“When botanist Richard Deakin examined Rome’s Colosseum in the 1850s, he found 420 species of plant growing in the ruins: cypresses and ilex, pea plants and more than 50 types of grasses.” A fascinating thread on the flora and fauna in the Colosseum.
Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
- Public lists
-
Featured
- Fetched
The Clever Design That Keeps This School Cool in Scorching Heat
In this video, Sara Saadouni explains the three passive cooling techniques used by fellow architect Diébédo Francis Kéré in designing a school building in Burkina Faso, where temperatures can be quite warm all year. The roof is especially clever.
He introduced a curved d...
The long list for the 2025 Tournament of Books has been released...
The long list for the 2025 Tournament of Books has been released and it includes titles like All Fours, Intermezzo, James, Long Island Compromise, Orbital, and Wandering Stars.
Leo Tolstoy’s recipe for mac & cheese? It only contains four ingredients:...
Leo Tolstoy’s recipe for mac & cheese? It only contains four ingredients: macaroni, parmesan cheese, butter, and something called “vegetable sauce”. I’m gonna stick to Kenji for mac & cheese and Tolstoy for novels.
There are so many twists and turns in this fascinating story by...
There are so many twists and turns in this fascinating story by Fara Dabhoiwala about a painting of Jamaican polymath Francis Williams, which also appears to be the only 1759 painting of Halley’s Comet. Don’t click this if you’ve got somewhere to be.
JW Space Telescope Discovers Aliens!
I know astronomical imagery is on the verge of being over-processed these days (those colors don’t exist out there!), but this image from the JWST is shocking. Clear evidence of Sesame Street’s Yip Yip Martians from billions of years ago. What did Jim Henson know and when did he know it?
Tags: astronomy · James Webb Space Telescope · remix · Sesame Street · space
A kakistocracy is “government by the worst people” or, more literally, “government...
A kakistocracy is “government by the worst people” or, more literally, “government by the shitty”.
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): Surveillance Self-Defense, “our expert guide to...
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): Surveillance Self-Defense, “our expert guide to protecting you and your friends from online spying”. A good resource for those living under an authoritarian regime.
“All together, the billionaires tapped for the Trump administration are worth at...
“All together, the billionaires tapped for the Trump administration are worth at least $344 billion — higher than the GDP of 169 countries.” Plutocracy, pure and simple.
W.E.B. Du Bois Defines Prosperity
In a 1953 speech called On the Future of the American Negro, W.E.B. Du Bois spoke about wealth inequality and his vision for measuring prosperity:
Work is service, not gain. The object of work is life, not income. The reward of production is plenty, not private fortune. We should measure the prosperity of a nation not by the number of millionaires but by the absence of poverty, the prevalence of health, the efficiency of the public schools, and the number of people who can and do read worthwhile books.
Democracy Now has a recording of part of Du Bois’ speech (starting at 5:48).
Tags: economics · USA · W.E.B. Du Bois
“You’re thinking…what do I want? What happens if I don’t get it?...
“You’re thinking…what do I want? What happens if I don’t get it? And Milhouse has to think a lot about what happens if he doesn’t get it, because he hardly ever does.” Pamela Hayden, the voice of several Simpsons characters, retires after 35 years.
A great remembrance of Rafael Nadal’s tennis career. “Nadal was the destroyer...
A great remembrance of Rafael Nadal’s tennis career. “Nadal was the destroyer of context, the man who played every point in vacuum, through comebacks and blowouts with the same equanimous mind and full effort.”
Meteorite Hunter
Meteorite hunter Roberto Vargas tracks fireballs on the internet and then goes to see if he can find them.
Usually I’m alerted that something has fallen or that people have seen a fireball through the American Meteor Society I book a flight, go to wherever it is, and then I start searching. I would just walk around and use my magnet cane to tap rocks. If they stick to the magnet and they have a black outer shell, they should be meteorites.
Vargas has over 500 meteorites in his personal collection.
See also The Meteorite Collector, The International Meteorite Market, and The Boomerang Meteor.
Tags: Roberto Vargas · space · video
Soccer reporter Rory Smith on what he’s learned coaching his son’s under-7s...
Soccer reporter Rory Smith on what he’s learned coaching his son’s under-7s soccer team. “They are not there to win. They are not there to fulfill your dreams. They are there to feel the joy of playing, to love the game…”
Every Movement In Man’s Burrito-Eating Technique Informed By Past Burrito Tragedies. “Just...
Every Movement In Man’s Burrito-Eating Technique Informed By Past Burrito Tragedies. “Just look at that grip, perfectly spaced and easy to shift on the fly.”
We Never Stop Growing
I may have shared this before, but here it is again in case it helps someone. A couple of years ago, I was telling my therapist about some crisis I was going through and she told me something that’s had a profound effect on my life ever since: “Jason, what you’re feeling is ...
The trailer for an animated movie called Flow, which currently has a...
The trailer for an animated movie called Flow, which currently has a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Looks gorgeous. Opens nationally in the US in early December.
FINALLY. Threads will finally let you set the following feed as your...
When you’ve been seriously wronged by someone, what’s the best drink to...
When you’ve been seriously wronged by someone, what’s the best drink to throw at them? “Bloody Mary because it’ll stain clothes and get pepper in their eyes.”
The Search for the Mystery Man Who Took These Forbidden Photos of Nazi-Occupied Paris
In 2020, Stéphanie Colaux discovered an album of photos of Nazi-occupied Paris at a French flea market.
“As I flipped through the pages I realized, my God, it’s all scenes of [Nazi] occupied Paris. And I knew I’d found a treasure,” she says. “And then I read the little ...
The 3rd most-worn shoe by NBA players this season is Sabrina Ionescu’s...
The 3rd most-worn shoe by NBA players this season is Sabrina Ionescu’s signature shoe. “You read that right: the most worn NBA shoe created by a living athlete is a WNBA player’s signature shoe.”
A list of books read by Prairie Dawn on Sesame Street, including...
A list of books read by Prairie Dawn on Sesame Street, including The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and The Handmaiden’s Tale (sic) by Margaret Atwood.
Really interesting piece about the economics and “premiumization” of airlines. “The front...
Really interesting piece about the economics and “premiumization” of airlines. “The front of the plane is now a haven of luxury, while coach has turned into a low-cost shakedown.” (But it’s a bit more complicated than that.)
“The…icon who inspired folk singer Arlo Guthrie’s epic, anti-establishment song “Alice’s Restaurant”...
“The…icon who inspired folk singer Arlo Guthrie’s epic, anti-establishment song “Alice’s Restaurant” has died. Alice Brock…was 83.” Radio stations traditionally play Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving.
Why do the credits at the end of every movie say: “Any...
Why do the credits at the end of every movie say: “Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental”? Because of Rasputin.
According to this chart, I’ve only ever been boomer successful, but for...
According to this chart, I’ve only ever been boomer successful, but for 15 years, my boss has been a very handsome dumb idiot, my ice cream shop is 10 years old this month, and I’ve got two lovely kids who are mean to me. Feels like a success to me.
In ancient Mesopotamia, people rarely wrote about preparing food… “Out of hundreds...
In ancient Mesopotamia, people rarely wrote about preparing food… “Out of hundreds of thousands of cuneiform documents, they are the only food recipes that exist. We don’t have an explanation.”
“Small patches of wildflowers sown in cities can be a good substitute...
“Small patches of wildflowers sown in cities can be a good substitute for a natural meadow, according to a study which showed butterflies, bees and hoverflies like them just as much.” I love wildlflowers, that’s the post.
Foursquare is open-sourcing a database of 100+ million “places of interest”....
Johanna Under the Ice
Johanna Nordblad is a free diver who specializes in cold water dives. After being injured in a biking accident, her recovery involved ice water baths and she developed an interest in cold water. Ian Derry filmed Nordblad doing a dive for this gorgeous short video.
There is no place for fear, no place for panic, no place for mistakes. Under the ice, you need total control of the place, the time, and to trust yourself completely.
(via @daveg)
[This is a vintage post originally from Sep 2016.]
Tags: free diving · Ian Derry · Johanna Nordblad · sports · timeless posts · video