A long walk on a beach, and ancient Roman graffiti.

25th May 2026

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Hello!

This newsletter was written a little in advance because, if all has gone well, then as you read this I'm currently about half way through filming a new season of Jet Lag: The Game with Adam, Ben and Sam! It'll be a while before it's out -- they've already got another whole season recorded and in the edit -- but it was an honour to be invited back.

So what can I talk about? Well, first, this week on Nebula, a tradition that's nearly half a millennium old: we're headed to the north-west of England, as this man stops people drowning in quicksand. And on YouTube, we're heading to Durham, to see the mist that keeps the Tyne Tunnels safe.

And of course, this week's Lateral: Davina Bentley, Ed Patrick and Stuart Laws face questions about feline fatalities, Portland park picnics and devious deliveries.

Here's some good stuff I've found on YouTube this week:

The Hoplite Experiment is a French video from Sur le Champ, with full subtitles in English, that documents 400 volunteers doing real-world tests of ancient Greek battle formations. Now, it could perhaps stand to be edited a little tighter, and the subtitles are chopped into infuriatingly-short segments, so you may also want to open the transcript. But setting those aside: what a fascinating study, not just from its results, but also how it was put together. (Thanks to Leo for the suggestion!)
Camille Cooke recites ancient Roman graffiti. Millennia-old jokes told in a very modern style.
I was going to put Ada Luna's TikTok "this is a song about bags of ice" (occasional strong language; alternate link for desktop) as an 'and finally' link. But this deserves a full entry: it's catchy, with an incredible density of scripted, visual and musical jokes, and an information-overload style that rewards repeat viewings. Dancing with a green-screen board is such a brilliant sight gag that I'm surprised I haven't seen it before. But my main thought about all the style and effort is: it's not just YouTube that's got a higher bar to entry now! There was a time when the short-form gold-standard was "engagingly talk into a camera and post without editing"... but those times, it seems, have passed. I guess there's a reason Instagram has added "instants".

And around the rest of the web:

A Spotify playlist: "songs mixed by people who can't hear 1575 kHz because they grew up sitting an inch away from a CRT". Most of these are obscure; some of them are not, and I've no idea how student-me, in 2004, didn't hear the high-pitched whine in Keane's Somewhere Only We Know, because it's really obvious in a spectrum analyser.
People who are blind from birth never develop schizophrenia.
Catfishing is a game where you guess the Wikipedia article from its categories. Easy most of the time... and then, suddenly, there's an article that you can't quite place.

And finally, on TikTok: I have no context for this inspection of industrial steel in the central belt of China, but I think that's the point. (Alternate link for desktop.)

All the best,

— Tom

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