[life] New Evidence Suggests Dinosaurs Would Have Driven Selves To Extinction Through Greed And Complacency Anyway … ‘It appears they were already developing the rudimentary traits for corruption needed to exploit each other. This, combined with a genetic predisposition toward pillaging the earth with no regard for tomorrow, would have derailed the ecosystems that sustained them just as effectively as an extraterrestrial object colliding with the planet and setting in on fire.’

[moore] Alan Moore interviewed on art and magic by Roberto Bartual … ‘All of my magical enterprises, though, since the beginning, have been geared towards public revelation, whether as a published piece, a multi-media performance, a film project or a recorded audio work, which I suppose are all different applications or kinds of magic. These days, however, with diminished mobility and a diminishing tolerance for the role of public figure, I am entirely focussed on writing – the first technology, that makes magic and all other technologies possible. This is not to say that I might not do the occasional tarot reading or offer kabbalistic advice to friends and family, but from my point of view, there is nothing in the conceivable universe that cannot be captured and contained by the couple-of-dozen squiggles in the average alphabet.’

[space] Go look at this stunning photo of Phobos orbiting Mars. It was taken by ESA’s Mars Express in 2010.

[space] Who Has Jurisdiction for Crimes Committed in Space? … ‘The closest thing to space crime that law enforcement has yet encountered may be crimes committed in Antarctica, the frigid and isolated continent that’s unaffiliated with any country but operates under the Antarctic Treaty signed by 54 nations. The agreement declares that the suspect is likely under their home country’s jurisdiction. In some cases, the country owning the research station where the alleged crime took place steps in. In 2018, a Russian researcher at Bellingshausen Station on King George Island went after his victim with a knife in the station’s dining room. He was charged in Russia.’

[space] Apollo 10 spaceflight transcript. ‘Give me a napkin quick. There’s a turd floating through the air.’

[life] Common Mythconceptions … An infographic from Information is Beautiful showing common misconceptions.

[books] 1980s Computer and coding books from Usborne … A nostalgic collection of coding books for kids freely available from the publisher’s website. ‘Many of today’s tech professionals were inspired by the Usborne computing books they read as children. The books included program listings for such iconic computers as the ZX Spectrum, the BBC Micro and the Commodore 64, and are still used in some computer clubs today.’

[movies] 10 Great Shark Attack Films … Great movie list from the BFI. ‘The Shallows contains its narrative within the restricted space of a rocky outcrop where surfing medical student Nancy (Blake Lively) is stranded just 200 yards from the shore following a shark attack. Jaume Collet-Serra’s film realistically plays out the drama in vivid detail, as Nancy steadily dehydrates, sustains blood wounds and gets ever weaker as the great white increases its attempts to attack her. While the narrative of The Shallows is ostensibly Nancy surviving her ordeal, like Jaws it invests its shark with meaning beyond lethal threat, as it functions as both apex predator and major metaphor for the recent loss of her mother. Just as the shark circles Nancy, so does her grief, patrolling her psychological borders, waiting to consume her.’

[life] The Onion: Study: 97% Of Average American’s Day Spent Retrieving 6-Digit Codes … ‘“Our findings suggest that U.S. residents spend roughly 23 hours each day—or 160 hours every week—attempting to log in to online services, being told they need to check their phone for a six-digit code, and then entering that code into the website or app for verification,” said lead researcher Andrew Singh, adding that many Americans have to skip meals and forgo showering in order to find time to read and transfer over the hundreds of codes needed daily to access their medical records, work emails, and food delivery accounts.’

[life] The life and tragic death of John Balson: how a true crime producer documented his own rising horror … A powerful, personal story about the health and ethical impacts of working on true crime TV in the UK.

‘As a producer, it was Balson’s job to persuade bereaved families to tell their stories on camera. “The thing about factual TV is that the raw material is just people, and your relationship with those people,” says McKay, who has also worked as a true crime TV producer. “That puts massive stress on the people whose job it is to organise and wrangle them.”

Because his contributors were usually based in the US or the UK, Balson routinely worked 18-hour days across three time zones. “You spend all day looking at photos of dead bodies of people who have been murdered in gruesome ways,” says Rosy Milner, 30, a factual TV producer and former colleague of Balson’s from London. “You read about sexual abuse and crimes against children. And then a contributor in the US texts at 10pm, asking for a phone call. You book the Zoom at midnight and keep going.”’

[web] Digital hygiene … Great set of tips to improve your internet security. ‘Work-life separation. Ideally, do not log in or access any of your personal services on work computers. Most of them have company-operated spyware installed on them to protect the company’s intellectual property. This is all well and good and makes sense, but you should know that any activity on the computer is quite likely extensively logged (networking, keyloggers, screenshots, etc.) and possibly actively monitored by the security department.’

[games] The story of how Boulder Dash was created … Peter Liepa, the creator of Boulder Dash, interviewed. ‘It was a very simple model, and it probably only took a day or two to write. But once I had that, I could sit there for hours. I had a random number generator that would just scatter rocks and earth on the map, and I’d run the joystick through it, destroying earth and watching the rocks fall. Then I realized that, oh my god, this is actually kind of fun. It was like a kid playing in the mud; building little dams and letting water flow through. You had a toy to play with. The more I played with it, the more I realized it led to a fun and addictive experience. Even if all you did was destroy earth and watch rocks fall, that was already entertaining. But then, I could also run into a dense area of rocks and try to make my way through the maze.’

[comics] Rare early British fanzine Orpheus, featuring work by Ian Gibson, Steve Moore, Steve Parkhouse rediscovered … Scans can be found here. ‘In the second part of his wonderful interview with Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Steve Moore talked about the almost mythical issue 2, which was printed in Spring 1973. However, because Steve Parkhouse and Barry weren’t happy with it, it was never released. The printing and paper aren’t as high quality as with the first issue, so perhaps that was the reason?’

[life] We are now closer to 2050 than 2000…