Jason Kottke’s weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
Museums should be free, but if they can’t be free, they should be free for kids, so good job anonymous MAM donor. The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) will now be free for kids age 12 and under through an anonymous gift of $3.54 million.
Wow, look at this video of wild skating — a thin layer of water on the ice makes for an unbelievable visual effect. It’s like skating on a mirror.
I’m sorry, but if you need to fact-check an interview with your Person of the Year to this degree, maybe you should have picked someone who is not a liar and a con man.
I missed this back in August: the excellent Art of the Title site is on hiatus due to lack of funds (in part due to a skyrocketing Vimeo bill). Join me in supporting them? And can anyone at Vimeo help w/ their video hosting?
“The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought.” A new analysis of Voyager 2 data suggests a powerful solar storm distorted the previous analysis.
Recently found: a message in a bottle at an archaeological dig left there in 1825 by an archaeologist. “It was an absolutely magic moment. We knew there had been excavations here in the past, but to find this message from 200 years ago…”
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has released a pair of visualizations of the phases the Moon will go through in 2025, one for the northern hemisphere above and one for the southern hemisphere below:
Look at that sucker wobble! Each frame of the 4K video represents one hour and there are lots of locations labeled on the map, including the landing sites of the Apollo missions.
But also: How have I never noticed that the Moon is upside-down in the southern hemisphere?! I mean, it makes total sense but I’ve just never noticed or thought it through. 🤯 (via the kid should see this)
If you haven’t had the pleasure, you should double back and read the comments on this post from readers who have noticed things everyone else hasn’t. Not surprised to have gathered a community of extreme noticers.
A very simple little browser game: open the microwave door as close to the timer hitting 0:00 as you can without the bell dinging. (My best: 9500.)
“ProPublica’s Claim File Helper lets you customize a letter requesting the notes and documents your insurer used when deciding to deny you coverage.” Greatest nation in the world, etc.
Sally Rooney: When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis? Multinational corporations are destroying Earth for profit. If we want real change, we have to be willing to threaten those profits.