Gina Trapani on how she thinks about and uses AI as a former full-time software engineer. “It’s remarkable and so very bad at the same time.”
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I’m visiting Kyoto soon, so I reread Lauren Groff’s piece about The...
I’m visiting Kyoto soon, so I reread Lauren Groff’s piece about The Tale of Genji: A Tale of Sex and Intrigue in Imperial Kyoto. “I believe that places, like people, hold memory, and when place memory announces itself, it does so through the body.”
The Jacket Potato Jacket. “Supermarket chain Aldi has teamed up with London...
The Jacket Potato Jacket. “Supermarket chain Aldi has teamed up with London fashion brand Agro Studio to create a puffer coat that resembles a giant baked potato.”
Bear Breaks Into California Zoo to Mingle With Other Bears. “A bear...
Bear Breaks Into California Zoo to Mingle With Other Bears. “A bear came in from the wild, introduced itself to the zoo’s bears and played with their toys, before being shown the exit.”
A Reminder that Protected Bike Lanes Can Make Streets Safer for Everyone....
A Reminder that Protected Bike Lanes Can Make Streets Safer for Everyone. “A 2019 study spanning thirteen years in twelve cities found that protected bike lanes dramatically reduced fatalities for all road users on the streets that added them.”
The ‘Anti-Woke’ Tax That All Americans Are Paying. “Tariffs are the most...
The ‘Anti-Woke’ Tax That All Americans Are Paying. “Tariffs are the most obvious example” but also food prices rising due to the immigrant crackdown, rising energy prices bc of the regime’s anti-solar bias. And the tax is flowing into corporate coffers.
New essay collection from classist Emily Wilson: Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea. “From...
New essay collection from classist Emily Wilson: Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea. “From Athenian comedy and Rome’s love of Greek culture to Han Kang’s novels, Cardi B’s lyrics and the discoveries she made whilst translating Homer…”
Ethan Hawke Breaks Down His Career
Listening to Ethan Hawke talk about his career for 30 minutes is a treat. He starts with Explorers (which I loved as a kid) and continues with Dead Poets Society, Before Sunrise, Boyhood, and First Reformed. Good Lord Bird is on the list as well…I’m making my way through the book right now and I’ll be eager to check out the miniseries after I’m finished.
I wish they would have included Gattaca but you have to stop somewhere otherwise the dang thing’s gonna be an hour long.
Tags: Ethan Hawke · film school · movies · video
Hitler, Stalin, Freud, Trotsky, and Franz Joseph all lived within a radius...
Hitler, Stalin, Freud, Trotsky, and Franz Joseph all lived within a radius of a few km in Vienna in 1913-14. “Stalin could have, with real probability, walked past a homeless Hitler trying to sell his mediocre watercolor paintings on the street…”
The Neurodivergent Genius Who Invented Formula 1 For Marbles. “This is the...
The Neurodivergent Genius Who Invented Formula 1 For Marbles. “This is the story of how one creator on the autism spectrum redefined online sports through marbles, community, and viral spectacle.”
Playing Boards of Canada on a DEC PDP-1 from 1959
This is so so cool and an arrow-splitting bullseye in the middle of my wheelhouse: a short Boards of Canada tune played on a DEC PDP-1, one of the most significant machines in the history of computing.
Here’s a description of what’s going on, courtesy of @dryad.technology...
The Sordid Mystery of a Somalian Meteorite Smuggled into China. “The journey...
The Sordid Mystery of a Somalian Meteorite Smuggled into China. “The journey of the ninth-largest meteorite in the world involves lies, smuggling and possibly death.”
Ira Glass’s Subway Take is genuinely shocking: “Every podcast is better at...
Ira Glass’s Subway Take is genuinely shocking: “Every podcast is better at 2.0 speed!”
Come See Me in the Good Light
It’s not often that a movie trailer makes you cry — but this one might.1
Come See Me in the Good Light is a documentary film about poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley facing a cancer diagnosis that took Gibson’s life earlier this year.
This is the beginning of a nightma...
Inside NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain Combat Center (c. 1966)
Flashbak has a collection of photos that offer an inside look at NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain Combat Center as it looked in the mid-60s.
These display screens would display signs of air attack against Canada and the United States. By pushing buttons, the NORAD battle staff members can take an electronic look at the tracks of space satellites or aircraft, which are chartered on the display by computers. This is the nerve center which would give the first warning of attack, and the command post from which NORAD battle commanders would direct the defensive air battle.
(thx, joseph)
Tags: Cold War
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Phil Gyford, writing about when he first got online in 1995: My...
Phil Gyford, writing about when he first got online in 1995: My First Months in Cyberspace. “It was a miracle and it changed my life. All of our lives.”
Sumo Tourists in London
I’m totally charmed by these snaps of some of the best sumo wrestlers in the world touring London.
The athletes were in London for a 5-day event at the Royal Albert Hall.
London’s Victorian concert venue has been utterly transformed, complete with six-tonne Japa...
Anil Dash on The Majority AI View. “Stop being so goddamn creepy...
Anil Dash on The Majority AI View. “Stop being so goddamn creepy and weird about the technology! It’s just tech, everything doesn’t have to become some weird religion that you beat people over the head with, or gamble the entire stock market on.”
Nengiren’s Embroidered Little Woman
How cool are these embroidered Nona Kecil (“little woman”) figures by Indonesian artist Irene Saputra, aka Nengiren. She explained to Colossal what the figures signify:
Nona Kecil’s evolution mirrors my own journey as an artist. Initially, she adorned simple OOTDs with muted colors and straightforward patterns. However, the turning point occurred three years ago when I embraced motherhood. Balancing time between my son and art intensified my experimentation, leading Nona Kecil to explore more expressive and elaborate outfits.
(via @antichrista)
Tags: art · embroidery · Nengiren
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I’d never heard of this before: tearoom ambient, a style of music...
I’d never heard of this before: tearoom ambient, a style of music that arose in post-revolution Czechoslovakia, influenced by new age, ambient, and minimalism music newly imported from the west.
Apple TV to air F1 races in the US for the next...
Apple TV to air F1 races in the US for the next 5 years. This is interesting: “Select races and all practice sessions will also be available for free in the Apple TV app.”
Photos of the No Kings protests & rallies that happened in big...
Photos of the No Kings protests & rallies that happened in big cities and small towns all across America this weekend.
Kara Walker Creates Haunted Beast From Butchered Confederate Statue
This is incredible: artist Kara Walker took a statue of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson that had stood in Charlottesville, Virginia until 2021, chopped it up, and reconstituted it into a disfigured beast. It’s part of an exhibition of several such works called Monu...
Consumer Reports: Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead. “More...
Consumer Reports: Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead. “More than two-thirds of [tested products] contain more lead in a single serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day.”
More than 170 *US citizens* have been detained and held (and “dragged,...
More than 170 *US citizens* have been detained and held (and “dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot”) by immigration agents this year. “Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer.”
Every Televised and Filmed Joy Division Performance
One hour and twenty-five minutes. That’s apparently all of the footage that exists of Joy Division playing their music on TV and in concert. Open Culture’s Colin Marshall writes:
Brian Eno once said of the Velvet Underground that their first album sold only 30,000 copie...
John Casey, the owner of one of the last rubber stamp stores...
John Casey, the owner of one of the last rubber stamp stores in NYC, shows how he makes stamps by hand. This short video is from a few years ago; the shop is still open.
Real Photos That Look Fake
I’ve seen a bunch of these before, but it’s cool to scroll and get your tiny mind blown over and over again. Human cognition and perception is such a trip. (via neatorama)
Tags: optical illusions · photography
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The Making of a Perfect Martini
Artist Guy Buffet has painted a number of different variations of his depiction of how to make various drinks (martini, margarita, Manhattan) but I like this version the best. (thx, ollie)
Tags: art · cocktails · food · Guy Buffet
Go Computer Now! – The Story of Sphere Computers. “If things had...
Go Computer Now! – The Story of Sphere Computers. “If things had gone a little differently for them, we might be remembering Sphere the way people have fond memories of the Commodore 64 and Apple II.” Wow, I’ve never heard of Sphere.