In a classic New Yorker article from 1990, Ian Frazier writes about an imagined lawsuit filed by Wile E. Coyote agains
Two Quick Links for Thursday Afternoon
Armed terrorists menacing legislators in state capitol buildings is pretty much what the Second Amendment had in mind,
The Official Recipe for Ikea Meatballs
On Twitter the other day, Ikea UK shared the official recipe for their iconic meatballs and cream sauce,— in the form
Famous Art Recreated at Home During the Pandemic
With art museums closed and people quarantined at home, some folks have taken to recreating famous artworks using stuff
Three Quick Links for Thursday Noonish
Instructions for building buckyballs & "Charmin nanotubes" out of cardboard toilet paper tubes. [observablehq.com]
Audio Deepfakes Result in Some Pretty Convincing Mashup Performances
Have you ever wanted to hear Jay Z rap the “To Be, Or Not To Be” soliloquy from Hamlet? You are in luck:
What about Bo
Colorful New Geological Map of the Moon
In collaboration with NASA and the Lunar and Planetary Institute, the USGS has released the first complete geologica
Three Quick Links for Wednesday Afternoon
A group of players is building a 1:1 scale model of the entire Earth in Minecraft, aided by a mod that converts geograp
Hubble Telescope Watches the Rare Disintegration of a Comet
Last month, I told you about Comet ATLAS, which at that time looked capable of putting on a real show in the night sky.
Music That’s Perfect for Working
I like to listen to music while I work, but it can’t have any vocals or I get too distracted when I’m writing or readin
Three Quick Links for Wednesday Noonish
Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing. I found this "here's what we know so far" piece by Ed Yong on the pandemic to be h
The Changing Profile of Covid-19’s Presenting Symptoms
As Ed Yong notes in his helpful overview of the pandemic, this is such a huge and quickly moving event that it’s diffic
The British Museum Puts 1.9 Million Images Online for Public Use
As part of a website refresh, The British Museum has made over 1.9 million photos of its collections freely availa
Social Distancing As Demonstrated in Wes Anderson Films
Characters in Wes Anderson’s films are often misfits, outcasts, or are estranged from one another for various reasons.
Jason Polan Postage Stamps
The artist Jason Polan passed away in January from colon cancer. A group of his friends are trying to memorialize Polan
Seven Quick Links for Tuesday Noonish
The Pandemic Shows What Cars Have Done to Cities. "Along streets suddenly devoid of traffic, pedestrians get a fresh lo
The “Mile an Hour” Marathon
Over the course of 24 hours, Beau Miles ran around his mile-long block once every hour (plus a few more at the beginni
Watch a Monarch Butterfly Swarm (Filmed by a Drone Disguised as a Hummingbird)
For an upcoming episode of a show called Spy in the Wild, PBS’s Nature used a tiny drone disguised as a hummingbird to
Four Quick Links for Monday Afternoon
The Boston Globe ran 21 pages of death notices in the Sunday edition this weekend. That's 3X more than last year at thi
Homemade Maps of People’s Limited Surroundings During the Pandemic
CityLab asked its readers to “draw maps of their worlds in the time of coronavirus”. They drew floor plans, neighborh
Two Quick Links for Monday Noonish
7 things we must do before we open up America, based on advice from experts who have had the most success (and learned
“Glowing” Dolphins Swimming in Bioluminescent Waters
Well, this is just beautiful. Photographer Patrick Coyne was lucky enough to capture some dolphins swimming through bi
Chris Ware’s NYC Still Life
For the cover of this week’s New Yorker, Chris Ware drew several vignettes of NYC arranged in his trademark grid as a
A Virtual Tour of the Van Gogh Museum
One of my favorite museums I’ve visited in the past few years is the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Van Gogh’s art care
A Microscopic Chemical Reaction Goes Supernova
This short film by Roman Hill shows a chemical reaction at microscopically close range, all filmed in a single shot ov
Three Quick Links for Friday Noonish
Imagineering in a Box, a Khan Academy lesson from Disney's Imagineering team on how to design theme parks. [khanacademy
Top 15 Countries By Military Spending (1914-2018)
Using data from the Correlates of War Project and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, this bar chart
A Doctor Calls Patients to Tell Them Their Covid-19 Tests Were Positive
In early March, Dr. Caroline Schulman was responsible for calling patients at her hospital to tell them they had tested
Four Quick Links for Thursday Afternoon
After closing her 20-year-old restaurant Prune due to the pandemic, chef Gabrielle Hamilton wonders if it has a place i
Build Your Own Magically Floating Lego Tensegrity Sculpture
Ok, take a look at this short video of a Lego structure. Whaaaaat kind of sorcery is this?!
The top part of the struct
Blade Runner - The Lost Cut
Of the various cuts of Blade Runner done over the years, Blade Runner - The Lost Cut is perhaps the oddest. Billed by
Three Quick Links for Thursday Noonish
Dr. James Hamblin on why some people with Covid-19 get sicker than others. "There's a big difference in how people hand
A Relaxing Walk Through the Cherry Blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
It’s unfortunate that places like the Brooklyn Botanic Garden need to be closed during this stressful time, because th
No Man Is an Island
From director Robert Bingaman, a video interpretation of a timely passage from John Donne’s Devotions upon Emergent Oc
Three Quick Links for Wednesday Afternoon
Sean Woods rides around NYC during quarantine, documenting the uncomfortable silence of the city for Rolling Stone. "Th
A Social Distance
Using crowd-sourced clips sent in from all over the world, filmmakers Ivan Cash and Jacob Jonas made a poignant short
The Earth Day 2020 Awards, Presented by Ze Frank
In partnership with PBS Nature, Ze Frank (narrating as the Earth) presents The Earth Day 2020 Awards to a deserving gr
Three Quick Links for Wednesday Noonish
Indie production company A24 is auctioning off items from its movies and TV shows to benefit NYC orgs hit hard by Covid
Selling the Imperfection of Handmade Art Paper
This short film profiles a small company in Somerset, England called Two Rivers Paper. Using water power, the company
Ella Fitzgerald Masterfully Butchers “Mack the Knife”
If you listen to more than 20 seconds of any song by Ella Fitzgerald, you can instinctively tell how amazing a singer
Three Quick Links for Tuesday Afternoon
This Website Will Self Destruct. "You can send me messages using the form below. If I go 24 hours without receiving a m
Human After All
I am not quite sure what to say about Human After All, a collaboration between photographer Jan Kriwol and digital ar
Where’s Waldo? in the Social Distancing Age
Finding Waldo is a lot easier when no one can go outside. On his Instagram, art director Pedro Mezzini reimagined Wher
A Virtual Performance by the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra
Forced to cancel performances due to the pandemic, the members of Chicago Sinfonietta (“North America’s most diverse o
Two Quick Links for Tuesday Morning
Zeynep Tufekci writes about the problems with the World Health Organization. "It is also true that in the run-up to thi
Children’s Story Time with Michelle Obama and PBS Kids
For the next several Mondays, Michelle Obama will read a favorite children’s book in partnership with PBS Kids. The fir
Two Quick Links for Monday Afternoon
Cellist Zack Reaves (and 4 of his clones) cover Radiohead's Everything In Its Right Place [youtube.com]
The Stacks Read
How We Reopen the Country: A Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience
Working under the direction of The Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, a bipartisan group of expe
South African Safaris Broadcast Live Online Twice a Day
A group in South Africa called WildEarth is broadcasting live safaris on YouTube twice a day, once at sunrise and again
The Rolling Stones Perform “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” While Sheltering at Home
As part of the One World: Together at Home fundraiser organized by the WHO, Global Citizen, and Lady Gaga that raised
Two Quick Links for Monday Noonish
Hong Kong (pop. 7.5M) has had only 715 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 4 deaths as of March 31, all without the need fo
The Emerging Science of What SARS-CoV-2 Does to the Human Body
Thousands of scientific research papers on Covid-19 and SARS-CoV-2 are being published each week and with them comes a
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