Various and Sundry

If a Supersonic Airplane Doesn’t ‘Boom,’ is it really Supersonic?

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

So let’s say you’re thinking about traveling again, perhaps even flying. Perhaps you’re wondering what happened to the efforts to make a new supersonic passenger aircraft since I posted about it in November 2019. Well, you’re in luck! Rebecca Heilweil over on Vox/Recode has an update on Boom, the company working on building new supersonic passenger jets which United is now very keen to start flying. A big question, however, is not only if they…

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Various and Sundry

Go A-viking… But Don’t Forget Your Helmet

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I really should come up with a symbol/repeatable post that I put up when things get busy, like the prolific writer and de facto pop culture historian Mark Evanier does with his Cream of Mushroom Soup posts. And perhaps it should be Viking-themed. But while I mull that over… and work on both a script and some audio editing, here’s a darn fine Danish PSA. And no, Vikings didn’t wear helmets with horns. It could…

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Writing

Fewer Lightning Strikes and More Slow Burns

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Besides the inevitable barbecues in the U.S. this long weekend, it’s a good one for reflection (not the least given the reason for the long weekend). So that got me thinking about ideas and inspiration and a recent article by David Robinson for the BBC about how people get ideas… and how a certain professor is testing some assumptions of how people get and choose ideas. The article goes a lot into brainstorming and business…

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Various and Sundry

The Rise and Fall of Saturday Morning Cartoons

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Tomorrow, your kids may be binge-watching some cartoon on some streaming services. They may even do so whilst consuming copious amounts of Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs. But they will not be viewing a network broadcast slate of cartoons like generations of kids have. Why is that? Charles Moss in The Saturday Evening Post has your answers in a article so perfectly titled, I just used it above. He also provides a whole lot more detail about…

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Various and Sundry

Simply Told and Radiantly Illustrated: Appreciating the Work of Eric Carle

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Generations of children may feel the world is a bit less colorful as children’s author and illustrator Eric Carle has died at the age of 91. There’s a great piece by Emily Langer in the Washington Post, where I got the delightfully succinct phrase “simply told and radiantly illustrated” from. There’s also a nice 2-minute piece by Neda Ulaby on NPR as well as a remembrance from the BBC. In these remembrances, you’ll get a…

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Various and Sundry

James Bond Will Return… With Free Shipping

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Last week, I mentioned the big news that was AT&T’s retreat from WarnerMedia (still to be approved). And, as many people have noticed, media consolidation continues apace. This week’s revelation? Amazon is looking to buy MGM. Now, since MGM has been trying to sell itself for a while, this may not come as a surprise, but what this means for consolidation… well, who knows?

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Various and Sundry

Don’t Worry about not having One True Calling

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’ve had several posts over the years about people finding their purpose in life, several posts about hobbies, and also just generally about motivation. Especially as so many of us are about to re-enter “normal” work locations and schedules, it’s an opportune time to consider what you want to be doing — and for those of us who have the luxury of considering what to do beyond “anything that pays the bills NOW,” there’s often…

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Various and Sundry

A Singular Ranking of Five Score Sherlock Holmes Portrayals. Most Singular!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I do not know Olivia Rutigliano, but upon starting to read her exhaustive article on Crime Reads ranking 100 portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, I immediately detected that same sort of insanity that drove me to rank all Star Trek episodes. It’s a delightfully thorough list. I know many of these portrayals, but by Jove, I hardly know all of them. And now, thanks to the assiduous investigation of, one may hope, soon-to-be-Doctor Rutigliano, I can…

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Various and Sundry

Turn off the Gadgets and GO OUTSIDE!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I wish I could find the faux PSA from whence this title came, but even though it’s about to be Insect Spring Break where I live, the notion that nature can have healing power is being bolstered by science. Adele Peters writes about a recent U.K. study that points to the health benefits in the usually-not-arboreally-themed Fast Company. In fact, it’s not like you need to suddenly fine time to fit many a day hike…

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Various and Sundry

Media Mashup as Discovery to Acquire WarnerMedia

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I first learned of this over the weekend in an LA Times piece, but AT&T, who only a few years ago, bought Time Warner in a bid to become a new powerhouse entertainment ecosystem, is planning to sell its media goodies to Discovery Communications. The resulting combination of scripted and unscripted shows, films, and assorted media could be peanut butter & chocolate or cookies & okra. I honestly don’t know and don’t particularly have a…

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