I’ve been enjoying watching these livestreams of watering holes in the arid regions of Namibia. As I’m looking now, there appear to be some zebras and giraffes hanging out — previous sightings include hyenas, ostriches, cheetahs, wildebeest, oryx, and even honey badgers. You can find more cams and archived footage at @NamibiaCam.
Jason Kottke’s weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
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A disturbing report from ProPublica on the armed domestic terror cells that...
A disturbing report from ProPublica on the armed domestic terror cells that have flourished in the US since the Jan 6 assault on Congress. “The next election won’t be decided at a Ballot Box. It’ll be decided at the ammo box.”
James Milner, 38, starts record 23rd season in the Premier League. He’s...
James Milner, 38, starts record 23rd season in the Premier League. He’s seven years older than his current manager, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Fabian Hürzeler.
What’s Everyone Reading These Days?
I’ll start. I finished the superb Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham and Miranda July’s excellent All Fours within the last few weeks. I’m about halfway through Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. I could not finish Frankenstein — I was so excited and the book was so not my thing.
A friend recommended that I read North Woods by Daniel Mason next but I’ve also got my eye on There There by Tommy Orange and The Missing Thread by Daisy Dunn (which I posted about this morning). It’s just over a month until Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo drops…the excerpt piqued my already excited interest.
What’s everyone else reading these days? Or are looking forward to reading?
Tags: books
How Are Calories in Food Really Measured?
The Howtown crew explains how food manufacturers, the USDA, and food label services figure out how many calories are in the foods we eat. Spoiler: it’s not just a matter of burning food to see how much energy is produced — different nutrients are absorbed more or less efficiently by the body so you need to measure the output and compare it to the input.
And don’t forget to check the comments for Joss Fong’s banana oat blobs.
Ace drone video by Turkish photographer İbrahim Şimşek. “The wheat is laid...
Ace drone video by Turkish photographer İbrahim Şimşek. “The wheat is laid out in the sun to dry before being grounded in the mill to make bulgur.”
Artificial General Intelligence Might Be Humanity’s Last Invention
Humans are the first and, to our knowledge, only entities on Earth to develop general intelligence, which has allowed us to dominate and alter the planet in a way and at a speed that no other entity has managed. Now, some people are working towards building an artificial g...
A website for taking selfies using NYC traffic cameras. “People can then...
A website for taking selfies using NYC traffic cameras. “People can then use the traffic camera like a photo booth by posing for three seconds and tapping on the screen. The webpage will then show the most recent image from the traffic camera.”
Jamelle Bouie: “If Democrats win control of Washington in November, they should...
Jamelle Bouie: “If Democrats win control of Washington in November, they should make reforming our democracy a priority” because the Republicans’ “ability to win power without winning votes is a powerful disincentive to change” their extremist ways.
Hopefulness Is the Warrior Emotion
The musician Nick Cave was on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier this week (full interview) and he read a letter from his Red Hand Files, an AMA project where fans write in with questions and he answers them. The question was:
Following the last few years I’m feel...
Not a joke: The Onion is bringing back its monthly print newspaper....
Not a joke: The Onion is bringing back its monthly print newspaper. It’s $60/yr for the print subscription.
Time’s 2024 Kid of the Year
I’d missed that Time magazine is naming a “Kid of the Year” now and this year’s recipient is 15-year-old scientist Heman Bekele, who has developed a soap that could treat and even prevent skin cancer.
A few years ago, he read about imiquimod, a drug that, among other use...
Saw this in the bookstore yesterday: The Missing Thread: A Women’s History...
Saw this in the bookstore yesterday: The Missing Thread: A Women’s History of the Ancient World. It looks great — the nonfiction equivalent of fiction like Circe and A Thousand Ships that centers women in ancient mythology.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Kind of Bloop: An 8-Bit Tribute...
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Kind of Bloop: An 8-Bit Tribute to Miles Davis, it’s being released on vinyl. “A full circle moment to honor the weird little chiptune album that changed my life for the better.”
The Intense Process of Designing Political Campaign Logos
Jonathan Hoefler, who worked on logos for both Obama and Biden, shares how intense the process is for developing political campaign logos, the quick work that the Harris/Walz campaign did over a matter of weeks & days, and the tweaking that continues as time allows.
...
Omer Bartov: “As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I...
Omer Bartov: “As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed by my recent visit to Israel.”
Time Lapse Drone Video “Climbing” to the Top of Mt. Everest
This 4K drone video from @liulangCooki takes us on a journey from the base camp at 17,400 feet all the way to the summit of Mount Everest. Along the way, you can see tiny little people hiking up and the paths they take. Very cool.
Tags: Mount Everest · time lapse · video
Is Ben scrolling TikTok right now? “This site reveals, in real-time, whether...
Is Ben scrolling TikTok right now? “This site reveals, in real-time, whether I — artist and professor Ben Grosser — am currently scrolling TikTok. Think of it as a last-ditch effort, a sort of public confessional as therapeutic tool…”
A number of NYC restaurant wine buyers explain how they price bottles...
A number of NYC restaurant wine buyers explain how they price bottles of wine on their wine list. “I generally stick with the norm as far as markups go: 3x to 3.5x.”
“When Google increased paid maternity leave to 18 from 12 weeks in...
“When Google increased paid maternity leave to 18 from 12 weeks in 2007, the rate at which new moms left the company fell by 50%.” Paid leave, universal healthcare, and related programs would be such a boon to workers & the economy.
The World’s Fastest Puzzle Solver (It’s a Robot)
Mark Rober built a robot that solves jigsaw puzzles and pitted it against Tammy McLeod, one of the world’s faster human solvers. The design and build process is fascinating, especially the fine-tuning enabling the robot to “wiggle” each piece into its place.
When we firs...
Recent CDC report: “Among children born during 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will...
Recent CDC report: “Among children born during 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will have prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths…”
Fever Feels Horrible, But Is Actually Helpful
Kurzgesagt explores what happens when a virus or bacteria enters a human body and the essential role fever plays in helping your body fight off disease.
Fever feels bad. So we take medication to suppress it — but is this a good idea? It turns out fever is one of the oldest defenses against disease. What exactly is a fever, and how does it make your immune defense stronger? Should you take a pill to combat it?
We often mistake fever for the disease…it’s actually part of the cure. When my kids were young, I vividly remember our laissez-faire French pediatrician urging us not to give them medication to get rid of their fevers because that was the body fighting back and doing useful work — unless their temps got too high of course.
Tags: Kurzgesagt · medicine · science · video
Lethonomia “refers to the inability to recall someone’s name”. I can never...
Lethonomia “refers to the inability to recall someone’s name”. I can never remember the name of the actor who plays Frodo in LOTR or Spider-Man from Sam Raimi’s movies.
August 1st was Earth Overshoot Day for 2024. “In the past 7...
August 1st was Earth Overshoot Day for 2024. “In the past 7 months, we’ve used everything our planet can regenerate this year. For the rest of the year, we’ll deplete our children’s future.” We’re using the resources of 1.75 Earths per year.
Science and Our Personal Bodily Freedoms
This piece by Lydia Polgreen on The Strange Report Fueling the War on Trans Kids is so good — straightforward and informative, especially when compared to the incoherent nonsense that the NY Times has run about trans people over the past few years. The piece is about, in Pol...
A pilot program in Copenhagen was designed to encourage tourists “to act...
A pilot program in Copenhagen was designed to encourage tourists “to act a bit more responsibly and think about their impact on the environment” during visits. Visitors got free lunch for urban farm work or free kayak rental for trash cleanup.
Researchers have developed a “smart insulin” that can adapt to blood sugar...
Researchers have developed a “smart insulin” that can adapt to blood sugar levels automagically. “People with type 1 diabetes may in future only need to give themselves insulin once a week.”
Race Is a Fiction, Racism Is Real
No surprise that Jamelle Bouie’s short videos are as interesting and informative as his NY Times columns. In a recent TikTok video (mirrored on Instagram), Bouie recommended a book called Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life by sociologist Karen Fields and hi...
This nasal vaccine that “prevents COVID from spreading” sounds promising. I haven’t...
This nasal vaccine that “prevents COVID from spreading” sounds promising. I haven’t seen any other reporting on this so who knows, but I hope someone cracks the code on this soon.