Gentle Cinema recommendations: movies that feature "pleasant people doing pleasant things and there's not much drama an
How Do Algorithms Become Biased?
In the latest episode of the Vox series Glad You Asked, host Joss Fong looks at how racial and other kinds of bias are
Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World
Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World is the latest world-explaining documentary ser
Three Quick Links for Wednesday Noonish
On the coming 4th surge of Covid-19 in the US. "I understand the impatience with restrictions – I'm fed up and tired, t
You Don’t Know What’s Going On In People’s Lives
Illustrator Hazel Mead created a pair of pieces called You Don’t Know What’s Going On In People’s Lives: the original
Delayed: R. Kikuo Johnson’s New Yorker Cover
That’s the cover for the April 5, 2021 issue of the New Yorker illustrated by R. Kikuo Johnson.
I began preparing for
Two Quick Links for Wednesday Morning
Socialism 101: The latest episode of Planet Money is a short primer on socialism featuring economist Richard Wolff. [np
Two Quick Links for Tuesday Night
VW’s name change to “Voltswagen” is a dumb April Fools joke. Another own goal by the company. How about this: make good
Gradations Are Soothing
From Daihei Shibata, Gradations is a meditative short video of hard boundaries of color and shape turning into gradual
Three Quick Links for Tuesday Afternoon
You can watch Bowling for Columbine for free on Michael Moore's YouTube channel. I haven't seen this in years – I wonde
Walking 56 Miles to Work
A few years ago, Beau Miles walked 56 miles to work on a college campus, leaving home with just the clothes on his bac
Showcasing Women Street Photographers
Women Street Photographers started as an Instagram account founded by Gulnara Samoilova in 2017 but has since grown
Six Quick Links for Tuesday Noonish
Very frustrated at the continuing lack of rapid testing (and free mask distribution) in the US. The vaccines are great,
The Year Earth Changed
Produced by BBC Studios Natural History Unit and narrated by David Attenborough, The Year Earth Changed is an upcoming
Three Quick Links for Monday Afternoon
"There are a whole lot of ways to be perfect, and not one of them is attained through punishment." –Ursula K. Le Guin [
“Climate Anxiety Is an Overwhelmingly White Phenomenon”
In an opinion piece for Scientific American, Sarah Jaquette Ray argues that our response to the climate emergency must
Three Quick Links for Monday Noonish
"Across the largest [US] 50 cities, median rent has increased 175% faster than household incomes." [phys.org]
"Real wor
Simulating Church Organ Music With a Commodore 64
Linus Akesson noticed that without the benefit of the acoustical properties of massive churches, the sound that comes
Two Quick Links for Monday Morning
Unlike in other US cities, violent crime dropped sharply during the pandemic in Baltimore after the city temporarily st
The Louvre Puts Its Massive Collection of Art Online
Late last week, the Louvre announced that it had put its entire collection online, over 482,000 works in all.
Des
Four Quick Links for Saturday Afternoon
A list of 10 beloved movies that Roger Ebert disliked, including Dead Poets Society, Blue Velvet, A Clockwork Orange, a
Two Quick Links for Saturday Morning
Suez Canal traffic report [twitter.com]
‘Ramona Quimby’ author Beverly Cleary has died at the age of 104. [harpercollin
Six Quick Links for Friday Afternoon
Ian Manuel spent 18 consecutive years in solitary confinement from age 15 to 33. "The harrowing injustice I suffered as
The Secret Life of Machines
In the late 80s and early 90s, a show called The Secret Life of Machines aired in the UK and the US. Each episode focu
Three Quick Links for Friday Noonish
The White House press corps didn't ask President Biden a single question about the pandemic at his first press conferen
Paintings on Found Trash That Blend Into the Landscape
Eco-artist Mariah Reading finds discarded objects in National Parks, on native lands, and in other natural environme
Eyes on the Prize to Re-Air on PBS
The fantastic civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize will soon be available for viewing on public media and online
Three Quick Links for Friday Morning
Over the past 40 years, Kevin Kelly travelled to 35 countries in Asia, documenting unique cultures before they disappea
Three Quick Links for Thursday Afternoon
Visualizing deaths caused by policing in the United States. "These three alarming trends...could suggest that the polic
XXXX Swatchbook, a Book of CMYK Embroidery
Back in January, Clive Thompson asked his Twitter followers for links to books of unusual dimensions. In the resulti
Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page
Over a period of a year and a half, Matt Kish created one illustration for each of the 552 pages in the Signet Clas
Four Quick Links for Thursday Noonish
How the Top 0.01 Percent Became America's Criminal Class. "An underfunded and overworked IRS has enabled a handful of p
Portraits of New Yorkers in Their Apartments
For her forthcoming book New Yorkers, photographer Sally Davies (Instagram) captured portraits of people inside their
New Alan Turing £50 Banknote Revealed
The Bank of England unveiled the final design of the new £50 banknote honoring mathematician and computer scientist Al
Six Quick Links for Wednesday Afternoon
The 32 Greatest Character Actors Working Today. [vulture.com]
Krispy Kreme Offers Vaccinated Customers Free Ride On Gla
Cool Voice Lag Ventriloquism
In a sort of self-ventriloquism move, Gracie Scullion has learned how to make it seem as though her voice is delayed wh
Why Comparing Different Covid-19 Vaccines is Difficult
Related to my post from last month about what a 95% or 66% efficacy rate of a vaccine even means, Vox made a clear and
Five Quick Links for Wednesday Noonish
The Boston Globe and BU's Center for Antiracist Research are resurrecting and reimagining The Emancipator, an abolition
Seal Skin Spacesuit Made by Inuit Artists
Working with Dr. Heather Igloliorte at Montreal’s Concordia University, Inuit artist Jesse Tungilik and a group of stu
Five Quick Links for Tuesday Afternoon
Germany is currently negotiating the return of hundreds of Benin bronzes to Nigeria. [theguardian.com]
A thread of peop
The Growth of London, 47 ACE to the Present
Ollie Bye has created an animated time lapse of the growth of London from a small Roman town in 47 ACE to the largest
Animated Folding Screen of Painted Sekigahara Landscapes
Riffing on a byōbu folding screen of the Battle of Sekigahara painted in the 1700s, Yusuke Shigeta made a pixel animat
The Advantages of Political Buffoonery
From a short piece riffing on Idi Amin and the political utility of being a buffoon by Mark Leopold, author of an Amin
Four Quick Links for Tuesday Noonish
How to Wait in Line. "Distract yourself to pass the time. If you can, embrace the camaraderie of wanting something en m
30 Cover Songs Better Than the Originals
Back in 2011, NME listed 30 cover songs that are better than the originals, as determined by their writers and readers
Three Quick Links for Monday Afternoon
Mickey Drexler tells the Old Navy origin story. "I did some research and found that 80% of the jeans in America sold fo
A Giant Banana Orbiting the Earth
What if a giant banana was orbiting the Earth at the same distance as the ISS? What would that look like? Well, it wou
Five Quick Links for Monday Noonish
Who can and can't get vaccinated right now around the world. While I wait my turn, I've learned there's no polite way t
Incredible Drone Videos of an Erupting Volcano
After a series of thousands of tiny earthquakes in the area, a small volcano has started erupting in Fagradalsfjall,
Perfect Shadows
Joaquim Campa recently shared some satisfying shadows for perfectionists. I guess I must be a perfectionist because th
How to Safely Remove Bees for Relocation
This video of beekeeper Erika Thompson removing a hive of bees from the floor of an old shed was absolutely riveting!
The Invention of a New Pasta Shape
For the past three years, Dan Pashman of The Sporkful podcast has been on something of a mission: to invent a new pasta
Four Quick Links for Friday Noonish
According to guidance from the CDC, after you're vaccinated for Covid-19 you should still wear a mask and practice soci
NASA Tournament to Determine the Best Photo Taken from the ISS
NASA’s Earth Observatory is holding a single-elimination tournament to find the best photograph taken by an astronaut
What If the Earth Turned to Gold?
For their latest video, Kurzgesagt ventures into What If? territory with a hypothetical exploration of what would happ
Six Quick Links for Thursday Afternoon
Thinking about kids and Covid this summer, "your unvaccinated kid is like a vaccinated grandma" in terms of risk of inf
Why Does Mount Everest’s Height Keep Changing?
Back in December 2020, Nepal and China announced that the height of Mount Everest had been remeasured and updated from
Radiohead, From The Basement
From the Basement was a series of musical performances from groups like The White Stripes, Radiohead, Gnarls Barkley,
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