I’ve read over 1,000 nonfiction books in my life, and these 33 are the most powerful of them all. I can honestly say they changed my life, who’s to say they won’t change yours too?...
Floor796 is an ever-expanding animation scene showing the life of the 796th floor of the huge space station! The goal of the project is to create as huge animation as possible, with many references to movies, games, anime and memes....
This is a robust, locally hosted web-based PDF manipulation tool using Docker. It enables you to carry out various operations on PDF files, including splitting, merging, converting, reorganizing, adding images, rotating, compressing, and more. This locally hosted web application has evolved to encompass a comprehensive set of...
Ubuntu’s popularity often makes it the default choice for new Linux users. But there are tons of other Linux operating systems that deserve your attention. As such, I’ve highlighted some Ubuntu alternatives so you can choose based on your needs and requirements—because conformity is boring.
Right in the center of the island nation of Madagascar there’s a strange, almost perfectly circular geological structure. It covers a bigger area than the city of Paris — and at first glance, it looks completely empty. But right in the center of that structure, there’s a single, isolated village: a few dozen houses, some...
Scientists have created a blazing-fast scientific camera that shoots images at an encoding rate of 156.3 terahertz (THz) to individual pixels — equivalent to 156.3 trillion frames per second. Dubbed SCARF (swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography), the research-grade camera could lead to breakthroughs in fields studying...
Spain’s High Court has ordered the suspension of messaging app Telegram’s services in the country after media companies complained it was allowing users to upload their content without permission, according to a court source....
Warner Bros. Discovery is telling developers it plans to start “retiring” games published by its Adult Swim Games label, game makers who worked with the publisher tell Polygon. At least three games are under threat of being removed from Steam and other digital stores, with the fate of other games published by Adult Swim...
The Middlemist’s red belongs to the camellia genus and was imported from China as a luxury item in 1804, but was wiped from its native country. The credit for bringing the flower to Chiswick, West London, goes to a nurseryman from Shepherd’s Bush named John Middlemist, who the flower was named after....
When the Star Wars films aired in Chile, instead of cutting away from the movie for commercial breaks, the TV station “seamlessly” inserted ads for Cerveza Cristal beer. We’re talking Obi-Wan opening a chest to find a lightsaber for Luke and instead it reveals a ice-chest full of beer. Or the Emperor Force-reaching for a...
There hasn’t been a lot of good news out of EA lately, but here’s some: the company just launched a bunch of classic games on Steam. The new (old) releases include nine games in total, spanning franchises like Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and SimCity....
The slasher film took advantage of the copyright for AA Milne’s classic tale expiring, and reimagined the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood as vicious serial killers....
Dr. Megan Garcia, Medical Director of the Grossman Burn Center at Research Medical in Kansas City, Missouri, recently stated that 70% of patients who have been referred to her center for frostbite now need amputations. Many of these patients attended the Kansas City Chiefs playoff game against the Miami Dolphins at Arrowhead...
Four weeks ago, GPT-4 remained the undisputed champion: consistently at the top of every key benchmark, but more importantly the clear winner in terms of “vibes”. Almost everyone investing serious time exploring LLMs agreed that it was the most capable default model for the majority of tasks—and had been for more than a...
Google regularly launches updates to its algorithm to continuously improve search results quality. Think of these updates as a refresh of the system where rankings change: some websites see an improvement while others see a decline....
THe Great Green Wall being built in Africa to halt the southern progress of the Sahara Desert is a favorite public works project of mine — it’s massive, ambitious, long-term, important, and if it works, the effect will repay the cost many times over. This video takes a quick look at some of the work being done on the wall in...
While the majority of the world’s reefs are now under threat or even damaged potentially beyond repair, a new study reported in the journal Current Biology on March 8 offers some encouraging news: efforts to restore coral reefs not only increase coral cover, but they can also bring back important ecosystem functions, and...
On June 5, 1981, journalists from around the world gathered at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to watch as the Voyager 2 spacecraft became the first man-made object to reach Saturn. In the aftermath of this historic event, the main attraction wasn’t NASA’s staff. It was fellow journalist Jerry Pournelle. Pournelle...
A title drop is when a character in a movie says the title of the movie they’re in. Here’s a large-scale analysis of 73,921 movies from the last 80 years on how often, when and maybe even why that happens.
33 Powerful Books That Might Change Your Life (markmanson.net)
I’ve read over 1,000 nonfiction books in my life, and these 33 are the most powerful of them all. I can honestly say they changed my life, who’s to say they won’t change yours too?...
Floor796 (floor796.com)
Floor796 is an ever-expanding animation scene showing the life of the 796th floor of the huge space station! The goal of the project is to create as huge animation as possible, with many references to movies, games, anime and memes....
Stirling-PDF: Locally hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files (github.com)
This is a robust, locally hosted web-based PDF manipulation tool using Docker. It enables you to carry out various operations on PDF files, including splitting, merging, converting, reorganizing, adding images, rotating, compressing, and more. This locally hosted web application has evolved to encompass a comprehensive set of...
TasteAtlas (www.tasteatlas.com)
TasteAtlas is an encyclopedia of flavors, a world atlas of traditional dishes, local ingredients, and authentic restaurants....
New to Linux? Ubuntu Isn’t Your Only Option (www.howtogeek.com)
Ubuntu’s popularity often makes it the default choice for new Linux users. But there are tons of other Linux operating systems that deserve your attention. As such, I’ve highlighted some Ubuntu alternatives so you can choose based on your needs and requirements—because conformity is boring.
The World’s Richest Countries Across 3 Metrics (www.visualcapitalist.com)
How do you measure the economic success of a country?...
Snapdrop: local file sharing in your browser (snapdrop.net)
Inspired by Apple’s Airdrop
What’s Inside This Crater in Madagascar? (kottke.org)
Right in the center of the island nation of Madagascar there’s a strange, almost perfectly circular geological structure. It covers a bigger area than the city of Paris — and at first glance, it looks completely empty. But right in the center of that structure, there’s a single, isolated village: a few dozen houses, some...
The lethal doses of 55 substances (infosec.pub)
This camera captures 156.3 trillion frames per second (www.engadget.com)
Scientists have created a blazing-fast scientific camera that shoots images at an encoding rate of 156.3 terahertz (THz) to individual pixels — equivalent to 156.3 trillion frames per second. Dubbed SCARF (swept-coded aperture real-time femtophotography), the research-grade camera could lead to breakthroughs in fields studying...
High Court orders temporary suspension of Telegram's services in Spain (www.reuters.com)
Spain’s High Court has ordered the suspension of messaging app Telegram’s services in the country after media companies complained it was allowing users to upload their content without permission, according to a court source....
BookPecker.com (www.bookpecker.com)
14509 books in 5 bullet points. Browse summaries of thousands of books and add new items to your reading list.
Warner Bros. is now erasing games as it plans to delist Adult Swim-published titles (www.polygon.com)
Warner Bros. Discovery is telling developers it plans to start “retiring” games published by its Adult Swim Games label, game makers who worked with the publisher tell Polygon. At least three games are under threat of being removed from Steam and other digital stores, with the fate of other games published by Adult Swim...
The Middlemist’s Red, rarest flower on earth (www.southsideblooms.com)
The Middlemist’s red belongs to the camellia genus and was imported from China as a luxury item in 1804, but was wiped from its native country. The credit for bringing the flower to Chiswick, West London, goes to a nurseryman from Shepherd’s Bush named John Middlemist, who the flower was named after....
Beer Me, Obi-Wan! (kottke.org)
When the Star Wars films aired in Chile, instead of cutting away from the movie for commercial breaks, the TV station “seamlessly” inserted ads for Cerveza Cristal beer. We’re talking Obi-Wan opening a chest to find a lightsaber for Luke and instead it reveals a ice-chest full of beer. Or the Emperor Force-reaching for a...
EA just added classics like Dungeon Keeper, SimCity 3000, and Populous on Steam (www.theverge.com)
There hasn’t been a lot of good news out of EA lately, but here’s some: the company just launched a bunch of classic games on Steam. The new (old) releases include nine games in total, spanning franchises like Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and SimCity....
Razzie Awards 2024: Winnie the Pooh slasher film and Expend4bles named year's worst (www.bbc.com)
The slasher film took advantage of the copyright for AA Milne’s classic tale expiring, and reimagined the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood as vicious serial killers....
Fans suffering frostbite after freezing Kansas City Chiefs game may require amputations (boingboing.net)
Dr. Megan Garcia, Medical Director of the Grossman Burn Center at Research Medical in Kansas City, Missouri, recently stated that 70% of patients who have been referred to her center for frostbite now need amputations. Many of these patients attended the Kansas City Chiefs playoff game against the Miami Dolphins at Arrowhead...
The GPT-4 barrier has finally been broken (simonwillison.net)
Four weeks ago, GPT-4 remained the undisputed champion: consistently at the top of every key benchmark, but more importantly the clear winner in terms of “vibes”. Almost everyone investing serious time exploring LLMs agreed that it was the most capable default model for the majority of tasks—and had been for more than a...
How Google is killing independent sites like ours (housefresh.com)
Google regularly launches updates to its algorithm to continuously improve search results quality. Think of these updates as a refresh of the system where rankings change: some websites see an improvement while others see a decline....
How the Great Green Wall Is Holding Back the Sahara Desert (kottke.org)
THe Great Green Wall being built in Africa to halt the southern progress of the Sahara Desert is a favorite public works project of mine — it’s massive, ambitious, long-term, important, and if it works, the effect will repay the cost many times over. This video takes a quick look at some of the work being done on the wall in...
Good news for coral reef restoration efforts: Study finds 'full recovery' of reef growth within four years (phys.org)
While the majority of the world’s reefs are now under threat or even damaged potentially beyond repair, a new study reported in the journal Current Biology on March 8 offers some encouraging news: efforts to restore coral reefs not only increase coral cover, but they can also bring back important ecosystem functions, and...
The Rise and Fall of Steve Jobs’s Greatest Rival (every.to)
On June 5, 1981, journalists from around the world gathered at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. to watch as the Voyager 2 spacecraft became the first man-made object to reach Saturn. In the aftermath of this historic event, the main attraction wasn’t NASA’s staff. It was fellow journalist Jerry Pournelle. Pournelle...
Detect when your installed Chrome extensions have changed owners (github.com)
Why is this needed?...
Full Of Themselves: An analysis of title drops in movies (www.titledrops.net)
A title drop is when a character in a movie says the title of the movie they’re in. Here’s a large-scale analysis of 73,921 movies from the last 80 years on how often, when and maybe even why that happens.