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Love these visualizations of the current top 10 men’s and women’s chess players in the world.

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Conservation biologist Tim Shields is trying to save the Mojave Desert’s desert tortoise population, which is under threat from ravens, an invasive species brought to the area by habitat-encroaching humans. Working with an engineer, he’s trying to train the ravens to leave...

In 1974, Saturday Review asked some of the world’s leading thinkers (Isaac Asimov, Jacques Cousteau, Andrei Sakharov, etc.) what the world of 2024 would look like. Here’s what they got right (internet) and wrong (factories on the Moon).

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Adam Hale makes these fantastic brain-busting time- & perspective-slicing animations.

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Artist and illustrator Andrew DeGraff makes maps that show where the characters travel during movies — imagine Billy’s trail maps from Family Circus but for films like Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, Pulp Fiction, and Mad Max: Fury Road. DeGraff collected these maps into a book called Cinemaps: An Atlas of 35 Great Movies. Tags: Andrew DeGraff · books · Cinemaps · illustration · infoviz · maps · movies 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →

Not sure why I didn’t know that Chris Ware has released two volumes of sketchbooks, but the third one comes out this fall. “Ware finally succumbs to imaginary public pressure by concluding his tiresome experiment in reader trust…”

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A travel reporter tests AI travel services with a trip to Norway. “Can artificial intelligence devise a bucket-list vacation that checks all the boxes: culture, nature, hotels and transportation?”

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This is lovely: illustrator & cartoonist Stephen Collins drew the progression of shoes worn by each of his three kids.

Back in 2020 we had to chuck the kids’ baby shoes out 😱, so I decided to keep the first ones and draw the rest, in order, starting with pre-walking socks.

When I look at photos of my kids from when they were younger, my eye is always drawn to their shoes and clothes — some of them are so iconic in my mind they almost function as logos for my kids at different stages.

Tags: art · fashion · parenting · shoes · Stephen Collins

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Pre-show: App Store reorganization 🗣️ New Member’s Special: ATP Insider: Domestic Workflows Follow-up: iPhone 16 “Capture Button” (via Aaron Dippner) iPhone 16 Pro’s fourth color More from MacRumors Microsoft Zune Available on Amazon! System color picker (...

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Kyle Brandt as they dust off their Notre Dame jackets to chase their dreams after rewatching the 1993 sports classic ‘Rudy,’ starring Sean Astin, Ned Beatty, and Charles S. Dutton. Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microsoft: With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers, we’re sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October. As previously shared on June 13, we have adjusted...

On the genius design of Super Mario Bros’ World 1-1, which teaches players how the game works without needing a tutorial. “In order to pass this first little guardian, the player must learn that the A button makes Mario jump.”

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Sacred Sites. “From Machu Picchu to the Louvre — the book journeys through sacred sites in art and ancient history.” I’ve always loved places and architecture that feel awe-inspiring or numinous.

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I love these isometric cutaway drawings by Japanese illustrator & architect Enya Honami. From Spoon & Tamago: Honami is a skilled draughtswoman by trade, having obtained an MFA in architecture and working at a well-known Japanese architecture firm. But the gr...

Jason Snell: Netflix has been slowly rolling out a big catalog of games, tied to a Netflix login. There are loads out now, including the excellent Lucky Luna and Laya’s Horizon (both from Snowman, developer of the excellent Alto’s series of iOS games). Maybe, a year (o...

As one of the top trials riders in the world, Danny MacAskill can certainly do a wheelie. In this fun video, he does wheelies all over the place, joined by a bunch of friends. The behind-the-scenes video is just as fun. And I watched the “how to do a wheelie” companion video with interest because I’ve never been able to do a wheelie on a bike for more than a couple of seconds and it’s probably time to learn — even though a manual would be more useful for mountain biking. (via the kid should see this)

Tags: biking · Danny MacAskill · how to · video

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The life-changing magic of being in the groove. “Scientists have long known the mental and creative benefits of the flow state, in which total absorption in an activity banishes anxiety.”

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Remi Wolf is a singer and songwriter originally from Palo Alto, California. She’s been releasing music since 2019. She performed at Coachella in 2023, and has toured with Olivia Rodrigo, Lorde, and Paramore. Her second album, Big Ideas, came out in July 2024. I talked to Remi about how she and her collaborators wrote and produced the song “Soup.” How they used 80s gear to make 80s sounds, and how a fun anthem quickly turned into something pretty vulnerable.

For more, visit songexploder.net/remi-wolf. 

Peter Baker, supposedly “reporting” from the DNC in Chicago: When the crowd members in the United Center first chanted, “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!” on Monday night, President Biden looked down, fought back tears and soaked in the admiration. But he knew. He might ...