The Interesting List Links to things I have found interesting https://deanebarker.net/interesting/ Annotated Link: How to win an Oscar? Sex, spin and very dirty tricks https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/oscar-campaign-scandal-2024-b2502599.html <p>Winning an Oscar often comes down to very shrewd awards marketing by film studios.</p> Fri, 8 Mar 2024 23:59:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/oscar-marketing/ Annotated Link: Swiss Maps Are Full of Hidden Secrets https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/swiss-map-secrets <p>Swiss mapmakers have an odd habit of hiding secret images in maps, for no particular reason.</p> Sun, 3 Mar 2024 15:40:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/swiss-maps/ Annotated Link: Rogue Editors Started a Competing Wikipedia That’s Only About Roads https://gizmodo.com/competing-wikipedia-editors-only-about-roads-aaroads-1851298769 <p>A group of Wikipedia editors broke off, and the reasons why give an interesting look into how Wikipedia works, and how different people and subjects can come into conflict.</p> Sun, 3 Mar 2024 15:28:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/roads-wiki/ Annotated Link: What It’s Like to Staff the Home of a Billionaire https://www.thecut.com/article/staffing-billionaires.html <p>An enlightening interview with the head of a firm that recruits home staff for billionaires.</p> Sat, 2 Mar 2024 13:46:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/billionaire-staffing/ Annotated Link: World's Fastest Camera Drone Vs F1 Car https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pEqyr_uT-k <p>With the help of Red Bull, a team builds a camera fast enough to follow an F1 car around a very fast track</p> Thu, 29 Feb 2024 13:24:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/f1-drone/ Annotated Link: Why There’s a Giant Barcode In The Middle of the Mojave Desert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxf1F6SWYSY <p>There are &ldquo;bar codes&rdquo; printed on the ground in multiple places around the United States, used to calibrate spy satellites.</p> Sat, 24 Feb 2024 12:14:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/satellite-bar-codes/ Annotated Link: The Great Pretenders: How two faux-Inuit sisters cashed in on a life of deception https://torontolife.com/deep-dives/gill-sisters-pretendian-fraud/?src=longreads <p>Pretending to have native heritage is not uncommon in Canada, where financial incentives are often involved. This is the story of how a mother and her two daughters played the system for gain.</p> Sat, 24 Feb 2024 12:03:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/native-impersonation/ Annotated Link: Why You’ve Never Been In A Plane Crash https://asteriskmag.com/issues/05/why-you-ve-never-been-in-a-plane-crash <p>Due to a change in investigative policy, it&rsquo;s become much easier to determine the root cause of air incidents. The key was to not try and blame anyone.</p> Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:16:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/air-safety-blame/ Annotated Link: Why Do Some U.S. Bills Have a Star at the End of the Serial Number? https://money.howstuffworks.com/why-do-some-us-bills-have-a-star-instead-of-a-letter-at-the-end-of-the-serial-number.htm <p>Some US currency have a star a the end of the serial number because they were reissued to correct a manufacturing error.</p> Wed, 21 Feb 2024 16:16:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/star-serial-numbers/ Annotated Link: Height and Dating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbG05ePWRQE <p>This news report from 2009 is an experiment that proves short men have significant challenges romantically compared to taller men.</p> Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:11:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/short-men/ Annotated Link: 14 Actors Who Didn't Meet Their Costars Until After The Movie Came Out (Or Have Yet To Meet Them) https://www.buzzfeed.com/laurengarafano/costars-who-never-actually-met?origin=tuh <p>For various reasons, some actors who appear to interact in the same movie, never actually meet each other.</p> Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:03:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/actors-not-meeting/ Annotated Link: Why Are These Movie Props Oversized? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qwi-IuoThk <p>When movies and TV shows need to do a close-up of some object, they often have the object created or printed at two or three times the size.</p> Wed, 3 Jan 2024 14:53:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/oversized-props/ Annotated Link: Maryland License Plates Now Inadvertently Advertising Filipino Online Casino https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3xe9/maryland-license-plates-now-inadvertently-advertising-filipino-online-casino <p>A domain name forever enshrined on license plates accidentally expired and was picked up by a very different organization.</p> Sun, 31 Dec 2023 11:41:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/maryland-license-plates/ Annotated Link: One Top Taxpayer Moved, and New Jersey Shuddered https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/business/one-top-taxpayer-moved-and-new-jersey-shuddered.html <p>In 2016, a single hedge-fund manager moved from New Jersey to Florida. He made so much money, and paid so much in taxes, that this move threatened to throw the NJ budget out of whack.</p> Mon, 18 Dec 2023 18:31:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/david-tepper-taxes/ Annotated Link: The Vault That Holds 5% of the World’s Gold https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaHkDYJ1Wko <p>Gold from a lot of different countries is stored in a vault under New York City. Exchanging funds many countries therefore just involves moving gold from one shelf to another.</p> Fri, 15 Dec 2023 02:14:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/gold-vault-nyc/ Annotated Link: The Virus Inside Your TV https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/melrose-place-abortion-art-gala-committee-mel-chin.html <p>A group of artists collaborated with the showrunner of Melrose Place to insert Leftist political art as props in the show.</p> Fri, 15 Dec 2023 02:12:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/gala-melrose/ Annotated Link: Gladstone's: The UK's only residential library https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231022-gladstones-the-uks-only-residential-library <p>Wales has a library combined with a hotel, so you can sleep next to the books.</p> Fri, 10 Nov 2023 12:44:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/library-hotel/ Annotated Link: The shocking, stupendous rise of superhot chillies: ‘The stomach cramps can last for 14 hours’ https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/nov/07/the-shocking-stupendous-rise-of-superhot-chillies-the-stomach-cramps-can-last-for-14-hours <p>Breeding chili peppers for hotness has resulted in the hottest food known to man, yet people some people just love to eat them.</p> Fri, 10 Nov 2023 12:43:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/chili-eating/ Annotated Link: The Secret Life of the 500+ Cables That Run the Internet https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/features/the-secret-life-of-the-500-cables-that-run-the-internet/?src=longreads <p>A solid backstory about the undersea cables that you don&rsquo;t think about, but that move all your data and make your digital life possible.</p> Fri, 10 Nov 2023 12:39:00 -0600 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/undersea-cables/ Annotated Link: Dame Judi Dench Masterfully Does A Shakespeare Sonnet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0VBS9AOhE&t=164s <p>Judi Dench recites a Shakespearean sonnet, on the spot, from memory.</p> Mon, 30 Oct 2023 21:31:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/dench-sonnet/ Annotated Link: Daigo Fukuryū Maru https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daigo_Fukury%C5%AB_Maru <p>In 1954, a Japanese finishing boat accidentally wandered into an active U.S. nuclear test. One crew member died in the immediate aftermath, and the rest suffered health problems, mostly dying young.</p> Wed, 18 Oct 2023 21:27:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/daigo-fukuryu-maru/ Annotated Link: At least 1,000 birds died from colliding with one Chicago building in one day https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/07/chicago-mccormick-place-building-bird-deaths-windows <p>A mass migration and a glass building in the flight path were not a good combination.</p> Sat, 7 Oct 2023 14:02:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/bird-death-chicago/ Annotated Link: How MGM Grand Cleans 24 Million Pounds of Laundry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q6CipZWE6w <p>It takes a lot to launder the linens products by the largest hotel in the United States.</p> Sun, 1 Oct 2023 13:39:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/mgm-laundry/ Annotated Link: That time the Air Force delivered a heart transplant on a supersonic bomber https://taskandpurpose.com/history/air-force-fb-111a-heart-transplant/ <p>In 1986, the Air Force flew a human heart a long distance, very, very fast, so it would survive until it got implanted.</p> Thu, 21 Sep 2023 20:41:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/jet-heart-delivery/ Annotated Link: Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1238041 <p>People aren&rsquo;t only poor because they make bad decisions. Often, they make bad decisions because they&rsquo;re poor. Poverty affects a person&rsquo;s ability to make rational decisions.</p> Sat, 16 Sep 2023 17:10:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/poor-cognitive-function/ Annotated Link: The First Jungle Gym Was Meant to Hack Kids' Brains https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn_8GXNN7_Q <p>The Jungle Gym was designed to help kids think in three dimensions. But kids just liked to climb on them.</p> Sat, 16 Sep 2023 17:04:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/jungle-gym/ Annotated Link: A Wealthy Teenager, a 5-Star Hotel and a Bizarre Defamation Fight https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/nyregion/mark-hotel-lawsuit-teenager.html?smid=nytcore-android-share <p>A teenager was denied alcohol at one of NYC&rsquo;s most prestigious establishments, so he embarked on a dumbfounding sidewalk campaign to claim antisemitism and Holocaust denial. And somehow a hip-hop star is involved.</p> Sat, 16 Sep 2023 16:40:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/weintraub-mark-hotel/ Annotated Link: Why The US Navy Really Needs This One Forest in Indiana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnpSDfHn8fs <p>The US Navy owns an entire forest to source a rare wood to repair the historic USS Constitution.</p> Thu, 20 Jul 2023 13:25:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/navy-forest/ Annotated Link: An NFL linebacker quit football to sell Pokémon cards, now he’s making millions https://theathletic.com/4687284/2023/07/14/pokemon-blake-martinez-giants-packers/ <p>A professional athlete walked away to indulge his love of Pokemon and create a business around it.</p> Wed, 19 Jul 2023 15:36:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/nfl-pokemon/ Annotated Link: The world’s new largest office building is bigger than the Pentagon https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-world-s-new-largest-office-building-is-bigger-than-the-pentagon/ar-AA1e03PA <p>An building catering to the diamond trade in India has surpassed the Pentagon to become the largest office building in the world.</p> Tue, 18 Jul 2023 15:42:00 -0500 https://deanebarker.net/interesting/largest-office-building/