Six Things, Volume 71

Hair | Matches | Martins | Boxes | Bikes | Time

Jun 30, 2024

Thing 1 – Hair

I do like it when people go into huge and apparently unnecessary detail about stuff. So this examination of hair lengths through the 20th century is right up my alley.

The survey makes the claim that ‘mullets peaked in the 1990s’. Not in the Australian Football League, as this recent analysis shows.

Thing 2 – Matches

This is an amazing, playful stop-motion film.

It’s made by Okazaki Tomohiro, and you can find more of their work on their Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube.

Thanks to Joanne for drawing my attention to them.

Thing 3 – Martins

I’d usually include this in the Birds mailing (apologies for recent absence – there’ll be another one in a few days) but I reckon everyone should see it. It’s a short film about purple martin migration in Austin, Texas, and the people who gather for it, either deliberately or by chance. It’s really lovely.

Thing 4 – Boxes

A very simple, slightly mad idea.

Checkboxes, Sir! Thousands of ‘em!

A million, to be precise. Checking a box checks it for everyone. It’s a fascinating study in something or other, or just a harmless way of spending a few seconds/minutes/hours. Utterly pointless, but then isn’t everything?

Thing 5 – Bikes

The Tour de France has started (the first two days have been quite gripping, by the way). For an explanation of the sport’s strange allure, here’s a lovely piece (now ten years old, I note) by Emma Townshend about how and why she fell in love with it.

And for those who think the Tour (with 3,500 km in 21 days of racing, including some of the most brutal climbs around) is either too lightweight or just not quirky enough, here are five alternatives.

And here’s Bartosz Ciechanowski’s explainer of what exactly is going on when you ride a bicycle. I’ve shared it before, but it’s always worth a revisit.

Finally (and I hesitate to share this for various reasons) here’s what happens if you ask AI to generate the Tour. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Thing 6 – Time

This is a fun game – look at the photos and guess the place and the year.

Six Things