Six Things, Volume 36

Arctic | Restoration | Hammerheads | Ig Nobel | Big Ben | Impossible

A bit of a hasty one this week, I’m afraid, as I’m on the road doing book events, and also far too easily distracted by things like these pink-footed geese (a spectacle which should, frankly, be made available on prescription).

So as always it’s the birds’ fault that I’ve failed to spend the requisite hours pissing around on the Internet looking for nonsense to send you doing rigorous research.

Anyway, enough of my feeble excuses. Here are Six Things.

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Thing 1 – Arctic

A nine-minute film made by Cornell University about filming bird life in the American arctic.

Warning: contains scenes of mild to strong beauty and cuteness which may prove awe-inspiring to some viewers.

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Thing 2 – Restoration

I’m  a sucker for these satisfying restoration videos. I’m not going to say I experience ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) but I will happily watch them from beginning to end, and they always inspire an obscure feeling of satisfaction. There is, too, always a moment at which I want to say ‘you haven’t done that bit yet’ and sure enough, within about twenty seconds, they do that bit.

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Thing 3 – Hammerheads

Ever wondered how hammerhead sharks got that way? Wonder no more.

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Thing 4 – Ig Nobel

The Ig Nobel prizes are an annual award given “for achievements that first make people laugh then make them think“

I think my favourite of this year’s crop is the paper explaining why scientists like to lick rocks, but there are plenty of gems in the archive too.

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Thing 5 – Big Ben

I like a good explainer. And I like finding out about things that I’ve always taken for granted. So this animated deconstruction of the inner workings of the clock tower incorrectly known as Big Ben (see video for details) is right up my alley. Brits, and especially Londoners, might want to skip the early section which tells you where London is, and everyone might want to tune out the pointless background music (it is at least mercifully quiet), but these are minor quibbles.

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Thing 6 – Drawing the Impossible

This is one of a series of videos by Jonathan Harris showing how to draw impossible things. As one who can neither draw nor do the impossible, I found it an eye-opener.

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