- newCyberdeck with punishingly minimal 30% keyboard
A cyberdeck is a homemade portable computer in the cyberpunk mold (utilitarian, DIY) and NickZero's Ultra Minimal Cyberdeck [instructables.com] is exemplary: just a single-board computer, a tiny keyboard (cf. my "Cormac" board, useful only for writin…
- 15 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 8:48pm -
- newThe obscure airfields of America
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields [airfields-freeman.com] collects America's half-forgotten strips and reconstructs each one's history from old aeronautical charts, topographic maps, aerial photographs, and tips from readers who flew or lived nearby…
- 16 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 8:25pm -
- newA star discovered in 2014 has exploded six times and none of the theories explain it
When astronomers first observed iPTF14hls in September 2014, they identified it as a supernova and expected it to dim within 100 days. Instead, it kept erupting. Over approximately 1,000 days, its brightness peaked at least five times, varying by as…
- 22 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:58pm -
- newJapan's greatest sword was surrendered to a US sergeant in 1946. Nobody knows where it is.
The Honjō Masamune, forged in the 13th or 14th century and passed from shōgun to shōgun as a symbol of the Tokugawa dynasty, is considered one of the finest Japanese swords ever made. It was designated a National Treasure in 1939. — Read the res…
- 22 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:58pm -
- newIn 1985, a Japanese woman wrote a letter about bookstores making her need to use the bathroom. It became a phenomenon.
In February 1985, a 29-year-old woman from Tokyo's Suginami neighborhood sent a letter to the Japanese magazine Book Magazine. "I'm not sure why," she wrote, "but since about two or three years ago, whenever I go to a bookstore I am struck by an urge…
- 22 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:57pm -
- newIn 1974, Turkish forces fenced off a Cyprus beach resort. It's still empty.
From 1970 to 1974, the Varosha district of Famagusta, Cyprus, was "one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world," a favorite of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Raquel Welch, and Brigitte Bardot. When Turkish forces invaded Cyprus in Au…
- 22 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:57pm -
- newSid Caesar built the writers' room that taught Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, and Woody Allen how to be funny
John Lahr, writing in the London Review of Books, offers the sharpest piece I've read on Sid Caesar — ostensibly a review of David Margolick's new biography When Caesar Was King, but really a psychological autopsy of American comedy's first TV star…
- 23 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:42pm -
- newBrain scans of authoritarians show reduced grey matter in regions for empathy and social reasoning
A study published in Neuroscience by researchers at Spain's University of Zaragoza scanned the brains of 100 young adults and found structural differences in those who hold authoritarian beliefs — on both the left and the right. Right-wing authorit…
- 23 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:40pm -
- new"Donald Dump" depicts Trump with sludge oozing out of his mouth
I'm a huge fan of street art, and this recent piece in Naples, Italy by World Press Photo Award winner and acclaimed photojournalist Eduardo Castaldo is one of the best I've ever seen. The piece, titled "Donald Dump," is a black and white stencil pa…
- 23 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:39pm -
- newThis giant anteater uses his dancing tongue to keep cool in the summer's sweltering heat
I've previously written about the glorious ASMR videos starring King Bumi, a long-snouted, toothless, bushy-tailed, coarse-haired giant anteater who lives at the North Florida Wildlife Center in Lamont, Florida, a nonprofit rehabilitation and educat…
- 23 hours ago 19 Jun 26, 1:38pm -