WELCOME TO DAYBREAK DIVERSIONS WEEK II, UPPER VALLEY!
How Beethoven transformed darkness into the luminous “Ode to Joy.” It was the centerpiece of his ninth—and final—symphony, but one could say Beethoven had waited his whole life to write “Ode to Joy.” The inimitable Maria Popova of The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) tells the story of how the legendary composer, inspired as a boy by Friedrich Schiller’s poem of the same name, took “the transcendent torment of his creative life,” including his hearing loss, and created “something superhuman”—and widely considered his masterwork. It’s a story of resilience, redemption, and hope.The backyard Hot Wheels racetrack to end them all. When you’ve got a toy car hobby, a piece of property, and lots of free time, you can do amazing things. And some people’s pandemic hobbies are clearly just better: This is a mind-bogglingly well-designed Hot Wheels course. The guy says it took four weeks to build, and who knows much longer to send a camera-rigged car all the way around it in a single take. Everything’s a zipping, looping, leaping display of sheer physics—and that's before the car boards a gondola up into the treetops.Now this is a cat that takes its job seriously. Though did no one think to give it a step-stool?The Wednesday Vordle. With a word from the news.This isn't Hot Wheels. It's marbles. And it turns out they're far more musical. Some years back, the Swedish folktronica band Wintergatan—known for their use of odd instruments—built a musical "marble machine." Powered by a hand-crank, it raised steel marbles through the machine into various tubes, then released them, letting them fall to strike a vibraphone, a bass guitar, cymbals, and contact mics that created the sounds of various drums. And here's the thing: It's mesmerizing to watch and a pleasure to listen to.See you tomorrow.
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