Subscribe
Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
Featured
“As far as artist signatures go, Jan van Kessel’s seventeenth-century painting in which he spells out his own name with caterpillars and snakes must be up there with the best of them.”
Good news! As of June 1, a transmission line is delivering hydro-generated electricity into NYC: “1,250 megawatts of clean energy directly into New York City’s power grid”. That’s around 20% of the city’s total electric load, now clean.
Well, this is kinda depressing, courtesy of Jason Zweig’s father:
There are three ways to make a living:
1) Lie to people who want to be lied to, and you’ll get rich.
2) Tell the truth to those who want the truth, and you’ll make a living.
3) Tell the truth to those who want to be lied to, and you’ll go broke.
I aim for #2. But maybe society needs more of #3 and, it goes without saying, a whole lot less of #1. (via df)
Tags: how to · Jason Zweig · working
TIL that Muji once sold a car. “The Muji Car 1000 was a debadged and stripped down 2-door version of the Nissan March, with the smallest engine, an automatic, steel wheels, and A/C, available in one color: white.”
The 100 Greatest Bird Names of All Time, including Inaccessible Island Rail, Macaroni Penguin, Morepork, Chocolate Boobook, Dickcissel, Carunculated Caracara, and Resplendent Quetzal.
The Best Thing About The Satanic Panic. “There’s a phenomenon called the rhyme-as-reason effect that says people are more likely to believe something is true if it rhymes.”
JS Crossword. “This crossword uses some lesser-known and cursed JS features, so I’d recommend it for people already somewhat familiar with JavaScript.” Diabolical.
Watch and listen to bardcore trio Courseval play a cover version of Daft Punk’s Veridis Quo, a track from Discovery. This is lovely. And a banger.
Courseval have covered other popular music in medieval style, including Rihanna’s Umbrella, Take On Me by A-Ha, Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, and Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive.
Frozen To -22 Degrees, BYD’s New EV Just Charged To 97% In Only 12 Minutes. This is genuinely impressive — charging and driving an EV in subzero winter weather is just brutal (ask me how I know).
They’re doing a film adaptation of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Daisy Edgar-Jones will play Sadie (perfect choice) and the director is Oscar-winner Siân Heder (Coda).
Illustrator John Rooney has teamed up with the Middle East Children’s Alliance to produce and sell this Birds of Palestine print. Rooney on Instagram: “All profits will be going towards providing emergency assistance to children and families in what is still a dire situation in Palestine.”
Tags: art · birds · John Rooney · palestine
TIL that Andreessen Horowitz owns/runs the NYC Tech Week event. Among other things, A16Z made Daniel Penny a partner in the firm despite no investing experience after he killed a homeless Black man on the NYC subway.
If You Take the Weasel Job Then You Must Be the Weasel. “Bilton reveals himself as a goon, a soft-peddler, a PR man, an obfuscator; the opposite of everything that 60 Minutes is supposed to be”.
Re the Patagonia vs. Pattie Gonia case: the company should sponsor her environmental efforts and part of that is a trademark agreement where each side compromises a little bit; Pattie can keep doing her thing and Patagonia is seen as an ally again.
Why Wildfire Experts Are So Worried About This Year’s Fire Season. “Key environmental indicators show that the nation is a tinderbox, gripped by widespread drought and with a light snowpack in the mountains.”
I’ve probably featured this before but always worth a re-up: “A Books Unbanned library card gives teens across the United States free digital access to ebooks and digital resources, including banned and challenged books — no matter where they live.”
“Hackers say that they used Meta’s AI support chatbot to break into a host of high-profile Instagram profiles by asking the support bot to change the email address associated with the target account.” And the bot just went ahead and did it.
In Post-War Japan, the US Used Quiz Culture to Help Democratize the Country. TV quiz shows “normalized participation, merit-based competition, and equal opportunity — values that contrasted sharply with the hierarchical structures [of] prewar Japan”.
Power Lines: Maps That Shaped the Way We See the World. “A collection of the greatest political maps in history and how these images have an unmatched power to influence our thinking — and our world.”
“Serena Williams has announced her sensational return to professional tennis at 44 years old next week at the Queen’s Club in London.” Yessss.
Legendary film editor Marcia Lucas died last week. Lucas edited Star Wars (won an Oscar for it), Taxi Driver, Return of the Jedi, and American Graffiti. It was Marcia that suggested to George Lucas that Darth Vader kill Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Roost is a messaging app where messages aren’t instant; they travel between users at the speed of whichever bird they use to send it. Note sending is limited by the # of birds in your rookery…if they’re all out, you have to wait until one returns.
Slow blogging day today; I spent some time on the KDO undercarriage and a new little members-only feature for the Rolodex: a simple list of links to the latest posts from Rolodex sites. (Click on “Latest Posts”; like I said, it’s a wee feed reader.)
Pope Releases Encyclical On Perils Of Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Strategy. “I fear for what horrors the fan base might soon endure, but I would be negligent not to give Andor its flowers.”
Radiohead’s OK Computer reimagined as Nintendo 64 songs, featuring reworked sounds from Mario Kart, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye 007, and more.
