When the Klan Got Kicked Out of Town. “More than 500 Lumbee...
When the Klan Got Kicked Out of Town. “More than 500 Lumbee men and women showed up, many of whom were war veterans. Some came with shotguns. Some came with baseball bats.”
The Art of Roland-Garros. Each year since 1980, the French Open has...
The Art of Roland-Garros. Each year since 1980, the French Open has selected an artist to make an official poster for the tournament; this site displays all of the posters from 1980 to 2025.
Shortlist for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 Competition
In looking over the shortlist for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 competition, I thought about how I’ve seen thousands or even tens of thousands of incredible astronomical images and yet there are always new, mind-blowing things to see. Like this 500,000-km Solar...
Yours Truly on Crossword, With Jonathan Wold and Luke Carbis
Jonathan Wold and Luke Carbis cohost a podcast called Crossword, focusing mainly on WordPress and the open web. They occasionally invite guests to join them, and it was my pleasure to join them on their latest episode:
John Gruber’s Dithering podcast with Ben Thompson wa...
New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source. “Sometimes all a sticky...
New Sphere-Packing Record Stems From an Unexpected Source. “Sometimes all a sticky problem needs is a few fresh ideas, and venturing outside one’s immediate field can be rewarding.” I love reading about science/math breakthroughs…
Grok 4
Grok 4
Released last night, Grok 4 is now available via both API and a paid subscription for end-users.
Key characteristics: image and text input, text output. 256,000 context length (twice that of Grok 3). It's a reasoning model where you can't see the reasoning tokens or t...
No One Else Has a Bike Like Mine. “The most elaborately decorated...
No One Else Has a Bike Like Mine. “The most elaborately decorated e-bikes often include colorful adhesive ribbons wrapped around the posts, seat tube and headset, spoke covers and LED lights…” How NYC delivery folks trick out their bikes.
The Bayeux Tapestry is returning to the UK for the first time...
The Bayeux Tapestry is returning to the UK for the first time in more than 900 years. “The huge embroidery - which is widely believed to have been created in Kent - will go on display at the British Museum in London next year.”
A New Genetic Map of Human Disease for the Past 37,000 Years
Carl Zimmer writes about the results of a new genetic study of humans and the diseases that afflicted us over the past 37,000 years. It’s a really fascinating read — in part because of how scientific results can defy our expectations. For instance, the researchers expected t...
Craig Mod: Overtourism in Japan, and How it Hurts Small Businesses. When...
Craig Mod: Overtourism in Japan, and How it Hurts Small Businesses. When your bar gets TikToked: “The only reason he opened the bar, he said, was so locals and friends like her would come. Now, all he had were customers he couldn’t talk to.”
“Lately, it has been difficult to ignore a tendency at the NY...
“Lately, it has been difficult to ignore a tendency at the NY Times to make astonishingly bad news judgments. As Republicans increasingly circulate insane conspiracy theories and racist nonsense, the cult of centrism has taken a self-destructive turn.”
What If You Replaced the Moon With a Black Hole?
A question from a viewer of XKCD’s What If? series: “What would happen if the Moon were replaced with an equivalently-massed black hole? And what would a lunar (“holar”?) eclipse look like?” The answer to the first part of the question is: not that much. But the explanatio...
When Moderation Becomes Appeasement. “Because reactionary centrists do not really have values,...
When Moderation Becomes Appeasement. “Because reactionary centrists do not really have values, they struggle to understand the motivations of those who do.”
4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment. “Instead of...
4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment. “Instead of relying on scattered deposits of fossil fuel — the control of which has largely defined geopolitics — we are moving rapidly toward a reliance on diffuse but ubiquitous sources of supply.”
Wow, Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 earbuds are $149. That’s $100 off…the lowest...
Wow, Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 earbuds are $149. That’s $100 off…the lowest price I’ve seen on the best earbuds I’ve ever owned.
Cool Anatomical Sculptures of Lego People
Artist Jason Freeny is making these neat anatomical sculptures of Lego people.
You can see more of his work in progress on his Facebook page. Reminds me of Michael Paulus’ work. (via colossal)
[This is a vintage post originally from Jun 2012.]
Tags: art · Jason Freeny · Lego · timeless posts
Mark Gurman Got a Slew of Interesting Quotes Regarding Jeff Williams’s Retirement
Mark Gurman got some interesting quotes from interesting former Apple employees for his report at Bloomberg on Jeff Williams’s retirement:
“Jeff’s importance and contributions to Apple have been enormous,
although perhaps not always obvious to the general public,” said
T...
Who Goes MAGA? “His Substack has 10,000 subscribers and a name like...
Who Goes MAGA? “His Substack has 10,000 subscribers and a name like ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ or ‘Against the Grain.’ He has an advanced degree & a career in academia or journalism. He positions himself as a truth-teller willing to say what others won’t.”
Fix This Sign
Something Extraordinary Is Happening All Over the World. “Millions of people from...
Something Extraordinary Is Happening All Over the World. “Millions of people from the poor world are trying to cross seas, forests, valleys and rivers, in search of safety, work and some kind of better future.”