Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon - Interactive map based on the book of the same name and updated using National Park Service Data that shows all recorded deaths in the Canyon since 2018. Clicking on the pictogram symbols will show details of the deaths. I had no idea there were so many involving plane crashes! If this is really your kind of thing, you can download a print copy of the map. Audiovault.net - Free, volunteer-run audio archive created "...to make it easier for blind people to find and access audio described content that is spread across multiple platforms and countries." You can download mp3 files of TV shows and movies that are audio described. Files contain the full audio track as well as scripted interjections describing what's going on in the scene. (via MetaFilter) The ASCII Plane - Right now this is just a prototype, proof of concept but it's so neat! This is a walkable ASCII city made using a custom-built engine created with JavaScript and CANVAS in a single HTML file. I found out about this from a video the designer put up on YouTube. In a follow-up video not only has he made a lot of improvements but there's a link to his ko-fi where you can download the prototype for a small fee and walk around the city yourself. You can even go in the buildings! I'm excited to see what this eventually turns into. One of the people I follow on Bluesky is Phil Plait, also known as the Bad Astronomer. He has a really cool astronomy newsletter and if that's your jam you might want to check it out. Anyway, he posted about an event happening on September 9, Strange New Worlds: The Science of Star Trek. You can either attend in person (it's in Washington, D.C.) or attend via Zoom, which is what I'll be doing. From the event site: In this Neighborhood Lecture, join astrobiologist Mike Wong—who studies the chemical fingerprints that could reveal life on distant worlds and hosts a podcast on the science of Star Trek—for a look at how the franchise's imagined planets stack up against what we actually know about worlds beyond our Solar System. You'll also hear from other Carnegie scientists about how their own research intersects with the Trek universe, followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A. This is for my cross stitching peeps! Quite a while ago I did that thing where you pay a one time fee and get all the patterns in a store for life. I really like Daily Cross Stitch. They have cute, simple patterns. I find them especially nice if I'm doing a big piece and need to stitch a little something just to have the satisfaction of completing something or if I'm between pieces and just need a little something to work on while I figure out the next big project. 2 of the pieces on my Cross Stitch page are from there, Happiness Potion and Cat Lava Lamp. Anyway, usually their whole website purchase is $40 but for the moment it's only $10! That's even less than what I bought it for. They have over 4,000 charts. It seems almost like a steal. This is a flash sale, so it won't be up for long. Listening Some things I've listened to this week: That's So Medieval - The Church and Law Ologies with Alie Ward - Menopause and Perimenopause, pt 2 - this was a super interesting follow-up to the first part and had so much good information. They even touched on what trans people need to know, which I don't see addressed very often (maybe, though, because I'm not looking for it?). I found a YouTube channel that plays old radio dramas. Most of them are of the mystery/detective genre but sometimes something different will pop up, like these! Love hearing Conan the Barbarian with an old Hollywood Transatlantic accent! Conan the Barbarian The Adventures of Zorro This 80s music mix randomly showed up and now I have new channel to listen to: Really Gay, Really Fast 80s Hi-NRG and Gay Club tracks on vinyl - DJ Chris the Dad Reading I finally finished Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous by Autumn K. England. It was sweet and very much lived up to its Stardew Valley/Studio Ghibli vibe claims. Man, that took forever to finish which is kind of unlike me. My reading count for this month has been pitiful. Not like I'm trying to reach a quota but usually I read about 1 book a week. I do read stuff other than books. I will not even tell you how many tabs I have open with things I've picked up from sites I follow, newsletters I'm subscribed to, etc that I fully intend to read. One of these days. Soon. Just not right now. Here's a taste of what I have cleared out of my TBR open tab pile: Why I Sought Out a Taliban Commander I Had Fought - NY Times - this was originally a gift link but I took so long to get around to reading the article, it expired so this is an archive link. Death of a girl in Chinese gene-editing trial was never made public - Science (via Longreads) Khartoum After the Storm - Equator Melon’s Odyssey On The Black Market For Life-Saving Cat Medicine - Defector - the Hyperfixed podcast did a 3 part series, The Cat Drug Black Market, if the subject interests you. Democrats Are Drafting ‘Project 2029’ - NOTUS Subaru Socialists and the Great Disappointed - The New Yorker R.I.P. Columbia House: Here’s How It Improbably Survived This Long - Gizmodo - I signed up more than once for Columbia House cassette tape deals. I don't know how they didn't go out of business sooner. If you aren't familiar with them, you got a smokin' deal on a certain number of cassettes in exchange for promising to buy X amount more. Like, there was no way to enforce that and I couldn't have been the only teenage consumer who was ordering stuff without parental approval. Watching I finished up Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and thank goodness the kaiju action picked up in the last 3 episodes! I didn't think this second season was quite as good as the first one but I overall enjoyed it and I hope they get a 3rd season. There were no cliffhangers but they did set it up for the series to continue. Link Lagniappe Under Notre Dame, a 'dig of the century' looks to unearth thousands of years of Parisian history - As part of the restoration of Notre Dame, part of the forecourt has become an excavation site. (via MetaFilter) Warp Point Games - This site bills itself as both a curated directory and webring that collects independent and personal gaming blogs and newsletters. (via Midnight Reading) The Other Elephant - The problem with keeping elephants in zoos. Defector, by the way, is primarily a sports blog but they cover politics and arts and culture as well. I subscribe to them even though I do not really care at all about sports. Their other content is so worth it! 250 for 250 Booklist - I am very meh on the whole 250 celebration but the Brooklyn Public Library has come up with an awesome list of books on the stories, movements and people that have shaped America. Parallel Lives - an alternative timeline of notable people showing who was alive at the same time and what age they were. Plein Air - this is a term describing a style of outdoor painting. The site will match the weather at your location with an appropriate plein air style painting. Clicking on the painting's title will tell you why that particular one was chosen for your location. (via The Linkfest) Submarine Cable Map - Not only can you see where all the cables are but clicking on one will give you a ton of information on the cable itself. Nerdy cool data stuff! (via The Linkfest) Study: Dinosaurs were charbroiled after Chicxulub impact - It was a terrible, horrible, no good very bad and HOT final day for the dinosaurs. Most ‘Ovarian Cancer’ Isn’t. And That Fact Can Save Lives - Studies have shown that almost all fatal ovarian cancers actually originated from the fallopian tubes. Gridtown - You have one job: build a new town's energy grid using sustainable resources. (via Web Curious) That's about it for this week! When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.