Scylla, the remnants of a supernova explosion.

This post is part of a series I started after reading “Notice, Collect, Share” by Russell Davies. I’m more inspired than ever to get back into the habit of…noticing, collecting and sharing. As part of that return to habit, I’m going to try and find five things that interest me every week, and share them here on my blog. 5 things per week, for 20 weeks, equals 100 Interesting things. Maybe one of these things will inspire you. Maybe one of them will inspire me. We’ll all learn something along the way.

I’ve also been tracking all of the stuff I find in my “Deck Of Interesting” - it’s screenshots, links, and assorted notes of things that might make into one of these posts.

#96 Ukrainian Drone Warfare War is terrible. It’s an awful waste of lives and resources, and probably doesn’t solve anything. The war in Ukraine is no exception to this, and my heart goes out in to the Ukrainian people who are are suffering at the hands of the Russian invasion. My heart also goes out to the poor Russian conscripts who likely don’t know a lot about who or what they are fighting for.

I also believe that even in the face of such terror, and empathy with those affected, we can still be curious about what is happening there. And what we’re seeing is the first truly all-out drone war. Likely the first of many that we’ll see in not just the next few years, but our life time.

And with this new form of warfare comes new artifacts of war. In this case, the remnants of fibre-optic cables uses to make sure that drones can’t be interfered with.

And now, apparently Ukrainians and Russians are bringing scissors with them to the battlefield to start cutting these wires.

And drones are being outfitted with armour to protect them from other drones.

And it has even spawned (pun intended) a video game. Which I imagine is being used to train the next generation of drone warriors.

#97 Gossip Goblin Is Good And the “History of Atlantis” story he (Zack London) has created is a masterpiece in fantastic fiction.

His canvas is the Instagram reel, and his paintbrushes are AI. But the ideas (and words) are all him. And I’m in awe: He’s able to channel and echo the most far-flung sci-fi and fantasy ideas I’ve read about, and twist them into bite-sized pieces of lore with no purpose and a limited arc. He’s world-building entire systems made of distant mountains.

For a taste, see what he’s made about the floating Wild West, a moth’s final passage, or a Attenborough-esque look at “The Lurkers.”

These pieces are all art. Yet I’m torn - the greater artistic discourse has decided that AI is a tool of the corporate devil, and therefore not able to participate in art. I’ve myself felt that.

Likely a lot of things, the value of this kind of thing (and if its truly art or not) will be in the eye of and mind of the receiver, not the creator. And it will be an ever-shifting line.

See more of The History Of Atlantis and other great stuff on his Instagram page.

#98 Good Writing Is Good Writing My friend Blair, who is one of the smartest and most insightful guys I know, sent me the screenshot below:

It’s from The High Window by Raymond Chandler, and it’s such a perfect, tight, crafted set of two sentences that it gives me shivers.

You can’t explain what good writing is. But you can feel it when you read it.

#99 The Jackpot Is Here In William Gibson’s most recent books, a sci-fi series set in the near future and involving a mix of quantum computing and kleptocrats he describes “The Jackpot:” A sort of slow-moving apocalypse that contributes to the semi-dystopian setting of the stories. The Jackpot is not a singular, specific event. Instead, it’s the gradual accumulation of many different things over a long period of time.

A little bit like this ancient 4chan screenshot (10+ years old) that I came across the other day:

#100 The Power Of Books I love books. I love reading. One of the highlights of moving into my new place was putting up a bookshelf with some of my favourites.

And so it seems suiting that 100th item in my list of 100 interesting things (inspired by a book by Russell Davies) is this quote from Carl Sagan about the importance of books.