The 2025 Audubon Photography Awards Emphasize Epic and Endangered Migrations. I love...
The 2025 Audubon Photography Awards Emphasize Epic and Endangered Migrations. I love the shot of the acorn woodpecker.
Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
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How the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz Survived the Death Camps. “I have...
How the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz Survived the Death Camps. “I have been gripped by a need to understand more not only about the women in the Auschwitz orchestra…but also what hearing music in this inferno meant to the other prisoners.”
Of Oz the Wizard, an Alphabetized Version of The Wizard of Oz
Of Oz the Wizard is the entire Wizard of Oz movie presented in alphabetical order by dialogue. So it starts with all the scenes where Dorothy and the gang say “a”, “aaiee”, “along”, and proceeds through “you’re” and “zipper”. Even the words on each of the title cards are s...
Gina Trapani writes about taking a sabbatical. “Take afternoon naps. Bigger things...
Gina Trapani writes about taking a sabbatical. “Take afternoon naps. Bigger things like foster a box of 6 kittens, do a 10-day silent retreat, quit coffee, start lifting, train for a triathlon, take vacations to explore…”
This sounds like a cool project: Pocket Fiche is a pocket-sized microscope...
This sounds like a cool project: Pocket Fiche is a pocket-sized microscope that comes with a ultra-high resolution, nano-fabricated image. “Think of Pocket Fiche as the Earth bound version of the Voyager golden record.”
Some unusual rocks observed by NASA’s Perseverance rover “could be the clearest...
Some unusual rocks observed by NASA’s Perseverance rover “could be the clearest signs of life ever found” on Mars.
Some KDO Updates: We’ve Got Ourselves a Stew
Hey folks, I know there’s a lot going on these days, but I wanted to update you on a few things I’ve been doing for the site lately. Alright, looking through my Git commits from the last couple of months:
I already told you about the Rolodex. Hoping to provide access to th...
Let’s be clear about what just happened: Jimmy Kimmel, a prominent late-night...
Let’s be clear about what just happened: Jimmy Kimmel, a prominent late-night comedian, was just taken off the airwaves because the Trump administration didn’t like what he had to say — and threatened his employer until they shut him up.
Man pulls off daring scuba heist of Disney paddleboat restaurant, netting $10K-$20K...
Man pulls off daring scuba heist of Disney paddleboat restaurant, netting $10K-$20K before successfully escaping into the water from whence he came.
The “Debate Me Bro” Grift: How Trolls Weaponized The Marketplace Of Ideas....
The “Debate Me Bro” Grift: How Trolls Weaponized The Marketplace Of Ideas. “The fundamental issue with “debate me bro” culture [is] that it creates a false equivalence between good-faith expertise and bad-faith trolling.”
How Agates Form, Why Minnesota Lakes Have So Many, & Where To...
How Agates Form, Why Minnesota Lakes Have So Many, & Where To Look For Them. I was always excited as a kid to go find agates at the lake (typically Lake Superior), but I didn’t know a) how they formed, or b) that you couldn’t find them just anywhere.
Inspired by a question over at Cup of Jo, what are the...
Inspired by a question over at Cup of Jo, what are the five things that are essential in your kitchen? Mine lean black & tan: balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, parmesan, olive oil, mayonnaise. (Honorable mention: chili oil.)
Blending In
These are some of my favorite portrait illustrations from Sofia Bonati.
In her art you’ll find female portraits that invite you into a dreamlike world where the woman and her surroundings intertwine, connect. They are women with deep, mysterious looks, who want to tell us something.
I especially like the more geometric ones that radiate. Prints and original works are available in her shop. (via colossal)
Tags: art · illustration · Sofia Bonati
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The Climate Change Paradox. “Earth’s climate is chaotic and volatile. Climate change...
The Climate Change Paradox. “Earth’s climate is chaotic and volatile. Climate change is simple and predictable. How can both be true?” Complexity & chaos theory are so interesting.
On the latest wave of AI/LLM tools. “It is a transition from...
On the latest wave of AI/LLM tools. “It is a transition from working with a co-intelligence to working with a wizard. Magic gets done, but we don’t always know what to do with the results.”
Smart Tracker Cards
Here’s a thing I didn’t know existed until the other day: credit-card sized trackers that you put into your wallet (or bag) that can be located with Apple Find My. Some come with long-life batteries and others are rechargeable. Some can play a sound when lost. This seems pretty handy for when an AirTag is too bulky.
The first one I stumbled across was this one from Paperwallet but there are also many other options.
“Trump told voters that they could indulge their resentments and still walk...
“Trump told voters that they could indulge their resentments and still walk away richer and more prosperous. But they can’t. To embrace nativism in a global, connected economic world is to sacrifice prosperity for the sake of exclusion…”
Early next year, Sesame Street is making hundreds of full episodes available...
Classic Airlines Apparel
Remember the collection of classic airline logos I linked to a few years ago? The folks at 08 Left have taken some of those old logos and put them on hats, t-shirts, and hoodies.
New from Neal Agarwal: a series of increasingly ridiculous and difficult captchas....
New from Neal Agarwal: a series of increasingly ridiculous and difficult captchas. I burst out laughing at the vegetables one.
Scandal rocks international stone skipping contest. “The would-be cheaters admitted to the...
Scandal rocks international stone skipping contest. “The would-be cheaters admitted to the scheme by a show of hands and apologized for their misdeeds after the judges raised their suspicions.” Aww, so wholesome?
“Style lessons from Robert Redford, one of the most stylish men in...
“Style lessons from Robert Redford, one of the most stylish men in the last century.” Derek Guy: “The 1970s is often written off as the ‘decade that taste forgot.’ But Redford shows how to do it well…”
A Clock: An Online Remake of Christian Marclay’s The Clock
Christian Marclay debuted his 24-hour film The Clock 15 years ago. The film is made up of thousands of clips from movies and TV shows that show timepieces or otherwise make reference to the time of day. I’ve seen chunks of it in a few museums & galleries and it’s wonderf...
A McSweeney’s list that’s not that funny: How to Tell the Difference...
A McSweeney’s list that’s not that funny: How to Tell the Difference Between a Lone Wolf and a Coordinated Effort by the Radical Left.
How Climate Scientists Saw the Future Before It Arrived. “‘The goal of...
How Climate Scientists Saw the Future Before It Arrived. “‘The goal of climate modeling is really to build a fake version of the Earth,’ a coarse-grained copy of the planet that’s stripped down to ‘the processes we think are relevant.’”
Ta-Nehisi Coates: ‘Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause’....
Ta-Nehisi Coates: ‘Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause’. “By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.”
Incredibly Realistic 3D Models of the Moon’s Surface (From 1874!)
A gem of a find by The Public Domain Review of a collection from the Rijksmuseum: photographs of plaster models of the Moon’s surface that were made from observations of the Moon through a telescope.
Peering through a self-made telescope, James Nasmyth sketched the moon’s...
Photographer Upends His Whole Life to Chase Auroras Around the Arctic. “Prior...
Photographer Upends His Whole Life to Chase Auroras Around the Arctic. “Prior to moving to Lapland, I had never owned a camera and I almost never took photographs. However, just watching the aurora captured my attention…”
A 16-Hour Video Series on Everything that Happened in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s
From the Weird History YouTube channel, an epic undertaking: telling the (US-centric) cultural history of the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s in just (just!) 16 hours.
This is like a mega ultra monster extended mix of We Didn’t Start the Fire. The videos are organized chronologically, with each year taking 15-30 minutes to summarize, so you can watch small bits here and there instead of having to ingest a whole decade in one go.
Fun logic puzzle game called Clues by Sam. “Your goal is to...
Fun logic puzzle game called Clues by Sam. “Your goal is to figure out who is criminal and who is innocent.”