“You do not need the strongest powers of observation to see that crime is a pretext — and not the main reason — for the military occupation of Washington by federal agents and soldiers from the National Guard.”
Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
- Generator
- Movable Type 4.2
Refusing to Choose Is a Choice
I recently found this quote on social media and quite liked the sentiment:
You can say “all are welcome,” but if wolves and sheep are both welcome then you’re only going to get wolves. The smart sheep will go somewhere else and the naive sheep will be eaten and processed. ...
I’m sorry, what? Platypus locate prey through electro receptors in their bills...
I’m sorry, what? Platypus locate prey through electro receptors in their bills which detect “tiny electrical currents emitted from muscle contractions from their prey (like a heartbeat)”. Wow!
Joe Caroff, Who Gave James Bond His Signature 007 Logo, Dies at...
Joe Caroff, Who Gave James Bond His Signature 007 Logo, Dies at 103. He was paid $300 for the Bond logo.
Getting Back to Yourself
Writer & designer Frank Chimero took the summer off (“I quit my job at an opportune moment and called it a sabbatical”) and wrote a short post about the experience:
The summer is now mostly spent, and I am writing to say: not much has happened. I swept away the everyday...
Fun & simple little browser game: Dodge This. “Move to dodge the...
Fun & simple little browser game: Dodge This. “Move to dodge the bullets. How long can you survive?” My high score so far is 76.6 seconds.
The newly launched Eclipse Atlas website contains “over 2,000 historic and modern...
The newly launched Eclipse Atlas website contains “over 2,000 historic and modern eclipse maps dating from 1654 to the present” as well as maps & guides for future eclipses. (The 8/2/27 eclipse will last for 6m23s near Luxor in Egypt!)
The Covid Vaccine Situation for the Fall Is a Complete Mess
Dr. Katelyn Jetelina (aka Your Local Epidemiologist) has a frustrating update on how Covid vaccines are probably going to work this fall under the ideologically corrupt Trump regime.
The FDA is expected to license the Covid-19 vaccine. Word is that the label will be restri...
What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My...
What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom. “Was it still necessary or valuable to learn to write? […] At the end of the semester, they would decide by vote whether A.I. could replace me.”
The World Is Burning, But Want to Meet Up for Thirty-Four-Dollar Cocktails?...
The World Is Burning, But Want to Meet Up for Thirty-Four-Dollar Cocktails? “Nothing makes me want to drink a fancy aesthetic cocktail more than what’s happening right now.”
Teaser trailer for season two of Fallout. My son and I really...
Teaser trailer for season two of Fallout. My son and I really enjoyed s01.
Slow Start to the Week
Hey folks. I’m dropping my son off at college today1 so the site is going to be a little slow until I get back midweek. In the meantime, you can check out some of the great sites on the KDO Rolodex on the front page of the site (scroll down some), and I’ll see you back here sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday. 👋
- What?! I know! College already. I’m so excited for him but also just wondering how this happened so fast.↩
Tags: Jason Kottke · kottke.org
“Venus Williams is making history in her return to the U.S. Open...
“Venus Williams is making history in her return to the U.S. Open later this month as the oldest singles player to take the court in more than 40 years.” Go Venus!
Max Cooper, Repetition
This music video, directed by Kevin McGloughlin for Max Cooper’s song Repetition, features remixed fractal-like forms from the constructed world (roads, skyscrapers, wind turbines, etc.) interspersed with scenes from nature. Totally mesmerizing. (You’ve got a give it a minute to get going though, especially if you’re not a fan of gradual repetitive music. I was in a trance by the end. 😵💫)
Tags: Kevin McGloughlin · Max Cooper · mesmerizing · music · video
Kieran Healy recently became a US citizen. “I know the nationalities of...
Kieran Healy recently became a US citizen. “I know the nationalities of my fellow oath-takers because of the next stage of the ceremony. This was the Roll Call of Nations. I did not know this was going to happen.”
Building a Watch From Scratch in a Brooklyn Basement
Giles Clement tends to go a little overboard with his hobbies. During the pandemic, he taught himself to repair old watches and then decided to try building one himself. Taylor Scott Mason made a short documentary about Clement and his effort to build a watch from scratch in...
Michael Chabon on the time he tried to get hired to write...
Michael Chabon on the time he tried to get hired to write the script for a Fantastic Four movie (in 1995). “What are you doing here? I mean, you’re, like, a serious writer.”
Generous Media
In the latest issue of his monthly newsletter, Robin Sloan shared a quick reflection on why the Criterion closet interviews are so effective, entertaining, and worth participating in for celebrities (emphasis mine):
Let’s think about the format that is the Criterion clos...
From the inbox: “ldial is a website for listening to a curated...
From the inbox: “ldial is a website for listening to a curated list of community radio stations from across the US. I took efforts to make it super fast. To me, the random button feels like magic.”
“If you want to fight for what’s right in this moment, and...
“If you want to fight for what’s right in this moment, and forge politics that exist in opposition to what Trump represents, you must protect anyone chased by the fascists.”
Radiohead: Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009)
Radiohead dropped a surprise album yesterday, a live album of songs from Hail to the Thief. You can find the album on various streaming platforms, including Bandcamp, Spotify, and Apple Music. The band’s lead singer Thom Yorke says of the album:
In the process of thinkin...
“Competitive authoritarianism [can be seen as] a prevalent form of government throughout...
“Competitive authoritarianism [can be seen as] a prevalent form of government throughout American history — one which we have only tentatively started to move away from in recent decades.” Interesting historical context.
On the disorienting thrill & agony of picking up a new sport...
On the disorienting thrill & agony of picking up a new sport (or relearning an old one) in midlife. “Falling as an adult means calling friends and family to tell them ‘I had a fall.’”
The Red Onion Font
The latest post from The Pudding starts off about as good as possible to attract the likes of me: “This is a project about onions and math.” I mean, yes. I’m in. And I enjoyed the interactive article, Dicing an Onion the Mathematically Optimal Way, but the design was absolut...
The Colors of the World, Seen From the International Space Station. “Recent...
The Colors of the World, Seen From the International Space Station. “Recent photographs from crew members aboard the ISS show some spectacular views of auroras, moonsets, the Milky Way, and more, seen from from their vantage point in orbit.”
Silicon Doodles & Microchip Art
Back in the earlier days of microchips, the designers would sometimes add tiny images to the chips, for fun. From NPR:
Many of the doodles came from engineers who weren’t doing it for an audience.
“We did it for ourselves,” said Willy McAllister, a retired electrica...
Dictators love a crisis. “For reasons of both personality and political ambition,...
Dictators love a crisis. “For reasons of both personality and political ambition, Trump needs a crisis to govern — or rather, to rule. And if the actual conditions of reality will not give him a state of exception, he’ll create one himself.”
The Story of the Chinese Farmer
In a talk about Taoism called Swimming Headless, Alan Watts shared with his audience the parable of the Chinese farmer.
Once upon a time, there was a Chinese farmer who lost a horse. Ran away. And all the neighbors came ‘round that evening and said, “that’s too bad.”
An...
“Today, general officers no longer seem to see themselves as guardians of...
“Today, general officers no longer seem to see themselves as guardians of the constitutional order. It now seems clear to us that the military will not rescue Americans from Mr. Trump’s misuse of the nation’s military capabilities.”
The ‘What It’s Like To Be…’ podcast features interviews with people about...
The ‘What It’s Like To Be…’ podcast features interviews with people about their jobs (recently: a deli owner, a harbor pilot, a hospice nurse, and a brain surgeon). The host told me it’s “Studs Terkel meets Ted Lasso”.