Ok, this is a genuinely shocking thing to hear: “There is a new species of shark or shark relative (skate, ray, or chimera) discovered approximately every two weeks.” —shark expert David Shiffman
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The Binary Game tests you on quickly converting numbers from binary to...
The Binary Game tests you on quickly converting numbers from binary to decimal and from decimal to binary, from 0 (00000000) to 255 (11111111). “Before long you’ll be doing these conversions in your head.” My son turned me onto this — it’s fun!
“New research documents accelerating plant growth on the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby...
“New research documents accelerating plant growth on the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby islands.” 8000 sq ft of vegetation 40 years ago has grown into 4.6 sq miles.
Ravioli and Other Ravioli-Shaped Objects
From XKCD: Ravioli-Shaped Objects. See also The Cube Rule of Food, the Grand Unified Theory of Food Identification.
Ooh, a Color Kindle Is Finally Here
I think this counts as a FINALLY! Amazon is coming out with a full-color e-reader called the Kindle Colorsoft. You can pre-order it now for $280 and it ships on October 30. This will be great for comics, graphic novels, and books with art & photography. I am a committe...
A Bonkers Japanese Skateboarding Show
Kasso is a Japanese game show that’s like a skateboarding version of Ninja Warrior. A group of skaters is challenged to navigate a series of obstacle courses that require the street and park skating skills. Some of the obstacles are truly diabolical — to get the gist, check out these videos:
You can catch more of Kasso on their YouTube channel. (via @mathowie)
Tags: Kasso · skateboarding · sports · TV · video
Reader favorites from 20 years of the NY Times’ popular Modern Love...
Reader favorites from 20 years of the NY Times’ popular Modern Love column. “Knowing that someone else had walked this same, very scary path gave me a sense of comfort, which I was then able to pass on to others.”
Abortion Bans Have Made Miscarriages More Dangerous
A comic by Aubrey Hirsch: Miscarriages are incredibly common. Abortion bans have made them less safe.
Tags: abortion · Aubrey Hirsch · healthcare
Jimmy Carter cast his mail-in ballot for Kamala Harris today, two months...
Jimmy Carter cast his mail-in ballot for Kamala Harris today, two months after stating he wanted to live long enough to do so. Carter was born when Calvin Coolidge was president and was first eligible to vote in the 1948 election (Truman vs Dewey).
Hearing Things is a new site featuring independent music journalism. It was...
Hearing Things is a new site featuring independent music journalism. It was founded by former Pitchfork staffers and will be member-supported.
LCD Soundsystem x Miles Davis
So first of all, this mashup of LCD Soundsystem’s New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down and a recording of Miles David from his Elevator to the Gallows score is just great to listen to musically. But the, let’s call it choreography, is brilliantly spare: a pair of YouTube videos pulled up side-by-side in a now-ancient Safari browser and pressing play to sync them by hand — jazz-like, improvisational.
If you’d like to try this yourself, here’s the LCD Soundsystem and Miles Davis videos; just press play on the David video at 32 seconds into the LCD video.
See also New Yorker film critic Richard Brody on Louis Malle’s “Elevator to the Gallows,” and Its Historic Miles Davis Soundtrack. (via James Risley in the Kottke comments)
Tags: LCD Soundsystem · Miles Davis · music · remix · video
Ugh, these undecided hobbits! “Both Galadriel and Sauron say the other is...
Ugh, these undecided hobbits! “Both Galadriel and Sauron say the other is a threat to Middle-earth. One has to be wrong, so whom am I to trust?”
Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win...
Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win is a NY Times bestseller from Jessica Valenti, who “provides the language, facts, and context readers need to feel confident when talking about the attacks on their bodies and freedom”.
“Flat-rate train ticket reduced Germany’s transport emissions by 5% in first year.”...
Apollo 16 Lunar Rover Dash Cam
I had no idea there was footage shot on the Moon from the perspective of a lunar rover passenger…basically a lunar rover dash cam. It’s the second half of this short video. Amazing. The first part shows the rover speeding off (at about 6 miles/hr), being put through its pa...
This is Cabel Sasser’s XOXO talk. Best not to know anything going...
This is Cabel Sasser’s XOXO talk. Best not to know anything going into it…just watch all the way to the end. “Don’t waste this. Keep everyone guessing. Make me proud.”
POSSE (Post (on) Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere) has been my strategy for...
POSSE (Post (on) Own Site Syndicate Elsewhere) has been my strategy for years now. “A simple technique offers the best of both worlds: total control over your own work, while still maintaining a presence on third-party platforms.”
Bookshops are cool again! Booksellers have “noticed a sharp rise in young...
Bookshops are cool again! Booksellers have “noticed a sharp rise in young readers coming into their shops seeking out human guidance, eager to be in a physical store rather than filtering through AI and influencer-recommended titles online.”
Season Two of Silo
The trailer for season two of Silo, which starts on Apple TV+ on November 15. It doesn’t reveal much but I am excited to watch the new season! (No spoilers please from folks who have read the books.)
These solidly middlebrow shows like Silo, The Diplomat, and The Gilded Age are some of my favorites to watch these days because they are well-produced with quality actors but don’t tax the viewer (ok, me…they don’t tax me) as much as more serious fare like Shōgun, My Brilliant Friend, Severance, or Chernobyl (all of which I love to bits but sometimes feels like eating your vegetables, if you know what I mean). But a good media diet is a varied media diet and stuff like Silo is really hitting the spot for me right now.
From Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass), a new book called...
From Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass), a new book called The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, in which “she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy”.
There’s no guarantee that the Earth’s natural carbon sinks (ocean, plants, soil)...
There’s no guarantee that the Earth’s natural carbon sinks (ocean, plants, soil) will continue to work the way they have in the past. Last year for instance, “forest, plants and soil — as a net category — absorbed almost no carbon”.
Charles Schulz on Being a Good Citizen
In 1970 as part of a class project, 10-year-old Joel Linton wrote to Peanuts creator Charles Schulz to ask him, “What do you think makes a good citizen?” Schulz replied with this letter:
The letter reads:
Dear Joel:
I think it is more difficult these days to define wha...
The way mainstream media covers Trump and the GOP is fatally flawed...
The way mainstream media covers Trump and the GOP is fatally flawed to the point of being inaccurate. “They stumble over and over to convey what is actually happening. Why can’t legacy media say clearly what he’s doing on a consistent basis?”
Ward Christensen, BBS inventor and architect of our online age, dies at...
Ward Christensen, BBS inventor and architect of our online age, dies at age 78. “Friends and associates remember Christensen as humble and unassuming, a quiet innovator who never sought the spotlight for his groundbreaking work.”
Ed Yong on Breaking Down and Putting Yourself Back Together
My favorite presentation at XOXO this year was Ed Yong’s talk about the pandemic, journalism, his work over the past four years, and the personal toll that all those things took on him. I just watched the entire thing again, riveted the whole time.
Hearing how thoughtfull...
An early analysis of data by scientists at the World Weather Attribution...
An early analysis of data by scientists at the World Weather Attribution project shows that “climate change boosted [Hurricane] Milton’s landfall strength from Category 2 to 3”.
Nation’s Indigenous People Confirm They Don’t Need Special Holiday, Just Large Swaths...
Nation’s Indigenous People Confirm They Don’t Need Special Holiday, Just Large Swaths Of Land Returned Immediately. “We’re seriously open to letting [Columbus Day] slide if we get back, say, the continent that you stole from us.”
The Last Years of Alexei Navalny, In His Own Words
The New Yorker has some excerpts of Alexei Navalny’s diary from the last 2 years of his life, taken from his forthcoming memoir, Patriot.
2022, January 17th.
Exactly one year ago today I came home, to Russia.
I didn’t manage to take a single step on the soil of my countr...
A short thread of videos that sync perfectly to other audio tracks,...
A short thread of videos that sync perfectly to other audio tracks, e.g. This Is America video clip set to Call Me Maybe or the Peanuts dance party set to Joy Division.
A Syllabus for Generalists. Featuring resources for learning about geometry, chemistry, world...
A Syllabus for Generalists. Featuring resources for learning about geometry, chemistry, world history, home maintenance, origami, tying knots, and playing chess.