Last night at dinner, we were talking about our favorite vegetables1 and when my daughter said tomatoes might be her pi
Rembrandtness and the Art of Art Authentication
Russell Shorto has a piece in this weekend’s NY Times Magazine about two previously undiscovered Rembrandt paintings, t
Our World Is Built for Men
In her new book, Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez argues that the data tha
Freddie Mercury’s Vocal Doppelganger
Whatever your opinion of the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody,1 you gotta admit the music was pretty great. Aft
A Camera Lens Made from an Iceberg
Mathieu Stern had an idea. He thought that if you could sculpt a piece of ultra-clear ice into the correct shape, it wo
How the KGB Weaponized Fake News (and How It’s Still Hurting Us Today)
The US government created HIV. The CIA killed Kennedy. The KGB deliberately spread disinformation designed to hurt the
What’s the Weather Like on Mars Right Now?
Now that the InSight lander is up and running on Mars, NASA is using the probe’s weather instrumentation to provide a d
A Mega-Trailer for the Whole 10-Film Star Wars Franchise
In 2012, actor and budding film editor Topher Grace took all three Star Wars prequels and condensed them into an 85-mi
Movie Color Palettes
A site called The Colors of Motion makes single image timelines of the use of colors in movies. They sample frames at r
Wind Speeds Hit 171 MPH Atop Mount Washington Yesterday
As you can see on the US wind map, it’s been blustery in New England for the past couple of days. Yesterday the observa
This Celebrity Name Spelling Test
Last month, I wrote about Colin Morris’ flow diagrams that show how people most frequently misspell difficult words. Th
Flat-Earther Proves in Simple Experiment that the Earth Is Round
Behind the Curve, now available on Netflix, is a 2018 documentary about the global community of people who believe that
Where the $&%@# Did Grawlixes Come From?
A grawlix is a string of typographic characters that represent obscene language, often found in comics. In this video P
Earth’s Atmosphere Stretches Out Past the Moon
A recent analysis of data collected by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory shows that the Earth’s atmosphe
Cheap TVs and Exorbitant Education, Modern America in One Chart
Economist Mark Perry has updated for 2018 his chart of price changes of selected goods over the past two decades.
This
The Life-Changing Magic of the $15 Minimum Wage
For the NY Times, Matthew Desmond writes about how raising the minimum wage makes a huge difference in people’s lives.
Your Favorite Makeup Tip Was Probably Invented By A Drag Queen
I missed this essay when it came out in December, but I’m reading it now, after Lauren M. Jackson (congratulations on
The Best Thing Ever Written About Politics and Art
Tomorrow, February 23, is William Edward Burghardt Du Bois’s birthday. Du Bois was born in 1868 and died in 1963. In f
The Best Movie Soundtracks Ever
Pitchfork, the once-insurgent, now-venerable music site known for provoking endless debates with its “Best Of” lists,
A Japanese Illustrated History of the United States from 1861
With the 1853 arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry on the shores of Japan, the isolationist country was introduced to t
Trailer for Fleabag Season Two
After a nearly three-year wait, the second season of the excellent Fleabag is coming soon (March 4 in the UK, May 17 in
Crowd Goes Nuts for Extremely Satisfying DVD Logo Bounce
Popping bubble wrap, sharpening a new pencil, catching a falling glass in the knick of time, waking up before your alar
Confessions of an Adventurous Picky Eater
Amanda Mull on How to Stop Hating Your Least Favorite Food:
I’ve never had a traumatic barf experience with cucumbers,
Leaving Neverland
Set to air on HBO starting March 3rd, Leaving Neverland is a two-part documentary film about the experiences of two men
The Augmented Reality Sandbox
Inspired by a Czech project, a team at UC Davis is building an Augmented Reality Sandbox that lets you create & stu
How People Spent Sudden Financial Windfalls
Topic asked more than a dozen people how they spent sudden windfalls of money. Among those queried were two MacArthur g
Neighborhood Golf Association
Street photographer Patrick Barr has been out photographing NYC since the 1990s. Barr also goes by the name of Tiger H
What Is Intersectionality?
Maybe you’ve heard the term “intersectionality” used on social media — in the context of feminism or racism — and you k
A Detailed Map of Medieval Trade Routes in Europe, Asia, and Africa
Grad student Martin Jan Månsson has created this incredibly detailed map of trade route networks in Europe, Asia, and
National Geographic’s Upcoming Documentary on the Apollo Missions
With the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing coming up this summer, the media is about to go into Apollo overdrive. (A
My Recent Media Diet, the “Please God Let Winter Be Over Soon” Edition
I’ve been keeping track of every media thing I “consume”, so here are quick reviews of some things I’ve read, seen, hea
We’re All Lonely Together
We’re living in an age of unprecedented connectedness, but more and more people report being lonely on a regular basis.
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