I’m Speaking puzzle for Kwanzaa

Found at the Palm Beach Gardens Barnes and Noble on this first day of Kwanzaa 2024: Looks like one can also buy it on eBay. Readers: How are you celebrating this important holiday? Related: Evolution of ChatGPT’s thinking regarding Kwanzaa and its creator Toaster for Kwanzaa a me … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 27 minutes ago

I Forgot How Bad Those Final 2 Christopher Reeve Superman Films Are

Fresh off James Gunn's trailer, we revisited all of the Christopher Reeve DC films—and have some thoughts. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 36 minutes ago

Driver frustrated after noticing obnoxious trend taking over local roadways: 'How is this legal?'

"How they get away with it is beyond me." Driver frustrated after noticing obnoxious trend taking over local roadways: 'How is this legal?' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading


@thecooldown.com | 37 minutes ago

The unbearable slowness of being: “Streaming a high-def video takes about 25M...

The unbearable slowness of being: “Streaming a high-def video takes about 25M bits/sec. The download rate in a typical American home is about 262 million bps. Now researchers have estimated the speed of information flow in the human brain: just 10 bps.” 💬 Join the discuss … | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 43 minutes ago

The Promise of Duolingo

Imogen West-Knights, the Dial: I guess it depends on what you think learning a language means or should mean. When we say that we are “learning a language,” the assumption is that the goal is to reach conversational fluency. To speak to other speakers. When I was doing Duolingo I … | Continue reading


@pxlnv.com | 49 minutes ago

Best Cloud Storage Deal of the Year: Lifetime Plan at 62% Off!

Although Christmas is over, great deals are still available—just look at pCloud, which is offering big discounts on its various plans. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 51 minutes ago

Bystanders stunned after careless tourist pushes their luck with mama bear and cubs: 'This is unbelievable to me'

"The ranger said if that had been a grizzly, it would have been a fatality." Bystanders stunned after careless tourist pushes their luck with mama bear and cubs: 'This is unbelievable to me' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading


@thecooldown.com | 1 hour ago

Re-using OpenSSH host keys for initramfs Dropbear

Running a colo / hosted server with Full Disk Encryption (FDE) requires logging in remotely during initramfs, to unlock LUKS. The usual setup tutorials run Dropbear on a different port, to prevent a host key mismatch between OpenSSH and Dropbear, and the scary MitM warning it imp … | Continue reading


@op-co.de | 1 hour ago

Vivek Ramaswamy Says America Doesn’t Have Enough Engineers Because We Mocked Steve Urkel

America loves jocks, and that's why we don't have any good engineers... or something. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 1 hour ago

Is Intermittent Fasting Secretly Sabotaging Your Hair Growth?

Recent research indicates that intermittent fasting could slow hair growth by causing oxidative stress and apoptosis in hair follicle stem cells. Mice studies and a small human trial show reduced hair regrowth rates, though effects in humans are less severe. Antioxidant treatment … | Continue reading


@scitechdaily.com | 1 hour ago

CDC Data Reveals Why Everyone Around You Is Coughing

There have been over 32,000 cases of whooping cough this year, CDC data shows—the highest toll seen in a decade. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 1 hour ago

Community unites to sue local government over 'wolf in sheep's clothing' scheme: 'We won't accept this'

"We deserve better than a government that only answers to the oil industry." Community unites to sue local government over 'wolf in sheep's clothing' scheme: 'We won't accept this' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading


@thecooldown.com | 1 hour ago

Peak EV Fast Charging Is Up 50%, And So Are EV Fast Chargers

Naturally, electric vehicle sales have gone up this year, as we’ve reported, and there are certainly a lot more electric vehicles on the road than there were a year ago. Sales numbers are just sales numbers, though. Is there evidence of a lot more electric vehicle charging? Yes, … | Continue reading


@cleantechnica.com | 1 hour ago

An Epic 2024 Movie Trailer Mashup

Sleepy Skunk’s end-of-the-year movie trailer mashups are always worth a look. This year’s installment got me wondering how many of these movies I’ve actually seen — not that many, I don’t think. (via @rands) Tags: movies · remix · trailers · video 💬 Join the discussion on … | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 1 hour ago

My little games workshop

I always promised myself that if I was ever unemployed that I’d make a video game. When life dealt me an unpaid work hiatus though, the last thing I wanted to do was code in my spare time1. I worried I would have to let that dream, that part of me, die on the vine. But as intervi … | Continue reading


@daverupert.com | 1 hour ago

NASA Waits With Bated Breath for Signal From Sun-Exploring Spacecraft

Parker Solar Probe will break its silence on Friday—that is, if it survived its closest approach to the Sun. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 1 hour ago

Wicked Is Dropping Onto Digital Very, Very Soon

You can sing along at home (and enjoy deleted scenes!) even before the new year is here. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 2 hours ago

The Controversial Hams That Helped a French Cathedral Save Its Organ

In Saint-Flour, a town in the Auvergne region of central France, the highest cathedral in Europe perches at 892 meters (nearly 3,000 feet) above sea level. Saint-Pierre sits at the confluence of the dry winds blowing across the surrounding plateaus, making it, surprisingly, the i … | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 2 hours ago

A weird Windows 11 bug won’t let some people install any security updates

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is warning users that some manually made Windows 11 installer media could contain a bug where new PC installs may not get future security updates. It affects USB and CD installers made with October and November release patches, wh … | Continue reading


@theverge.com | 2 hours ago

Christmas in Los Angeles

Did you know that Los Angeles has an official Christmas song? Christmas in Los Angeles was written by the Sherman Brothers in 1980 and first appeared on Lawrence Welk’s 1980 Christmas TV Special as well as The Rockettes Radio City Christmas Spectacular. (via) The post Christmas i … | Continue reading


@cultrface.co.uk | 2 hours ago

Cat bolts out the front door — and then regrets it (video)

An indoor kitty with a strong case of FOMO had big dreams of becoming an outdoor cat — until he actually stepped out the front door. "He wanted out so badly—until the snow said hello," says the caption of his TikTok video, which shows the tuxedo cat bolting across his snow-packed … | Continue reading


@boingboing.net | 2 hours ago

Homeowner sparks debate over correct way to use washing machine detergent drawer: 'What am I doing wrong?'

"It kills me to see." Homeowner sparks debate over correct way to use washing machine detergent drawer: 'What am I doing wrong?' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading


@thecooldown.com | 2 hours ago

Completely New to Science: Botanists Stumble Upon Unique Exotic Flower in the Philippines

Botanists discovered a new lipstick vine species, Aeschynanthus pentatrichomatus, in the Philippine rainforest. Found during a 2022 expedition, the plant is critically endangered and underscores the need for conservation in biodiversity hotspots. Scientists have announced the dis … | Continue reading


@scitechdaily.com | 2 hours ago

How to Make 80s School Cafeteria Pizza

Food historian Max Miller stumbled upon the original recipe for 1980s/90s school cafeteria pizza (you know, with the iconic rectangular slices) and decided to whip up a batch (with “pourable dough”). Tastes just like it. You can like — all of those herbs are exactly the same as t … | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 2 hours ago

Which chart types did our users create in 2024?

Hello, Rose again! It’s time for the last Weekly Chart of 2024. For 51 weeks... | Continue reading


@blog.datawrapper.de | 2 hours ago

Intact’s Luke Shannon on development velocity, micro services with Spring, integration, developer portals, and more

Hi, Spring fans! (and happy holidays!) in this installment I talk to Intact's Luke Shannon about their use of Spring, developer portals, and so much more. | Continue reading


@bootifulpodcast.podbean.com | 2 hours ago

The Latest from AppStories and Comfort Zone

Enjoy the latest episodes from MacStories’ family of podcasts: AppStories This week, Federico and I round up the tech and productivity projects we have planned for our annual holiday break. On AppStories+, I explain the refinements he’s made to my reading setup. Comfort Zone Chri … | Continue reading


@macstories.net | 2 hours ago

My favorite weird little apps

As the year wraps up, I wanted to jot down some quick reviews of the lesser known apps that I've come to rely on in my daily life. I looked at my phone's apps and listed things that are very good at doing just one thing | Continue reading


@a.wholelottanothing.org | 2 hours ago

Softmax is on the log, not the logit scale

Bad Stan naming I realized recently that we followed the confusing terminological convention of ML in our description of Stan’s categorical_logit function. In Stan, if there’s a suffix to a distribution, it describes the scale of one or more of … Continue reading → | Continue reading


@statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu | 3 hours ago

The web today is not necessarily worse than the early web

Xavier H.M., writing on his Mastodon page: Your neocities blog is cute but I can’t read the 5pt font and your cursor is the size of a bread crumb. The web page is loading so many gifs my computer sounds like a boeing 747. disassociated once, in a way, looked like a Neocities webs … | Continue reading


@disassociated.com | 3 hours ago

Robert Eggers on Nosferatu‘s Most Startling Personal Style Choice

Bill Skarsgård, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult, and Lily-Rose Depp star in the vampire film, now in theaters. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 3 hours ago

Café de Paris in Geneva, Switzerland

"Beurre Café de Paris" is known throughout the world as an herbaceous compound butter served melted over steak, yet its origins are Swiss rather than Parisian. In 1930, chef Boubier opened the original Café de Paris in Geneva with a rather unconventional strategy: serve one main … | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 hours ago

Amanda Interviews Noah, Our Newest Addition to the Test Kitchen

Welcome to the latest edition of Food52 Founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly newsletter, Hey There, It’s Amanda, packed with food, travel, and shopping tips, Food52 doings, and other matters that catch her eye. Get inspired—sign up here for her emails. Photo by Amanda Hesser Photo by A … | Continue reading


@food52.com | 3 hours ago

Spitfire Visitor Centre in Blackpool, England

Located in Hangar 42 at Blackpool Airport, which was built in 1939 for the Royal Air Force, the Spitfire Visitor Centre is a museum featuring, among other attractions, full-scale replicas of World War II-era Spitfire fighter aircraft. Reconstructed using original parts, the aircr … | Continue reading


@atlasobscura.com | 3 hours ago

The world's largest tube TV—a 440 pound, 43" Internet legend—has finally been found and saved from certain annihilation

The Sony Trinitron KX-45ED1, aka the PVM-4300, is considered to be the world's largest consumer tube TV set. With a 43" screen, the hulking CRT weighed 440 pounds. Released in 1988 in Japan and the US a couple years later, the built-to-orderproduct reportedly cost $40,000. — Read … | Continue reading


@boingboing.net | 3 hours ago

Use Of Weapons

✍️ Written by: Ian M. Banks 🏷 Genre: Scf-fi / fantasy 🗓 Published: 04 September 2008 📄 Pages: 514 🧐 My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 star) The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to … | Continue reading


@kevquirk.com | 3 hours ago

Leaked Documents Show OpenAI Has a Very Clear Definition of ‘AGI’

We finally have a real definition of the elusive "AGI." | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 3 hours ago

Michael Sandel and Thomas Piketty in Conversation

 Enjoying the content on 3QD? Help keep us going by donating now. | Continue reading


@3quarksdaily.com | 3 hours ago

In 1979, President Carter's bizarre battle with an aggressive swimming rabbit became a political nightmare

In 1979, a wild rabbit swam aggressively toward President Jimmy Carter's fishing boat in 1979. It quickly became known as the "killer rabbit attack," and was used against him by Ronald Reagan's campaign in the 1980 election. The incident occurred on April 20 while Carter was fish … | Continue reading


@boingboing.net | 3 hours ago

Presentify - An App for the Future

Presentify When I started working in EdTech, instructors were still using transparency based overhead projectors. When interactive white boards arrived, incorporating connected computers for use instead of grease pencils and plastic, it felt like the future, but the high cost of … | Continue reading


@amerpie.lol | 3 hours ago

Happy Bach Sing Day

I know. But look, I like a good pun, and also, some really bad ones. — JS | Continue reading


@whatever.scalzi.com | 3 hours ago

Thinking of watching the news, now, at 10:53, which is rare.  Nothing else going on….

Kids upstairs, relaxing. Would take them outside but, 1, I’m working, kind of, a 2 it’s raining still […] | Continue reading


@bottledaux.com | 3 hours ago

Time, not dark energy, may be causing the universe to expand

Dark energy does not exist, and the universe, while continuing to expand, is not doing so in a uniform fashion. In other words, the cosmos may look more like a potato, rather than a sphere. This according to recent research by astronomers and scientists at the University of Cante … | Continue reading


@disassociated.com | 3 hours ago

Homeowner demonstrates how simple ceiling fan adjustment saved them up to 30% on energy bills: 'This is new to me'

"I need to do this." Homeowner demonstrates how simple ceiling fan adjustment saved them up to 30% on energy bills: 'This is new to me' first appeared on The Cool Down. | Continue reading


@thecooldown.com | 3 hours ago

ChatGPT is down

Image: The Verge ChatGPT isn’t working for many users right now. With numerous reports on social media, we also confirmed that the chatbot loads but isn’t able to respond to queries, while others are seeing an “internal server error” message. It looks like the outage started arou … | Continue reading


@theverge.com | 3 hours ago

You can watch the first five seasons of The Dick Van Dyke...

You can watch the first five seasons of The Dick Van Dyke show on YouTube for free — the first season is here. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 3 hours ago

Chinese Satellite Burns Up Over New Orleans, Creating Fireballs in the Sky

The imaging satellite was decommissioned two years ago and abandoned to burn up upon reentry through Earth's atmosphere. | Continue reading


@gizmodo.com | 3 hours ago

Part 7 Senzeni Na

Part of the Mars Trilogy Technical Commentary Series. Contains spoilers for this chapter and earlier chapters. Google Mars .kml. Literary commentary podcast. [Edit: If you enjoy this kind of thing, you may find a career at my company, Terraform Industries, rewarding. We’re hiring … | Continue reading


@caseyhandmer.wordpress.com | 3 hours ago