Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
Goro Obata went to the woods because he wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if he could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when he came to die, discover that he had not lived.
In the mountains of Hokkaido, Goro Obata traded city rules for freedom, backcountry skiing, fly fishing — and a café that sometimes closes on sunny days. Watch his story of choosing lifestyle over convention, and discover what “Higashikawa style” really means.
Obata in the video (bold mine):
From then I thought, life is fast. Death comes so easily. If I just drift, in no time I’ll be an old man. I want to build a fun lifestyle. That’s what I thought. I want to build it.
(With apologies to Henry David Thoreau.)
Tags: Goro Obata · Henry David Thoreau · video
NASA’s Perseverance rover scooped up a rock that might prove there was life on Mars. But the planned return of that sample to Earth is endangered by the Trump regime.
“Geothermal is underdeveloped, and its upfront costs can be high, but it’s always on and, once it’s set up, it is cheap and enduring.” Why the Time Has Finally Come for Geothermal Energy.
Two reasons why XKCD’s What If? series is so compelling:
In this case, the answer to “what’s the longest possible sunset you can experience while driving, assuming you’re obeying the speed limit and driving on paved roads?” was fairly surprising and exact and the explanation delightful.
Btw, the ending of the video is a callback to an early XKCD comic about angular momentum.
CDC officials confirm that the US is two months away from measles being considered endemic for the first time since 2000. “Elimination status is lost if the virus spreads continuously for 12 months.”
Fantastic and useful little design touch on this website that sells lighting (toggle the switch in the upper right corner).
Dark chocolate is very serious business. That’s why this ad for Bournville dark chocolate, which takes aim at dark chocolate snobbery, is so funny.
This one is so intense. It comes with a list of side effects.
Mine comes with a therapist.
To the uneducated palette, this tastes like burnt tire.
This one captures bitterness, astringency, and resentfulness. The taste is so grown up.
Oh, mine’s massively grown up.
This is only available under the counter of a pet store with no address.
This sugar was used by the Aztecs as currency.
Some believe this one’s haunted.
Mine’s flammable.
Tags: advertising · Bournville · chocolate · food · video
Clint Smith recently talked to students around the country about the “complexities and contradictions” of US history (including slavery) and found they were receptive to it. “Doesn’t seem that hard. Just say both things.”
They’re making a live-action Legend of Zelda movie?