Disney Imagineer Lanny Smoot, a plea to blog, and tea battles
Five-ish things that I loved this week.
Disney Imagineer Lanny Smoot inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame
The creator of some of the coolest Disney tech was recently announced as an inductee into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He's the second Disney employee to be inducted, the first being Walt Disney himself.
Also check out this great interview with People Magazine where he talks about he was inspired to be an inventor as a child, and the drive and passion that it takes to excel as an inventor and Imagineer.
Universal creates an optical illusion roller coaster
In news about that other Orlando park, Universal's new Donkey Kong Coaster looks bananas. (Sorry.) They've designed a roller coaster that appears to jump gaps in the tracks and can jump from track to track by using a second track underneath the show track. This video has some great simulations, diagrams, and video of the prototype in action.
Please blog, says the internet
The general consensus of the blogosphere in the new year has been that we need to be blogging more. I've already touched on this in an earlier Friday Fave, and my efforts to blog and curate more (you're looking at it!), but all of these articles reinforce and expand upon the idea.
- Birthday Gift by Matt Mullenweg
- Create more. Consume less. by Manuel Moreale
- Where have all the websites gone? by Jason Velazquez
- I miss human creation by Cassidy Williams
- You should blog by Keith Kurson
- Where have all the flowers gone? by Dave Rupert
- Where have all the websites gone? by Chris Coyier
In a world where the internet is being taken over by AI-generated slime creating real things as a real human is more important than ever.
Publishing your work increases your luck (article)
I've honestly been hanging on to this article for a bit, thinking that I would write more about it in its own post. However, I'm not satisfied with any of my drafts so far, and I feel like this should be shared sooner rather than later. I also think it goes well with the previous section about blogging more.
My favorite takeaways from this article
"They think that they’re not doing anything interesting because they assume that everyone knows as much as they do. This effect is only exacerbated when everyone in your immediate vicinity is at a similar—or higher—skill level. As you become more of an expert, your quality bar gets higher and higher and you forget that everything you know is not known by everyone."
"When a person is truly interested in the thing they’re writing or talking about, their excitement is contagious. Whatever you’re excited about, be excited about it publicly. Whatever you’re curious about, be curious about it publicly."
"Of course not everything you do at work is shareable. If the specifics aren’t shareable, the concepts, lessons, and takeaways likely are. While you’re working, keep a scratch pad open and jot down any problems you come across, interesting patterns you see, or things you found confusing."
"People are drawn to other people in motion. People want to follow along, people want to learn things, people want to be a part of your journey. It’s not bragging to say, 'I’ve made a thing and I think it’s cool!' Bringing people along is a good thing for everyone. By publishing your work you’re helping people learn. You’re inspiring others to create."
The British have opinions about American tea
A new book about the chemistry of tea has caused some light-hearted feather-ruffling. Here's an interview with The Philadelphia Enquirer about the book, Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea by Michelle Francl.
I originally heard about the controversy from The Guardian's article about the 'Outrageous' tea recipe, which has since been rewritten and removed one of the best dunks on Americans I've seen in some time. From the Wayback Machine:
Since the article's sassy take on American tea habits, the U.S Embassy in London has weighed in:
The U.K. Cabinet Office has responded in kind:
I'm glad that two countries that literally went to war over tea (but not really) can put all that behind them and joke about how we make awful tea. I only drink green tea myself and I'm certain that I make it all wrong. (I'm lazy, I use the Keurig.)