Kottke.org Posts and Links for Aug 30, 2024
Hi, Jason here. This newsletter is a digest of posts and links from kottke.org, published every Tuesday and Friday. It's not absolutely everything from the site, but it's durn close. Unsubscribing is easy if you'd like to get off this ride. As always, you can read kottke.org on the web, via RSS, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, and in several other ways. Ok, onto the links!
The Secret Message Contained in One Million Checkboxes. "I hadn't been hacked. Someone was writing me a message in binary." (This is a great story.) [kottke.org]
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." [sfstandard.com]
Hey folks, I'm gonna be on vacation with my family for the rest of the week. Catch you back here next Tuesday! [kottke.org]
New Craig Mod book siren: Things Become Other Things: A Walking Memoir. Super interesting publishing process here: a self-published, limited-quantity, fine art edition w/ full-color photos, followed by an expanded mass market release. [kottke.org]
Edith Zimmerman: "My main thing is trying to figure out who I am again. And how to make myself happy." [thesmallbow.substack.com]
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. [404media.co]
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.) [tinyawards.net]
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! [publichealth.jhu.edu]
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..." [erinkissane.com]
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." [theguardian.com]
Here's my recap post of the 2024 XOXO Festival, written as a series of thank you notes. "XOXO is a singularly impactful gathering that's touched/changed/bettered too many lives to even count." [kottke.org]
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. [fieldnotesbrand.com]
Hoooooollllyyy shit! It's a brand new episode of Every Frame a Painting!! The first one in *eight years*. The seminal YouTube series returns with a video about the sustained two-shot. [kottke.org]
Love these visualizations of the current top 10 men's and women's chess players in the world. [observablehq.observablehq.cloud]
Can You Save One Species by Annoying Another? The short film Eco-Hack! documents "a conservation biologist’s novel strategy for rescuing the desert tortoise [from ravens, an invasive species]: booby traps". [kottke.org]
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). [thenewstack.io]
Adam Hale makes these fantastic brain-busting time- & perspective-slicing animations. [thedailysplice.com]
Mapping Cinematic Paths — meticulous & beautiful 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, Star Wars, Fargo, and Mad Max: Fury Road. [kottke.org]
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..." [amazon.com]
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?" [nytimes.com 🎁]
This is lovely: a drawing of the progression of shoes worn by each of illustrator Stephen Collins' three kids. "Some of them are so iconic in my mind they almost function as logos for my kids at different stages." [kottke.org]
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." [web.archive.org]
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. [amazon.com]
I love these beautiful and architecturally precise isometric cutaway drawings of Japanese bathhouses and cafes. [kottke.org]
Danny MacAskill and a bunch of pals get out on their bikes and do loads of different kinds of wheelies. (And makes a how-to video so you can learn how to wheelie too!) [kottke.org]
The life-changing magic of being in the groove. "Scientists have long known the mental and creative benefits of the flow state, in which total absorption in an activity banishes anxiety." [theguardian.com]
Engaging in a "third thing" (an activity two people do together) cna help people to connect more easily or be vulnerable with each other. "The soul, usually so shy, can speak more easily through this Third Thing, at a slant." [kottke.org]
A Logo on a Prosthesis Is Like a Tattoo You Didn't Ask For. "It made my arm seem like a product, rather than my body. The logo made it seem less a part of me, which invited others to treat it that way." [theatlantic.com 🎁]
Bulgarian beach bar sarcophagus turns out to be genuine Roman artefact. "Despite its historical value, photos on social media revealed that the sarcophagus was being used as a bar in a popular beach club for some time." [euronews.com]
Scientists have found liquid water on Mars, located in the planet's outer crust. "This is the first time liquid water has been found on the planet." [bbc.com]
👀 👋 🎉
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