Second trailer for The Mandalorian

The "streaming wars" are starting in earnest with the launch of Disney Plus and I'm wondering how things will turn out | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

The Internet Archive is now working to preserve vinyl LPs

The Internet Archive is an absolute treasure with a gigantic task ahead of them. They have now set their sights on vinyl LPs and | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Heidi Gustafson’s quest for ochre and mankind’s first pigments

It's fascinating to me how people can focus, specialize in, and love a tiny narrow niche and make it their life's work. Heidi Gu | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Helsinki has a library to learn about the world, the city, and each other

The Finns love libraries, and a new fabulous one opened last year in Helsinki. Tommi Laitio, Helsinki's executive director for c | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Nirmal Purja summits all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks in just six months

This is just a bit insane. A few days ago, Nepalese climber Nirmal Purja "reached the summit of 26,335-foot Shishapangmain | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Harnessing CRISPR to fight against superbugs

Yet another potential use for CRISPR, although the gene editing technology is usually considered for macroscopic tasks, like edi | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Posters as gateways to a more expansive world

While we're on the world building topic, here's another article on design within games, this one about the posters used in the upc | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Death Stranding’s world building intersects with fashion and design

Can't say I'm much of a gamer but I like when things intersect in interesting ways and the launch of Hideo Kojima's Death Strand | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Revisit the history of the scroll bar

This is the kind of thing fin to look through while at the same time wondering "you did what now??" Sébastien Matos re | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Once overlooked female Old Masters finally getting their due

There's growing visibility and demand for the work of female artists of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, from The Museo Naci | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Disney’s multiplane camera, an innovation in illusion (2017)

In a short film shot in 1957, Walt Disney described the multiplane camera, one of the many inventions and innovations his compan | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

The fantastic fungi pictures of Alison Pollack

To finish the week, some absolutely gorgeous mushroom and myxomycetes pictures by Photographer Alison Pollack who gets close to | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Cleaning trash from rivers before it reaches the ocean

The nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup "secretly" developed another idea to clean oceans, The Interceptor which aims to stop | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

New research shows how sleep cleans toxins from the brain

Sleep is one of those things we still don't completely understand and new discoveries are still being made. This research is quite | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Lifting bodies and the X-37B

A few days ago, the US Air Force's X-37B space plane landed after 780 days in orbit, which is kind of incredible. We don't know | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Life inside CERN

It's always (to me anyway) interesting to see artists' studios, artisan workshops and the like. I'm pretty sure if I've ever wond | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Aussie vs NZ: How Do You Tell Very Similar Accents Apart?

In this video, dialect coach Erik Singer explains how to tell similar accents apart, like Australia & New Zealand, Philly & | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Toothpick Sculptures

Artist Chris Soal makes these shaggy-looking sculptures out of thousands of toothpicks. Here's a closeup of one of his works, wh | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Departing Gesture

At the Sebrell Funeral Home in Ridgeland, MS (just outside of Jackson), they perform funerals and cremations for people with HIV | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

An Animated Version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was one of my absolute favorite books as a kid and one of first books that we read to our kids (and | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Metro Logos of the World

From Metrobits, a fantastic resource for all things to do with metros and subways around the world, comes this collection of metro | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Urban Tetris

From graphic designer Mariyan Atanasov comes Urban Tetris, in which apartment buildings in Sofia, Bulgaria are turned into a | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Why Is Impressionism Interesting?

In a recent episode of The Art Assignment, they make the case for Impressionism.The arrival of photography had also revealed n | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Kurt Vonnegut: “There Are Six Seasons Instead of Four”

In 1978, Kurt Vonnegut gave the commencement speech at Fredonia State College in upstate New York. The speech was published under | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

The Can Opener Bridge

The other day I posted the news that the low railroad bridge that's famous for ripping off the tops of trucks is finally going to | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

The Devil Next Door

Here's the trailer for a five-episode Netflix series called The Devil Next Door.The series is about John Demjanjuk, who was li | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Highlights from The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

A sequel to The Handmaid's Tale published 30 years later, piggybacking on a successful TV adaptation? It could have been a disaste | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

The Milky Way Reflected in the World’s Largest Mirror

I love this photograph by Peruvian photographer Jheison Huerta. It's a shot of the Milky Way above the Salar de Uyuni salt flat | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

National Geographic Asked Women from Around the World About Their Breakthroughs and Challenges

As part of their Nov 2019 issue focusing on women, National Geographic asked a group of women six questions:What Is the Most Imp | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

How To Talk To Kids About Climate Change

NPR's Anya Kamenetz shares six tips on how to talk to your kids about the climate crisis. Step 1 is to break the silence:He says | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

An Alternate ABC Song that Slows Down the Tricky LMNOP Bit

An alternate version of the ABC song that slows down the LMNOP part is currently going viral because of a tweet by Noah Garfinkel: | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Japan’s “Mundane” Halloween Costume Party for 2019

Each year since 2014, a group in Japan holds a Halloween event where people come dressed not as witches, Avengers, or zombies but | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

RPG Dungeon Generator

One Page Dungeon generates small dungeon layouts for RPG adventures (Dungeons & Dragons, etc.) You can just throw all that g | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Is Munch’s The Scream Actually a Painting of a Dog?

Ever since I read this tweet the other day, I can't unsee Munch's The Scream as a painting of a spaniel dog. (The tweet's photo | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Drag Performer Jaremi Carey Cosplays New Harry Potter Character Each Day in October

For his project 31 Days of Wizardry, Jaremi Carey has been dressing up as a different Harry Potter character each day in Oct | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

My Recent Media Diet, Decorative Gourd Edition

Every month or two for the past couple of years, I've shared the movies, books, music, TV, and podcasts I've enjoyed (or not) rece | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Finishing Rita’s Quilt

Shannon Downey regularly goes to estate sales to buy unfinished embroidery projects and then completes them -- "there's no wa | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

“My Day as an Abortion Care Provider”

In a piece for the NY Times, obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Lisa Harris shares her experience of a typical day at her practice, whe | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Meet Next-Gen CRISPR, “a True Search-and-Replace Function for DNA”

MIT Technology Review's Antonio Regalado reports on an improved gene editing technique that can rewrite DNA without actually cutti | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

What Killed City Bakery?

Last week, the beloved NYC eating establishment City Bakery closed its doors due to financial troubles.1 Rachel Holliday Smith dug | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Winners of the 2019 Small World Photomicrography Competition

Nikon has announced the winning entries in the 2019 Small World Photomicrography Competition. Here are a few of the winners that c | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

The Chic 2024 Summer Olympics Logo

On Oct 21, the emblem for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was unveiled in Paris, site of the Games. It features a round s | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Succession’s Preoccupation with the Power of Words (or Lack Thereof)

Have you been watching Succession? I feel bad about enjoying watching rich people be horrible to each other, but I do love the s | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Google Announces They Have Achieved “Quantum Supremacy”

Today, Google announced the results of their quantum supremacy experiment in a blog post and Nature article. First, a quick note o | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Map of the First Words of European National Anthems

From the @europemaps Instagram account, a map of the first words of the national anthems of European countries. Collectively, it | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Beautifully Intricate Paintings of HIV, Ebola, and Other Molecules by Biologist David Goodsell

For more than 25 years, biologist David Goodsell has been making scientifically accurate paintings and illustrations of | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

Watch Scavengers Devour a Fallen Whale Carcass on the Sea Floor

The Nautilus expedition exploring the Davidson Seamount near Monterey Bay turned up something interesting last week: a relativel | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago

The Final Trailer for Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

Let's just all pretend that this trailer did not give me goosebumps and make me pump my fist a little, because at this point Sta | Continue reading


@kottke.org | 4 years ago