Photo: Flowers on the streets of Valldemossa, Mallorca, photo by the author.
Bonjour, hola, and hello dear INTEROPERABLE readers. Welcome to another interstitial edition of this intermittent publication. Thank you for being here!
I'm sorry if you are one of the approximately three people waiting for part two of My Syllabus, I hope it will be worth the wait! In the meantime, please enjoy this selection of things that I have enjoyed over the past few weeks:
The Big Dig (Podcast) "There is a cynicism that hangs over the topic of American infrastructure — whether it’s high-speed rail or off-shore wind — it feels like this country can’t build big things anymore. No one project embodies that cynicism quite like Boston’s Big Dig. Infamous for its ever-increasing price tag, this massive highway tunnelling effort became a symbol of waste and corruption. Yet the project delivered on its promise to transform the city. So how did the narrative go so horribly wrong? And what lessons can the Big Dig offer for the ambitious projects of today?
The Big Dig (Podcast) "There is a cynicism that hangs over the topic of American infrastructure — whether it’s high-speed rail or off-shore wind — it feels like this country can’t build big things anymore. No one project embodies that cynicism quite like Boston’s Big Dig. Infamous for its ever-increasing price tag, this massive highway tunnelling effort became a symbol of waste and corruption. Yet the project delivered on its promise to transform the city. So how did the narrative go so horribly wrong? And what lessons can the Big Dig offer for the ambitious projects of today?
This nine-episode series is produced by GBH News in partnership with PRX and hosted by Ian Coss."
Growing up in a household with a civil engineer, The Big Dig was always a topic that would come up occasionally. However, I had never gotten the whole story until I devoured this brilliantly produced podcast. So much so that I immediately listened to Mr. Coss's equally brain-tickling follow-up: Scratch & Win: the Unlikely Rise of America’s Most Successful Lottery
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The Farm Dog (YouTube) Justin of Rainfall Projects with a touching tribute to his farm dog Drake. (Content advisory: Bring tissues)
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My favourite Kiwi carpenter, Scott Brown Carpentry, recently participated in a project: Building a Hut on Top of a Mountain in New Zealand (YouTube). This perfectly encapsulates my interests in making things and access to the outdoors (with helicopters!)
Time to start saving some coin for a hiking holiday in New Zealand.
Time to start saving some coin for a hiking holiday in New Zealand.
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Staying on building and renovation, but much closer to my own North London home Akilah Cohen (@kilahgram on Instagram) shares her beautiful, and beautifully humorous trials and tribulations of renovating her Victorian home. Come for her plaster-spattered Adidas tracksuit and signature knit cowl, stay for her impeccable sense of style. 4.5/5 Stars, Further Reading: The Modern House Journal x Akilah Cohen
Calum on Raasay (YouTube) is another young person trying to build a house—this time on the remote Scottish island of Raasay. I've previously written about Calum's main documentary channel (and misspelt Calum's name) in the 12th edition of INTEROPERABLE. Both are absolutely worth your time. If you have a rainy afternoon to fill, I recommend starting with "I want to build a house on a remote Scottish island" and working forward from there.
George Dunnett (YouTube), is also Scottish and renovating a property. Only this time with somehow ever-dryer humour and cute cats!
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Calum on Raasay (YouTube) is another young person trying to build a house—this time on the remote Scottish island of Raasay. I've previously written about Calum's main documentary channel (and misspelt Calum's name) in the 12th edition of INTEROPERABLE. Both are absolutely worth your time. If you have a rainy afternoon to fill, I recommend starting with "I want to build a house on a remote Scottish island" and working forward from there.
George Dunnett (YouTube), is also Scottish and renovating a property. Only this time with somehow ever-dryer humour and cute cats!
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INTEROPERABLE Poetry Corner:
American Names
I have fallen in love with American names,
The sharp names that never get fat,
The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,
The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine Hat,
Tucson and Deadwood and Lost Mule Flat.
The sharp names that never get fat,
The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,
The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine Hat,
Tucson and Deadwood and Lost Mule Flat.
Seine and Piave are silver spoons,
But the spoonbowl-metal is thin and worn,
There are English counties like hunting-tunes
Played on the keys of a postboy's horn,
But I will remember where I was born.
But the spoonbowl-metal is thin and worn,
There are English counties like hunting-tunes
Played on the keys of a postboy's horn,
But I will remember where I was born.
I will remember Carquinez Straits,
Little French Lick and Lundy's Lane,
The Yankee ships and the Yankee dates
And the bullet-towns of Calamity Jane.
I will remember Skunktown Plain.
Little French Lick and Lundy's Lane,
The Yankee ships and the Yankee dates
And the bullet-towns of Calamity Jane.
I will remember Skunktown Plain.
I will fall in love with a Salem tree
And a rawhide quirt from Santa Cruz,
I will get me a bottle of Boston sea
And a blue-gum nigger to sing me blues.
I am tired of loving a foreign muse.
And a rawhide quirt from Santa Cruz,
I will get me a bottle of Boston sea
And a blue-gum nigger to sing me blues.
I am tired of loving a foreign muse.
Rue des Martyrs and Bleeding-Heart-Yard,
Senlis, Pisa, and Blindman's Oast,
It is a magic ghost you guard
But I am sick for a newer ghost,
Harrisburg, Spartanburg, Painted Post.
Senlis, Pisa, and Blindman's Oast,
It is a magic ghost you guard
But I am sick for a newer ghost,
Harrisburg, Spartanburg, Painted Post.
Henry and John were never so
And Henry and John were always right?
Granted, but when it was time to go
And the tea and the laurels had stood all night,
Did they never watch for Nantucket Light?
And Henry and John were always right?
Granted, but when it was time to go
And the tea and the laurels had stood all night,
Did they never watch for Nantucket Light?
I shall not rest quiet in Montparnasse.
I shall not lie easy at Winchelsea.
You may bury my body in Sussex grass,
You may bury my tongue at Champmedy.
I shall not be there. I shall rise and pass.
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
I shall not lie easy at Winchelsea.
You may bury my body in Sussex grass,
You may bury my tongue at Champmedy.
I shall not be there. I shall rise and pass.
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.
-Stephen Vincent Benet
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I'm Tyler Dickey and this is my newsletter INTEROPERABLE, where I celebrate my never-ending love for reliable, available, and maintainable systems like RSS and telephony. I write about topics that interest me: art, reading, making things, and technology. Please consider subscribing or following me elsewhere on the internet: Website | Instagram
This publication will
- always be free of charge.
- always be informational/educational by nature.
- always credit and link to sources to the best of the author's ability.
- never be auto-generated or contain AI (LLM) generated content aka slop¹.
- never contain any form of advertisement or undisclosed affiliate links.
¹Slop describes AI-generated content that is both unrequested and unreviewed. (Source)