Bad elevators, potatoes, and Strudel.

• Historical linguist Simon Roper asks: how far back can you understand northern English? (Brief strong language; discussion of bereavement.) For me, I was able to track most of Simon's monologue for at least couple of centuries back -- although the second run-through, with subtitles, acted as a perfect demonstration of how the brain can synthesise multiple inputs. This is calm, interesting, and worth your time.
   
• A brilliant on-location explainer video from Utyae Lee at About Here: why is North America so bad at elevators? Infrastructure! Regulations! Awkward pieces to camera in tight places! The standard for making videos like this is so high these days; this channel more than meets that standard.
   
• Switch Angel generates music live with code, and the Algorithm pointed me at two excerpts from her livestreams. First, an excellent starting point: "coding trance music", six minutes of live production that goes from nothing to a full trance track, narrated along the way with a rhythmic, almost-hypnotic tone. This is clearly someone who has an understanding of not just the technology, but also music theory, and the style and presence to make it compelling to watch. (Also, the result is something accessible to folks like me, whose music tastes are on the basic side, rather than the more experimental styles and weird time signatures that are often part of algorave.) "Patterns for restarting the world" is a joyful two minutes and 42 seconds. And if you want to try it yourself, the software is called Strudel; good luck!

• When I used to make weekly videos, a lot of people suggested Centralia, the Pennsylvania ghost town that was abandoned after the coal mines underneath it caught fire. It didn't seem right for me, it was a little too much disaster-tourism with nothing more behind it -- so I was really glad to read Colin Dickey's article on Atlas Obscura about the rebirth of Centralia: "Sixty years into the fire that left the town condemned, Centralia is now a haven for wild plants and butterflies". Worth a read.
   
• 4,000 tonnes of potatoes are being given away for free in Berlin.
   
• The regional dartboards of the UK. I knew of the Yorkshire board, but none of the others. (Thanks Manuel for the suggestion!)

And finally, on TikTok: you think the text can stop me? (Alternate link for desktop.)

All the best,

— Tom