Internet Harvest is a selection of the most succulent links on the internet that I’ve recently plucked from its fruitful boughs. Feel free to discuss the links in the comments.

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You know how you can “fake write” on a page, and produce a line of ink with a pen that looks kind of like words but isn’t really? There’s a name for that: Asemic writing.

Most images of butterflies you see represent dead butterflies – pinned to better show the wings, and in a posture they rarely are found in nature. Once you notice the difference, you’ll see this everywhere. I originally found this article at least a year ago and I’ve thought about it every time I see a picture of a butterfly.

nabeelqu on understanding: This is a great article about what it takes to understand things. I really, highly endorse “ask dumb questions” as a step for understanding things.

The rate at which new genetic sequences are added to GenBank (an international database for genetics, relied on heavily by biologists) follows Moore’s Law. I have no idea what this implies. [Source]

Niche subreddit of the day: r/VisibleMending. For mending clothing and more with visible, often lovely repairs.

Take a look at the machine that synthesized the voice for number stations. (H/T Nova)

There are a lot of ways to learn about the wonders of aquatic ecosystems. You can watch documentaries, like the Blue Planet or Shape of Life series. You can watch videos from ocean exploration projects, like the EV Nautilus youtube channel. You can go scuba diving, or just go to a beach and whalewatch and collect shells. You can go tidepooling.

Or you can grab a bunch of sand and algae and seaweed and put it in a big jar, seal the lid, and leave it alone for a year, and see what kind of weird guys emerge from it.

Second niche subreddit of the week: r/FridgeDetective, where you post a picture of the inside of your fridge, and other people try and make deductions about you based on it.

Covid Dash is a project for tracking progress on treatments and countermeasures for COVID-19, and finding out where you can volunteer to help with clinical trials.

The vast majority of the ocean is completely lightless. Fish react by evolving to be extremely, extremely black.

I’ve been trying to use Twitter more. It turns out that the only good Twitters are “Can You Violate The Geneva Conventions [In Different Video Games]” and Internet of Shit. Paul Bae’s twitter, Malcolm Ocean’s twitter, Tom Inglesby’s twitter, Dril’s twitter, qntm’s twitter, and Rebecca R. Helm’s twitter are also quality. Elisabeth Bik’s twitter is good if you like hot gossip on academic mispractice. Everyone else’s twitter, including mine, is superfluous and probably doing more harm than good.

Finally, a request: I really like sidenotes or margin notes on websites, like Gwern’s. Does anyone know of a blogging or general website platform that currently allows these without being totally handbuilt? I’m not ready for fiddling with CSS yet.