Longreads
• Krista Stevens
"Forty years after breaking away from Antarctica, the frozen colossus known as A23a died as it lived: drifting around the bottom of the globe, fascinating ardent observers, and offering scientists critical new insights about our living ocean."
Colossal
• Kate Mothes
Hann's subjects range from handmade road signs and vintage buildings to peculiar local attractions.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Rob Hann’s Chromatic and Quirky Landscapes Evoke Long-Distance Road Trips appeared first on Colossal.
We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask. “Scientific breakthroughs, artistic leaps, technological innovation — these rarely emerge from efficient retrieval of known information.”
Do you believe that everybody should have fun or that only a few people should have fun? “This is what it means to be entertained in the United States of America in 2026. Want to have fun? Like, the most fun? Get rich, or die trying.”
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Stacks: “Run HyperCard stacks directly on your modern Mac. No emulator required!”
XKCD: What if chess included the offside rule? (If someone hasn’t done one already, I’d guess at least one person is working on a playable Football Chess game rn.)
Longreads
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands
"As of May 2026, you can no longer buy or sell exotic cats in British Columbia. What do we do with them all now?"
Longreads
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands
"How China’s short dramas are redefining entertainment."
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
• SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura
Dean Karnazes has visited all 50 states in the U.S. But he did it in an incredible way: In 2006, he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days.
Plus: Have you visited all 50 states? Or are you trying to? We want to hear your story. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your suggestion. And don’t forget to join Atlas Obscura to connect with your fellow travelers.
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Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
This is a fun and really well-done triple mashup of Outkast’s B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad), Hitchcock’s The Birds, and Sesame Street.
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Back in the primordial days of AI, Parry was an ELIZA-style chatbot created by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby to simulate the words of a paranoid schizophrenic. Someone had the genius idea to connect it to Eliza (a.k.a. “Doctor”). Vint Cerf published the transcript as an RFC in 1973, and I laughed my ass off reading it. A taste:
Do you know anything about bookies?
What makes you think I know anything about bookies?
A bookie didn’t pay me off once.
What does that suggest to you?
I beat up the bookie who did not pay off, and I thought he might use his friends in the underworld to get even with me.
What else would you like to discuss?
What do you know about racketeers?
Thanks to Bob Peterson for the link.
Vint Cerf, by the way, retired from Google last week at the spry age of 83.
A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. NES cartridge recently sold at auction for $3 million. “It bears the coveted gloss sticker seal affixed to the top lid, identifying it as a second-production example.”
