SimCity, Infrared Vision, and Vegetables: Lux Recommends #171
Welcome to Lux Recommends #171, this week’s edition of what we at Lux are reading and thinking about (want to receive this by email? Sign up here).
Articles
The Secrets of the World’s Greatest Art Thief: “Stéphane Breitwieser robbed nearly 200 museums, amassed a collection of treasures worth more than $1.4 billion, and became perhaps the most prolific art thief in history. And as he reveals to GQ’s Michael Finkel, how Breitwieser managed to do all this is every bit as surprising as why.” — Adam K
America’s Cities Are Running on Software From the ’80s: “Even San Francisco’s tech chops can’t save it from relying on computers that belong in a museum.” — Sam
This Tree in Germany Has Been Helping People Find Love for Over a Century — Sam
An Ingenious Injection Can Create Infrared Vision: “Nanotech particles expanded mice’s sense of sight. But would they work in humans?” — Adam G
From video game to day job: How ‘SimCity’ inspired a generation of city planners — Sam
Vegetables Don’t Exist: “But That’s No Reason to Be a Worry Wort about It” — Sam
Google Translate is a manifestation of Wittgenstein’s theory of language — Sam
Books
Taft 2012 by Jason Heller: “He is the perfect presidential candidate. Conservatives love his hard-hitting Republican résumé. Liberals love his peaceful, progressive practicality. The media can’t get enough of his larger-than-life personality. And all the American people love that he’s an honest, hard-working man who tells it like it is. There’s just one problem. He is William Howard Taft . . . and he was already president a hundred years ago. So what on earth is he doing alive and well and considering a running mate in 2012?” — Sam
Movies
BlacKkKlansman: “Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO, successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.” — Adam K
Shows
Farewell Yellow Brick Road: Elton John’s goodbye tour. “Kicking off in the U.S. on September 8, 2018, the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour will consist of more than 300 shows across five continents, hitting North America, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, South America and Australasia before reaching its conclusion in 2021.” — Adam K
Videos
The secret life of (time-lapsed) house plants — Adam K
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