From Ryan Broderick’s comments on the state of text based social media, a new life goal for me: “One day you’ll be the last person writing words on the web and wonder where everyone went.”
kottke.org
Jason Kottke’s weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
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Mass Deportations, a Culture of Denunciation, and an Altered America
Historian Timothy Snyder (On Tyranny), who studies forced population movements, thinks we aren’t taking the Trump/Vance deportation plans seriously enough. (I agree.) The effects will be familiar to anyone who has read anything about totalitarian regimes and/or caste-based s...
The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway. 100%....
The Very Real Scenario Where Trump Loses and Takes Power Anyway. 100%. My feeling is that it’s been months since his campaign was about winning the election — they’re focused on the coup endgame.
Stunt City
This TV ad is from 2006 but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. It’s so good though…no reason a deodorant commercial has to go this hard!
Tags: advertising · video
My 17-year-old took this Street Survival driving skills course this weekend and...
My 17-year-old took this Street Survival driving skills course this weekend and I recommend it! They learn how to handle their own car, how it feels to stop fast, corner fast, etc. You can see the kids level up their driving throughout the day.
Free Rothko
From French street artist OakOak, a reminder that art is everywhere and that art comes from everywhere. From their website and Instagram, here are a few more pieces that caught my eye:
And ha, I just noticed this one, a riff on Hokusai’s The Great Wave.
Tags: art · Mark Rothko · OakOak · remix
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A new concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Eisa Davis is a...
A new concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Eisa Davis is a musical based on the 1979 movie The Warriors and “sung by a cast that includes everyone from artists like Lauryn Hill, Nas, Ghostface Killah and Billy Porter to Broadway stars Phillipa Soo…”
The Secretive Dynasty That Controls the Boar’s Head Brand. Somehow, not even...
The Secretive Dynasty That Controls the Boar’s Head Brand. Somehow, not even the CFO seems to know who the CEO of Boar’s Head is. Wild. “Be forewarned: There are a lot of Bobs and Franks in this story.”
A program that pays farmers to flood their fields to create “pop-up...
A program that pays farmers to flood their fields to create “pop-up wetland habitats” as way-stations for migratory birds is a “rare conservation win”.
Walt Whitman: “I am large, I contain multitudes.” Marissa Mayer: “I Am...
Walt Whitman: “I am large, I contain multitudes.” Marissa Mayer: “I Am Not a Feminist. I Am Not Neurodivergent. I Am a Software Girl.”
Early 90s SNL Graphic Parodies
Marlene Weisman was a graphic designer for Saturday Night Live from 1988–1994, which is the sweet spot of when I was really into the show. So this interview with Weisman by Steven Heller is right up my alley.
I did have a close working relationship with Mike Myers, w...
Al Green’s cover of The Beatles’ I Want to Hold Your Hand....
Foursquare is shutting down their city guide app and website. Sad but...
Foursquare is shutting down their city guide app and website. Sad but I hope this is true: “Foursquare is focused on building even better experiences for you in Swarm.” (I love Swarm and use it every day still.)
Strolls with stops use more energy than continuous walking, scientists show. “Researchers...
Strolls with stops use more energy than continuous walking, scientists show. “Researchers show more energy needed to get going than later in walks when body is working more efficiently.” 20-60% more oxygen use in bursty tests of stair-climbing.
Polostan: Volume One of Bomb Light: A Riveting Historical Epic of International...
Polostan: Volume One of Bomb Light: A Riveting Historical Epic of International Espionage, Intrigue, and the Dawn of the Atomic Age. I haven’t read every Neal Stephenson book, but I’ve loved those I have (incl. Seveneves).
Artfully Arranged Junkyard Objects
In a continuation and tweak of his Coletivos project (which I posted about previously), Cássio Vasconcellos took aerial photos of scrapyards and arranged the junked cars, planes, trains, and other objects into dense photographic collages.
OVER presents a scenario that seems to point to a dystopian future, but which, in fact, brings together fragments of the present. The exaggerated agglomeration denounces the misleading idea of “disposal”, given that objects do not cease to exist in the world when we throw them away. Rather, they inhabit other places.
This video shows the artist’s process, from hanging out the side of a helicopter to arranging all the items in Photoshop.
Tags: art · Cassio Vasconcellos · photography · remix
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Is It Perimenopause or the Fascist Death Knell of Late-Stage Capitalism? “Is...
Is It Perimenopause or the Fascist Death Knell of Late-Stage Capitalism? “Is my hair thinning, or am I ripping it out because a thirty-four-time convicted, sexually abusive steak salesman with a Hannibal Lecter fetish is five points ahead in Arizona?”
Loving that the FTC has adopted a click-to-cancel rule. “Under the rule,...
Loving that the FTC has adopted a click-to-cancel rule. “Under the rule, businesses can’t force customers to cancel a subscription using a method different from how they signed up.” So if you sign up online, they can’t force you to call to cancel. 🙌
Redbox went bankrupt and abandoned their DVD lending machines. Tinkerers have hacked...
Redbox went bankrupt and abandoned their DVD lending machines. Tinkerers have hacked the OS, procured machines from the likes of Walgreens, and hauled them home to repurpose or to get at the sweet, sweet fruit within (aka the DVDs).
The Biden administration has cancelled $175 billion in student debt for almost...
The Biden administration has cancelled $175 billion in student debt for almost 5 million people since Jan 2021. Could have done much more than that if not for Republicans suing to keep people in debt.
This mashup of Y.M.C.A. by the Village People and a track from...
This mashup of Y.M.C.A. by the Village People and a track from Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack should not work as well as it does. “Young man, young man” (plaintive).
A Weird Form of Dark Energy Might Solve a Cosmic Conundrum. “Estimates...
A Weird Form of Dark Energy Might Solve a Cosmic Conundrum. “Estimates of how fast the universe is expanding disagree. Could a new form of dark energy resolve the problem?” (Written by two experts on dark energy.)
How Cranberries Are Harvested
This video seems like it was made specifically for kottke.org. In the first half of it, you learn how cranberries are harvested. In the second half, there’s gorgeous HD slo-mo footage of wakeskating through a cranberry bog.
And with a Tycho soundtrack no less…it’s all too perfect. (via ★interesting)
[This is a vintage post originally from Sep 2013.]
Tags: food · how to · slow motion · sports · timeless posts · video
Supreme Court Rules 6-3 To Open Evil Tomb Of Batibat. “Contemporaneous accounts...
Supreme Court Rules 6-3 To Open Evil Tomb Of Batibat. “Contemporaneous accounts provide no evidence the Founding Fathers envisioned a role for the federal government in vanquishing this unholy entity from the face of the earth.”
Ok, this is a genuinely shocking thing to hear: “There is a...
Ok, this is a genuinely shocking thing to hear: “There is a new species of shark or shark relative (skate, ray, or chimera) discovered approximately every two weeks.” —shark expert David Shiffman
The Binary Game tests you on quickly converting numbers from binary to...
The Binary Game tests you on quickly converting numbers from binary to decimal and from decimal to binary, from 0 (00000000) to 255 (11111111). “Before long you’ll be doing these conversions in your head.” My son turned me onto this — it’s fun!
“New research documents accelerating plant growth on the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby...
“New research documents accelerating plant growth on the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby islands.” 8000 sq ft of vegetation 40 years ago has grown into 4.6 sq miles.
Ravioli and Other Ravioli-Shaped Objects
From XKCD: Ravioli-Shaped Objects. See also The Cube Rule of Food, the Grand Unified Theory of Food Identification.
Ooh, a Color Kindle Is Finally Here
I think this counts as a FINALLY! Amazon is coming out with a full-color e-reader called the Kindle Colorsoft. You can pre-order it now for $280 and it ships on October 30. This will be great for comics, graphic novels, and books with art & photography. I am a committe...
A Bonkers Japanese Skateboarding Show
Kasso is a Japanese game show that’s like a skateboarding version of Ninja Warrior. A group of skaters is challenged to navigate a series of obstacle courses that require the street and park skating skills. Some of the obstacles are truly diabolical — to get the gist, check out these videos:
You can catch more of Kasso on their YouTube channel. (via @mathowie)
Tags: Kasso · skateboarding · sports · TV · video