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@ProfessorofRock and I discuss AOR music #rock #classicrock #shorts

@Pro@ProfessorofRock I discuss AOR music #rock #classicrock #shorts

Colossal Valid
Text • Kate Mothes

Four Shortlisted Artists Stand to Win the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026

Four Shortlisted Artists Stand to Win the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026The winner of the competition receives a £15,000 award plus a commissioned work for London's National Portrait Gallery.

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 Four Shortlisted Artists Stand to Win the Winston Taylor Photo Portrait Prize 2026 appeared first on Colossal.

xkcd.com Valid
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Perseids

Recently I've been watching the Daytime Perseids. I haven't seen a meteor from them yet, but the clouds are pretty and the snacks are good.

Work Chronicles Valid
Text • Work Chronicles

(comic) The courage to question

Song Exploder
Audio • Hrishikesh Hirway

Charli XCX - Camera

play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_93_3e73ecf5-357c-499a-a3ac-76d6df6306b9&uf=http%3A%2F%2Ffeed.songexploder.net%2FSongExploder

Charli XCX is a Grammy-winning artist who has been making music since she was a teenager. In July 2026, she released her eighth album, Music, Fashion, Film. It debuted at number 1 on the UK charts—her 4th album in a row to hit number 1 there. In addition to her music career, for the last few years, she’s been acting in films. And for this episode, we talked about how those experiences inspired her song “Camera," and how she and producer Finn Keane figured out how to translate that into music.

For more info, visit songexploder.net/charli-xcx.

Colossal Valid
Text • Kate Mothes

Brussels’ Grand-Place Is Carpeted with 750,000 Fresh Dahlias in a Tribute to Hokusai

Brussels’ Grand-Place Is Carpeted with 750,000 Fresh Dahlias in a Tribute to HokusaiTitled "Neo Hokusai," the monumental arrangement last weekend in Brussels covered nearly 14,000 square feet.

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 Brussels’ Grand-Place Is Carpeted with 750,000 Fresh Dahlias in a Tribute to Hokusai appeared first on Colossal.

Longreads Valid
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?