There is a sole reason why I’m late with opening the Crate today. Namely when I sat down at the computer to start writing it, I thought to myself – ‘I’ll just see this one Graham Norton show video clip and then I’ll start.’ It was a lie and I knew it – there’s no way to see just one, it snowballs. Unsurprisingly it also snowballed this time… and hence, let’s get to opening the Crate without any further ado.

1. It is somewhat comforting to see that the process of creation is no easier for those who have reached some of the highest peaks of achievement within their field. Hayao Miyazaki is as familiar with the creative struggle as anyone, as witnessed by these screengrabs from the documentary about his creative process.

2. A team of researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have found that a plain boiled potato can make for a decent battery, especially if cut into several pieces. Naturally my first question after reading this was – ‘Hasn’t MacGyver done it at some point?’ As it turned out, not exactly, but the potato-battery hack was already floating around Youtube before the researchers went about their project.

3. The awkward situations where scientist friends or relatives want to celebrate their career milestones that nobody else understands? Tom Gauld has got you covered.

4. Kowloon Walled City was demolished in 1992. At its peak it was the densest place of human habitation on Earth at that time, housing 33,000 people on 2 hectares of land (approximately 5 football fields). It was possible to cross the entire complex without touching the ground once.

5. Our brains are not great at accepting new information that conflicts with our existing beliefs. This is a confirmation bias known as ‘Semmelweis reflex’ and its origin dates back to the tragic story of the Viennese physician Ignaz Semmelweis.

And as a final touch – a little slightly bleak poem by Aleksandr Blok from 1912.

And that was it for this time. Happy reading and until next week!

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