Weather
The Short and Long Tail of Hurricane Names
Why storms are named, who decides, and what happens when a name becomes inseparable from a disaster.
Read essayA publication about ordinary things
Everything has a short head
and a long tail.
SALT follows the questions that open up a subject: who made it, why it exists, what changed, and what the familiar version leaves out.
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The Short and Long Tail of File Formats
Why a screenshot can preserve every pixel and still lose what a spreadsheet knows.
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Browse all 24 essaysInfrastructure
The Short and Long Tail of Water Transport
Why ships, canals, ferries, and pipes make water a transportation system rather than an empty gap between shores.
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The Short and Long Tail of Cars
How a car became a familiar object by combining a short list of standards with a very long tail of decisions.
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The Short and Long Tail of WWE Moves
Why a wrestling move is a name, a piece of choreography, and a negotiated promise of what the audience should see.
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The Short and Long Tail of Maps
Why a map is a model with a point of view, and why the details left out can be as useful as the ones drawn in.
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What is a file format?
A format is a rulebook for interpreting stored information. The filename extension is a clue, not the rulebook itself.
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