Cool Stuff Daily

Facebook has released a report of their most widely viewed content, but the #1 most viewed link on the platform shows how the report isn’t exactly proving the point they’re trying to make. Plus, are realtors engineering weird listing photos so they’ll go viral? And it turns out we’ve been getting blue moons entirely wrong for at least forty years. Sponsor: Indeed, Get a free $75 credit at Indeed.c...

A lab in California has achieved a historic breakthrough in nuclear fusion. Three new species from the post-dinosaur mammalian revolution have been identified, including one that’s been named after a Hobbit character. And recent studies shedding light on the pro’s and con’s of exoskeleton suits as consumer goods. Sponsor: Indeed, Get a free $75 credit at Indeed.com/goodnews Links: US lab stands on...

Inside the world of the quasi-secret WhatsApp mango economy. It turns out Saturn is kind of jiggly inside. And the beginning of a season, marked by the end of an era for department stores. Sponsor: Indeed, Get a free $75 credit at Indeed.com/goodnews Links: Why Are the World’s Greatest Mangoes Almost Impossible to Buy in the U.S.? (Eater) Saturn's Insides Are Sloshing Around (MIT Technology Review...

How one of the earliest bloggers predicted the dark side of the internet, and then went completely off the grid. Plus, the first tribally-affiliated medical school, on tribal land, in the US. is bridging gaps. And Yik Yak is back. Sponsor: Indeed, Get a free $75 credit at Indeed.com/goodnews Links: Philip Agre predicted technology's pitfalls and then he disappeared (Washington Post) Everything is...

The groundbreaking study that has basically given us a daily diary of the entire life of a 17,000 year old woolly mammoth. Why coffee prices are spiking. And a ransom scam targeting authors that says a lot about the state of the world. Links: A Woolly Mammoth’s Tusks Reveal a Map of Where It Roamed in Life (NY Times) Ice Age mammoth's life story reconstructed in stunning detail (National Geographi...

How does a kid’s network establish their brand identity? Apparently, riff on a high brow architectural style and add heaping amounts of radioactive green slime. On the 30th anniversary of the first Nicktoons, a look back at Nickelodeon’s iconic aesthetic. Plus, a new––huge––study that upends a lot of what we thought knew about metabolism. And a fake website about fake movies. Links: How Nickelodeo...

Robin has officially come out of the closet. No statement yet from Batman, but I do have the other details, and a brief history of LGBTQ+ superheroes. Plus, SpaceX is planning to put billboards in space. And plastic pollution is confusing the hermit crabs in Yorkshire. Links: Robin, Batman's Sidekick, Comes Out, Which Only Makes Sense (NPR) Robin comes out as gay in new Batman comic, adding to DC'...

Why are CAPTCHA’s so frustrating and, in a way, so grim and disconcerting? Plus, botanists have identified the first carnivorous plant in twenty years, but don’t go calling it Audrey III just yet. And, a new development in the McFlurry Cold War. Links: Why CAPTCHA Pictures Are So Unbearably Depressing (Clive Thompson) How to Solve Captchas—and Why They've Gotten So Hard (Wired) 1st Carnivorous Pla...

Some context and takeaways from the big UN climate report released this morning. NASA has opened applications for their Mars simulation mission. And why are some people in Japan sending bags of rice with their baby’s face on them to relatives? Links: The 2021 UN climate change report, explained: IPCC says humans caused “unequivocal” warming (Vox) New IPCC climate report is the clearest guidebook f...

What are forest schools? And the science behind why gardening can make you feel happy and peaceful. Plus, the Perseid meteor shower is happening in just a few days. And the co-creator of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been immortalized as a Barbie doll. Sponsor: Upstart, upstart.com/kottke Links: We Should All Be Playing in the Dirt More… According to Science! (Literary Hub) Can Climbing Trees...

As the tides trend toward requiring vaccinations for entry in more places, what is the landscape of apps and methods to verify vaccination status? Plus, meatball-scented candles from IKEA and two very different commercial space flight updates. Sponsor: Upstart, upstart.com/kottke Links: More than 450 airlines can now use IBM's Digital Health Pass (Quartz) Unvaccinated People Need to Bear the Burde...

The six countries most likely to survive all-out societal collapse from climate change. Why is snow on the Alps turning red? And a website that will transport you back to sleepy nights in front of the TV in the early 2000s. Sponsor: Upstart, upstart.com/kottke Links: These 6 countries are most likely to survive a climate change-caused societal collapse (Mic) Study: Which Countries Will Best Surviv...

Edgar Allan Poe wasn’t just the sad author of spooky tales we all know and love, but also a passionate science journalist, and the writings he left behind can tell us a lot about our current relationship to misinformation and science communication. Plus, Starbucks officially sells more cold drinks than hot ones now, by a lot. What’s responsible for the trend and how do baristas feel about it? And...

What makes an Olympic sport an Olympic sport? And what does it take to get cut from the lineup? Namely, why is baseball getting cut once again in 2024, but breakdancing will make its Olympic debut? A breakdown of how it works. Plus, Boeing is trying again for a successful launch of their CST-100 Starliner tomorrow afternoon. What went wrong last time and what’s at stake? And, the mysterious jetpac...

I read a BuzzFeed article about virality and go on a rant about the creator economy. PornHub has a new campaign to help bolster museum tourism. And we may have found a fingerprint from Michelangelo… on a statue’s butt. Sponsor: Green Chef, go to GreenChef.com/kottke100 and use code kottke100 to get $100 off including free shipping Links: His Video Got 75 Million Views But He Didn't Make A Cent (Bu...

Why it could take you months to get a new sofa. Kids are trying to get out of class by using soda to fake positive COVID tests. And how to reinvigorate your health with a “microadventure.” Sponsor: Green Chef, go to GreenChef.com/kottke100 and use code kottke100 to get $100 off including free shipping Links: The reason there's a furniture shortage (sorry, couch and table buyers). (Slate) COVID-19:...

How a task force prevented the COVID-19 vaccines from being hacked because, yes, that was a real and valid concern. Plus, the sometimes controversial history of timekeeping at the Olympics and the AI-based innovations introduced this year. And, how the garbage industry is a lucrative one in the US because of course. Sponsor: Green Chef, go to GreenChef.com/kottke100 and use code kottke100 to get $...

The history and future of billboard advertising. The surprisingly big challenge of recycling bowling balls. And the YouTube Creator who just got hired by Lucasfilm. Sponsor: Green Chef, go to GreenChef.com/kottke100 and use code kottke100 to get $100 off including free shipping Links: Billboard History: How Outdoor Advertising Came to Cover the Landscape (Tedium) Ford Wants to Bring Billboards Ins...

A look back at when the Olympics used to give out medals in artistic categories, including the designing of Olympic medals, and the case for why they should bring that back this year in particular. Plus, some more background on how the wildfires on the west coast of Canada and the US are affecting weather and health all the way in New York City and beyond. And, the Cleveland baseball team has offi...

Rounding errors may cause winners to become losers and losers winners, Bezos and James Webb both fall to Earth, and beyond lobster shortages, now crabs. Links: The floating point: Rounding error in timing devices (American Journal of Physics) Apple’s weather app won’t say it’s 69 degrees (The Verge) Progressives call out Jeff Bezos’s space flight as “self-indulgent” and renew calls for wealth tax ...

Your payments for dog walking and, er, “love hotels” via Venmo are now no longer subject to global scrutiny, neutron stars have wee tiny mountains, smaller than predicted, pool parties by the hour via Swimply, and former Colombian guerrillas tour you through the beauty of the jungle they still inhabit. Links: Venmo drops the global social feed that could make your payments visible to strangers (Th...

How did paper sizes fall into their century-long groove, how low-wage workers seem to have the upper hand in the job market despite pandemic job losses, and the very newest, freshest words are in. Links: The Reason Why a Standard Piece of Paper Is 8.5 Inches by 11 Inches (Mental Floss) Grandma’s Cooking Secret (Snopes) Who decided our paper should measure 8.5” x 11”? (International Paper Company)...

Was the Chinese seed scare of mid-2020 just a matter of delayed orders and pandemic memory? The Ever Green clogging the Suez Canal is probably a sign of things to come, not a one-off accident. And Wally Funk returns from space—oh, also, Jeff Bezos was there and he gave a bunch of money to the Smithsonian. Links: 2016 clown sightings (Wikipedia) Invasion of the Clowns (New York Times) The Truth Beh...

Coca-Cola brings your dead taste buds back to life with a new Coke Zero formulation that probably definitely certainly won’t produce a New Coke outrage, Olympic athletes can perform team gymnastics on the beds provided in Japan, and how to watch Jeff Bezos fly into space with all his money. All that and duck-tape fashion. Links: Coca-Cola Is Changing the Flavor of a Soda. Again. (New York Times) T...

The flood of robocalls may soon abate due to a technology named after James Bond’s martini instructions to bartenders, an ethical debate over whether we can revive the dead’s voices to simulate what they said or wrote in life after a documentary filmmaker deep-faked Anthony Bourdain, and dropping fish from planes, Among Us in Irish, and the Hubble, rebooted. Sponsors: Indeed, Get a free $75 credit...