Welcome to another instalment of Reading List where we take a look at some of the the great tech and science reads from around the web. This week we enter the weird world of sweeping, gaze through the lens of ghost cams still haunting the internet, look at why technological limits made Abbey Road Studios so influential, and wonder at how counterfeiter Frank Bourassa was able to make his illegal millions. Take a quick Monday morning break, grab a coffee, and read some of the best stories on the internet.
- Much like the obsessive, money-saving mania of couponing, as documented by cable tv shows, sweeping cultivates a similar kind of person: tireless, determined, and ultimately successful. Online sweepstakes are easy to ignore. What are the chances you’ll win anything anyways? But if you enter thousands and thousands of contests, odds suggests you’ll win eventually, and sometimes you may win big. [Racked]
- Neglected medical wards, enchanted forests, scarred battlegrounds all have ghostly apparitions, at least, according to people who take stock in that sort of thing. In order to catch these ethereal trespassers and fantasy creatures, constantly updating online live cams hold steady watch over these haunted grounds. Motherboard looks at these ghostly vestiges of the internet as a quick tour of the world’s most haunted and magical locations. [Motherboard]
- What makes great music great? Is it the prowess of the performer, the talent of the sound engineer, the specific type of equipment recording various notes, or the perfect combination of everything mixed together? Touring Abbey Road Studios, the most iconic recording studio of all time, The Atlantic asks that familiar question, finding that in the pursuit of perfection, music needs imperfection. [The Atlantic]
- The life of a counterfeiter is a life on the edge. The same can be said for Frank Bourassa’s fake currency empire. The steps that led Bourassa from petty larceny to one of the most prolific counterfeiter’s off all time is at some moments painfully normal (he got a lot of insight from government websites on what to avoid in his trade) and at others much more exciting. “The Great Paper Caper” details Bourassa’s rise and eventual fall. [GQ]