Five Bullets 10.24.25
NYC Facts, Sound Waves, Worksheets & more.
Good Morning Friends!
It’s Friday and we’re back with another Five Bullets. Here’s what’s capturing my attention this week:
“According to the Squirrel Census, there are 2,373 squirrels in Central Park.” LinkNYC’s kiosks which offer free wifi, calling and charging throughout the five boroughs also display over 1000 city facts. Amanda Giddon created the campaign back in 2017 from a spreadsheet of odd and curious facts. Giddon said a good fact is “something that can surprise and delight even the most seasoned New Yorker.” (Thanks to a reader for bringing this to my attention!)
I love this scene of Scully writing her field journal from The X-Files episode Ghost In The Machine. This episode has it all: government conspiracy, espionage, corporate wrong-doing and killer AI computers. The writers drew inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL 9000 and the title from Arthur Koestler’s philosophical psychology book.
- , professor and creator of NUKEMAP, talks nuclear history with Wired. Wellerstein’s enthusiasm for teaching this material is clear as he manages to make a complicated and frightening topic interesting to learn. (See Five Bullets 5.9.25 for Wired’s episode with Cold War historian Michael Kimmage).
Spacecraft launches create up to 200 decibels of sound waves which can reverberate off the launchpad and damage the craft. To quell hazardous vibrations NASA floods the launchpad with 450,000 gallons of water, creating a huge white steam cloud during launch. Here’s a video of the system being tested.
Sometimes I use a clipboard to feel like I work somewhere important (like NASA), so I designed this handy Circles In Space worksheet. Applications include: notes, sketches, reports, logs and checklists. Makes a great companion to the zine! Stay tuned for more on this soon.
That’s this week’s bullets! Now it’s your turn: What’s the best thing you read, saw, heard or did this week?
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See you next week for a special Halloween edition!
Keith.