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.
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Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the...
Iowa City Made Its Buses Free. Traffic Cleared, and So Did the Air. “The transit system is one of the greatest tools communities have to combat climate change and reduce emission. You can make a pretty immediate impact.”
“Geothermal is underdeveloped, and its upfront costs can be high, but it’s...
“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.
Rainy Day Jazz Vinyl Set. “Plenty of ballads, blues and heart-warming songs...
Rainy Day Jazz Vinyl Set. “Plenty of ballads, blues and heart-warming songs from Jazz artists across the ages for a cold, and rainy Sunday afternoon.”
Can You Drive West to Lengthen the Sunset?
Two reasons why XKCD’s What If? series is so compelling:
- Even when an answer seems straightforward, the devil is in the details.
- And with respect to the details, Munroe does his due diligence.
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...
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...
Fantastic and useful little design touch on this website that sells lighting (toggle the switch in the upper right corner).
The Saudification of America Is Under Way. “Jamal Khashoggi’s plight and murder...
The Saudification of America Is Under Way. “Jamal Khashoggi’s plight and murder was a warning sign for the US, of the impending loss of freedom and censorship that would sweep the country.”
Making Dark Chocolate Hilarious
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
Edward O. Wilson in 2009: “The real problem of humanity is the...
Edward O. Wilson in 2009: “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.”
The Strange Afterlife of Hilma af Klint, Painting’s Posthumous Star. “As af...
The Strange Afterlife of Hilma af Klint, Painting’s Posthumous Star. “As af Klint’s fame has grown, so have the questions — about what she believed, whom she worked with, and who should be allowed to speak in her name.”
The Fascinating History of Tarot Card Decks: From the Renaissance to the...
The Fascinating History of Tarot Card Decks: From the Renaissance to the Modern Day. The V&A does an unboxing of a half dozen tarot card decks from the last 500 years.
Mary Beard: Hollywood Lied to You About Ancient Rome. Here’s the Truth.
In an interview lasting for more than an hour, classicist Mary Beard shares her knowledge & experience about how the picture of Rome we might have in our heads, inherited from Hollywood movies like Gladiator, is incomplete (and just plain wrong in some cases) and what ...
Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication. “City-dwelling raccoons seem to be...
Raccoons Are Showing Early Signs of Domestication. “City-dwelling raccoons seem to be evolving a shorter snout — a telltale feature of our pets and other domesticated animals.”
Magnetikpunk: Playing Vintage Reel-to-Reel Tapes as Musical Instruments
A Japanese experimental music group called Open Reel Ensemble plays reel-to-reel tape recorders from the 70s & 80s as musical instruments (give it a sec to get going):
Brilliant! A YouTube commenter notes: “Very cool, looks like you’re fishing for sound waves.” Here’s...
The winners of the LIT Lighting Design Awards, encompassing the best work...
The winners of the LIT Lighting Design Awards, encompassing the best work in lighting architecture, product design (lamps, etc.), concerts, healthcare, streets, and many more categories.
A Beloved Clothing Store Closed. A Customer Bought All 4,500 Items. “Ms....
A Beloved Clothing Store Closed. A Customer Bought All 4,500 Items. “Ms. Szuflita said she had nearly broken even purely on the numbers. There’s also value in the still unfolding adventure.”
Football Stadium Turned Community Garden
As part of a city-wide urban greening program, Taipei turned an abandoned football stadium into a community garden. Here’s an overview of the terraced garden that’s taken over Zhongshan Soccer Stadium from James Stewart on Instagram. A couple of screenshots from the video:
So cool! (thx, alaina)
Tags: cities · Taiwan
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How Mira Nair Built the World That Made Zohran Mamdani. “Zohran has...
How Mira Nair Built the World That Made Zohran Mamdani. “Zohran has been marinated in love, not just from us, his parents, but from intergenerational family life. He’s so secure in knowing who he is.”
Stress Is an Ancient Superpower That Is Slowly Killing You
Stress in pre-modern times was a “biological superpower” that helped humans hunt for food and survive in harsh environments and situations. But our bodies can’t easily tell the difference between the stress of encountering a lion in the jungle and a worrying email from you...
How to Photograph an Active Volcano Without Getting Vaporized. “It’s dangerous and...
How to Photograph an Active Volcano Without Getting Vaporized. “It’s dangerous and completely mesmerizing. Everyone edges closer even though your brain’s screaming don’t. It’s pure moth-to-flame energy.”
Climate Change in America: Is It Too Late to Wake Up?
From Vann R. Newkirk II, a editor & journalist who hosts the Floodlines podcast (about Hurricane Katrina), a long piece about the climate chaos that’s taking hold in the US: What Climate Change Will Do to America by Mid-Century.
Over the next 30 years or so, the changes...
Clint Smith recently talked to students around the country about the “complexities...
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.”
Kevin Kelly shares some essential apps & services for independent travel in...
Kevin Kelly shares some essential apps & services for independent travel in China. “A good rule of thumb is to download your apps outside of China before you leave, because most are behind their great firewall.”
All the Cats, Explained
From MinuteEarth, a quick tour of all the different kinds of cats in the world, extinct, wild, and domesticated, and how they are related to each other. Some interesting facts I learned:
The saber-toothed tiger was the largest cat to ever live and researchers now believe...
They’re making a live-action Legend of Zelda movie?...
They’re making a live-action Legend of Zelda movie?
The Sagrada Família has become the tallest church in the world, after...
The Sagrada Família has become the tallest church in the world, after workers placed the first part of a cross at the top of its central tower. The Barcelona church will top 564 feet when the rest of the cross is placed in the next few months.
A digital atlas of the Roman Empire’s entire road network (180,000+ miles)....
A digital atlas of the Roman Empire’s entire road network (180,000+ miles). “The data creation is a collaborative ongoing project edited by a scholarly community.”
Skydiving the Sun
Skydiver & musician Gabriel Brown and astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy teamed up to capture these incredible photos of Brown transiting the Sun while skydiving. You can see a video of the jump and some behind the scenes calculations on Instagram.
We had to find th...
“A Personal Business is run by people who are truly into what...
“A Personal Business is run by people who are truly into what they are doing, and invested enough to offer products, services, and/or experiences that are both high-quality and idiosyncratic.”