I’d missed that Ray Nayler, author of the excellent The Mountain in the Sea, came out with a short novel earlier this year called The Tusks of Extinction. “Now, her digitized consciousness has been downloaded into the mind of a mammoth.”
kottke.org
Jason Kottke’s weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
- Not verified.
- No WebSub updates.
- ● Valid.
Generator: Movable Type 4.2
Is My Blue Your Blue? A visual perception test that judges what...
Is My Blue Your Blue? A visual perception test that judges what you call blue and green and compares it with others’ results. I am “bluer than 68% of the population.” Now do red/pink, red/orange, and blue/purple!
Colossal, one of my all-time favorite sites on these here interwebs, has...
Colossal, one of my all-time favorite sites on these here interwebs, has launched a spiffing new redesign. Go take a look.
Can AI Make Art?
Ted Chiang with a thought-provoking essay on Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art:
It is very easy to get ChatGPT to emit a series of words such as “I am happy to see you.” There are many things we don’t understand about how large language models work, but one thing we can be s...
What are we going to do with abundant, free, renewable energy? “[By...
What are we going to do with abundant, free, renewable energy? “[By 2030] solar power will be absolutely and reliably free during the sunny parts of the day for much of the year ‘pretty much everywhere.’”
The Secret Message Contained in One Million Checkboxes
In my XOXO post on Monday, I said that Nolen Royalty, the creator of One Million Checkboxes, had told “one of the wackiest internet nerd stories I’ve ever heard”. Well, Royalty has now put that story online, both in the form of a blog post and a YouTube video:
I panicked...
RIP to journalist, author, and huge Deadhead Steve Silberman. His wish when...
RIP to journalist, author, and huge Deadhead Steve Silberman. His wish when he died: “Just selfishly or selflessly use my own impermanence to WAKE UP to your own.”
Taking Some Time
Hey folks. I’m gonna be on vacation with my family for the rest of the week, so I won’t be posting here that much, if at all. September is going to be busy — kids back to school, Ollie applying to college, mtn biking — so I’m gonna recharge the ol’ batts at the beach.
Even though next month will be hectic, I’m looking forward to getting back to mucking about with the guts of the site after taking the summer off from that. I’ve got some rough ideas about improvements for the comments section, adding social features, and a few other things.
Catch you back here next Tuesday!
Tags: kottke.org
Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir
My pal Craig Mod has a book coming out in May 2025 called Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir. Here’s part of the synopsis:
Photographer and essayist Craig Mod is a veteran of long solo walks. But in 2021, during the pandemic shutdown of Japan’s borders, one part...
Edith Zimmerman: “My main thing is trying to figure out who I...
Edith Zimmerman: “My main thing is trying to figure out who I am again. And how to make myself happy.”
What We Learned In Our First Year of 404 Media. “We are...
What We Learned In Our First Year of 404 Media. “We are very proud and humbled to report that, because of your support, 404 Media is working. Our business is sustainable, we are happy, and we aren’t going anywhere.” Fantastic.
The TinyAwards have announced the winners of the 2024 competition: One Minute...
The TinyAwards have announced the winners of the 2024 competition: One Minute Park and One Million Checkboxes. (If you want to win next year, just name your project One Something Something.)
From the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, What to Know...
From the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, What to Know About the Updated COVID Vaccine for Fall, Winter 2024–25. The updated shots are available now at US pharmacies and soon at doctor’s offices. Go get ‘em!
An extensive report by Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi on how governance,...
An extensive report by Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi on how governance, moderation, and diplomacy works in the fediverse. “We think the fediverse’s structure can allow for particularly humane and high-context moderation…”
Oasis is reuniting after 16 years with a 14-stop tour of the...
Oasis is reuniting after 16 years with a 14-stop tour of the UK & Ireland in 2025. “The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised.”
Thanks, XOXO
I just got back from attending the XOXO Festival in Portland, OR. What a whirlwind few days — I talked to more people than I have in literally years. I feel grateful for the opportunity to attend and participate this year, so I wrote some thank yous.
Thanks to Craig Mod f...
The limited edition 2024 XOXO Field Notes are available to the public...
The limited edition 2024 XOXO Field Notes are available to the public for a very short time (limited supplies and all that). I know some of you collect…hop on it.
🚨 New Every Frame a Painting!! 🚨
I just got back from the XOXO Festival and one of things that happened was that Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou showed their new short film The Second and their first new Every Frame A Painting video essay in eight years!! And now the video essay is on YouTube:
It’s a quick one about the sustained two-shot, a type of shot that was used a lot in the olden days but still has its uses today — and gives actors room to actually act.
So happy to see Ramos and Zhou back at it. I’m not sure if I should even say this, but they indicated during their XOXO appearance that there will be more to come (in fewer than 8 years).
Here’s my post about them shuttering the channel and a few of my favorite videos of theirs.
Tags: film school · movies · Taylor Ramos · Tony Zhou · video
Love these visualizations of the current top 10 men’s and women’s chess...
Love these visualizations of the current top 10 men’s and women’s chess players in the world.
“Can You Save One Species by Annoying Another?”
Conservation biologist Tim Shields is trying to save the Mojave Desert’s desert tortoise population, which is under threat from ravens, an invasive species brought to the area by habitat-encroaching humans. Working with an engineer, he’s trying to train the ravens to leave...
In 1974, Saturday Review asked some of the world’s leading thinkers (Isaac...
In 1974, Saturday Review asked some of the world’s leading thinkers (Isaac Asimov, Jacques Cousteau, Andrei Sakharov, etc.) what the world of 2024 would look like. Here’s what they got right (internet) and wrong (factories on the Moon).
Adam Hale makes these fantastic brain-busting time- & perspective-slicing animations....
Adam Hale makes these fantastic brain-busting time- & perspective-slicing animations.
Mapping Cinematic Paths
Artist and illustrator Andrew DeGraff makes maps that show where the characters travel during movies — imagine Billy’s trail maps from Family Circus but for films like Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, Pulp Fiction, and Mad Max: Fury Road.
DeGraff collected these maps into a book called Cinemaps: An Atlas of 35 Great Movies.
Tags: Andrew DeGraff · books · Cinemaps · illustration · infoviz · maps · movies
💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Not sure why I didn’t know that Chris Ware has released two...
Not sure why I didn’t know that Chris Ware has released two volumes of sketchbooks, but the third one comes out this fall. “Ware finally succumbs to imaginary public pressure by concluding his tiresome experiment in reader trust…”
A travel reporter tests AI travel services with a trip to Norway....
A travel reporter tests AI travel services with a trip to Norway. “Can artificial intelligence devise a bucket-list vacation that checks all the boxes: culture, nature, hotels and transportation?”
Hand Drawn: Children’s Shoes, Given Away
This is lovely: illustrator & cartoonist Stephen Collins drew the progression of shoes worn by each of his three kids.
Back in 2020 we had to chuck the kids’ baby shoes out 😱, so I decided to keep the first ones and draw the rest, in order, starting with pre-walking socks.
When I look at photos of my kids from when they were younger, my eye is always drawn to their shoes and clothes — some of them are so iconic in my mind they almost function as logos for my kids at different stages.
Tags: art · fashion · parenting · shoes · Stephen Collins
On the genius design of Super Mario Bros’ World 1-1, which teaches...
On the genius design of Super Mario Bros’ World 1-1, which teaches players how the game works without needing a tutorial. “In order to pass this first little guardian, the player must learn that the A button makes Mario jump.”
Sacred Sites. “From Machu Picchu to the Louvre — the book journeys...
Sacred Sites. “From Machu Picchu to the Louvre — the book journeys through sacred sites in art and ancient history.” I’ve always loved places and architecture that feel awe-inspiring or numinous.
Isometric Drawings of Japanese Bathhouses and Cafes
I love these isometric cutaway drawings by Japanese illustrator & architect Enya Honami. From Spoon & Tamago:
Honami is a skilled draughtswoman by trade, having obtained an MFA in architecture and working at a well-known Japanese architecture firm. But the gr...
Danny MacAskill Does a Wheelie
As one of the top trials riders in the world, Danny MacAskill can certainly do a wheelie. In this fun video, he does wheelies all over the place, joined by a bunch of friends. The behind-the-scenes video is just as fun. And I watched the “how to do a wheelie” companion video with interest because I’ve never been able to do a wheelie on a bike for more than a couple of seconds and it’s probably time to learn — even though a manual would be more useful for mountain biking. (via the kid should see this)
Tags: biking · Danny MacAskill · how to · video