This week's best things
The 'first ever' org chart, the Russian museum that still runs on Apple II computers, the history of the glitch that made GTA, throwback web design for a kebab chain, and a Bowie supercut
The First Org Chart Ever Made Is a Masterpiece of Data Design
The org chart for the Erie Railroad is complex, beautiful, and organic. Which aren’t usually words you’d use to describe an organisational diagram.
It’s interesting to note the chart is oriented bottom up, rather than top down, and its ‘wiggly-ness’ (for want of a better word) feels much more representative of the actual nature of how organisations fit together.
“The power was centralized with the president and board of directors as its anchor, but much of the day-to-day responsibility over the tracks was allocated to lower-level superintendents. The reasoning for this, Rosenthal writes: “They possessed the best operating data, were closer to the action, and thus were best placed to manage the line’s persistent inefficiencies.””
Russia’s Retro Lenin Museum Still Runs on Decades-Old Apple II Computers
“Lenin Museum in Gorki Leninskiye, located 20 miles south of Moscow, doesn’t look hi-tech even by 1980s standards. But among black marble interiors, gilded display cases, and Soviet historical documents, there is an elaborate audiovisual show about the last years of Vladimir Lenin’s life. Opened in 1987, it’s still powered by vintage Apple technology.”
The original Grand Theft Auto was almost axed, saved by psycho police car bug
An old article (from 2011) but not a story I’d come across before.
I’m always fascinated to see examples of when ‘mistakes’ end up fundamentally informing or defining the ultimately successful end story.
“A developer who worked on the very first Grand Theft Auto has revealed that the game came extremely close to being canned completely, but was saved by a lucky bug that turned all of the police cars in the game into psychopathic maniacs.”
Reminded me of this article about the origin of the ctrl+alt+del shortcut.
German Donner Kebab
This website for the German Donner Kebab chain is a throwback to the heyday of Flash-powered websites.
It’s showy, overwhelming, and not especially usable. But it did give me a real pang of nostalgia!
Bowie Supercut. When was YOUR fave era?
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Exquisite, surreal, hilarious ‘Bowie Supercut’ from Peter Rugman.
If you’ve seen something interesting, stick it in the comments! The algorithms are invading our lives, but the best stuff is still discovered and shared through word of mouth.
