“What would happen if you spent a nanosecond on the surface of the sun? Would it warm you up, burn you to a cinder, or do nothing at all?”
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Time Lapse: From Pinecone to Pine Tree in 110 Seconds
Watch a stone pine grow from a seed harvested from a pinecone into a small tree, a 2-year growth period compressed into just 110 seconds through the ✨magic✨ of time lapse photography. Don’t you snicker…it is magic! Its invention in the 1870s made it possible to observe, study, and appreciate objects and events in entirely new ways — it’s literal time travel.
Tags: time lapse · video
Look at feisty confectionary upstart Skittles trying to get in on the...
Look at feisty confectionary upstart Skittles trying to get in on the NERDS Gummy Cluster candy innovation money bazooka. Freeze-dried Skittles? They sound terrible. I must try them.
The Invention That Accidentally Made McMansions
This is a really interesting video about something called the gang-nail plate, a construction innovation that enabled larger roofs to be built on houses, removed the need for internal load-bearing walls, and made the process of construction cheaper & more efficient.
W...
I really like this: “If you think about it, the very best...
I really like this: “If you think about it, the very best books are really just extremely long spells that turn you into a different person for the rest of your life.” —Jonathan Edward Durham
Restoring Vintage Star Wars Posters
Watching these expert restorers mend & refresh a pair of vintage Star Wars posters (neither of which features the logo we’re familiar with today and one of which is signed by the designer) is both fascinating and relaxing. It’s like the posters are having a spa day: bit of a soak, a gentle scrub, some light bodywork, and voila, you’re brand new. (via meanwhile)
Evan Gershkovich, recently freed by the Putin regime, has the lead byline...
Evan Gershkovich, recently freed by the Putin regime, has the lead byline on a story revealing the secret Russian agency that was responsible for his arrest and is “leading the biggest campaign of internal repression since the Stalin era”.
Six Childhood Scourges We’ve Forgotten About, Thanks to Vaccines. “Parents in the...
Six Childhood Scourges We’ve Forgotten About, Thanks to Vaccines. “Parents in the early 1950s lived with a terror: the substantial prospect that their child could touch the wrong toy and end up in a wheelchair, an iron lung or a grave.”
Museums should be free, but if they can’t be free, they should...
Museums should be free, but if they can’t be free, they should be free for kids, so good job anonymous MAM donor. The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) will now be free for kids age 12 and under through an anonymous gift of $3.54 million.
Wow, look at this video of wild skating — a thin layer...
Wow, look at this video of wild skating — a thin layer of water on the ice makes for an unbelievable visual effect. It’s like skating on a mirror.
I’m sorry, but if you need to fact-check an interview with your...
I’m sorry, but if you need to fact-check an interview with your Person of the Year to this degree, maybe you should have picked someone who is not a liar and a con man.
The Biggest Bomb in the World
The largest nuclear weapon ever tested was Tsar Bomba, a 50-megaton device detonated by the Soviet Union in 1961. That made it “3,300 times as powerful” as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima — an almost unimaginable level of potential destructive power. But Tsar Bomba wasn’t ev...
A list of medieval English dog names, including Fyndewell, Sturdy, Plodder, Harmeles,...
A list of medieval English dog names, including Fyndewell, Sturdy, Plodder, Harmeles, Mercurye, Paris, Achilles, Jeester, Beste-of-all, Pretiboy, and Havegoodday.
This is interesting and somewhat counterintuitive: “Fare-free transit is not an environmental...
This is interesting and somewhat counterintuitive: “Fare-free transit is not an environmental policy. The reason is simple: It doesn’t reduce driving.” People shift trips from walking and biking but drivers keep driving.
Aerial Foodscapes
For his book Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World’s Food (Bookshop), George Steinmetz travelled the world with his drone, spending “a decade documenting food production in more than 36 countries on 6 continents, 24 US states, and 5 oceans”.
In strik...
I missed this back in August: the excellent Art of the Title...
I missed this back in August: the excellent Art of the Title site is on hiatus due to lack of funds (in part due to a skyrocketing Vimeo bill). Join me in supporting them? And can anyone at Vimeo help w/ their video hosting?
Tressie McMillan Cottom: “Whether you call it crony capitalism or just an...
Tressie McMillan Cottom: “Whether you call it crony capitalism or just an unfair economy, the market sets the rules for which lives matter. We have set up a system of interlocking ninth circles of hell for all of our basic needs.”
Great Casey Johnston piece on how chronic pain & capitalism intersect in...
Great Casey Johnston piece on how chronic pain & capitalism intersect in contemporary America. “The safety net they were promised would back up their commitment not only isn’t there, but is actually more like a spider’s web that will entangle them…”
“The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the...
“The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought.” A new analysis of Voyager 2 data suggests a powerful solar storm distorted the previous analysis.
I just updated the 2024 Kottke Holiday Gift Guide, including some gifts...
I just updated the 2024 Kottke Holiday Gift Guide, including some gifts for people you hate (ugly decanters, Baby Yoda s&p shakers). Years ago, a work colleague received a *turtle* as a wedding gift. What’s the worst gift you’ve ever given or received?
Now Serving: Drinkable Mayonnaise
Lawson’s, a convenience store in Japan, has begun selling Nomu, a drinkable mayonnaise forgetting the important adage: all mayo is drinkable if you believe in yourself.
The only catch for pedantic mayonnaise lovers is that the label clarifies that Nomu mayo is a “mayonnaise...
Holiday Terms & Conditions (A Christmas Album). Lyrics include: “It’s beginning to...
Holiday Terms & Conditions (A Christmas Album). Lyrics include: “It’s beginning to look a lot like lawsuits, everywhere you scroll…” and “I don’t want a lot for Christmas, just my intellectual property rights…”
Bryan Cranston Reads From Robert Caro’s The Power Broker
At an event last month marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, actor Bryan Cranston read a passage from the book (it’s about 13 minutes long):
From Literary Hub:
After some loving jabs at the devotion this book inspires and its ...
Recently found: a message in a bottle at an archaeological dig left...
Recently found: a message in a bottle at an archaeological dig left there in 1825 by an archaeologist. “It was an absolutely magic moment. We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago…”
Racing’s Deadliest Day. After the 1955 Le Mans disaster, “it would be...
Racing’s Deadliest Day. After the 1955 Le Mans disaster, “it would be another 40 years before Mercedes got back into racing”. (In the meantime, they pioneered “anti-lock brakes, anti-collision radar systems, and other consumer safety technologies”.)
Monument Valley 3 is out today on iOS & Android and is...
Monument Valley 3 is out today on iOS & Android and is free to play with a Netflix subscription.
The Origin of Delay, Deny, Defend
In the wake of the murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, a book published in 2010 by Rutgers Law professor Jay Feinman has hit the bestseller charts: Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It. The book’s title is a reference to an...
Check Out the 2025 Moon Phases
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has released a pair of visualizations of the phases the Moon will go through in 2025, one for the northern hemisphere above and one for the southern hemisphere below:
Look at that sucker wobble! Each frame of the 4K video represents one hour and there are lots of locations labeled on the map, including the landing sites of the Apollo missions.
But also: How have I never noticed that the Moon is upside-down in the southern hemisphere?! I mean, it makes total sense but I’ve just never noticed or thought it through. 🤯 (via the kid should see this)
If you haven’t had the pleasure, you should double back and read...
If you haven’t had the pleasure, you should double back and read the comments on this post from readers who have noticed things everyone else hasn’t. Not surprised to have gathered a community of extreme noticers.
The old school Oregon Trail video game is being adapted into an...
The old school Oregon Trail video game is being adapted into an action-comedy movie. “The movie will feature a couple of original musical numbers in the vein of Barbie.”