Noticed, September 2026

Noticed is an occasional roundup of notes, recommendations, and announcements.

Tales for Which the World Is Not Yet Prepared

While researching my paean to Sherlock Holmes, I found an article by Christopher Morley from 1930, In Memoriam: Sherlock Holmes. In it, he refers to Dr. Watson’s proclivity for the “sly allusion” to untold tales:

“The shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland, which so nearly cost us both our lives,” the case of Wilson the notorious canary-trainer, the repulsive story of the red leech, the story of the Giant Rat of Sumatra “for which the world is not yet prepared,” the singular affair of the aluminum crutch, the Curious Experience of the Patterson Family on the Island of Uffa—these are some of the yarns we have had to do without; having only the melancholy assurance that the documents were safely on file in that famous dispatch box in the vaults of Cox’s Bank at Charing Cross. Perhaps most of all I deplore that we were never told “the story of the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant.”

A passage from a true connoisseur, it wonderfully captures the eccentricity and wit of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmesian world.

Beautiful Public Data

Beautiful Public Data undersells itself as “a curated selection of visually interesting datasets collected by local, state and federal government agencies.” It’s first and foremost a collection of essays about those data sets. What can be learned from a sample of 50,000 boat names? Are you aware of the style guide for America’s highway road signs? What is in 14,000 photos of U.S. Army uniforms and rations? Investigative data journalist Jon Keegan explores and explains with a designer’s eye for images, charts, maps, and other visuals. Recommended.

Tilly the Platypus

I was recently in Australia, where I had the pleasure of observing Tilly the platypus. In 2023, she was found under a bush on the Central Coast of New South Wales, about four months old and severely malnourished. A team at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo brought her back to health, including hand-feeding her six times a day for two months. She went on to swim, eat, and forage independently within her habitat at the zoo.

Having been raised by humans, Tilly cannot safely return to the wild. But her familiarity with people makes her an unusually engaging ambassador for her reclusive species. In this 40-second video of Tilly, which I took on September 11, 2026, the voice is zoo volunteer Shirley, commenting on Tilly’s enthusiasm for a floating log that had recently been added to her habitat.

The platypus is famous for its unique combination of features:

• Has a duck-like bill, otter-like body, and beaver-like tail
• Hunts underwater not by sight or sound but by sensors in its bill that detect pressure changes and the electric fields produced by small prey such as insect larvae and shrimp
• Is one of only five egg-laying mammal species; the other four are echidnas
• Secretes milk through pores in its skin rather than through nipples (females only)
• Has venomous spurs on its hind legs (males only)
• Has fur that glows blue-green under ultraviolet light

I’ve always been a platypus fan, and now I am a Tilly fan too.

Andy Weir’s “The Egg”

It will take you less than five minutes to read Andy Weir’s short story “The Egg.” You will think about it long after.