NOAA: Contiguous US Breaks Its Record for Hottest Month...
NOAA: Contiguous US Breaks Its Record for Hottest Month Ever . “It’s not good when you’re breaking records from the Dust Bowl…” (This record will be broken several more times in…
Tressie McMillan Cottom on AOC’s presumed presidential...
Tressie McMillan Cottom on AOC’s presumed presidential run . “But these are different times. Ocasio-Cortez is a different woman, and Americans love to turn to women when the house…
A recently unearthed conversation with Anthony Bourdain...
A recently unearthed conversation with Anthony Bourdain from 2005 . “We discuss Tony’s preferred sucker-punch etiquette, his loyalty to cigarettes & the Chateau Marmont, ayahuasca…
The Moral Unseriousness of Centrist & Conservative Pundits
Jamelle Bouie almost never misses. In this video that’s just shy of 10 minutes long, he chastises American political & cultural pundits for their lack of moral seriousness w/r/t…
Open Thread for August 2026
We haven’t done an open thread for awhile, so… What have you been working on? How are you feeling? What’s on your mind these days? What’s the best thing you’ve seen this week?…
Supersonic Trebuchet
Ok so when you woke up this morning, you probably didn’t expect to watch a 20-minute video about a trebuchet — but to be fair, I didn’t either. But Tom Stanton’s build of a fully…
G.P.S. and the Lost Art of Getting Lost . “G.P.S....
G.P.S. and the Lost Art of Getting Lost . “G.P.S. has also led us to outsource existential skills: locating yourself in space, parsing out your surroundings, staying calm when you…
Craig Mod wrote about his recent adventures using LLMs:...
Craig Mod wrote about his recent adventures using LLMs: A Swarm of Blood Robots . “I now have a comprehensive family tree, naming the very boats my Italian and Polish ancestors…
Why weren’t bicycles invented sooner? “Why...
Why weren’t bicycles invented sooner? “Why was no one…even considering the question of human-powered vehicles until the 1400s? Why weren’t there bicycle mechanics in the 1300s,…
I’m Done Using AI . “It made me lazy. It made me...
I’m Done Using AI . “It made me lazy. It made me stop caring. It made me a worse programmer. It made me depressed. Because I stopped doing the hard work, I stopped learning, I…
A Collection of Eclipse Glasses (1793-2019)
Oh wow, Williams College’s Hopkins Observatory has a huge collection of eclipse glasses & viewers (and other eclipse ephemera), some of them dating back to 1793. Here are a few of…
Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting...
Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same . “A recommender that’s a mediocre predictor of what you’d love in a rich, diverse world becomes an…
“Draw any shape and hear it as a drum.”...
“Draw any shape and hear it as a drum.” Eigendrum : a drum simulator where you can change the shape of the drum to see how it affects the sound it makes.
Stories that the authors of the Bible borrowed from...
Stories that the authors of the Bible borrowed from other cultures and religions , including the flood myth, the Garden of Eden, etc. I learned about these in a religion &…
Good sentence : “The market’s most lavish...
Good sentence : “The market’s most lavish rewards do not go to its most productive participants, but rather, to those participants who have the good fortune to emerge from the…
Some of the most storied problems in mathematics, those...
Some of the most storied problems in mathematics, those posed by Paul Erdős, are being solved by LLMs .
New vocabulary term: “soft secession” .
New vocabulary term: “soft secession” .
“ Your brain is a gambling addict that bets on...
“ Your brain is a gambling addict that bets on reality . It doesn’t wait for information. It guesses what should happen and adjusts when surprised. Most bets win. But when they…
I’ve felt this for years (blogs have global context):...
I’ve felt this for years (blogs have global context): “ The uni-context is a scenario in which the ways you should act become the same across all different contexts . There’s just…
“An Absolute Climate Catastrophe”
British climate scientist Kevin Anderson (from a 2024 video ): So there is lots that you will hear — lots of rhetoric, lots of good words, lots of optimism about the future. But…
“ Since 1974, vaccination has averted 154 million...
“ Since 1974, vaccination has averted 154 million deaths , including 146 million among children younger than 5 years… For every death averted, 66 years of full health were gained…
Media Matters : “ABC, CBS, and NBC aired a...
Media Matters : “ABC, CBS, and NBC aired a combined 194 segments about the three major heat events” that hit the US this summer and not a single one of them mentioned climate…
What Climate Science Can Tell Us About the Lost World...
What Climate Science Can Tell Us About the Lost World That Inspired The Odyssey . “A new climate study suggests that centuries of repeated severe drought added to the pressures on…
Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk’s Racist Commentary?...
Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk’s Racist Commentary? “Musk’s virulent racism and vicious, disturbing views are no secret. He does not hide them. They sit in plain view, easily…
Thing that I am now invested in: this woman has spent 30...
Thing that I am now invested in: this woman has spent 30 weeks secretly training to beat her brother (a former competitive player) at Dance Dance Revolution . The showdown is…
Europa or Frying Pan?
This image was tweeted out by the NASA Europa Mission account the other day: One of these images is of Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, and the other eight are frying pans. Can you…
I’d Be Lead Harpooner on the Pequod If It Wasn’t for...
I’d Be Lead Harpooner on the Pequod If It Wasn’t for These DEI Hires . “I’m just telling you that it’s getting hard out there for us blue-collar Nantucket lads when all the ships’…
Fun little review by Marcin Wichary of a 1984 flying...
Fun little review by Marcin Wichary of a 1984 flying video game called Sopwith , which was never supposed to be released to the public (an event that the game’s creator didn’t…
How Does an Enigma Machine Work?
This is a completely fantastic look at how the Enigma Machine works . Jared Owen constructed a 3D model of the German cipher device and clearly walks the viewer through how the…
The End of Google Search . The internet giant is...
The End of Google Search . The internet giant is “changing the formula” of its products and media folks are beginning to assume that there will be no search traffic in the…
How Wildfire Smoke Is Reshaping Childhood ....
How Wildfire Smoke Is Reshaping Childhood . “Repeated smoke events are changing children’s daily routines, limiting opportunities for outdoor play and social interaction and…
How to Store Ebooks in Instagram Reels and Other Covert Data Storage Tricks
Do you remember the video I posted last summer of YouTuber Benn Jordan where he “uploaded a picture of a bird to a bird and then downloaded the bird picture from the bird” ? So…
Emily Wilson takes another crack at a critique of...
Emily Wilson takes another crack at a critique of Nolan’s “visually stunning, emotionally empty” Odyssey . “Verbally, we are told that people matter; visually, we are shown that…
Lidar and other discoveries continue to show that the...
Lidar and other discoveries continue to show that the Amazon rainforest was home to a “sprawling ancient civilization much bigger than researchers expected” (possibly up to 3…
Tressie McMillan Cottom’s reading list for fighting back...
Tressie McMillan Cottom’s reading list for fighting back against Big Tech . “Put simply, there is too much money, some of it too untraceable, giving a small group of unelected…
Surfing Alaska’s Turnagain Arm (home to a twice-daily...
Surfing Alaska’s Turnagain Arm (home to a twice-daily tidal bore wave) can be fun (10-foot waves you can ride for miles) but also dangerous: “You need a Plan B, a Plan C and a…
In recent years, science has been learning more and more...
In recent years, science has been learning more and more about how central the role of inflammation is to our health . “The paradox that often makes treating chronic inflammation…
Pilcrow, Dagger, and Octothorp, Oh My!
So, I don’t know what kind of nerd you are, but my brand of nerdiness dovetails neatly with this video about the origins of some of the most common symbols on your keyboard: #, @,…
“ A new Airbus passenger jet completed an...
“ A new Airbus passenger jet completed an ultra-long test flight between Australia and France lasting more than 24 hours —paving the way for the world’s longest nonstop commercial…
Work vs gym: a simple way to decide whether to use AI...
Work vs gym: a simple way to decide whether to use AI for a task . “At the gym, it makes no sense for that robot to lift weights for you. The point of weightlifting isn’t to move…
The Beauty of Doing Nothing Together . “What...
The Beauty of Doing Nothing Together . “What you’re doing hardly matters. What matters is inviting someone into the ordinary parts of your life instead of waiting for an occasion…
Walmart is busy building out their fast EV charger...
Walmart is busy building out their fast EV charger network in the US …currently 73 locations in 17 states. Their eventual goal is install chargers at “thousands of its locations…
Does Christopher Nolan Consider Himself a Bard for a Civilization at Dusk?
This 17-minute interview about the Odyssey with Christopher Nolan conducted by philosophy doctoral student Zhong Shu is one of the better ones I’ve seen. The first two questions…
The Onion: Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem...
The Onion: Translator Of Original ‘Minions’ Epic Poem Slams ‘Sexless, Bloodless’ Film Adaptation. The actual Wilson on Bluesky : “No professional accomplishment has ever made me…
Google Earth stupidly launched an AI image-gen feature...
Google Earth stupidly launched an AI image-gen feature with no guardrails then put it on pause after a huge outcry. “Tonight I typed just one sentence into Google Earth and put…
Some Interesting Apples
Something that still blows my mind is that every apple seed produces a new variety. Every single one. This is a lovely short documentary about a project called Some Interesting…
A Telegram Arrived — And I Had to Choose Between My Head...
A Telegram Arrived — And I Had to Choose Between My Head and My Heart . “On Boxing Day, I rang my father and told him my news. He was momentarily silent until his delayed shock…
The coffee shop where 162 regulars have their own mug...
The coffee shop where 162 regulars have their own mug (1977) . “The cups may not be such a small thing after all. They are a town register and a history and a confirmation that…
“A Los Angeles Costco parking lot [has] become a...
“A Los Angeles Costco parking lot [has] become a hotspot for skaters over 40. Its long, low curb lets us keep doing tricks on safer, lower-risk terrain […] Curbs represent the…
The Listening Museum : “36 mechanical keyboards...
The Listening Museum : “36 mechanical keyboards and switches, curated and sound-mapped. From IBM Model M (1985) to Topre to thocky modern customs. Click any card, type on your…
Study: Dinosaurs Were Charbroiled After Chicxulub Impact...
Study: Dinosaurs Were Charbroiled After Chicxulub Impact . “The impact would have produced an immense cloud of dust that superheated the upper atmosphere, charbroiling living…
It’s Cool to Be Weird
I really like what Razaak Eniola has to say here about human difference. Before Prince was Prince, Prince was weird . And that goes the same for probably any of your favorite…
OnlyMarms: Funding Science Research on OnlyFans
This is an extremely 2026 story (derogatory): because of the Trump regime’s assualt on scientific funding , a group of scientists who has been studying marmot populations in…
Participants in a recently published study spoke 28%...
Participants in a recently published study spoke 28% fewer words per day in 2019 than they did in 2005 . (People are spending more time alone and more time digitally…
I love this little video of burbling pasta sauces...
I love this little video of burbling pasta sauces (sound on). Wish there was a 10-hour YT version for work background noise…
“ Zugunruhe is a German term describing the...
“ Zugunruhe is a German term describing the restless, twitching urge migratory birds feel when caged — and the same primal restlessness humans feel when trapped.”
This guy hooked his hamster’s wheel up to Strava —...
This guy hooked his hamster’s wheel up to Strava — Mollie is logging 5-6 miles per day.
“Long live Hyrule jazz!” The Z Suites is “a...
“Long live Hyrule jazz!” The Z Suites is “a modern jazz reinterpretation of the music from The Legend of Zelda”.
The Phone in Your Hand . “A layer-by-layer teardown of...
The Phone in Your Hand . “A layer-by-layer teardown of the most intricate object you’ve ever held.”
The Thomas Crown Affair? Directed by and starring...
The Thomas Crown Affair? Directed by and starring Michael B. Jordan? Ok, I’m in.
A terrarium iPhone case that houses actual growing...
A terrarium iPhone case that houses actual growing plants and moss .
This is fun: BoxSquad . Limbs & borders are all draggable.
This is fun: BoxSquad . Limbs & borders are all draggable.
An 8K Cinematic Tribute to the Artemis II Mission
Using high-definition open source videos and photos from NASA and his own music, John Boswell (aka Melodysheep ) created this mesmerizing eight-minute video recap of the Artemis…
25 things that explain America , including personal...
25 things that explain America , including personal injury lawyer advertisements, Crest Whitestrips, Costco rotisserie chicken, and the Pizza Hut lamp. “The T-shirt cannon merges…
The video rental store as “third place” . “Decades...
The video rental store as “third place” . “Decades before recommendation algorithms, video stores served as social hubs where conversation and camaraderie became a form of…
The Drawing Room With Mo Welch
Comedian Mo Welch has a new show on PBS called The Drawing Room , where she interviews people while she draws them (and her guests draw her). What a great idea for a show. The…
“ In this video , I’ll take you from farm to...
“ In this video , I’ll take you from farm to factory to show you how chocolate is made, and at the end, we’ll use all the chocolate you’ll see in this video to attempt the…
This is an old list but still interesting: the 12 most...
This is an old list but still interesting: the 12 most linguistically influential American movies since 1980 . If you were compiling a list of linguistically influential movies…
The legacy of the Luddite movement changes when you zoom...
The legacy of the Luddite movement changes when you zoom out a bit . “The development of cooperatives around the world is another story that should not end too abruptly. We could…
The Hell Mouth
Volcanologist Laszlo Kestay took this photo of a lava skylight in 1996 while conducting field work at Kīlauea on Hawaiʻi. The hardened lava flows strongly resemble doomed souls…
The Past Catalog Archive is a throwback to fun & modest...
The Past Catalog Archive is a throwback to fun & modest personal projects on the web. “There is no reason to keep these old catalogs to myself, or only allow them to be viewed.…
Every Sample from Paul’s Boutique by the Beastie Boys
This video catalogs every borrowed sample from Paul’s Boutique by the Beastie Boys, from the soundtrack to Car Wash to the Sugarhill Gang to the Eagles to the Ramones to the…
Reading Maps : Journeys from books & films (Moby-Dick,...
Reading Maps : Journeys from books & films (Moby-Dick, Murder on the Orient Express, The Hunt for Red October, The Muppet Movie, etc.) plotted on a map.
“ poetry camera is a new way to see your world....
“ poetry camera is a new way to see your world. take a photo with the camera… poetry camera thinks… and prints out a poem about the scene.”
How Podcasts Ruined America . This is an odd claim and...
How Podcasts Ruined America . This is an odd claim and article. No mention of the clear precursors to right-wing podcasts (talk radio, blogs, Twitter) and the general shift…
“Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than...
“Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers in almost any other job to die of Alzheimer’s disease.” The key difference: “the constant work of locating yourself in…
Crocs Has a Trick for Dodging Taxes: a Tiny Office in...
Crocs Has a Trick for Dodging Taxes: a Tiny Office in Malta . “Come tax season, the Broomfield, Colo., company has claimed that all its global profits were actually earned in this…
How to Give a Eulogy
Tom Chiarella shares his rules for giving a eulogy . It may hurt to write it. And reading it? For some, that’s the worst part. The world might spin a little, and everything…
Are You Good at Mowing Lawns?
I don’t know what sort of neurodiverse bucket this puts me in, but I think a lot about mowing the lawn 1 relative to how much time I actually spend mowing lawns (~6-7 hours per…
The trailer for Wicker (starring Olivia Colman,...
The trailer for Wicker (starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Peter Dinklage, Elizabeth Debicki). “An outcast in a fishing village commissions a husband for herself made…
NASA has provided some early-stage funding to explore the...
NASA has provided some early-stage funding to explore the idea of releasing a swarm of tiny probes (weighing only a few grams each) into Saturn’s rings to study them up close.
Tron: Legacy (Recording Sessions) by Daft Punk
So, I’m not exactly sure what this is, but what it appears to be is a fan-assembled album of the recording sessions for Tron: Legacy by Daft Punk & Joseph Trapanese. 67 tracks in…
Subaru Socialists and the Great Disappointed . “A whole...
Subaru Socialists and the Great Disappointed . “A whole lot of people under the age of 45 no longer believe that indicators such as wages, unemployment, or the number of college…
If You Haven’t Recently Used Claude Code, You Might Not...
If You Haven’t Recently Used Claude Code, You Might Not Understand Where AI Is At . “There’s a huge gulf between a chatbot that’s just putting text into your brain and an agent…
Socialists Are Winning Because They Listen to People...
Socialists Are Winning Because They Listen to People (and don’t just treat them like ATMs). “The best of them are running campaigns that acknowledge that to win, Democrats are…
The Art of the Copyist
Lovely short video about artist Jas Knight , who is a participant in the Met Museum’s Copyist Program : The Copyist Program offers time and space for artists to develop their own…
Stories of “people finding weird, wild and defiant...
Stories of “people finding weird, wild and defiant ways to avoid using AI in their professional lives” . Like: “I keep a to-do list in a paper notebook, but my boss believes I…
Astronomers have measured the size of the largest galaxy...
Astronomers have measured the size of the largest galaxy : it’s 1.7 million light years across (17x the diameter of the Milky Way) and contains ~3.4 trillion solar masses in stars.
Heading On Out…
Hey folks. I just wanted to hop in here quickly to let a cat out of a bag: I am in the midst of moving. Not going to get into the wheres, whys, and hows right now; there’s a…
Here’s how Rocky’s musical language from the Project...
Here’s how Rocky’s musical language from the Project Hail Mary movie was created . The filmmakers didn’t “want it to feel like a human language because he’s supposed to be really…
Death Cab for Cutie’s Tiny Desk Concert
Death Cab for Cutie rolled into the NPR offices for a Tiny Desk Concert , which featured two new songs from their current album and some oldies: Title and Registration and Soul…
The Computer That Helped Win World War II . “…it...
The Computer That Helped Win World War II . “…it is not possible to give an adequate idea of the fascination of a Colossus at work: its sheer bulk and apparent complexity; the…
Huh, here’s the trailer for a new director’s cut (of...
Huh, here’s the trailer for a new director’s cut (of sorts) of the second X-Files movie (called I Want to Believe, orig. released in 2008) that, per Wikipedia , “will restore…
The Doulas Who Help Us Die . “Instead of assisting...
The Doulas Who Help Us Die . “Instead of assisting in the birthing room or the nursery, end-of-life doulas could keep vigil over people during their last hours, providing comfort…
What Are the Most Untouchable Records in Sports?
I ran across this post on Threads the other day: “What’s the hardest record in sports history to ever break?” A sampling of the replies: “Bill Russell’s 11 NBA championships…
“Widely regarded as the most complicated board...
“Widely regarded as the most complicated board game ever made , The Campaign for North Africa tries to simulate WW2’s North African theater in as granular fashion as possible…”…