What I Want

Edition № 1 · Sunday, 9 August 2026 · 10 items

React to the titles by gut — “number three, more like this” is enough. One of these ten is your assignment to actually consume; the fold-in reveals which, after your first pass.

1

New York City’s Last Standing Wood Column Company Closes After 110 Years

Colossal · essay

"Like anything else, everything changes," says owner Thomas Lupo. "Time goes on." Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts…

2

Machine-Learning Mass Spec Data: Hmmm

In the Pipeline (Derek Lowe) · essay

For someone with a reputation as an AI skeptic, I actually have a lot of time for machine learning approaches, at least when pursued with due humility and attention to detail. Science is a…

3

Friday 7 August 1663

The Diary of Samuel Pepys · essay

Up and to my office a little, and then to Brown's for my measuring rule, which is made, and is certainly the best and the most commodious for carrying in one's pocket, and most useful that…

4

How Earthquake Bearings Work

Practical Engineering · video

An overview of seismic base isolation for buildings ⚙️ Check out SendCutSend for custom parts fabricated from your CAD: http://sendcutsend.com/practicalengineering Earthquakes are such a…

Wildcard — Seismic base-isolation engineering
5

Affinity Above All?

In the Pipeline (Derek Lowe) · essay

This perspective is well worth reading, even if you find yourself arguing with some parts of it (here's a freely available preprint version). Longtime drug discovery guy Mark Murcko titled…

6

Finding Madhukar

Vittles · essay

An acid reflux Harrow special, by Jonathan Nunn

7

Making the meal from the Bayeux Tapestry

Tasting History with Max Miller · video

Support the Channel with Patreon ► https://www.patreon.com/tastinghistory Recipe at https://www.tastinghistory.com/recipes Order the TASTING HISTORY COOKBOOK: https://amzn.to/42O10Lx Merch…

8

How to stop avoiding life

Psyche · essay

Your anxiety may never fully recede. Here’s five research-backed strategies to help you live a life bigger than your fear - Video by Doctor Ali Mattu Watch on Psyche

Expedition — testing Does indirect self-help move me?
9

[RIDGELINE] Revisiting the Train Man in Toyama

Craig Mod · essay

Ridgeline subscribers — About a year since I last visited — and now nine months since Toyama, my pick , was selected as one of the New York Times’ “52 Places to Visit” in 2025 — I returned…

Expedition — testing Does place-longing trigger in Japan?
10

Enchantment and the Courage of Joy: René Magritte on the Antidote to the Banality of Pessimism

The Marginalian (Maria Popova) · essay

"Life is wasted when we make it more terrifying, precisely because it is so easy to do so."