I admit, I was drawn in initially for the ghost aspect – but it’s not real ghosts here. She discusses the phenomenon of seeing the face of her dead brother in strangers. Like literally seeing his face. She discovers it’s not an uncommon thing and traces the psychology of the experience as well as the social aspects of grief. I can commiserate; I remember once when I worked at Orchard Supply Hardware (now being liquidated! Sad!) in the mid-90’s, only a few years after my dad died, and a man came through my line who bore a striking likeness to my dad, to the point where I made a double take. On the second look, I saw the differences, but for a split second… All these years later, I still vividly remember that moment and the aftermath where my brain tried to regain focus. 

A second article from Longreads (you, too, can sign up for their weekly newsletter because you know you want to) – this is a fascinating memoir of a woman revisiting the unlikely place she called home: China Lake missile range as a tourist. 

385 Feet of Crazy: The Most Audacious Flying Machine Ever – Wired

Paul Allen built the world’s biggest plane. Does anyone need it? – Quartz

I came across the Quartz article first. I’ve been following the Stratolaunch since the announcement way back when. I was positive it would never be built. I’m glad I’m wrong.

Start with the Wired article. That does a lovely job of giving the context and history of the project in a way not wholly dissimilar to the article Last week I linked to about Virgin Galactic’s efforts to launch a vehicle into space from an enormous plane. Where that article focused on a pilot, this article focuses on the creators – Paul Allen, the billionaire who believed it into viability, and Burt Rutan, the genius designer who has been tinkering with the concept for decades.

While the Wired article does a nice job of casting doubt on the viability of the proposed mission of this leviathan, the Quartz piece goes a step further… It gets going in the second half of the article when it suggests it may be a “secret” government project being built in plain sight and compares it to the Glomar Explorer ship that was ostensibly built for manganese mining, but in fact was intended to (and almost did!) raise a wrecked Russian submarine, K-129. That in itself is an awesome story, so could the Stratolaunch be a similar military project? I don’t care! It’s so bonkers and I’m so excited this behemoth is going to actually fly that I really don’t care about the rationale. But that’s just me… Also, if you want to see this thing actually move? Check out the successful taxi testing. 

Yes, the Toto song, but covered by Weezer. This is a link to the YouTube video of them playing it live, but they also released a studio version that (Spotify willing) I’ll embed below. It’s as straightforward, loyal-to-the-original cover you’re going to find, and that’s just fabulous. Granted, Weezer isn’t exactly cutting-edge and first on the playlist of Kids These Days™ but their version did actually chart at number 1 on the alternative-rock Billboard chart. The inter-webs are mixed, with music pundits decrying it as “the worst thing ever,” or heralding the arrival of pop culture’s reboots into pop music. Really? Who cares. It’s fun. And, it’s helping Toto, too – they’re still around and touring (though of course a 40-year-old band has had numerous line-up changes over the years). Founding member Steve Lukather told the Wall Street Journal, “I never thought I’d live to see a resurgence in a positive way. All of a sudden people are being nice to us. It’s new to me! This has been the most surreal summer of my life.”

Hey, that’s pretty cool!

Maybe you’ve been following the story of SpaceShjp One since Scaled Composites chased (and won!) the Ansari X Prize back in 2004 for successfully taking a manned craft beyond the boundary of space twice in two weeks, and then through Richard Branson’s acquisition of the craft and the founding of Virgin Galactic. Maybe you saw the press about the tragic desctruction of SpaceShipTwo during testing. And you might have even seen that they recently completed a powered test flight of the replacement vehicle. This long read article covers the history, but through the lens of one of the test pilots. It’s a fascinating perspective on this 21st century space race that you might have missed.

Is Elon Musk our Henry Ford? Or Thomas Edison? Or Preston Tucker? However you think of him and his accomplishments, it’s hard to argue he has recently been going through a rough patch. His companies (Tesla, SpaceX) are doing great, but the man behind them seems to be feeling the brunt of the pressure he’s taken onto his shoulders. And from this unusually frank interview, it’s clearly taking a toll.

This. I so want to do this.

I adore Atlas Obscura for its collection of odd and unusual locations, often nearby places you’ve never been. I’m lucky/blessed/unreasonably proud of the fact that I’ve ridden the coast from Long Beach to the top of Washington and there’s only one place on this list I’ve actually gone (the Chandelier tree). I was further shocked to see the FRICKEN MAMMOTH RUBBING ROCKS are seriously 10 minutes from my house and I haven’t been there!!! That needs to be rectified post haste! And while summer winds down and we resist the siren song of these adventures, noting our depleted vacation hours, please take a few minutes and enjoy this virtual road trip and, you know, maybe put some markers on a map for a trip next year. Or this fall…

Because, naturally, you’ll need some reading material for your virtual road trip…

This one hit my sweet spot right now. I can’t explain what has lately been drawing me to the desert, but it’s undeniable. This list of books draws from varied genres and the books themselves are neither dry nor, obviously, unending.

It’s been a crazy political week/month/year/term. We seemingly have more scandals in a week than we’ve had in twenty years.

It’s exhausting.

Take a deep breath.

Now click on the above link and read about what former President Jimmy Carter’s days are like. No, let me help you: here’s the first three paragraphs:

Jimmy Carter finishes his Saturday night dinner, salmon and broccoli casserole on a paper plate, flashes his famous toothy grin and calls playfully to his wife of 72 years, Rosalynn: “C’mon, kid.”

She laughs and takes his hand, and they walk carefully through a neighbor’s kitchen filled with 1976 campaign buttons, photos of world leaders and a couple of unopened cans of Billy Beer, then out the back door, where three Secret Service agents wait.

They do this just about every weekend in this tiny town where they were born — he almost 94 years ago, she almost 91. Dinner at their friend Jill Stuckey’s house, with plastic Solo cups of ice water and one glass each of bargain-brand chardonnay, then the half-mile walk home to the ranch house they built in 1961.

Go read the rest. It is salve for out battered and bruised national consciousness.

An extra because, well, farewell Aretha Franklin:

Washington Post

Did you ever see a famous picture in a gallery and think,”I wish that were in my home?” This unassuming couple apparently went through with it and enjoyed their own private de Kooning for the rest of their lives.

Topic

A hellaciously toxic lake in Montana becomes an international tourist destination, while at the same time threatening to drown an entire town. Not gonna lie, I want to visit!

Inverse

Caught in the fire caused by a massive earthquake and then frighteningly close to the epicenter of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, the last survivors of the division Ginkgophyta are serious! I wonder if I could even keep one alive!

While we’re in Japan…

Afar

I find this concept of lining up fascinating. “Queuing is a big deal in Japan, a physical exercise of the principles of discipline and etiquette that are drilled into every schoolchild and reinforced for every adult.” she writes. Hard to think of that in our culture, and yet I look forward to the annual release of Russian River Brewing’s Pliny The Younger and the multi-hour wait in line. For that event, I wholly embrace the idea that the author is putting across which is “The wait isn’t part of the cost, as I’d always considered it; to a Japanese person, it’s part of the value.”

Spotify

I still intend to put together a podcast for the playlists I curate every month, I just haven’t gotten my time organized enough yet. In addition to those hour-long new music (mostly) playlists, I’ll ocasionally put together something a little different – a “Songs that Shaped Me” playlist, or a “Albums that turn 10 this year”. Or, like this, “A Brief History of Punk Rock.” My conceit was, if you wanted to put together about an hour of songs (mine ended up being an hour and a half), how would you introduce someone to punk rock. I chose 27 songs that run from Patti Smith to Minor Threat to Green Day and finish up with The Interrupters. Along the way I listened to some bands I eschewed growing up for no good reason, and I revisited some of my old favorites. Just writing about this makes me want to sit down and do a podcast explaining my choices. Maybe I’ll make time sooner than later. Until then, if you have Spotify, check the above link or let’s see if the below player works: