Welcome to this week’s edition of our Friday Quality Linkage column. Please enjoy this week’s collection of interesting and entertaining links. Brew a fresh cup of coffee, find a comfortable place, and relax.
(Editor’s Note: This week’s edition is a bit shorter than usual, due to the circumstances of traveling and being unable to sift through as many articles/tweets/videos as I normally would. Next week’s Linkage will hopefully be more fleshed out. Thanks for bearing with me, and have a happy Fourth of July! — Chris)
Photo: Jackson Krule, Motherboard
Hamilton is Revolutionizing the Art and Science of Broadway Sound Design »
Enjoyed this interview (from a few weeks ago) between Motherboard’s Sam Gustin and Hamilton sound designer Nevin Steinberg:
“This is what a sound designer lives for,” said Steinberg, who leads Hamilton’s five-person production and day-to-day sound design staff. “The whole point is to help people focus on what to listen to and guide them through the story. So when the material has that kind of dynamic range, sound designers get to see how far we can go. [Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda] likes to say that Hamilton is the loudest and quietest show on Broadway. We really have worked to the very edges of loud moments and quiet moments in a Broadway theater, in service of telling a story that is full of chaos and violence and enthusiasm, and also full of quiet introspection.”
Seriously wish I had the dough to see this show live, as fun as it is to sing along to the official soundtrack in my car.
Training to Be a Good Writer »
Leo Babauta of Zen Habits:
I’m not going to claim to be the world’s greatest writer, but I do think I’m reasonably competent. I’ve been training for 25 years as a writer, and I make a living as a writer.
For those who are just starting out as writers, I’d like to share my training. I didn’t wake up and suddenly know how to write — I’ve been training for most of my life.
About a dozen-and-a-half good writing tips in here. Read them. Absorb them.
Photo: NASA / The Atlantic
The Future of Archaeology is ‘Spacejunk’ »
Have you been craving the chance to reflect on your place in time and history? Geoff Manaugh of The Atlantic has your fix:
In this vision of what Barclay and Brooks describe as “the future of museums beyond the atmosphere,” tomorrow’s grand tourists will come face-to-hull with ancient spacecraft, the way economically privileged Europeans once visited Notre Dame or the Colosseum. Their new destinations will be archaeological sites in space.
I mean, the whole ‘existential introspection’ angle probably wasn’t what they were going for, but that’s what I got from it.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Fishing With Fire »
Reuters photographer Tyrone Siu captured some great images of Taiwanese fishermen using a fascinating (and apparently several-hundred-years-old) fishing technique:
Under the darkness of the night sky, a small group of Taiwan fishermen set sail off the northeast coast, light a fire on the end of a bamboo stick using chemicals and wait for the fish to come.
Like a magnet, hundreds of sardines leap out of the water towards the bright light waved by one fisherman and his colleagues angle their nets and haul in the catch.
Image: NASA
Some Interesting Facts About Mars »
NASA put together this neat and easily digestible infographic full of Mars facts. The one I found most interesting is that the land area of Earth is similar to that of Mars in its entirety.
Related:
- NASA also has a series of cool posters/wallpapers called Mars Explorers Wanted.
- Dutch scientists recently managed to grow edible crops in Mars-like soil. Despite the soil being a simulant rather than the real thing, this is promising research.
Got any suggestions for articles, videos, stories, photographs, and any other links you think we should be posting in our weekly Quality Linkage? Please do let us know on Twitter.