This whole chapter is striking, particularly when you consider all that came after (the book was first published in March ‘97) 📚
This whole chapter is striking, particularly when you consider all that came after (the book was first published in March ‘97) 📚
“We are still talking about the original Wuhan strain coronavirus vaccine. Sad!” Attempted Trumpism aside, VP makes a good point. The short time it took from sequencing to mRNA vaccines made headlines. FDA then made provisions for quick review of sequence changes. What happened? 📰
It’s only the first episode, but The Joy of Why looks to me like the podcast RadioLab used to be, in content if not in sound design. Can’t wait for more 🎙
Good morning 📰
It was a brave move, to release a TV show/limited series set in the aftermath of a world-ending respiratory virus pandemic right at the tail end of covid. Good thing that the execution was flawless, from the dream-like cinematography,1 through casting, to Satoshi Kon-like editing. Notes of Watchmen, too, in how the source material is to be taken seriously but not literally when converting a book into something else.
Importantly, Station Eleven is set in, but is not about, a post-apocalyptic Earth, in much the same way Titanic was set in, but was not about, a sinking ship. Less romantic love and more parent/guardian/child love/hate relationships here, which is why it takes 9+ hours instead of 3+ to tell the story; but a full, rich, meaningful story is told, and told well. Kudos.
Almost every shot reminded me of the dream sequences from The Leftovers, which were in fact its best part. And it is here that I realize with horror that I never wrote about The Leftovers, which is in my all-time top 5. A rewatch and a writeup are due. ↩︎
Sagan on sceptics. While true, the paragraph would have to be rewritten for the 2020s: being a sceptic has become ambiguous (enter vaccine and mask scepticism), in addition to superstition and pseudoscience there is just plain bad science (HCQ, surgisphere)… you get the idea 📚
After long last, an episode of Conversations with Tyler worth linking to: Lydia Davis on language, translations, short stories, thick books, and much more 📚
Edward Teller is a prime example that you can be a world-class physicist and also as dumb as a rock. Sagan, on the other hand, was well aware of the turkey problem 📚
