-it-all genius.” — Mike Monteiro (via Austin Kleon)

2. Wise words

3. A bonus episode of More Or Less that coincides with the lifting of Covid restrictions in England. Well worth a listen

4. We’re two episodes into watching For All Mankind. Really good so far, love the premise of the show.

5. I’ve also been watching Clarkson’s Farm. Jeremy Clarkson is still very much Jeremy Clarkson but the show is great. Farming looks unbelievably tough and stressful.

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Sutton Hoo, May 2021

This week’s Five Things…

1. Brian Eno talks music with Rick Rubin on the Broken Record podcast.

2. And another podcast featuring Brian Eno but this time with the neuroscientist and author David Eagleman252. They cover a lot of ground but all centred around the plasticity and interconnectedness of our brains. A fascinating (or mind-blowing?) conversation.

3. Music writer Ted Gioia on parenting. Lots of great advice for those working with young people too.

4. Explore the deep sea right from your web browser.

5. “This morning I learned that spiders are able to produce parachutes with their silk threads that they use to sail up into the air and which allow them to travel high above the earth in the jet streams for more than 25 days.”

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Deal, June 2021

This week’s Five Things…

1. I sincerely hope this Giant 3D cat doesn’t cause someone to have a heart attack. Very cool display though!

2. A twitter thread of amazing football pitch locations. 1,2,5 and 9 are my favourites.

3. What a great idea: Portal: Lithuania and Poland build a window connecting two cities

4. Hay fever seems to be pretty bad this year. The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast dives into the science behind why that might be the case.

5. If you’ve watched a post-match interview with a footballer you’ll probably enjoy this and this!

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