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Text • Carolyn Wells

How a Cowboy Rides When the Range is on Fire

"When wildfires approach, moving cattle to safety means managing their fear and instincts. Here’s how it’s done in B.C.’s Nicola Valley."

Dan’s Polaroids
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18.08.2026

A yellow digger on a pebble beach.
That’s what I came here for.

The Atlas Obscura Podcast Updates instantly via WebSub
Audio • SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura

Amazing Abandoned Places with Cal Flyn

Cal Flyn is the author of Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape. She also has a new book, called The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness. On today’s show, she and host Kelly McEvers explore the allure of places that humans have abandoned.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

xkcd.com Valid
Text

Particle Physics Equipment

The one that sounds like the oracle at the center of the galaxy where the hero travels to hear a prophecy is probably Brookhaven National Laboratory's now-dismantled COSMOTRON.

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

Disney’s ABC Sues Trump’s FCC Over Challenge to Its Broadcast License

wsj.com/business/media/disneys-abc-sues-fcc-over-challenge-to-its-broadcast-licenses-64e8f794?st=XTL4tA

Joe Flint, reporting for The Wall Street Journal (gift link): Walt Disney’s ABC has sued the Federal Communications Commission alleging the agency’s efforts to challenge its broadcast licenses and regulate its talk show “The View” are illegal and an effort to quash speec...

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

Apple Gives Legal Middle Finger to DOJ Challenge on Apple’s July Discovery Win

9to5mac.com/2026/08/17/apple-dojs-latest-challenge-in-antitrust-case-fails-at-every-level/

Marcus Mendes at 9to5Mac has a fun update on U.S. v. Apple, the ill-considered antitrust case started by the Biden administration. A bunch of what the DOJ argues are anticompetitive features in Apple’s platforms, Apple argues are in fact privacy and security related. Back i...

Simon Willison's Weblog Supports Webmention
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Mojo🔥 is now open source

Mojo🔥 is now open source Mojo🔥 is now open source The Mojo programming language has been promising an open source release since May 2023. Last week they shipped their 1.0 and today they have followed through on that original promise, releasing the compiler and toolchain unde...

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

This is a wild story: The Scientist Who Lived with...

This is a wild story: The Scientist Who Lived with Dozens of Children from the Pacific Islands. “I realized I’m in the middle of a pedophile operation that has been run out of the N.I.H. by a Nobel laureate for thirty years.”

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

“Scientists have found that people are being...

“Scientists have found that people are being exposed to more toxins than previously known, and beyond damaging lungs, wildfire smoke may affect hearts, brains and other organs.” (Research is preliminary & ongoing but sheesh…)

Colossal Valid
Text • Jackie Andres

Dark Emotions Evoke Growth in Alejandro Aguliar Canela’s Graphite Drawings

Dark Emotions Evoke Growth in Alejandro Aguliar Canela’s Graphite Drawings"It’s more about not discarding what might be considered unwanted, but instead finding some use for it," says the artist.

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 Dark Emotions Evoke Growth in Alejandro Aguliar Canela’s Graphite Drawings appeared first on Colossal.

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

Ring of Fire in the Sky

Portuguese photographer Rui Santos captured this shot of the recent solar eclipse.

Stunning. Here’s what makes this shot look a little different from other eclipse photos; from APOD:

Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week’s total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color. But this time, totality observers in Spain saw a corona that appeared unusually golden. For one reason, from Spain, the totality occurred when the setting Sun was near the horizon. That low, sunlight travels through a large amount of air which scatters out blue light. An unusual amount of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires acted as a second filter, further scattering the remaining blue tones and deepening the already gold-dominated light.

Tags: 2026 solar eclipse · astronomy · eclipses · photography · Rui Santos · Sun

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

How to make a good Star Wars movie for once ....

How to make a good Star Wars movie for once. “Stop making stuff that’s so self referential and start focusing on projects that once again are bringing things from the outside and putting them in a Star Wars container.” Fan service is bad storytelling.

Daring Fireball Valid
Text • John Gruber

Organized Thieves Are Targeting AI Server Chips With Violent Highway Hijackings

wired.com/story/the-worst-ive-ever-seen-cargo-thieves-are-turning-violent-in-pursuit-of-ai-hardware/

Paresh Dave and Aarian Marshall, reporting for Wired (News+ link in case Wired hits you with their paywall): The incidents involved two different shipments of high-value technology traveling from Silicon Valley to Southern California, according to Pachuca, who says he le...

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

And also a trailer for season 2 of Star Wars: Ahsoka ....

And also a trailer for season 2 of Star Wars: Ahsoka. Huh. Lots of Anakin, but where are the space whales?

Rick Beato Updates instantly via WebSub
Video

The Ultimate Rock Music Debate

In this interview, I sit down with my friend and fellow music interviewer Adam Reader, better known as The Professor of Rock. We swap hilarious interview stories, share some hot takes, and talk about the importance of documenting these legendary musical artists. My Beato Cl...

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

Trailer for VisionQuest , the third leg of the...

Trailer for VisionQuest, the third leg of the Wanda/Vision/Agatha trilogy. Huh. “Ultron! Human avatars only!”

Colossal Valid
Text • Kate Mothes

Glowing Paintings by Francesco Pirazzi Meditate on the Enigmas of Absence

Glowing Paintings by Francesco Pirazzi Meditate on the Enigmas of Absence"For me, paintings represent an attempt to grasp a 'something' that for some reason deeply moves me, agitates me."

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 Glowing Paintings by Francesco Pirazzi Meditate on the Enigmas of Absence appeared first on Colossal.

Rick Beato Updates instantly via WebSub
Video

Geddy Lee on how 2112 turned Rush’s career around #geddylee #rush #shorts

Longreads Valid
Text • Brendan Fitzgerald

There’s Something Dangerous About Sam Rockwell

"Ever since that monologue—you know the one—everyone knows who the legendary scene-stealer is. Still, his appetite for taking risks means he’ll never stop surprising us."

kottke.org Valid
Text • Jason Kottke

In Bourgogne, they’ve been recording grape date harvests...

In Bourgogne, they’ve been recording grape date harvests since 1354. This year’s harvest set a record for earliest start: Aug 8. “From 1354 to 1987 the average start was 28 September. Since 1988 it runs 13 days earlier.”