The all-out AI race. “They are tearing towards a technology that could, in theory, sweep away millions of white-collar jobs and pose serious risks in bioweapons and cybersecurity. Or it could usher in a new era of abundance, health and wealth.” | Continue reading
From photographer and videographer Jan Erik Waider, a trio of videos that features the black sand beaches of Iceland from a drone’s vantage point. Captured on Iceland’s south coast where a glacial river meets the Atlantic Ocean. The camera observes the slow interplay of water, s … | Continue reading
Narrative String Theory is collection all known instances in film & TV of bulletin boards covered with investigatory items, “walls and floors littered with paperwork by obsessives”, and so on. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
At a recent Portugal. The Man concert in NYC, Weird Al joined the band on stage for a pair of songs, including a cover of Killing In The Name, Rage Against the Machine’s anthem against police brutality and the military industrial complex. Weird Al, welcome to the resistance. (via … | Continue reading
This rabona assist from Rayan Cherki is ridiculous (complimentary). 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
For its 50th anniversary, the original theatrical cut of Star Wars will be released in theaters in Feb 2027 (maybe even IMAX). Han shoots first, no weirdly svelte Jabba. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
French electronic duo Air performs a Tiny Desk Concert. Setlist: Le Voyage de Pénélope, Cherry Blossom Girl, Highschool Lover, and Dirty Trip. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Fran Sans is a font based on the display type of SF’s MUNI light rail trains. The N-Judah was my train when I lived there, so I’m very familiar with that display typeface. (Great name too.) 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
The Land of Giants, a conceptual proposal to build power line towers so that they look like people. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
From Domain of Science, the Fascinating Map of Fungi. The zombie ant fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, infects ants by piercing the exoskeleton with enzymes and spreads fungal cells throughout the body. It then secretes special neurological compounds that hijack the ant’s cen … | Continue reading
Bloomberg’s Jealousy List for 2025, a collection of journalism admired by the magazine’s writers and editors. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
I’m actually surprised how well Santa answers these difficult questions in the face of a full on press from the New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner. | Continue reading
Two of the most famous screeches in music history are from House of Pain’s Jump Around and Cypress Hill’s Insane in the Brain — you likely heard both of them in your mind just reading the names of the songs. This short video explains where those samples came from and which one of … | Continue reading
Dollar stores are overcharging their customers at checkout. “Red Baron frozen pizzas, listed on the shelf at $5, rang up at $7.65. Bounty paper towels, shelf price $10.99, rang up at $15.50.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation? “When you consider all the impressive work Generation X has made, it’s funny that one of the most persistent stereotypes about them is that they’re slackers.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Gemini and Mercury Remastered is “a collection of hundreds of newly-restored images and untold stories from the NASA archives” about the early manned space programs by the person who did the excellent Apollo Remastered. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Really interesting take on Wake Up Dead Man and the other Knives Out films. Benoit Blanc’s primary motivation is not solving the murder but protecting the innocent from the rich and powerful. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Pantone choosing a shade of white for its color of the year is a little too on the nose, especially when you consider they chose a color called Mocha Mousse last year. | Continue reading
Fritolaysia Cuts Off Chiplomatic Relations With Snakistan. “Relations between the two countries grew stale in 1994, when Fritolaysian rufflelutionaries crossed zestablished borders and forced Snakistan to dispatch cheesekeeping forces.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org … | Continue reading
“Change starts with smaller actions, with going against the odds. And the strangest possibilities can sometimes lead to the biggest gains. So open every door you can to the future that you want to see.” | Continue reading
“The breakneck speed of New England’s transformation makes it the fastest-heating area of the US, bar the Alaskan Arctic, and the pace of its temperature rise has apparently increased in the past five years.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
What ‘67’ Reveals About Childhood Creativity. “Through these quaint ready-made formulas the ridiculousness of life is underlined, the absurdity of the adult world and their teachers proclaimed…and the curiosity of language itself is savoured.” 💬 Join the discussion on kot … | Continue reading
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) in London improved their surgery-to-ICU handoff process by observing how Ferrari’s F1 team handled pit stops. GOSH doctors visited and observed the pit crew handoff in Italy. While visiting the Formula One pit crew the GOSH doctor … | Continue reading
Really interesting post about Hammersmith Bridge, which has been closed since 2019, a presumed “loss” of 25,000 daily car trips. “The local economy has adapted, air quality has improved, and overall traffic congestion has lessened.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
To Grow, We Must Forget… but Now AI Remembers Everything. “What if human forgetting is not a bug, but a feature? And what happens when we build machines that don’t forget, but are now helping shape the human minds that do?” | Continue reading
This is a charming short film on how a Foley artist would sound design a day in an ordinary life. Running hands through spaghetti noodles stands in for hair washing, a spray bottle sounds like rustling sheets, that sort of thing. See also this fascinating short documentary about … | Continue reading
Matthew Rhys & Netflix are plotting an adaptation of Robert Caro’s The Power Broker. The consensus is that The Power Broker is unadaptable. But, the consensus also was that a 50-billion-page book about Robert Moses was not going to work but here we are. 💬 Join the discuss … | Continue reading
How MacKenzie Scott is giving away her billions. “Once you begin to see Scott as [Toni] Morrison’s mentee — rather than as a certain Amazon founder’s ex-wife — you can’t unsee it. She gives more like an artist would.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
An irresistible video title: Army of Crabs Protect Spy Robot From Stingray. “A 4-meter stingray can eat 50 crabs a day.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
“Ugh, this kid is so sweaty!” my son exclaimed as he came under attack in some game he was playing. This was a few years ago; my ears perked up and I asked him what he meant. He explained that “sweaty” was a derogatory term for gamers who were trying super hard to win. Such playe … | Continue reading
How to Fix a Typewriter and Your Life. “It’s like Zen. There are times when it is just very relaxing to be standing in front of the machine and slowly cleaning it, tweaking the adjustment so visually things start to really line up.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Intertapes is a collection of found cassette tapes — some contain music and others voice memos. Each entry includes images of the tape, a description/track listing, and the actual audio (on Soundcloud). This one was recorded off of a NYC radio station in 1994 and includes tracks … | Continue reading
“If new proposals detailed in an FDA memo are put into place, experts told me it would mean the end of annual flu shots. And end of most vaccines for pregnant people. And maybe the end of updates to pneumonia vaccines. And more.” | Continue reading
I love the remix of Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place in the midst of Kelly Lee Owens’ Boiler Room set (~33:50 mark). Had me chair dancing this AM! 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
The painting above was made in 1945 by self-taught artist Janet Sobel; it’s called Milky Way. Sobel was a Ukrainian-born artist who was a pioneer in abstract expressionist art and in drip painting; her work directly influenced that of Jackson Pollock. From Why This Pioneering Abs … | Continue reading
The best telescopes for astrophotography. Boy, if I needed an expensive new hobby, this might be the one at the top of the list. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
What’s the best way to lift people out of poverty? “Cash giving programs believe the people experiencing poverty best understand what they need to escape it.” | Continue reading
A much-touted 4K remaster of Mad Men recently premiered on HBO Max and they forgot to apply digital effects to scenes in some of the episodes so you can see crew in the background, etc. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
For most of human history, around 50% of children used to die before they reached the end of puberty. In 2020, that number is 4.3%. It’s 0.3% in countries like Japan & Norway. This dramatic decline has resulted from better nutrition, clean water, sanitation, neonatal healthcare, … | Continue reading
Very Good Music Fun Facts from Go Jeff Go including: “Hall and Oates never referred to themselves as “Hall and Oates.” All their records say Daryl Hall and John Oates. Also, there is a 9-inch height difference between Hall & Oates.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Level Devil. This game is hilarious and diabolical. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Retrospekt refurbs and sells retro technology (VHS tapes, cassette players, instant cameras, typewriters, iPods). 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
In a letter to the Times of London, Dr. Michael Baum tells how a line in Arcadia by Tom Stoppard sparked an idea which resulted in adjuvant systemic chemotherapy, a therapy Baum helped pioneer which greatly increased the survivability of breast cancer. Sir, In 1993 my wife and I … | Continue reading
I’m in Charge at This Hertz Location, and Buddy, You’re Not Getting a Car Today. “Tell me, honestly, when you reserved a rental car through Hertz, you thought… what? That we were going to set aside a special little car just for you? Seriously?” | Continue reading
In just a few days (Dec 5), the entirety of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill duology will be released in theaters as one four-hour-long film. Here’s the trailer: Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR unites Volume 1 and Volume 2 into a single, unrated epic—presen … | Continue reading
A list of 25 Things to Say to Your Children, including “You can do hard things. I’ve seen you do them before and you can do them again.”; “I’m proud of you.”; and “It’s so brave to feel your feelings.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org → | Continue reading
Paul Ford on normalized AI & what happens when bubbles burst. “When the bubble is big, every idea feels like a billion-dollar idea. I yearn for cheap ideas from strangers.” | Continue reading
There are a few artists where you hear their name and “Tiny Desk” together and you think, well, that’s going to be great. David Byrne is one of those and his performance does not disappoint. Though Byrne and his band do normally spread out across large stages, the set design for … | Continue reading