Why Pac-Man Became a Big Hit

I've gotta say that I was a little skeptical when Phil Edwards started out this video saying that he wasn't going to t

Four Quick Links for Monday Noonish

Mastodon is easy and fun except when it isn't. Erin Kissane asked folks why they had disengaged from Mastodon; they des

Is This the First Rap Song? (1946)

The roots of hip-hop and rap are various and stretch back in time to the antebellum South and from there to Africa. But

New Writing Shed Desire: A Detachable Studio on Rails

Designed by Olson Kundig Architects, the Maxon House features a studio that's attached to the main house but can be ro

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Recreated in Wisconsin

In 2006, photographer Mark Preuschl recreated Georges Seurat's famous impressionist painting A Sunday on La Grande Jat

Rebecca Solnit: We Can't Afford to be Climate Doomers

Rebecca Solnit, writing for The Guardian on the climate crisis: Many things that were once true — that we didn't have

New Woodblock Prints of Hokusai's Previously Unpublished "Book of Everything"

This is pretty cool: in collaboration with the British Museum, a team led by woodblock printmaker David Bull (who I fi

Amateurs Reached America's Highest Peak First. Nobody Believed Them.

In 1910, a group of inexperienced climbers claimed to have summited Denali, the highest peak in what is now the United

Four Quick Links for Wednesday Afternoon

Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. "Although women participated in all aspects of the Manhattan Proj

Some of the Oldest Photos You Will Ever See

In 1842, a French artist and scholar named Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey set out on a tour of the eastern Medite

Four Quick Links for Wednesday Noonish

Colossal Is Taking a Summer Break! Colossal is one of my all-time favorite sites and it's great to see them stepping aw

How Streaming Caused the Writers Strike

Vox talked to four television writers about how streaming and prestige TV have changed the financial picture for write

Medium-Res Pixel Illustrations of Jun Kumaori

I'm taken with the style of Jun Kumaori's illustrations — they look like drawings of (stay with me here) small JPEGs

Four Quick Links for Tuesday Noonish

And here's an interesting dual review of Oppenheimer and Barbie from Anne Helen Petersen. "Barbie doesn't argue that th

My Recent Media Diet, Barbenheimer Edition

Hey folks. I'm trying to get into the habit of doing these media diet posts more frequently than every six months so th

How Rubber Bands Are Made

From natural rubber to hundreds of bands in a box, here's how a Japanese manufacturing firm makes rubber bands. Fun fa

Four Quick Links for Monday Noonish

We Need to See More Parents Having Abortions in Film and Television. "Parents are the most common abortion patients yet

Applying High Voltage to Kids Toys

When you apply power with higher-than-normal voltage to electric kids toys, they tend to move faster. When you apply 30

Robert Reich's UC Berkeley Class on Wealth & Poverty

For the past 13 years, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has taught a class called Wealth & Poverty at UC Berk

Barbie Girl, in the Style of Six Classical Composers

This is fun: Aqua's pop hit Barbie Girl, redone in the style of six classical composers: Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann,

Cypress Hill's Tiny Desk Concert

To help celebrate 50 years of hip-hop, Cypress Hill visited NPR's studios to perform a Tiny Desk Concert. While the t

Three Quick Links for Friday Noonish

Dutch crows and magpies are building nests out of anti-bird spikes. "Even for me as a nest researcher, these are the cr

Barack Obama's 2023 Summer Reading List

It's always fun to see what the former President is planning on reading over the summer. Here's his full list: Povert

Your Favorite Addictive Flash Games, Back From the Dead

Long-time readers will recall that I used to link to Flash games pretty regularly. They were typically easy to play and

Watch 1969's Apollo 11 Moon Landing "Live!"

54 years ago today, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon and went for a little walk.

Three Quick Links for Thursday Noonish

It's Summer Vacation. Does the Media Know Where Clarence Thomas Is? "As corruption scandals ooze from the muck of the S

Iridescent Hot Water Colors

After my post about Soap Bubble Worlds yesterday, several people sent me this video of the rainbow colors that can be

Shakespeare In Its Original Pronunciation

Speaking of inexpensive time travel, listen as David and Ben Crystal perform selections from Shakespeare in the origin

Two Quick Links for Wednesday Afternoon

"Art is for everyone — or is it? In New York City, ticket prices for some museums and institutions are raising eyebrows

Soap Bubble Worlds

Marveling at these macro images of soap bubbles by photographer Dave Bowman — he calls this series Other Worlds. See

Four Quick Links for Wednesday Noonish

Sweden Sans is the national typeface of Sweden and is available to download (not sure about the usage rights tho). (via

Ephemeral Pebble Mosaics

British land artist Justin Bateman makes these incredible portraits of people and objects using small stones and peb

Amazing Commercial Featuring the French National Football Team

This advertisement from Orange, the French telecom company, about the French national football team is one of the best

Two Quick Links for Tuesday Afternoon

What I learned from taking a train across the US. "Will the United States ever catch up to the rest of the world when i

Timeline of the Far Future

The timeline of the far future artice is far from the longest page on Wikipedia, but it might take you several hours to

Wes Anderson Talks Up Some of His Favorite Movies in a Parisian Video Store

When you think of directors that have influenced Wes Anderson, you typically think of Truffaut, Godard, Scorcese, and

Four Quick Links for Tuesday Noonish

The Businessmen Broke Hollywood. "Under pressure to deliver to Wall Street, too many CEOs have lost the plot of their o

Geohydrotypography

This, from XKCD, hits my science and design interests right in the sweet spot. If you covered the surface of the Atla

The Final Plunge of the Titanic in Movies & TV

This is a supercut of the final moments of the Titanic as represented in various films and TV shows, from 1912's La Ha

Three Quick Links for Monday Noonish

I Decided To Become A Slave So One Day My Descendants Could Steal College Admissions Spots. "It was a tough decision, b

Explore the Graphic Design Treasures of the Internet Archive

archives.design is a labor of love site run by Valery Marier where she collects graphic design related materials

Greta Gerwig's Barbie Influences

Greta Gerwig takes us on a whirlwind tour through 33 films that influenced the Barbie movie, visually, thematically, a

Two Quick Links for Monday Late Night

Tomorrow morning (July 17) at 9am ET, a new web-only series by Steven Soderbergh called Command-Z premieres in which Mi

Managing Our Climate Emotions

Jia Tolentino writing for the New Yorker on What to Do with Climate Emotions: Climate anxiety differs from many forms

Five Quick Links for Friday Noonish

Fun promo for a Doctor Who Blu-ray collection featuring a reunion between Tegan and Nyssa. So good to see them again! (

Instruction Manuals for 6000+ Lego Sets, Courtesy of the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is an international treasure, a trove of human creative output spanning decades and even centur

Three Quick Links for Thursday Afternoon

Watching this video of a complex set-change for a play at the National Theatre in London reinforces the extent to which

Why Do American Diners Look That Way?

In this video from Architectural Digest, architect Michael Wyetzner runs us through why American diners look the way t

Two Quick Links for Thursday Noonish

Daniel Kaluuya's Barney Movie Is an 'A24-Type' Film That's 'Surrealistic' and for Adults, Says Mattel Exec: 'Not That I

Barbenheimer

Barbenheimer poster by Sean Longmore. Perfect, 10/10, no notes. Tags: Barbie · design · movies · Oppenheimer · remix ·

Five Quick Links for Wednesday Afternoon

The whitest paint ever just dropped. "The paint's properties are almost superheroic:" it reflects 98% of sunlight, redu

Phyllis Diller Crashes All-Male Roast at the Friar's Club Dressed as a Man (1983)

The Friar's Club was founded in 1904 and, like other private social clubs of the era, their membership was male-only.

How to Make the Potato Chip Omelette from The Bear

If you were left hungry by the food in season two of The Bear, Binging With Babish has got you covered. In this video,

It's Random Midsummer Shopping Day!

For the last few years, Amazon has spent a couple of summer days putting a bunch of their most popular items on sale f