bookofjoe

In Brussels' iconic Grand-Place, a summer tradition literally blossoms in monumental style. The city's Flower Carpet event, which this year celebrated its 24th edition, celebrates art, community, and diplomacy in the heart of Belgium's capital, which is also the hub of the European Union. From August 13 to 16, the event marked 160 years of...

From Big Guy in a Tiny House: A digital download of the template costs $8.95.

"AI scrapers see encoded gibberish."Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

This yellow and black self-adhesive measuring tape is used in the theatre and film industries to block off sets and stages.Innumerable other uses and functionalities.Think outside the inches.1"-wide x 13.9-yard long roll.$12.95.

I happened on the declaration in the headline while browsing around in bookofjoe's statistics pages.I must be crazy 'cause it made me really happy!I have no idea what a blog follower is or how you become one but clearly I'm not alone — I mean, there are over 8 billion people not in the least interested.In the Bizarro World bookofjoe World...

The legendary French director said in an interview that the difference in how people perceived movies and television resulted from the placement of the screen.Godard noted that we generally look down at the TV screen (remember, this was back in the day, when screens were much smaller) and up at a movie screen.He believed the supplication-like...

This 2007 23-minute-long film features Brit Marling in her first role.I stumbled on it last week while compiling a list of movies I really liked, a number of which feature her, including "Another Earth" (2011), "Sound of My Voice," and "I Origins" (2014).Like her subsequent full-length films cited above, "The Recordist" tilts the world such that...

These occupy a liminal space in my array of writing implements and accessories: I only learned of their existence a month or so ago and immediately took a flutter.Turns out these 4" x 6" notepads are very useful for any number of things and their killer app is that they have a double life as real Post-its.I stick them all over the place,...

In the video above you will note how the "expert" unrolls the elastic bandage.Look closely.Now watch below as a real expert demonstrates the correct way to unroll and apply the bandage.Long story short (which I learned on the first day of my orthopedic surgery rotation in my third year of med school): unroll the material away from your body as is...

Above, my January 7, 2007 12:01 pm boj post.ALPR stands for "Automatic License Plate Recognition."As Flock cameras rapidly proliferate throughout the U.S. now, some 20 years later — sometimes destroyed soon after installation —Sgt. Stewart's prediction has been borne out.

I featured it back in 2007: it cost $18.Today my Crack Research Team©®™ spent a lot of time and effort trying to source it but alas it's nowhere to be found in our particular world.Maybe one will turn up in yours.

Can't wait to see it!Long story from Wikipedia condensed:Coyote vs. Acme is a 2026 American live-action animated comedy film directed by Dave Green, written by Samy Burch from a story by Burch, James Gunn, and Jeremy Slater, and starring Will Forte, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzmán, Martha Kelly, P.J. Byrne, and John Cena. Eric Bauza, Kenneth...

It's "Atlas of the Roman Empire" by David Potter.As soon as I read the rave review in the Wall Street Journal last month I took a flutter on it.OMG, to someone like me who's been fascinated by the Roman Empire since I was first exposed to it in Miss Shaw's Latin 1 at Washington High School, which consisted of reading Julius Caesar's magnificent...

From websites:........................13 Hour ClockThis clock will appeal to those who never have enough time in a day!Humorous wall clock brings a different spin to the dial markings we're used to, with creative time-telling that "adds" an extra hour: Lucky 13!Quartz clock with blue plastic housing has a built-in hanger and uses 1 AA battery...

Res ipsa loquitur.

From the Guardian:..............................................‘I Feel Motherly Towards Them’: The Nature Reserve Manager Sharing Her Office With A Wasp NestEilish Rothney’s first instinct was to get rid of the wasps entering her converted shipping container in Norfolk. Now she enjoys their constant hum.“They just built the nest inside my door,”...

Plumbers will tell you never use Drāno.Furniture makers and antique dealers will tell you not to use Pledge.Optometrists advise against over-the-counter reading glasses.Some people insist on brand name drugs that cost 10x that of generics.Professional window cleaners scoff at Windex.Apple's cables (above left) cost three times more than the...

Wrote Kottke: "This appears to be a fan-assembled album of the recording sessions for "Tron: Legacy" by Daft Punk and Joseph Trapanese."I loved the first "Tron," which I saw in an old-timey movie theater the month it was released in 1982.Last year's "Tron: Ares" not so much, though I had high hopes for it on Vision Pro but alas, it was a letdown...

Are you sure?Aristotle Onassis once remarked, "The secret of success in business is knowing something no one else knows."Nowadays that's called insider trading.But I digress.Robert L. Wolke, longtime food columnist extraordinaire, addressed the topic of rancid nuts in his Washington Post Food section "Food 101" column.Long story short: You can't...

Especially handy when you first try your fire extinguisher only to find it expired years ago and is now a bright red doorstop.Long story short: I'm getting one of these blankets.You can too! Cheap at twice the $9.95 price.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

The one thing I've hated about running ever since I took it up is the boredom.I can deal with the heat and the sweat and fatigue just fine but the main reason I skip days and have trouble getting going pretty much every day is that it's so darn darn boring.I listen to the same playlist of songs I've been listening to for decades over and over and...

I took a flutter on a pair of these last month because $299 with a promise of full-screen OLED HD video sounded fantastic.I'm a sucker for stuff like that.Long story short: these glasses are no humbug.They're especially useful for connecting to your computer or phone to see a bigger, sharper, brighter image.Read more about them here and...

Yesterday at this time I remarked on my abject inability to distinguish films I'd like from the far more numerous ones of no interest based just on the brief descriptions and screenshots in the endless libraries of all the streaming services.Above and below, screenshots of my Watchlist just from Prime Video.

A while back I when signed up for Perplexity Pro I was chuffed not only by its excellent and fast responses but also by the fact I could speak as I normally do and it would transcribe what I said and then get to work.A few weeks ago I stopped dictating and returned to typing.It became apparent to me that even though Perplexity rarely made a...

Wrote Tracy Allison in the Guardian:...................................This Pop-Up Blackout Tent Looks Like The Grim Reaper's Hood But This Personal Sleep Sanctuary Is My Secret To A Better RestA few months ago, I was out for my friend Blaise’s going-away drinks, and towards the end of the evening, the conversation shifted to a roundtable of...

I'm never not amazed at how many movies exist and continue to be made.Hundreds, thousands every year, judging from what I see when I lazily surf Netflix and Amazon to see what's out there.You could spend your entire life looking at their listings and occasionally stopping to find out more about those that look particularly interesting.Using "If...

Inspired by old crime TV, British designer Alex Carpenter's Drop Dead Rug was such a hit at the London Design Festival in 2005 that he took it into production.Mimicking the shape of "an unfortunate soul which may have come to pass right there on your living room floor with their silhouette remaining as evidence," the throw is a dark red felt with...

Mom always said to leave them out to cool to room temperature before putting them in the fridge.Mom also said that reading in bad light would hurt your eyes.Mom was wrong both times.Maybe more — but let's not be haters: after all, look how well you turned out.Erm... maybe it's time to move on.Okay then, on to Anahad O'Connor's "Really?"...

"List as many animals as you can in 1 minute."

'Panama' entered the chart June 23, 1984 at #52, peaked August 18, 1984 at #13, and left the chart October 6, 1984 aftera 15-week chart run.FunFact: There are 22 recorded versions featuring different lead singers.

More here and here.

When someone asks "Where's that from?" regarding something somebody just said, reply "The Bible or Shakespeare."You'll be right 50% of the time.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

So simple even I can do it: Wipe the inside of the glasses with a cloth or paper towel.A report by French scientists published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that wiped glasses show "an excess of effervescence" due to the hollow cellulose fibers that get displaced from a cloth or towel acting as "nucleation" (bubble...

Take a picture with this camera — it "thinks" and then prints out a poem about the scene.$349.

Above, "Moby Dick."No matter what you read, there you are.

After an August 1 tip (below)from madamjujujive, grand panjandrum of EVERLASTING BLÖRT, one of the very longest lived websites still standing (since 2001!), I took a flutter on Wrap City Chips.Long crunchy story short: I agree with her assessment.Full disclosure: I love potato chips and have long pursued and tried zillions of brands in search of...

Say what?joe, you've been watching too many concert films.Casio's history can be traced back to its roots: the "ring cigarette holder" (top) invented by Kashio [see what they did there?] Seisakusho.Launched in 1946, it caused a sensation in Japan in the early postwar period, achieving great commercial success and providing crucial financial...

What lies beneath."This map show the predicted density of underground networks created by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These networks form one of Earth's circulatory systems, moving massive amounts of carbon, nutrients, and water across plant communities."

One of these images is of Europa, Jupiter's ice moon: the other eight are frying pans.Can you pick out Europa?Hint: frying pans don't have impact craters.[via NASA]

This new concert film was the first time I'd ever heard a Billie Eilish song.Long story short: I loved the movie.I have a jones for live concert films, most of all those featuring Taylor Swift but also past ones like "Stop Making Sense," "Gimme Shelter," "Woodstock," "The Song Remains The Same," etc.James Cameron — yes, that James Cameron — was...

How many do you mess up on a regular basis, never knowing how dumb you sound?

Say what?From websites:........................................Conceal the clutter and haphazard appearance of your surge protectors.Don't be dismayed about tangled wires, bulky plugs, and bright power indicator lights.Simply close the lid and make the mess disappear.Two lids provide access to power switch or outlets and protect from dust.14.5" x...

Make sure you livestream it to your friends back on Earth (allow 3-24 minutes travel time, depending on where the two planets are in their respective orbits).NASA's Curiosity Rover saw this on June 11, 2026.It initially captured 11 individual photos of a sand-capped butte, nicknamed "Miraflores," with its mast camera.The isolated feature is about...

Just the thing to help you avoid doing what you're supposed to be doing.

From websites:...............................This unique access hatch featuring a six-part cover over a built-in spiral staircase is located on Bahnhofsplatz/Gustav-Stresemann-Ring in Wiesbaden, Germany.It opens down into the historic Salzbachkanal (Salzbach Canal) — the main underground stormwater and drainage sewer system for Wiesbaden's city...

Out there on the patio — it's a bird, it's a plane, it's... my can holder?Yes.I saw it in a Seven-11 many years ago and instantly raced to grab it before anyone else could.No better summary exists of my take on things — then or now.For $1.99 or whatever it cost I get at least one laugh and many smiles each day, every time I see it — which is...

4) Guess the animal as the image zooms outvia Fable“Fable” is a fun game: It starts with a close-up zoom of an animal, and it slowly zooms out. Your goal is to guess the correct animal as quickly as possible.It’s fun! By forcing you to look so closely at the zoomed-in features of these critters, it gets you to see them with fresh eyes … a nice...

Using high-definition open source videos and photos from NASA, John Boswell created this 8-minute-long video recap of this past April's Artemis II mission that executed a flyby of the moon, marking the furthest man has ever been from Earth.Can't wait to watch this on Vision Pro's YouTube app: the device's micro-OLED panels each produce a 4K image...

Have one on me.[via Clive Thompson]

Simone Giertz is a designer and hardware hacker famous for doing hilarious, offbeat projects. (Lots of videos of her builds on YouTube.)Her latest? A plant inside a bell jar that contains a grow-light. There’s a slot at the bottom of the bell jar, into which she slides her phone. The grow-light only goes on if the phone is in the slot — so, in...

In 1911, a stick of gum made by the Common Sense Gum Company came with this handy guide to kissing a girl.[via The Presurfer and vintag.es]

Scott Bradlee and his Postmodern Jukebox take us through the history of tap dancing since 1899, with dancer and choreographer Sarah Reich shuffling and tapping her way through various songs, from 1899's "Maple Leaf Rag" to 2014's "Uptown Funk."[via The Presurfer]

It's that of Greenland.Designed by Greenland politician Thue Christiansen, it was officially adopted in 1985 and features the Danish colors.The white is symbolic of the ice and snow that covers most of the island, and the red is symbolic of the sun.

Res ipsa loquitur.

See what I did there?

By Laura Moorhead, this appeared on the last page of the August 2006 issue of Wired Magazine.

From websites:.............................Chess TeacherAt last — chess pieces with the rules for how they move printed right on them!Now everyone can play.You get a complete set of plastic chess pieces with print-on rules for moving, a chess board, and an instruction booklet — which you won't need because the pieces are so clearly...

"A tricky wordplay game."Fair warning....

From my longtime Crack bookofjoe Mississippi Correspondent©®™ Shawn Lea comes a characteristically deep diving investigation into the little-known origins of two great vowel-deprived comic characters of the 20th century, Mr. Mxyztptlk (above) and Joe Btfsplk (below).Her report follows — and you can bet your bottom dollar that not one word has...

From the website:.................Create your own unique Darth Tater character with interchangeable parts.Includes a variety of accessories to customize your potato figure.Perfect for imaginative play and creativity.Suitable for children and collectors alike.A fun twist on the classic Mr. Potato Head toy.For ages 2+ so all my readers can have...

I've had this 2025 film directed by Oliver Assayas on my watchlist for months and finally took a flutter last night.It's excellent!I had no idea the cast included my favorite actor in the world, Jeffrey Wright (whose portrayal of a conflicted high-level CIA executive in "The Agency" [Season 2] was sensational), and Alicia Vikander as a punk...

Spectacular.Archaeologists in southwestern Germany have unearthed two miniature bird figurines carved from mammoth ivory, among the smallest and most delicate examples of Ice Age art ever found.The two ancient figurines, each about 0.8 inches long and weighing about 1 gram apiece, were discovered in 2025 in the Aurignacian layers of Hohle Fels...

"Try rotating the globe!"Fair warning: there goes the day.

The epiphany cited in the headline above came to me sometime in the past few months.I was chatting with my neighbor from across the street while we were out walking her dog, and I told her that when I was out running through our hood one day and saw a pretty big pothole [above], it occurred to me that after driving over it at high speed once, you...

Wrote Peter Gostev: "LLMs seem to really like the color blue, humans like it too but nowhere near as much."In the figure above, human color preferences by country in the top panel; LLM preferences in the bottom half.More here.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

I noticed this last night for the umpteenth time while watching Apple TV's excellent 10-part production of "Cape Fear."I didn't keep count but as best I can recall, phones and their information were the focus/cause/driver of around a quarter of onscreen time.Above and below, two screenshots from the trailer.Compare that to the superb 1991 movie...

"Where in the world, and when, does this human artifact belong?""Each day, ten objects. Guess where and when each was made. Then see how you ranked against everyone else who played today."Fair warning.

See them here.Fun, huh?How about 150 more?Wait a sec – what's that song I'm hearing?

From websites:......................................Sets up in 2 seconds flat.Accomodates two adults.Combines excellent ventilation and light blocking for a good night's sleep.......................................$149.

A long time ago on an internet far, far different than today's, bookofjoe was way more popular than it is today.I'm talking an average of 15,000 page views/day in 2010-2012 compared to around 500/day now.Some days there were over 100,000!A lot of great things resulted, one being that so many readers sent me stuff of interest to feature that it...

"Animated knot-tying for boating, climbing, fishing, scouting, search-and-rescue, and arborists."That oughta cover it.Remember: "Knots weaken rope."

Why go to all the trouble and expense of acquiring and maintaining a boat when you can live the life aquatic on the cheap on dry land?Below, 21 tips on how to simulate a floating palace at home sweet home.1. Sleep on the shelf in your closet.2. Replace the closet door with a curtain.3. Four hours after you go to sleep, have your wife whip open...

From websites:.............................Flexible magnetic tape instantly creates a magnetic backing on photos, mementos, shopping lists, notepads, and more!Now you can make anything "stick" with this revolutionary magnetized adhesive tape that comes in its own easy-to-use dispenser.Reusable tape won't leave marks; adheres to refrigerator,...

Select a location and Bob's your uncle.About this site and how it works.Fair warning: there goes the day.

The great late 19th-century British neuroscientists Gilbert & Sullivan penned these words, sung by Little Buttercup and Captain in H.M.S. Pinafore."Skim milk masquerades as cream."**The next line

The main event here.About Anatoly Zenkov's Button Stealer

From this brief (144 pages), wonderful 2004 book:.....................The reading of books is growing arithmetically; the writing of books is growing exponentially. If our passion for writing goes unchecked, in the near future there will be more people writing books than reading them.At the beginning of the twenty-first century, our universal...

From websites:.................................Slip this lovely ring on any finger to easily snip any type of thread — simply, smoothly, and quickly.Provides fingertip convenience while sewing or crafting, eliminating the tedious search for scissors.Brass with stainless steel blade.*Adjusts to fit most fingers.1"...

This is astounding.I stumbled on this hidden feature last night when I was looking for a movie I'd seen reviewed favorably but couldn't locate on my usual streaming suspects.That film — "Sudden Outbursts of Emotion," a 2024 title from Finland — is on YouTube, where it's not free but rather rentable.And very good, BTW.In the course of looking for...

More about Judson Frondorf here.

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From websites:.................................Everyone needs a giant pry bar lying around the garage.58" —nearly 5 feet! — long with a curved end, made of heat-treated steel.Strikeable cap and shock-absorbing ergonomic handle.Even if you only ever need it once, you will be glad you have it.*.................................$108.99.*Full...

I noted a few months ago that Perplexity Pro is the best $17/month I've ever spent.It deserves an encore here for its performance in an area in which I'm weak, namely, techie stuff.Since forever, whenever I tried to use the "Duplicate" function for an image on my desktop, I've received an error message telling me I don't have permission to...

Long story short: The mysterious sound known as The Hum has been reported worldwide for decades, yet its source remains impossible to find. Researches tested whether people who hear it have exceptional low-frequency hearing or measurable sounds produced inside their ears, but neither explanation fits most subjects. The leading conclusion is that...

Since I learned to read I always looked up words I don't know.I believe that habit played no small part in my score on the English part of the SAT.I continued that habit through college, med school, my professional life as an anesthesiologist and expert medical-legal analyst, and afterward — until about two years ago.Out of the blue, one day,...

Constant readers will recall the sublime 2004 "Hairy Chair" (below),featured here on July 15, 2026.It's covered in strips of shredded newspaper.Now comes upscale furniture design house Moooi with the Hortensia Petal Chair (top and below), a 2018 design by Andrés Reisinger and Júlia Esqué.Made in the Netherlands, it's covered with 30,000 laser-cut...

A complete digital version of "The Naturalist's Library," William Jardine's 40-volume series on natural history, including restored versions of each of the 1300+ illustrations in the library.Fair warning: there goes the day.

Something wonderful is happening: more and more new movies and shows can be rented or purchased on YouTube, such that you don't have to subscribe to streaming services to watch them.This strange film is one of them: it's available pretty much everywhere.I've read lots about how this movie went from nothing to massive hit seemingly overnight,...

This is the best news of the year to date.I love Cup Noodles and could live on a steady diet of Beef flavor.Long story short: Available in Japan starting this past Monday, July 20, 2026, they come in two flavors: Chicken Salt Lemon and Spicy Kimchi (top).Nissin spent five years in their skunkworks perfecting noodles that plump up perfectly using...

From the website: "Paste or write anything. Each sentence will be highlighted by its length so you can see the rhythm of your prose. A wall of one color is monotony; a healthy mix is music."

Uncovered enables you to find your next book with everything that usually helps you decide stripped away: no cover, no title, no bestseller sticker, no celebrity book club, no BookTok trend.Instead, you read a book's opening sentences and then answer the only question that matters: do you want to keep reading?Reminds me of "A first impression is...

xkcd aka Randall Munroe needs no introduction.Only this week did I learn he also has a YouTube channel.He started it on August 31, 2023, and currently has 1.33 million subscribers.Huh.I started mine on March 26, 2006 and currently have 10,600 subscribers.Diff'rent strokes.Fair warning: there goes the rest of your life.

Res ipsa loquitur.From the website: "If you're in the East Lansing, Michigan area, stop by and visit the Moist Towelette Museum. It's located in Room 100 at the Abrams Planetarium on the campus of Michigan State University. Moist Towelette Museum Hours: 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, Tuesday through Friday."

After Part 1 appeared a week ago Friday, my longtime Crack Colorado Correspondent©®™ weighed in (above).It's amazing to me how over the years he's become expert at mirroring my thought process: what he wrote is exactly how I'd have described the phenomenon he called "Replacement theory," which I've experienced repeatedly over the decades.Long...

We only met for a moment,Beside a lichened wall,In fact, to be perfectly truthful,We didn’t meet at all.The road was a ‘B’, and narrow,The bend was an ‘S’, and smart;I was passing a grocer’s van,You a pony and cart.I may have touched the grocer,It’s hard to be sure, of course.At an aggregate speed of a hundredWe certainly scared the horse.We...

Shortverse: Universe of Short Film is a superb site for watching, sharing, and connecting around short films.For those who've had it up to here with YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Reels, and their ilk.One more thing: free, the way we like it.

Over the decades that I've owned a cat (Kitty 2007-2022; Vanta [above] 2022-present) I've noticed that I almost always end up tossing away food left over from the previous day when it comes time to put fresh food in their bowls.I wouldn't dream of topping up Vanta's bowl by adding fresh food to yesterday's: she deserves nothing but the best and...

In 1936 Bud Abbott and Lou Costello formed a comedy duo.In 1938 they performed "Who's On First?" on Kate Smith's radio show.Over the next two decades, until they broke up their act in 1956, Abbott and Costello performed the routine at least 10,000 times — some sources estimate in excess of 15,000.They insisted they never did it exactly the same...

Here's a terrific film I stumbled upon in my endless wandering amongst the zillions of titles on streaming sites.It's about a private investigator named Barber who finds himself increasingly threatened by his investigation into the disappearance of a teenaged girl.I loved that it's set in Dublin, not a very common movie location.The cast — none...

Above, a June 21, 2006 post from PHARMAGOSSIP, long since vanished into the ether (assuming, that is, that you still believe in the ether).Below, detail.Those were the days.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

"Book Corners is a community map for little free libraries and neighborhood book exchange spots. The goal is simple: help people discover nearby places where they can leave a book or pick one up. Every library submitted by users is reviewed before being listed, so the map stays useful, trustworthy, and welcoming for everyone."

I first happened on these a long time ago, then forgot about them until recently when I saw an ad or mention somewhere.I love dark, overbaked things: Extra Toasty Cheez-Its are alway in stock here.I took a flutter on these pretzels and they're just as good as I remember.Six 11-oz. [a little over 4 lbs.] bags cost $26.99.

Up top in the headline, the two labels used by Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Peacock et al to group movies and shows I want to watch.These lists have gotten way out of control: last night I counted over 75 titles between all of them.Whenever I want to find something to watch I end up clicking through all of them, trying to find one...

Every article is a building whose height is determined by how many people have read it.FunFact: The all-time most read article on Wikipedia is "List of deaths by year" (below), according to Perplexity Pro.Fair warning: there goes the rest of your life.[via Dense Discovery]

From Open Culture:It’s a good bet that your first box of crayons or watercolors was a simple affair of six or so colors… just like the palette belonging to Amenemopet, vizier to Pharaoh Amenhotep III (c.1391 — c.1354 BC), a pleasure-loving patron of the arts whose rule coincided with a period of great prosperity.Amenemopet’s well-used artist’s...

Fredkin's paradox: The more equally attractive two alternatives seem, the harder it can be to choose between them — no matter that, to the same degree, the choice can only matter less. Thus, a decision-making agent might spend the most time on the least important decisions.It was proposed by American physicist Edward Fredkin.The paradox arises...

"The online Museum of the Human Web features over 90 artefacts spanning more than 50 years of internet history, honoring an era when networks, sites, and memes were still built by human hands rather than algorithms."[via Dense Discovery]

This groundbreaking classic, published in 1956, startled me when I first read it in the final quarter of the twentieth century.Time for another reading.You can too!Free, the way we like it.

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Pretty much right on.Bonus: here's 99% of a dermatology residency, as related by a senior dermatology resident back when I was rotating through derm in med school:"Wet on the dry, dry on the wet, if that doesn't work, steroids."I suspect it's still effective 95% of the time.

This clock perfectly captures my experience all the years I was in school.So, so bored.From the designer's website: "'Doing Time' makes reference to the scratched wall tally of a prisoner who measures the passing of time in an attempt to preserve his humanity."$37.58.

A week ago I featured David Rumsey's nonpareil map collection and associated website.The collection itself, over 200,000 maps, is located at the David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford University.Up top is a full-length 90-minute documentary film about him which premiered at the Torino Film Festival on November 30, 2023, and was released to the...

It was introduced in April of 2006 at the "Open Your Mind" exhibition in Milan but after twenty years the designer has yet to find a manufacturer.Wrote Pezzini (pictured above and below with his creation): "It invites only one to sit yet suggests others are welcome, though there is no practical place provided. Sunny Day Bench is a metaphor for...

Around ten years ago it occurred to me that when I can't find something, it may not be because I forgot where I put it.What if things simply disappear from my perceived world, only to reemerge later?Crazy, right?Time and again I've looked high and low for something I know was somewhere a moment ago because I saw it — but it's not there!I find it...

Fellow southpaws know what a pain in the butt it is to use a conventional spiral notebook, having to contort your writing hand so as to minimize the pain of the spiral pressing into the underside of your wrist.Here's an assortment of six (6) double spiral notebooks in six (6) colors, each with 50 8"x 5" sheets.$30.15.

Smaller than a bread box — wait a sec, joe, your wires are crossed.Again.The Egyptian tortoise is smaller than a raspberry at birth; fully grown, it will measure between 3 and 5 inches long.Critically endangered in the wild, its only hope for survival from extinction is continued successful breeding of the species in zoos.Its native habitat is...

From Open Culture:.....................................Albert Einstein became one of the world’s great science communicators by choice, not necessity, and found ways to explain his complex theories to children and the elderly alike. But perhaps, if he'd had his way, he would rather have avoided words altogether, and preferred acrobatic feats of...

This 2004 piece by the Belgian designer employs an ordinary chair covered with a "new skin" of paper strips from a shredder.

"Every dot on this globe is a real person's voice — a short story about a place, a memory, a feeling. Tap one and hear someone from the other side of the planet."If you like, you can record your own voice for others to hear.Back story here.

wff

It's a new feature making its debut today.Aren't you excited?Oh.That's OK, never mind.This inaugural installment is entitled:How To Accept A ComplimentHave you ever noticed how most people, when given a compliment, say things like, "It's about time you noticed," or "It's nothing," or "No, not really?"That's rude.Because what they're doing is...

I posted this video to YouTube in 2022 and it keeps on giving: about once a month someone comments on it, apparently surprised that it really works.Over 21,000 views since it went up.This just in today:

When the first time you knew you had an AdSense for YouTube account is when you're notified (above and below) this morning that it's defunct.No worries — as long as they don't suspend my YouTube channel, where over 10,000 happy subscribers tune in daily to see what my beloved calico cat Vanta has gotten up to.

The Economist offers up its annual assessment of paradise and hellholes.There must be peeps reading this who live in some of these places: what say you?

This bookshelf appears to suspend a stack of books in mid-air against a wall, without any support.Mounts to almost any wall with included hardware in minutes.Metal powder-coated with silver finish.Set of 3 —Small: $25.49; Large: $45.Both here.

The New York-based designer and creative director's online weather report not only gives you the temperature, humidity, "feels like," and visibility for major cities around the world 24/7/365, but it also lets you use your location for a more precise look."It's good news week."""What's the weather like today?"Doh!*

This excellent four-part 2024 BBC series now on Starz features the nonpareil Rebecca Hall as a young teacher in England who begins hearing a low-pitched hum inaudible to those around her.It gradually takes over her life and leads her down a rabbit hole of uncertainty and confusion and ultimately to personal catastrophe.Each of the four episodes...

In 1936 Noguchi, inspired like Fuller by Einstein's theory of relativity, worked on his first major public sculpture in Mexico.It was a seventy-two-foot-long wall, part of which would be a figure of an Indian boy observing Einstein's equation for energy.Noguchi forgot the exact equation and wired to Fuller for help.Fuller sent back a telegram...

I've been looking at these in catalogs for years but only yesterday did I realize that many people have brick interior walls and so might find them of use.My outside walls are almost entirely brick but hanging things from them doesn't appeal to me.From websites:Hang almost anything on brick, without drilling or hammeringSpring-steel brick hangers...

A New York Times science Q&A by the nonpareil C. Claiborne Ray gave a clear, succinct explanation of something many non-radiologist doctors don't know.Here's the piece.Magnetic MetalsQ. I have a titanium screw in my skull for a bone-anchored hearing aid. Does this mean I cannot have an M.R.I.? What elements make something attractive to a...

Not The Onion — this is for realz.Issued by Turkmenistan in 1999, there are nine different stamps, each labeled with a value of 50.00 M and featuring the actress in one of her movie roles.The sheet of nine in mint condition cost $6.58 when issued.You can get a set for $2 (+ $5.67 shipping from the UK) here.

Reading Amy X. Wang's recent New York Times story about the latest sleep enhancing technology, this sentence caught my attention: "Some 42 per cent of Americans use a wearable fitness tracker — like an Apple Watch or Oura Ring — that alerts them to how they've been sleeping."Once you decide to measure your sleep quality and quantity, you...

[1917 map of Berlin]Wrote Kevin Kelly:...............................Imagine having access to all the ancient maps of the world, and being able to explore them with AI, including searching the words etched in the maps, or concepts about the maps — for instance "give me all the maps showing the routes of Roman aqueducts."All this and more are...

Years before boj's August 2004 inception there was EVERLASTING BLÖRT.Remarkably, it persists!You could look it up.I have a special warm place in my psyche and heart for EB because since forever it's featured boj on its homepage blogroll aka "smorgasblort" (above) and from time to time reposts choice items from boj.I know this because when I look...

It's taken me decades of watching him play the same disheveled, goofy, stoner-ish, mildly out-of-it character in countless films to appreciate just how natural he is on screen.The penny dropped last night while I watched his latest, "Crime 101," in which he plays a burned-out Los Angeles police detective trying to solve a series of seemingly...

Last month when I received SHOKZ Bluetooth headphones for my birthday from someone who knows me very well, my first thought was "Why did you bother?"He knows I'm a card-carrying Apple fanboi since forever: why waste money on something I won't use?After two weeks looking at them all charged up and ready to go, I decided to take them out for a run...

1. "Mission Earth" — L. Ron Hubbard: 1,200,000 words2. "Sironia, Texas" — Madison Cooper: 1,100,000 words3. "Clarissa" — Samuel Richardson: 969,000 words4. "Poor Fellow My Country" — Xavier Herbert: 850,000 words5. "Miss MacIntosh, My Darling" — Marguerite Young: 700,000 words6. "A Suitable Boy" — Vikram Seth: 593,674 words7. "Atlas Shrugged" —...

Long story short: it doesn't.Those who believe an unhappy person doesn't do as good a job as one delighted with things as they are — I believe they are simply out of touch with the real world.Many of the excellent performers I know personally in various fields — as disparate as law, gardening, sales, waitressing, medicine, airline pilot, coffee...

From Delish:.................................Pringles Turned Three Fan-Favorite Flavors Into Hot Dog Buns — And Stuffed Them In Its Iconic CansThere are only two chances to grab the strangest cookout upgrade of summer.I’ve opened enough cans of Pringles to know exactly what should come out of one. A hot dog bun was never on the list.And yet,...

As described in a post on Newsweek's website by Tina Peng, they follow.Gym SinsFitness club managers dish about their members' most obnoxious habitsIt was perhaps the most extreme case of gym rage — ever. While taking a Manhattan spin class, Christopher Carter became so annoyed by the unrelenting grunts and shouts of a fellow spinner that he...

"Designed with comfort in mind, this bamboo rolling pin makes dough prep smoother, steadier, and easier on your wrists." "Especially helpful for those with limited wrist mobility."$20.

""You've heard of Manhattanhenge: Now find a Henge near you!"""Discover stunning moments when the sun or moon aligns perfectly with city streets and buildings."Free — the way we like it.[via Clive Thompson]

Shankar Vedantam's Washington Post story about aggressive driving and road rage explains why people who put bumper stickers on their cars — not just ones like that pictured above but also seemingly crunchy ones like "Visualize Whirled Peas" — are "far more likely than those who do not personalize their cars to use their vehicles to express...

From the website:.....................This playful optical illusion looks ready to pull a hot pan from the oven but it's actually a sturdy concrete trivet with a cork base.Handcrafted in Texas in small batches from concrete and recycled glass terrazzo.12.25"L x 7"W x 1"H.....................$95.

Yet another chapter in my life-long delusion that if only I have the right pair of shoes, running will be transformed from a dull tiring chore to a good time.Just because it hasn't happened yet over fifty years doesn't mean it won't happen later this week.Allez!Wait a sec — what's that music I'm hearing?Not that — this!

Res ipsa loquitur.

"Intertapes is an updating collection of found cassette tapes from around the world. The audio fragments include: voice memos, field recordings, mixtapes, bootlegs, and more."Think of it as a numbers station on acid.Free, the way we like it.More?There's also a YouTube channel.

Yes, it's been too long since I've had one of these epiphanies.Just in from my peabrain, the following: Double-sided Post-itsThat's it?joe, you're saying that's the entirety of your invention?That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.What good is a double-sided Post-it?Ah.As Benjamin Franklin remarked in 1783, "What is the use of a...

From the website:..........................Avoid the stress of trying to thread a needle with this easy-to-use gadget, which threads both large and thin needles. Designed to operate with a push of a button.Does single or double threading. Colors may vary.Made in Italy..........................$6.

Confused by latitude and longitude?I was too for many years until one day while goofing off and doing something close to nothing (but different than the day before) the penny dropped and I figured out a foolproof way to remember which is which.I'll tell you about it at this time tomorrow.Just kidding.Latitude: the lines are flat —they run...

From websites:...................................Here's a memorable way to give a little "green" for birthdays, holidays, graduations, and more.Simply fold this cash dispenser together and tape your bills end-to-end using the easy-peel removable tape that's included.Then roll the bills loosely and insert in the box for a gift that's fun to give —...

Created by Matteo Pini who wrote, "Una spremuta d'arancia tutte le mattine assicura il necessario apporto giornaliero di vitamina C."*Swiss Miss Tina Roth Eisenberg featured it, writing "This is brilliant."Concur.  *An orange juice every morning ensures the necessary daily intake of vitamin C

• 11" x 11"• Bright yellow• 30 sheets/pad; 1 pad/pack$8.39.

That's the short of it.Anahad O'Conner's New York Times "Really?" feature has the details, and follows.The Claim: Ice Is Good for a Skin BurnThe Facts: Like a cup of tea for a cough, a batch of ice for a sunburn may seem like the perfect remedy for millions of Americans who will spend a little too much time in the sun this summer.But many home...

Fair warning: prolly few of the 14,131 peeps whose webcams these are know that they're broadcasting live 24/7/365 around the world.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Unlike commercials on conventional TV since forever, Peacock's commercials are accompanied by a small yellow circle in the lower left hand corner of the screen which encloses a second-by-second countdown timer showing exactly how long till the commercial ends.Perhaps it's the participatory gamification that ensues: I try to precisely unmute the...

From Dense Discovery:.............................InkField treats drawing as an event rather than an image — every stroke, pause, and gesture is recorded and can replayed stroke-by-stroke.Its ink physics mimic watercolor bleed, dry brush, and salt crystallization.You can also download anyone's recording from the gallery and paint on top of it,...

Long story short: Who hasn't been talking on the phone when all of a sudden the call drops, only for it to connect again after a few seconds of silent dead air?The other party blithely dismisses the outage, remarking "The call switched to my car's Bluetooth."Same thing when they arrive and turn off the car and the call goes dead for a few seconds...

I just subscribed to this app — you can too!It's taken China by storm and earlier this year it was #6 on the U.S. iPhone app store.You could look it up.Long story short: For $1.99/month you get up to 4 (four) peeps to receive your one-touch daily check-ins — and react with alarm if you miss two days in a row such that they get an alert that...

I must've seen it mentioned somewhere but I can't recall where.In keeping with my newly adopted "no spoilers in boj" policy, I offer this link to a review by NPR.That Mechner created the iconic game "Prince of Persia," released for Apple II in June 1989, was enough to make me want to read his multigenerational family saga.

YouTube description:.............................At six months old, Emperor penguin chicks march to the ocean.Most jump just two feet off the ice to take their first swim.Since 2009, satellites recorded evidence that some head towards sheer ice cliffs.What happens next remained a mystery — until cinematographer Bertie Gregory sent a drone to...

From Dense Discovery: ................Loupe for iOS shows you exactly what any app can read about you/your device without ever asking for permission — from time zone and keyboard languages to paired accessory names and installed apps.It's a free tool that shows how seemingly innocuous details combine into something that identifies you enough to...

A few more takes on time:"If time travel is possible, then there is no such thing as time." — Kurt Gödel"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once." — John Archibald Wheeler"Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it." — Leonardo da Vinci"Time is money." — Benjamin Franklin"All those moments will be lost in time... like tears...

These days online typing tutors are a dime a dozen. I remember fondly my lessons with "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing," which came on a CD.Worked great improving my accuracy 30 years after my in-person Introductory Typing course at Sawyer School of Business in L.A."Keybr is a smarter-than-average typing tutor that skips the generic lessons and...

YouTube description:..............................A pineapple grown in Costa Rica can sell for $400 in the U.S. but it's illegal to buy, sell, or even grow in Costa Rica itself.That's the consequence of a mistake Del Monte made in the 1990s, when it spent 30 years developing the Golden Pineapple, tripled U.S. sales, and then lost control of its...

That's different.When I saw this a couple years ago I instantly wanted one.Just the thing if you're in Human Resources and conducting job interviews: keep it on your desk and the moment each candidate sits down, flip this puppy upside down and watch their reaction.Easy peasy way to sort the wheat from the chaff.But I digress.It wasn't easy for me...

From Abbas Asaria's Guardian story:...........................................If you have ever eaten a meal in a bar, cafe, or restaurant in Spain and grabbed a napkin from the ubiquitous small metal dispenser on the table. you will be familiar with the most intriguing feature of the wafer-thin servilletas: how utterly functionally useless they...

A terrific 2021 thriller that seamlessly integrates a great cast and a love story into a gripping film centered on the sudden catastrophic failures of hundreds of offshore drilling platforms off the west coast of Norway in the North Sea.I watched it on Prime Video last week, renting it for $4.99.While preparing this post, my Crack Research...

After nearly 26 years of daily blogging, with over 44,000 posts published, last week one Ben Behnke sent me the reply up top in response to my submission of bookofjoe for listing on Bubbles, his website featuring a curated list of blogs.Oh well.I had a look at my referrer stats just for lulz and found this:Bottom line: after jumping through the...

Finally.Features and Details:• Lightweight• Travel friendly• Anti-slipp [sic] grip• Safe 3-layer mesh design• Requires 2 (two) AA batteries (not included)$9.99.

Here are your next 100 one-time use passwords.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Here's a superb new 8-episode show premiering on Apple TV.It came in under my radar since I hadn't read a word about it before stumbling on it while cruising the Apple TV website.It's a spy thriller that's extremely twisty, without the violence and blood that oftimes accompanies such productions.With each episode layer upon layer of subterfuge...

Wrote Kottke: "LLMs encode their knowledge and reasoning through billions of numbers called 'the weights.' 'In the weights' means that a model is able to recall someone without using tools like web search."I'm big (top) in the eyes of LLM/AI — way bigger than Joe Biden!Ready? Set? Go!Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Res ipsa loquitur.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

I just finished this extraordinary novel, the first one this year that was so engrossing I abandoned all the things I was supposed to do for two straight days so as to read it nonstop.I invoked SlowRead©®™ at around page 30 (of 400) so as to make it last as long as possible.Note: rather than tell you what it's about, instead I choose to link to...

$1.05 in 2024, 70 cents last year, 35 cents so far this year.Long story short: Don't quit your day job!Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing!

This is a whole different level of functionality and elegance, a step up from the shiny cheapo clippers with a useless file in a clear plastic bin next to the cash register at CVS et al.I've had mine for nearly 5 (five) years (top) and it still functions perfectly, precise and just right in my hand.It cuts rather than breaks the nail, which makes...

This is one of my favorite things.What a luxury, to be able to buy any book I want to read.Back in the day I used to check out the maximum number allowed at one time from the Milwaukee County Public Library.Weekly half mile long walks carrying them back and forth — no fun in winter.Now the library comes to me: what a great world.I like to have at...

This terrific 2008 film knocked me for a loop from the opening scene and kept me totally enthralled throughout its 120-minute run time.It made big stars of Dev Patel and Freida Pinto.The soundtrack alone is sensational: I listen to songs from it on a regular basis.You can too!

Res ipsa loquitur.

Wrote Mark Frauenfelder:..........................................Far Out Company is a curated archive of 1960s-70s counterculture visual art: concert posters, TV shows, underground newspapers, commune newsletters, comix, hippie business advertisements, and album art.I love the DIY design aesthetic of this era: hand-lettered type, day-glo colors,...

Every year or so I replay James Altucher's genius formulation — which originally appeared in his long-defunct Financial Times column — of how to say no without finding yourself hemming and hawing and abba abba abba-ing.When someone who's asked you to do something hears this response they're startled and silent.Then they capitulate without you...

From Kottke:....................................An amazing visual field guide to the chili peppers of the world by Erik Gauger.Capsaicin, the compound that makes chili peppers hot, is an evolutionary filter designed to punish animals and reward birds.Mammals feel it as pain because mammal digestion destroys seeds.Birds lack the receptor that...

Many reading this have never read a science fiction novel.I know this to be true because over the years I've asked people if they've read any science fiction and many say "No."If you're willing to dip a proverbial toe in the sci-fi water but have no idea where to start, I'm gonna make it easy for you: below, a list of 11 great sci-fi novels I've...

If, like mine, some of your running shoes employ a sock-like upper, you will have doubtless found that they can be devilishly hard to put on, especially if you're wearing thick socks such as Thor-Los.After fighting with mine for years, it occurred to me that perhaps an old-fashioned shoehorn could help.Long story short: mos def!As any fool can...

From MedicalXpress:............................................Some people occasionally hear a low buzzing or humming sound that doesn't have a clear source. An estimated 2–4% of the world's population hear this. Scientists have been trying to figure out for decades where this sound comes from.Some people find the sound annoying but can live with...

Ever stick your AirPods or AirPods Pro in the wrong ear(s)?I have — many times.I'm betting most other people have too.Sometimes I don't realize it till I start running and one or both of the erroneously situated devices fall out.It's almost impossible to distinguish Left from Right just looking at them: that's because the identifying L and R...

This is the only daily comic strip I read and that's been the case for years.It hits my sweet spot.Back in the day as a boy I read every comic strip in the Milwaukee Journal every day with close attention: there was a full page of them, two side-by-side columns as best I recall, around 20-30 titles."L'il Abner" is the one I recall most vividly;...

From the website:.......................................The Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group classified occlupanids by the shape of their oral groove.A sampling of standardized oral groove morphologies are presented here, in hopes of leading the enthusiastic occlupanidologist towards a positive ID of their specimen.Note that some taxonomic...

Res ipsa loquitur.Latin's not so great? No worries: Remove notes from the side rather than the bottom.

When the heart stops, its business concludedthere’s not much to do, however deluded;immortal longings, like belongings,abandon their fate at the turnstile’s gate.

Alas, I've NEVER felt like running since I started 50 years ago: it's boring.No runner's high has ever permeated my pea brain and I doubt one ever will.I've developed a few strategies which work nicely to delay getting off my fat lazy butt and opening the door and getting moving.Here are a few, in no particular order:• Decide that you need to...

No, I am not speaking as a customer but, rather, as one who has over the years aided and abetted the performance of countless such surgeries.Just as Lord Bismarck remarked, "A person should never see how his laws or his sausages are made," so with the performance of elective jaw surgery.This is one of the more closely held secrets of modern...

Wrote Kottke:................................In March 1976, Talking Heads played a show at The Kitchen in NYC; you can watch the entire show recorded from two angles in this video. The band had formed the year before and was more than a year away from recording and releasing their debut album.It’s a great insight as to what these early Talking...

This real-time graphic lets you check the status of over 100 major sites at once.Free, the way we like it.

From the website: ......................................Are you curious about why a clicky pen... clicks? How a Zippo lighter flips open? What lives inside a PEZ dispenser?"You've come to the right place!I've illustrated tear-downs and break-downs of everyday products that you may have taken for granted.Take a look inside and see and understand...

This looked interesting when I read about on June 4, the day it was released.From the announcement:......................................We're launching Search Profiles, a new way for publishers and creators to shape their presence on Search.Search profiles give publishers and creators a central place to showcase their latest articles, videos,...

aA picture is worth a thousand words.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

I've only noticed this asynchrony in recent years and it's getting worse.It happens when I watch sports/movies/shows/news: everything.I'm certain I'm not the only person to have noticed this: I'd be very surprised if a lot of — if not most — people have the same problem.I asked Perplexity Pro for an explanation: it...

Wrote one traveler, "I've spent a lot of time going to places like airports and museums with security measures that often flag innocuous things and make you take them off or remove them from your pockets or bags. Get a belt with a plastic buckle online or from an outdoor clothing store and that's one less pain point."Zillions to choose from...

Finally.From the website:

Back in the day commonplace books and journals and diaries were ubiquitous.Now historical curiosities. they've been replaced by things like X, Instagram, Facebook, blogs, TikTok, YouTube videos, and their ilk.Starting when I was in college I cut things out and wrote things down that interested me and put them into a folder for future...

Well?Are you game for what happens if/when you do?Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?FunFact: over 1 billion views since it was uploaded 16 years ago.

I stumbled on this 4-part 2024 crime thriller on Amazon Prime: turned out it's one of the best things I've watched in a while.Each episode is around 90 minutes long, equivalent to a full length feature film.I wonder why the creators chose to take that approach as opposed to the more conventional 8-part/45-minute-long route.Great cast, none of...

I'm a huge fan of Minute Maid's line of zero sugar drinks because they're amazingly like sugared iterations: somehow the chemists in the Minute Maid skunk works have figured out how to make no-calorie drinks that taste good.They started with Lemonade in 2020 and over the years have brought forth Fruit Punch, Pineapple, Mango Passion, and now...

Q. What do you see?A. What do you want to see?Drag and drop an image on this page and experience it through a rainy window.Fair warning....Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Neatorama brings them to us in all their glory.Wrote John Farrier:..........................................Kent is a craftsman in Japan who makes hats that look like loaves of bread, cakes, and other foods.The felt hats are remarkably realistic.They look like warm loaves fresh out of the oven.But don't bite down on one — especially if it's being...

Back story here.

For many years now my sense of time passing has been that it's steadily accelerating: on Thursdays it seems as if I put out the trash bin for last Thursday morning's pickup (always around 5:30 am with a lot of banging and grinding and noise to make sure everyone in the neighborhood knows it's happening) a moment rather than a week before.Days...

For many years I looked at the final item on The Guardian's website, its list of "Most viewed" articles.Earlier this year they added a second column headed "Deeply read."For a while I took the time to look at both but then one day I thought, "This is a chore, not at all something I'm liking."I no longer bother looking at either.Note to...

UNLEASH THE QUANTUM LEAPFinally.100 years after the formulation of quantum theory, it's been applied to something we can all use.$14.49 for 48 tablets; at stores everywhere.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

"Find your question among hundreds of astronaut interviews aboard the International Space Station: 333 hours of Q&A footage."10,132 questions answered to date.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing? No, not that one, silly billy....

Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses have been sold out since they were released on September 30, 2025.Ten months have passed and they're still scarce as hen's teeth.I did find many pairs available on StockX, where current prices are around $830, not much more than the retail price of $799, though when they first appeared on StockX at the end of January...

Finally.You've always wanted to know which cities are on the same parallel  (latitude) as yours across the globe.Now you can find out.

What is the sound of one head exploding?Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Full story here.[via the sui generis Clive Thompson's Linkfest]

[via the nonpareil Clive Thompson's Linkfest]

Zendaya co-created a new collection for On, the Swiss fashion company, and Spike Jonze directed this promotional video starring the actress.

The penny dropped earlier today as I was listening to some of my favorite songs on my wonderful Marshall portable speaker (above, mission control for boj).Since forever I've had the speaker near my laptop where it's helped pump up the volume when my MacBook Pro's [not all that bad] internal speakers aren't enough.Anyhoo, I was about to put it on...

Wrote Clive Thompson:.......................................................I didn’t realize how often DC artists had tweaked the logo for Batman. Here’s a poster by Breen that tracks all the changes.As the designers write …The early evolution is slower than you'd expect. From 1939 to the early 1960s, the bat-symbol changed mostly in proportion —...

Photographs captured by a Japanese weather satellite in April 2026, remastered and transformed into this video by Seán Doran.Sinlaku was the strongest tropical cyclone in the Northern Hemisphere since 2021 and the strongest storm overall so far this year.The Mariana Islands, Guam, and Micronesia all suffered widespread damage and the storm has so...

This web page shows how much data your browser collects that websites can use to "fingerprint" your device — even without cookies.It identifies your device with enough specificity to distinguish it from most others on the internet.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

I happened on this slick trick in a comment on Hacker News.Instead of https://x.com/bookofjoe, use https://xcancel.com/bookofjoeAbove left, what you'll get.Very cool!

The classic, the pioneer of microwave noodles remains atop the heap.I've had a zillion varieties but Nissin still takes the top prize because:1. They're the fastest2. They taste great3. They're cheap4. The container never leaksVANTA concurs, as you can clearly see in the video up top.

... do you, Mr. joe?That's the only possible conclusion I can draw from the fact that I found the highly acclaimed/awarded films "One Battle After Another," "Marty Supreme," and "Project Hail Mary" all horrible."One Battle After Another" received widespread critical acclaim and won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, among several...

Here's a terrific 2016 5-part BBC series I happened on recently.No car chases, no gunfights, no drones.Very, very different from most spy thrillers in that there's little violence and technology, instead a slow unpeeling of layer after layer of misdirection and subterfuge and one surprise after another.Thoroughly engrossing and absorbing.Also an...

Nearly thirty years ago the letter to the New York Times Magazine pictured above stopped me in my tracks.Harry London's World War II commanding officer's credo may well be my favorite quote of all time.It has served me well.Try it, adopt it — you might like it.

It occurred last week when I noticed that one of them had leaked, such that coffee remained in the air space between the two layers of glass.I guess I'm getting clumsier as I get older because my rate of cracking these beautiful, delicate mugs has increased from never to every few months in the past year or two.As you can see in the bookofjoe...

Full disclosure: I'd never heard of Charlie XCX until I happened on this film while looking for something to watch.No doubt I just lost half my readers, those who have no interest in spending time on the site of someone who's that out of it.I hear you!But I digress.I watched the 2026 film on Prime Video last night and enjoyed it immensely: it's a...

I see the term "quantum foam" every now and then in a poem.Up top, as good a picture as I've ever seen of what it looks like IRL.Perhaps "unreal life" would be a better locator....

You never forget your very first.In this case it happened yesterday so one would hardly think such a thing possible absent Korsakoff syndrome.I happened on the cylindrical wooden container at Whole Foods, browsing as I was in the cheese department.Never saw cheese from Iceland before so I studied the box.It was all in Icelandic and I saw that...

Once upon a time, on an internet far, far away, the first thing I'd do every morning is go into my Comments section and delete on average 10-20 spam comments that had come in overnight while I was sleeping.In those days boj got about 15,000 page views per day and thus had a far greater virtual surface to present than today, when I happily average...

Wrote Mark Frauenfelder in Recomendo: ...................................................The Kodak Charmera is a thumb-sized digital camera that clips onto your keychain and shoots gloriously lo-fi 1.6-megapixel photos and video.My daugher has been taking amazing shots with it — the grainy, slightly washed-out images have a nostalgic, early-2000s...

I'll compress two+ hours of repeated rage-inducing TechnoDolt©®™FAILS into the following account.1. I bought a Das Keyboard 4 with super-loud clicky key press noises because I wanted a blast from the past: I had a Das keyboard 20 or so years ago but tired of the effort required to type along with the noise, and since then I've used silent Apple...

Now that all eight episodes are available I've started binging them, the only way I can keep track of what's happened in previous episodes.Watching as they appear once a week no longer works for me: I can't recall stuff that happened yesterday, much less seven days ago.Unlike most series which run around 45 minutes/episode, these are around 75...

So stated Albert Einstein in 1921.More: "It was formerly believed that if all material things disappeared out of the universe, time and space would be left. According to relativity theory, however, time and space disappear together with the things."Up top, the song I'm hearing....

I DO!joe, you idiot: you're supposed to turn this over to your readers!Ok, Ok....Look at the five (5) photos above taken by my Crack Photography Team©®™.I chose one to appear in tomorrow's 8 am post.Let's see if you agree with my selection.Hold on — isn't it important when making a choice here to know what the context is?Is it about my beloved...

First I ever heard of this news aggregator was when it appeared in my email inbox Sunday.Long story short: It costs $29.99/month for all-access from anywhere in the world and brings you up-to-date news as it originally appeared where it was published.Tell you what, it's more user friendly and has much greater scope internationally than Apple...

Sure, we all had these when we were kids but since then the Japanese have taken the concept to a whole new level.I took a flutter on the one pictured above and below and I'm charmed by its whimsical shape and functionality.Much better than the ones I remember, it's a ballpoint that writes smooth as silk in red/blue/green and black ink (1 color at...

Last week while making and posting YouTube Shorts to my channel, I noticed a new feature on the YouTube app: VibeCheck.I figured this was a riff on vibe coding so I passed it by but then curiosity got the better of me so I made a terrible video and then asked for a VibeCheck.Up top, the results.Long AI analysis short: what this feature does is...

The site's collection of 89 paintings are "each tagged with a color register, temperature, and mood so the search engine can match it to your moment, no matter where you are in the world."

I was superstoked earlier this year when I read about new Doritos Protein chips.Constant readers will know that a large part of my diet consists of junk food: always has and always will.My five basic food groups are beef jerky, instant microwave noodles, candy, popcorn (from BjornQorn) and caramel corn, which deserves its own distinct group...

Very kewl.New from Anker/Soundcore.Reviewed quite favorably by Yanko Design: "Anker built a sub-$300 1080p projector with flippable stereo speakers for the price of AirPods Pro."Nice for travel. $294.99.

Fair warning: there goes the day.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Lately the em dash has become a popular topic on Hacker News, where techies opine on things technical and otherwise.It seems that use of em dashes is a tell for something AI-generated.That may be the case now but you can be certain that it won't be long till the AIs twig to this and stop using this giveaway.

Readers have been clamoring for a resource like this since forever.Your wish is my demand.Built by type designer Mark Johnson, Type.lol lets you browse 16,000+ typefaces across 1,200+ foundries, follow designers, and build collections."Type.lol is a living directory of the world's independent type — built for designers hunting the right typeface,...

It's faster and easier( and tastier) to wipe/lick the butter off a butter knife than to wash and dry it: 1. Silent2. No water source required3. No drying surface required4. You can do it anywhere without anyone knowingExtra credit:When thawing a slice of frozen bread in the microwave, is it faster to overheat it and let it cool or underheat it...

Moths that fly by day are not properly to be called moths; they do not excite that pleasant sense of dark autumn nights and ivy-blossom which the commonest yellow-underwing asleep in the shadow of the curtain never fails to rouse in us. They are hybrid creatures, neither gay like butterflies nor sombre like their own species. Nevertheless the...

Made me smile every time it came on in 2008.More like this please!

Let's say you've been working on a project for months, every waking moment thinking in code.Your relationships (if you ever had any) are shot, your mail is unopened, you've gained weight from all the garbage junk food and physical inactivity, you don't even know the month much less the day or date, you don't look so hot and you don't smell very...

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Most people don't know this simple, potentially life-saving procedure.Watch the videos above and below.Now go practice.If it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it hard enough.

Wrote Mark Frauenfelder: ...................................................."Uproot Excavator" is a YouTube channel devoted entirely to one thing: tree stumps being yanked out of the ground by heavy equipment.The arm of the excavator, fitted with a pincer-like attachment, clamps onto a stump, rips it out along with a massive clump of roots that...

eBay shopping tip: Don't be discouraged if the item you want isn't there or is priced too high. I've found that the listings change daily and if you keep visiting on a regular basis more likely than not you will find exactly what you want at a reasonable price. Example: the wonderful Snow Peak titanium folding fork pictured above and below has...

This reddit thread asks "What can a person learn in 10 minutes that will be useful for life?"The top-voted answer: "Use your hand span — thumb to pinky — as a built-in measuring tool. Once you measure it you will never forget it."Even better: If you happen on a person who's unconscious, lift their legs in the air as you call for help, and keep...

Uploaded to YouTube by BBC Earth last week.Fair warning: three hours long.Free, the way we like it.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

No, it's not the artist's doppelgänger's work on the Red Planet but rather, according to scientists, it's more likely that what we're seeing is actually one rock that broke apart this way due to wind erosion or being exposed to flowing water on ancient Mars.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Notice how your printer's power cable can be detached from the printer. Notice that you can remove the power cable from your computer — be it a laptop or a desktop or a tower.Why shouldn't this same modular principle be applied across the board to everything electrical?Why should I have to fuss and fool around with keeping the cord out of my way...

Back in the day we called them blogrolls.Wrote Kottke last year: "I added a new feature to the site: It's a list of websites and people that I follow — 'kindred spirits, friends, open web enthusiasts, role models, fellow travelers, and collaborators.'"Up top, the first 26 of 186.Fair warning: there goes the day.Full disclosure: I regularly read 7...

Answer here this time tomorrow.

How is it that only last night, while thawing out a slice of wonderful super-dense Danish bread, did the penny drop such that I realized that I've been taking an unnecessary extra step all these years when using microwave ovens to thaw frozen things that require me to guesstimate how long I need to nuke them.Simple hack short: Instead of hitting...

Everyone who's read Philip K. Dick's great 1981 novel "VALIS" knows that the title is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System.Just kidding.Nobody remembers that.Likewise, the few who've read Sam Abughali's "VANTA," published last month (on April 13, for those who insist on more precision), will recall that it stands for Virtual...

I uploaded this hack to YouTube three years ago and every now and then someone thanks me for it.Makes my day!

Finally.An excellent addition to my video toolkit.Many of the 35 titles currently listed are on various watchlists I maintain across the zillion streaming services.This IMDB page updates and merges them: "Modified 2 days ago."

Since forever I've been reading seemingly authoritative papers and articles from the Cochrane Reviews et al lauding "Evidence-Based Medicine" as the gold standard for evaluating treatments/drugs/testing etc.There's only one problem with these: they're often authored by people who've never gotten their hands dirty, as it were, doing basic science...

From the website: "36 mechanical keyboards and switches, curated and sound-mapped. From IBM Model M (1985) to Topre to thocky modern customs. Click any card, type on your real keyboard, hear it as if it were on your desk."Fair warning: there goes the day.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Watching "The Code" last night, I was struck by the barren magnificence of the Australian terrain in which most of the 2014 six-part espionage thriller (Season 1; six-part Season 2 aired in 2016) is set.As I thought about it, the superb six-part 2016 political thriller "Secret City" came to mind: it too was set in Australia.Though not a spy...

YouTube description:............................................Master of fright, John Carpenter directs this entertaining and darkly humorous 1988 horror film.Roddy Piper plays Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker who stumbles upon a special pair of sunglasses that reveal an awesome global secret — the ruling elite of the world are...

Here are the Woz's defining characteristics of a hacker, from his July 11, 2004 keynote address at the Fifth HOPE (Hackers On Planet Earth) gathering in New York City:• A sense of humor• The ability to derive pleasure from jokes and the unexpected• A tendency to strive for internal rather than external rewardsThis just goes to show that being a...

From Dense Discovery:.................................................Scottish creator Ewan Cunningham's Primal Space started as a hobby in 2018 and has grown into one of YouTube's most compelling sci-edu channels.A meticulously animated archive of engineering, science, and history stories.Videos mostly come in under 10 minutes and pack in a...

I'm not a Scotch whisky drinker: I've had perhaps 10 such drinks in my entire life.Nevertheless, the subject has always interested me, and so when I happened on "Scotch: A Golden Dream" on Apple TV, I watched it.Fascinating.The documentary ambles along interviewing master distillers, "noses," writers, and workers in various areas of Scotch...

Steel yourself.From websites:.....................................Magnetize-It! magnetic paint & primer is a grey acrylic latex water-based paint that turns any wall into a magnet-receptive surface.Apply top coat of any color without lessening magnetic function.A great alternative to cluttered refrigerators, ugly pushpin holes, and tape...

[Armor of Henry II, King of France (reigned 1547-1559)]From Colossal: "In the age of the internet, we're fortunate to have virtual access to museum collections around the world, thanks to objects in the public domain and programs like the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Open Access Initiative. Thanks to the Met's continued emphasis on imaging, we...

We don't need no education.Robert L. Wolke, the Washington Post's longtime "Food 101" columnist, addressed this topic.Q. I've been told you should always stir with a spoon's rounded side down, rather than holding the spoon vertically. Is this true? If so, why?A. If the spoon is large and held vertically, vigorous stirring might slop some liquid...

I only happened on this news last evening which is why I'm posting it with such short notice.Nevertheless, this documentary about one of the greatest designers of the 20th century will play here for the next 4 hours.Free, the way we like it.Dieter Rams was 94 yesterday: "It's become a tradition that every year on his birthday we stream the...

For the longest time I dutifully watched multiple-part series streaming on Apple TV/Prime Video/Netflix etc.When I first encountered the term "binge-watching" it was in reference to peeps locking themselves in for a weekend to watch whole seasons of old favorites.I noticed that each week's new multiple-part series episode required that I watch...

Of course, as a longtime fanboi I'm already biased but never mind that.*Published March 10, 2026, my copy arrived two days ago — May 7. (I'm writing this on May 9). It's 548 pages long, a big fat heavy tome. I'm on page 21.I just invoked SlowRead©®™ because it's so good I want it to last a loooong time.Hold on a sec, lemme do the math: 21 pages...

I like it.From the very finest horticultural engineers on the planet comes this not earthshaking but, rather, ground–protecting breakthrough................................From websites:It's Like Taking Your Plants to a BarberIt's nearly impossible to pick up all those clippings that result from trimming your hedges and pruning your shrubs.You...

From Michelle Hainer, this Q&A which appeared in the Washington Post:.............................................Q. I was at a smoke-filled bar last night. This morning my hair still smells like an ashtray. How can I get rid of the smell before work?A. Fabric softener sheets leave your laundry smelling fresh, and they'll do the same for your...

From Cooks' Illustrated comes the following Q&A with Mary Keith, food and nutrition agent at the University of Florida Extension Service.......................................How to Deal With Moldy CheeseQ. Aside from cheese that contains cultivated mold [Cabrales, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Stilton et al], is it safe to eat cheese that has grown...

Peeps be asking what happened to this long-time feature?Your wish is my demand.Hint: Bigger than a bread box (when properly deployed as pictured above).Another: No moving parts.Answer here this time tomorrow.

[via Annie Rauwerda]

From PetaPixel:..................................NASA's Perseverance rover sent a selfie from Mars taken against the sweeping backdrop of a region scientists call the "Lac de Charmes."Since landing on Mars five years ago, Perseverance has been analyzing minerals as it travels west across the dry terrain of the Red Planet. On May 12 NASA released...

This simple bamboo sinkside accessory is ubiquitous.I owned my first one when I was in college and have had several since.They're very sturdy and long-lasting.The reason I'm mentioning it here is that I saw one prominently displayed in Zendaya's new movie "The Drama," finally streaming.From now on I'm gonna consciously clock this well-designed...

Hallucinopedia is an encyclopedia covering topics that have received insufficient attention in mainstream reference works."Fair warning: there goes the day.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

I've gone to sleep on my left side for as long as I can remember.A few months ago my sleep started getting broken up and I was waking up way too early for no apparent reason.I thought maybe it was my pillow being no longer right for me, so I had my Crack Research Team©®™ investigate and find out if there have been any new developments in the...

qThe Guardian asked https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/the-100-best-novels-of-all-timeI've read 59 of them in their entirety.I started but failed to finish a number of the remaining 41, most notably "In Search of Lost Time," the first volume of which, "," I've begun at least five times, never coming close to its...

I saw this new novel, published a couple weeks ago, reviewed somewhere I can't recall and the essence was that it's indeed violent but also impossible to put down.Then I saw that it's set in today's LA and that was enough for me: any novel or film taking place in LA — preferably in the present but going back decades as well — is must read/watch...

Fair warning: there goes the day.

In 1913 I had the happy idea to fasten a bicycle wheel to a kitchen stool and watch it turn.A few months later I bought a cheap reproduction of a winter evening landscape, which I called "Pharmacy" after adding two small dots, one red and one yellow, in the horizon.In New York in 1915 I bought at a hardware store a snow shovel on which I wrote...

Genius: wear your nightlights.From websites:.........................................Lighted slippers give you a leg up in the dark!Illuminates up to 25 feet in front of you.Take night time trips to the kitchen or bathroom without searching for and flicking on a switch, disturbing others in the process.Powerful LED lights operate automatically...

[via G. Bruce Knecht writing in the Wall Street Journal]

Published in 1947, this book by a fantastically creative polymath — who some believe should have received the Nobel Prize in Physics — remains a superb, fascinating introduction to the universe even nearly 80 years after publication.I read it when I was a boy and loved it.Gamow was among the most underappreciated great minds of the 20th...

From websites:....................................• Fully hollow and glazed inside, it holds water for fresh flowers or seasonal greenery• Inspired by the shape of a water jug• Made in Seto, Aichi, Japan• Designed by Yuko Tokuda• 9.4"H x 6.3"W x 2.5"D• Porcelain....................................$78 (yellow roses not included).

C. Claiborne Ray's New York Times Science section Q&A demystifies these ubiquitous creatures.Q. How do dust bunnies form? Do they prefer new houses or old? Bare wooden floors or carpets? What can be done to keep them at bay?A. Dust bunnies form from the surprisingly large supply of stuff in the air, including fibers from clothing fabrics and...

Say what?I like it.Combines those oval stainless-steel thingies you keep on your kitchen sink solely to remove odors with a real culinary function.From websites:....................................Pulverizes garlic with a simple roll, producing a superior flavor.When done, simply "wash" your hands with it and the 18/10 stainless steel from which...

A post here last month explored the philosophical connection between Richard Hughes, author of the 1929 best seller "A High Wind in Jamaica," and Hugh Everett III, born in 1930 and famous for his 1957 Princeton University doctoral dissertation, "'Relative State' Formulation of Quantum Mechanics,'" now referred to as "Many Worlds." It was this...

Above, an email that arrived while I was sleeping.I'm so stoked: I only came to the novels of Elizabeth Strout a few years ago.Once I read one I was hooked: it was so good, sui generis.I rationed out those that remained such that I only read one every six months or so until I'd completed them all.Since then I've always pre-ordered each new...

It was the opening sentence of Patrick McGrath's New York Times book review of Kevin Brockmeier's novel, "The Brief History of the Dead," and follows:"Here is a novel with an intriguing premise: that humans are divided into three categories, comprising those who are still alive, those who have died but live on in the memories of the living, and...

I'm always attracted to claims like this, regardless of whether or not they're actually true.In that sense my credulousness age is about five years old.But I digress.From The Drive:....................................Duct tape, WD-40, and zip ties make up the DIY trifecta.If you need to fix something quickly, and don't have the "proper" tools and...

"Ukiyo-e Search provides a powerful tool: The ability to both search for Japanese woodblock prints by simply taking a picture of an existing print AND the ability to see similar prints across multiple collections of prints."Fair warning: there goes the day.

From famed party-crasher Alex Mamlet (above and below at parties he's crashed with, from the top, invited guests Steven Spielberg, Penelope Cruz, and Colin Farrell):"A never–fail technique is showing up in an immaculate chef's outfit — including toque — with a food item, looking really concerned. Security will always let you in. The more...

From the website: ..................................Under microscopic magnification, the unique beauty and individual character of sand grains reveal a diverse origin reflecting geological history and marine life biodiversity.Sand is everywhere on earth — on our beaches, in our deserts, and on the bottoms of lakes, rivers, and oceans.Sand...

By Gary Leon Hill, it was published in 2005. $16.95.

In 1935 physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed what has come to be called "Schrödinger's cat," a thought experiment which, 91 years later, is still confounding.His purpose in doing so was to show that the then-new science of quantum mechanics as a theory of reality was incomplete.According to Schrödinger, one could, in principle, create a...

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Jeanne Huber visited the duct space in a Washington Post Home section Q.&A. which was most informative; it follows.Duct Cleaning: Good Idea, Or Just a Lot of Hot Air?Q. Is duct cleaning for furnaces a good idea or, in most cases, an unnecessary scam?A. In most cases, it's unnecessary.The Environmental Protection Agency has been saying this at...

Created by Kyle McDonald who wrote: "In the event of an imminent nuclear apocalypse, we suspect that people who have access to private jets will immediately take to the skies and escape city centers. This site tracks this indicator in real time. The current emergency level is reported on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being an indicator of a likely...

See one, do one, be one.The bleeding always stops.It was over before it started.Look at it in a quantum light.Money is frozen desire. [James Buchan]Coincidence is a glimpse of the scaffolding of reality.The more you know, the less you need. [Australian Aboriginal saying]A good surgeon never says "oops"; he says "there." [Wiley F. Barker, M.D.]A...

Watching the British spy thriller series "Treason," I was struck by how much actress Oona Chaplin — Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter — resembles him.It's less of a surprise when you look at his actress daughter Geraldine Chaplin.

YouTube description:.....................This film follows her meticulous process – from watercolour sketches and digital refinement to the careful layering, curing, and polishing of lacquer. Her work captures urushi in motion, expressing its fluid nature through forms inspired by flowing water, drifting clouds, and the landscapes of southern...

I have long believed that gravity is, in the end, the thing that brings us down.Now, prolonged periods of weightlessness are no one's best friend: witness the state of astronauts and cosmonauts when first they return to Earth after sustained periods in orbit — they need to be carried from their spacecraft, so weak have they become as a result of...

As I watched the 2022 five-episode British spy thriller series "Treason" on Netflix, a clue phone of sorts started ringing in my pea brain.Without phones the whole thing would collapse.Every couple minutes someone picks up their phone to send a message/receive one/make a call/receive one/track someone's location/listen to what surreptitious...

I bought this accessory many years ago and it's still as effective as it was the day it arrived.No flaws: it's perfect, a beautiful piece of industrial design.Heavy steel base keeps it rock steady; easy to adjust precisely to hold your phone firmly with and without a case without marring it.Instantly and smoothly moves from portrait to...

This new novel was published last month.Copies will go fast so don't dally: get yours here.More VANTA?Your wish is my demand.

"The world's largest architecture encyclopedia."Search by Buildings/Architects/Places/Dates/Typologies.Fair warning....Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

YouTube description: "We went on an expedition to capture Kavachi — one of the world's most active underwater volcanoes — erupting beneath the Pacific Ocean in the remote Solomon Islands.""Steam explosions, sulfur-rich plumes, and superheated sea water collide in one of the most extreme environmments on our planet."

Above, what no amount of time over the past few years spent asking Apple Support how to sync my MacBook's Chrome bookmarks with Chrome on my iPhone could achieve: simple, understandable instructions that worked!The more I use Perplexity (Pro costs $17/month and works on both phone and computer) the more I appreciate it, as it takes what used to...

Find out here.

"Said the Queen, 'When I was your age, sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!'" — "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Lewis Carroll (1865)

On Monday, April 3, 2006, Coca-Cola introduced Coca-Cola BlāK, "a carbonated 'coffee-essence' drink."It came in glass bottles like the one pictured up top; 45 calories/8 oz serving; a middling amount of caffeine (46 mg/8 oz compared with classic Coke's 23 mg and coffee's 80 mg).Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

1. Ride in a helicopter2. Ride on the back of a motorcycle3. Ride Space Mountain at Disney World4. Ride a Ferris wheel5. Run the New York City Marathon6. Set a brand-new pickup truck on fire*7. Trek to an altitude of 18,000 feet in the Himalayas8. Eat durianWait a sec —what's that song I'm hearing? *Age 12 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; I was trying to...

Wrote Kottke:........................................I've never seen anything like these photos before.In October 2024, underwater photographer Rachel Moore had a close encounter with a humpback whale in French Polynesia and took these photos of the whale's eye.She wrote of the experience: "This moment of eye contact was beyond my wildest dreams....

Clever.Also called rafter hooks, these steel grippers have red rubberized plastic handles that let you easily attach or release them from wood joists, beams, rafters, and wall studs of up to 1-5/8" thickness and static loads up to 80 lbs. in your garage, basement, attic, etc.• 7"H x 3.5"W• No moving parts• Easy to attach or remove• No tools or...

YouTube description:................................The famous Iliad was composed by Homer or unknown author(s) (800-700 BCE) and was likely orally transmitted before being standardized in the contemporaneously developing Greek script [Robert L. Fowler 2004]. The Iliad by Homer is the oldest European poetic and liturgical tradition, and has been...

Joanna Stern was a personal technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal for nearly thirteen years until she dropped the safety net this past February and went out on her own with her new website/newsletter, "NEW THINGS WITH JOANNA STERN."I immediately subscribed — I mean, it's free, the way we like it! — and happened on a wonderful tech tip...

I got a caramel corn jones recently and after having Perplexity Pro look into brands and reviews, I chose 5 to try out: 3 widely available (i.e. on Amazon with free shipping) and 2 "boutique" brands — Carroll's Caramel Corn and Berco's Popcorn — sold only by their makers and requiring additional shipping charges.Below are my ratings, best to...

I happened on this 2011 Spanish film while browsing the zillions of films under various "If you liked that, you might like these" headings that Netflix/Prime Video/AppleTV/etc. now feature.You could spend your whole evening just virtually wandering through all those TV movie and show listings.Anyway, I added the movie to "My Stuff" and decided to...

I couldn't find my can of K2r spot lifter (I hadn't used it in many years) so I bought a new one: I was shocked at the price ($20.25) because I vaguely remembered it was less than half that when I bought the now-missing can."New Larger Size - Better Value" — who cares when you only use it every 10 years or so?But I digress.I read the...

Warner Bros.’ bizarre 2023 decision to shelve its live-action/animated film, Coyote vs. Acme, sparked outrage both in the industry and among fans online. But the film is finally being released, and Ketchup Entertainment, its new distributor, recently released the trailer. All I can say after watching that trailer is, what the heck was Warner...

Above, a roughly 125-micrometer (1/8 mm)-wide image of the Mona Lisa projected by a new MEMS array designed to steer lasers for a quantum computer.The MEMS array (below) is a 1-square-millimeter photonic chip.Full IEEE Spectrum story here.

...........................................................Constant readers will recall last month's appearance of Elizabeth Jacobson's 2025 poem "Quantum Foam."I knew I'd seen a poem by John Koethe also invoking that foam but couldn't think of the title, so I had my Crack Research Team©®™ (I know I haven't referred to them in a while but I'll...

Since forever I've read Amazon reviews of products I'm thinking of buying.They can be very amusing, surprising, and/or informative.The ones with photos submitted by the reviewer are the most entertaining.Usually they're variations on a FAIL! theme.Then there are those mildly critical, like the one pictured up top.Full disclosure: I bought one of...

"This clock displays the current time alphabetically."I'm reminded of one of my favorite sayings, to wit:"A man with one watch always knows what time it; A man with two is never sure."

Res ipsa loquitur.In case you don't speak kitty: The Bodega Cats of New York Project documents the working cats of New York City's delis, bodegas, and corner stores.But wait — there's more!Coming in October 2026: the book!

One of my favorite tech writers on the planet, the great Joanna Stern, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and now on her own with a weekly newsletter, "New Things With Joanna Stern," earlier today posted this video about her experience with a Chinese robot she brought home to test out.

Long story short: I ordered 2 Bodum 15-oz double wall glass mugs from Amazon last Thursday (above).They arrived later that same day but that was the only good thing about my order.When I opened the paper bag — not box! — containing the mugs, which were in their usual store shelf display package with a very thin layer of bubble wrap around each...

The leaf sheep slug gets its energy from photosynthesis, taking chloroplasts from algae and storing them, and is thus able to survive on solar power.More here.

From the website: "Your photos reveal a lot of private information. In this experiment, we use the Google Vision API to see how much can be inferred about you from a single photo. See what they see."Up top, what the website gleaned from the picture I use for my YouTube channel etc.I'm impressed!That red marker pinpoints my home, where I'm sitting...

Finally.I've never baked a cake but you don't have to be a rocket scientist or a near-brain-dead anesthesiologist who inhaled too much unscavenged waste gas over many decades to know that this is one cool toy for people who practice the fine art of cake baking.To a serious pastry chef this device has to be catnip.From the website:Professional...

Designer and art director Daniel Benneworth-Gray's "compendium of transit tickets" from around the world.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Downloadas many as you want — free, the way we like it.

Perhaps my favorite quote of all time is a variation of the headline above, to wit: "Solve the problem with what's in the room." — Edwin H. LandSince I stumbled on that line in a biography of Land (full disclosure: I've read several; he's one of my favorite people ever) decades ago I've applied it countless times and in nearly every...

Here's a blast from the past: Wax Letter will create a custom logo or design and then use it to seal letters you send to whomever is deserving.Apply within.And who's the idiot who posed for the exemplar above?Doh!Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

YouTube description: ...............................................Maarten Baas and Schiphol Airport present "The People's Clock."Using almost 1,000 volunteers — most of them Schiphol employees — people literally came time.In a 12-hour-long recording, participants formed the hands of the clock.If you look closely, a runner in orange marks the...

Many people consider this the best short story they've ever read.Asimov wrote, "This is by far my favorite story* of all those I have written. It is a curious fact that innumerable readers have asked me if I wrote this story."I don't consider it "the best" — but that's only because I've read so many fantastic short stories I find it impossible to...

[via Present and Correct]

Sterling silver knife earrings with black patina handles.Punk.$70.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Ice hangs off the roof like a bear claw.Single drops of defrosted watermelt down long icicles which you catchin a cup and drink with quicklicks of your tongue, pretending the taste of sugar.You say: holding hands is like holding the whole body,and you touch each one of my fingers,naming it a leg or an arm.You give each nail a part of my face.I...

I can't speak for you but me, I lose sleep wondering about this.Not any more.Data visualization artist Nadieh Bremer created Searching For Birds, a website which turns Google Trends data into a wonderfully scrollable exploration of which birds Americans search for — and why the rarest ones barely register at all.Wrote Bremer, "As you scroll...

Okjökull is the name of a former glacier in Iceland, the first one to disappear.In 2019 a plaque (above and below) was installed where it once was.More here.

From the website: "Keep your head warm with a beanie that guarantees no one will ask you s**t.I took a flutter on this puppy the moment I happened on it.OMG SO ME!u kan 2!$20.30.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

""That was the last news they could expect for many months.... But she argued, logically enough, that the time must come to an end, all time does; there is nothing so inexorable as a ship, plodding away, plodding away, all over the place, till at last it quite certainly reaches that small speck on the map which all the time it had intended to...

These are  the musical expressions of the late, great Kinky Friedman's remark to a Washington Post reporter in the early 1980s,  to wit: "I'm in search of a lifestyle that does not require my presence."Just so.

The headline over Jeremy White's Wired magazine article was the first time I'd encountered the term "luxury ice."Long, detailed, and quite informative story short:1) Buy Crystal Geyser bottled water2) Boil it3) Freeze it immediately in a polystyrene container or cooler with the lid off4) Thaw to near melting point5) Cut into cubesThis will yield...

You can too!For $6.12 you can buy a pattern and knit your own.

• Used an ATM• Played a video game• Acquired Frequent Flyer miles• Bought cryptocurrency• Used a non-Apple computer• Had plastic surgery• Used a GLP-1 drug• Gone to a funeral• Had ECTWait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Whenever I show someone what this stuff does they're amazed, impressed, and say, "Where can I get some?"I say "Right here" and give them some from my utility closet, where I always keep a few extras on hand.OK then.You know those adhesive stickers for parking, vehicle registration, car inspection, and what–not that go on the inside of your...

Videre est credere.True, the Dustbuster model in the video must be 15 or more years old but it still works fine — albeit optimally only after I put gaffer tape or duct tape around the intersection of the (mostly transparent) lower motor housing and the upper intake portion.But wait — there's another FAIL designed into this version along with the...

Below, highlights from an informative and surprising (to me) just published Nature article:.....................................The Air is Full of DNA — Here's What Scientists Are Using It ForAirborne genetic material can be used to paint a picture of ecosystem health, watch for invasive species, and even identify humans.... the idea of...

Those readers who grew up in the twentieth century will remember how — when as a kid you you were recovering from being ill or had an upset stomach — your mom would give you some saltine crackers as a first step toward rejoining the family at the dinner table.In recent years I've turned to Wheat Thins — the original, not one of the dozen...

"SPACE JUNK is a brand new publication examining the intersection of youth culture and space exploration. Bringing together voices from across science, art, and speculative fiction, it positions itself as both document and provocation — a record of a generation reimagining humanity's relationship to space."Pilot Issue: $42.I learned of the...

Best article EVER about why your shower is so nasty — and how to clean it!Jeanne Huber, writing in the Washington Post Home section, cast the scales — as it were — from my eyes with the sensational revelation that it most likely isn't mildew that's making the grout black: it's manganese!Who knew?Like every other person on the planet with the same...

The creator of this website processes the film he finds in old cameras."You are seeing them for the first time, as they were lost by the photographers who took the images."Talk about a working time machine....

I do not know what is right and what is wrong; what is allowed and what is not; I cannot judge and I cannot praise. There are no valid criteria and no consistent principles in the world. It surprises me that some people still concern themselves with a theory of knowledge. To tell the truth, I couldn't care less about the relativity of knowledge,...

Why?Because the sign warns of the danger posed by the sign itself.An excellent exemplar of the word "meta."

A penny for your thoughts.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

"Hostile Volume is a simple and maddening game where you need to hold the audio volume level at 25%, which gets increasingly difficult with each level."Fair warning: there goes the day.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?[via Kottke]

Bill Hammack, aka The Engineer Guy, is an amazing engineering educator and in this video he explains how duct tape is designed to simultaneously do three things well: “a) adhere with light pressure, b) stay in place, yet c) be removable”.Controlling the stickiness of tape is of utmost importance. In fact, a key element of engineering tape is...

"The html review is an annual journal of literature made to exist on the web"Fair warning: there goes the day.More here.

"Only gold and platinum are corrosion-free. All others metals require nuanced techniques to protect them." — Stewart Brand, in his excellent new book "Maintenance of Everything: Part One."The Rust Store carries over 1,000 items dedicated to preventing and removing rust.More here.Wait a sec — what's that album I'm hearing?

YouTube description: "In this episode I test your knowledge of 20 of the most famous guitarists by playing an isolated single note (or bend) from their famous solos."

Miller surfs year-round on the St. Lawrence River. In winter, he tests his skills among the ice floes and chilly current.

"This fully functioning brass compass guides you to the Olive Garden in Times Square."Limited edition.Apply within.

Super-slow versions of three classic video games:• Pong• Breakout• Missile CommandOn the slowest setting you have to constantly remind yourself not to close your eyes and fall asleep.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

[1960s Ruffles]The other day while I was out running and engaging in a wide-ranging discussion with Perplexity Pro on my phone about any number of things, I asked "Who invented Ruffles potato chips?To my surprise I learned it wasn't Frito-Lay, the company that makes them, but rather one George Ronald Pierce.From the Douglas County (Nebraska)...

Find out here.If you're anything like me this question keeps you up at night all too often.I'm here to bring you the answers you need: isn't that why you pay me the big $$$ to read boj?But I digress.Long story short: Your charger's wattage matters a lot when the device's battery is 0-50% charged; higher than that, less so.TMI?You don't recall...

Before we get started: you KNOW what song I'm hearing.Now back to our regularly scheduled piffle....Since forever my email in-boxes have been very different on my iPhone and my Mac.Specifically, some stuff appears in my phone's in-box but not my Mac's; others emails appear in my Mac's inbox and not my phone's.Sometimes emails appear in both, but...

"Over four years, Belgian photographer Barbara Iweins took a photo of every single thing in her house, 'from my daughter's torn sock to my son's Lego, but also my vibrator, my anxiolytics... absolutely everything."12,795 photos of 12,795 objects."Explore the entire archive here, indexed and classified by color, material, frequency of use, room,...

Attention Richard Kashdan: Your upgrade has come in.Wrote Kottke: "Ultimate Online 'Phreak Box' is a free online blue box, red box, and silver box. (With this and a time machine, you could make free phone calls in the 1970s)."Read about the OG — "Mark Bernay" aka Richard Kashdan — here and here.I'm proud of the fact that Richard Kashdan...

Back in the day (1917) they comprised the first paragraph of the Kansas City Star Copy Style Sheet.Then Kansas City Star reporter Ernest Hemingway credited them for teaching him "the best rules for the business of writing."Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

"Each London Underground line has its own distinctive sound. Can you tell them apart?"Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

How's your classical Greek?I'm reminded of Ben Jonson's remark about Shakespeare, to wit: "He had little Latin, and less Greek."Which, contrary to the common interpretation, was part of Jonson's appreciation of Shakespeare's greatness rather than a dig at him.But I digress.The headline up top in English: "For extreme diseases, extreme remedies."...

If you're like most people you have no idea what that minuscule colored symbol at the top of your Apple Watch display means.Yes — there's an icon on it but it's impossible to identify with the naked eye.I tried using a magnifying glass but all I saw was a grid of colored pixels.Then I stumbled on this page and all was revealed.The one I get most...

Say what?From Yanko Design:Stop worrying about wet dishware: with this innovative dish rack you can dry your dishes wherever you happen to be.Whether camping or just trying to save space in your kitchen, this collapsible rack will get your dishes dry in no time flat[....]Patent-pending spring mechanism shrinks the full expanded 14" rack down to...

I watched this remarkable 2025 film last night.I find it incomprehensible that leading actress Amanda Seyfried's portrayal of visionary Shaker leader Ann Lee did not receive the Oscar for Best Actress: she wasn't even nominated!Her performance is staggering.This morning, not ten hours later, I happened on a scientific paper titled "The...

Two years and one month after Apple's Vision Pro arrived here, I finally bit the bullet and created a boj post using its virtual Mac display feature.You just read it: the "Liquid Sky" appreciation published earlier today.Doing so was janky and difficult and unpleasant for a number of reasons.1) When sitting in a chair, which is necessary if...

I saw this sui generis 1982 film when it came out and was blown away.I saw it again a number of years later and haven't thought of it since — until March 31 when I read its director's New York Times obituary.Watch the trailer below.Up top, the film in its entirety on YouTube in HD — free, the way we like it.If you don't enjoy it let me know and I...

ahttps://news.virginia.edu/content/qa-do-your-joints-sound-rice-krispies-uva-expert-explains-why

Long story short from the Smithsonian: .........................................A new glass slide suspended 1,000 feet in the air. on the side of downtown Los Angeles's U.S. Bank Tower — the tallest building on the West Coast at 72 stories/1,018-feet-tall — is now open.The Skyslide takes patrons from the 70th to the 69th floors and costs $8 a...

You decide.[via the Hustle]

From Alex Williams' recent New York Times story:...............................................Pedro Friedeberg, a Mexican artist often called "the last Surrealist," most famous for his playful Mano Silla (Hand Chair) from 1962, died on March 5 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, at 90.He grew weary of the outsize attention paid to his most...

The Rule: "Anytime anything that's supposed to do something doesn't, check to make sure it's plugged in."The First Corollary: "If it's battery–powered, put in new batteries."These two seemingly for–the–brain–dead–only statements will suffice to resolve a lot of equipment–related problems.Other useful principles and sayings:• 80% of success in...

Here's a terrific 2005 political thriller starring George Clooney, also featuring Chris Cooper, Christopher Plummer, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, William Hurt, Amanda Peet, Mark Strong, and Max Minghella, among others.That's a lot of great actors.George Clooney won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.The film is loosely based on Robert...

I happened on this site and posted it on Hacker News: in one hour it was at the top of the homepage.Who knew?"Record your observations. Share with fellow naturalists. Discuss your findings."Their iPhone app is free, the way we like it.

Since forever I've wanted a running buddy, someone who was comfortable running at my pace while being able to chat about interesting things to distract me from the boring nature of running by myself.Listening to the same 300 or so favorite songs that haven't changed in decades, over and over and over again, long ago got so old.I'd resigned myself...

The author's homepage (screenshots above and below) is sui generis, animated, and wonderfully entertaining.Chock full of whimsy, surprise, and inventiveness, much like her books.What's not to like about that?More about the author here, here, and here.Today is her 41st birthday.

I'd never been a fan of the Foo Fighters and didn't even know they wrote this song until I stumbled on the video up top ten years ago.Over 67 million views since it was uploaded to YouTube in 2015.YouTube description: "1,000 musicians play 'Learn to Fly' by Foo Fighters to ask Dave Grohl to come and play in Cesena, Italy."Loved it then, love it...

"New York City I" is a 1941 work by Piet Mondrian employing colored ribbons of paper with an adhesive backing rather than paint.It has been displayed as seen above since 1980 at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf, Germany.In 2022 Susanne Meyer-Büser, a curator at the museum, found a photograph from June 1944, taken in Mondrian's...

What's old is new again.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

That happened to me this morning as I was walking around the house doing something close to nothing (but different than the day before).I felt a sharp pain in the bottom of my foot and thought I must've stepped on a splinter but no! — it was a wasp, crawling along on the floor as if nothing had happened.How many people do you know who — instead...

YouTube description: "The launch, the legendary six words, the incomparable VKTRS. That's all followed by the first network promo, Pat Benatar's 'You Better Run,' the debut by the original VJs, Superman 2 ad, Dolby commercial, and Mark Goodman doing the first ever intro of a video. 1 August 1981. Nothing in TV will ever again capture this kind of...

I forget where I discovered the existence of these mini Hershey Bars but no matter: they're perfect with my morning coffee.Just the right size, each scored bar breaks nicely into 4 pieces which, if you keep yours in the freezer like I do, will last a surprisingly long time.25 mini bars cost $8.99.

Two brothers learn about competitive birdwatching by becoming birdwatchers — spending a year living in a used minivan and traveling the U.S. to compete in a "Big Year." Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

From the Smithsonian:...........................................The artifact is the first sling bullet of its kind unearthed at the ancient city of Hippos, though archaeologists have found dozens of other examples without inscriptions at the site.The city overlooking the Sea of Galilee was the site of several battles thousands of years ago.Last...

Ever since Typepad shut down last September 30 after 21 years, resulting in my having to find a new home for boj which turned out to be here on Blogger — it being the least painful and most usable TechnoDolt[ian(!)©®™-friendly alternative platform — I've been kvetching about how much more time and effort (2-5x!) it takes to create a post here...

Lawrence Ulrich's March 22, 2026 New York Times story about the latest Corvette had me at: "Driving the ZR1X at California's Sonoma Raceway feels like hitching a ride on the Large Hadron Collider, fast enough to rearrange my subatomic particles."More from the article? Your wish is my...

This virtual Mars traverse shows every photo it has taken since landing in 2012.You scroll along the rover's path on a topographical map, alongside actual raw NASA photos.Fair warning: there goes the sol.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

Res ipsa loquitur.Part 1 appeared at this time yesterday.

In a poem, one line may hide another line, As at a crossing, one train may hide another train. That is, if you are waiting to cross The tracks, wait to do it for one moment atLeast after the first train is gone. And so when you readWait until you have read the next line--Then it is safe to go on reading.In a family one sister may conceal...

Finally.What took so long?Resipsaloquitur.Pink, Blue, Black, Silver: $9.99 (blow dryer not included).

Here's a blast from the past.On April 8, 2008, while I was still a practicing anesthesiologist, I made this video.YouTube description: "joe — 'World's most popular blogging anesthesiologist' — makes ready his anesthesia cart for a busy day in the OR."It's my most most popular video ever, accumulating over 115,000 views to date.Part 2 will post...

The late Danish designer Jens Quistgaard turned the humble peppermill into an obsessive design exercise, producing dozens of sculptural "table seasoners" as "a meditation on the possibilities of shape for a common household object."See them all here.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?

That's not the first miracle by any measure.That was figuring out how to set up and use my new Mentra Live glasses all by myself without any frustration or FAILs.As a rule any new device in my TechnoDolt©®™ hands doesn't work until after hours of angst and misery on my part.But I digress.I pre-ordered these glasses late last year and they arrived...

From BBC Sky at Night Magazine:........................................It's a relatively well-known fact that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our own ocean floor.A new project seeks to map the whole of the ocean floor in unprecedented detail by 2030.To that end, NASA has released an amazing map (above and below)showing...

YouTube description:..............................................As bandwidth allows, this stream will feature live views from Artemis II's Orion spacecraft, without commentary, as it makes its journey around the moon.This stream began as Artemis II made its ascent into space and will conclude shortly before Orion splashes down in the Pacific...

Once upon a time, in the anesthesiology department at UCLA, after finishing my cases for the day, I'd wheel my anesthesia cart back to the workroom and line it up alongside all the other carts to be cleaned for the next day.Except I did something none of my fellow residents did, namely, I cleaned my own cart and then set it up for the next day's...

"Discover, listen to, and stream free internet radio from around the world.""With over 70,000 radio stations in over 11,000 locations, TuneJourney is one of the largest free online radio catalogs on Earth."But wait — there's more!"TuneJourney is more than just a radio station aggregator: it's an AI-powered smart player that analyzes live streams...

Strandbeests are kinetic machine sculptures that move under their own power along a beach.Some of the latest versions are very fast and can even tow humans behind them. Theo Jansen's YouTube description of his creations:........................................Strandbeest Evolution 2025 provides an update on the evolutionary development which has...

Since forever I've been charmed by Apple's 11" MacBook Air (above), which made its debut in 2011 and was retired — to use Deckard's choice of words in "Blade Runner" — in 2015.Note the lighted Apple logo on the back of the screen, a feature from back in the day that Apple retired in 2015.*Such a small device compared to all the increasingly large...

***THIS IS THE PLACE***About Niche MuseumsI love seeking out and exploring tiny and niche museums.Why niche museums? So many reasons:Once you start looking, there are museums about everything. And they are everywhere!If someone cared enough about something to create a museum, that thing is interesting.The smaller the museum is, the more likely...

Wrote Clive Thompson: "The Cloud Appreciation Society is exactly what it sounds like: A social network where people share photos of remarkable clouds they've seen. To help you identify clouds, they have a free mobile app, a cool old-school cardboard-wheel cloud taxonomizer, and a picture book, 'Cloudspotting for Beginners.'"Wait a sec — what's...

Res ipsa loquitur.$24.99.

Wrote Kottke:...........................Photographer and drone pilot Pio Andrea Peri captured this overhead photo of the Sicilian city Centuripe, a town of about 5,400 people on the island of Sicily in southern Italy. Set in the hills between the Dittaino and Salso rivers, some 2,400 feet (about a half mile) above sea level, Centuripe's...

YouTube description:..............................How was an enamel portrait miniature made in the 18th century? In this video, watch enamel artist Ruth Ball painstakingly recreate a portrait miniature of Queen Charlotte, based on an original painted in 1781.Enamelling is the delicate process of firing finely ground coloured glass powders onto a...

There are pure, limpid forms of life undisclosed to those living under the sign of despair. Those whose life flows without obstacles reach a stage of delightful contentments in which the world appears charming and full of light. Enthusiasm casts a bewitching light over the world; it is a specific form of love, a way of forgetting oneself. Love...

Two days ago just for lulz I had my Crack Research Team©®™ see if they could excavate my late 20th century Yahoo email and get it working again.Success!It costs $5/month (after a 14-day free trial) to enable mail forwarding, which is the only way to get email without visiting Yahoo's still crazy-cluttered site.Those under 15 (about half my...

My rule of thumb for expired meds: every year after the expiration date = 10% loss of efficacy.So, a 5-year-old Rx = half as effective (5 x 10% = 50%) as when you picked it up from the pharmacy: take twice the prescribed dose.This is a rough estimate: that's why it's called a Rule of thumb.For example, when I broke a bone in my foot last year, it...

The site's grand panjandrum explains why it exists:................................I've been fascinated by Chinese cigarettes for years — the sheer variety of pack artwork, the regional brands, the history embedded in each design. Walking through a Chinese convenience store is like visiting a gallery.But there was nowhere online to actually...

Very clever!Something seemingly simple — the little doohickies you put on the bottom of chair and table legs — gets an upgrade.The inventor created a two-component furniture slider that lets each leg independently find its level position and smoothly glide on indoor or outdoor surfaces.These sliders automatically adjust for angled or uneven legs...

Taken at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

My heart leaps with joy when I stumble on an old-timey-style site like this.No cookies opt out/in, no banner ads, no flashing lights, no sounds, no dark patterns.WYSIWYG.N.B. The most recent additions were on June 13, 2015."The Library of Juggling is on an indefinite hiatus, which means no new tricks will be added. Existing content will continue...

Wrote Prince:From "Prince: The Beautiful Ones," published in 2019.He was 24 when he wrote "1999" in 1982.You know what song I'm hearing....Prince was my favorite musician of all time.I thought he'd be around for a long time: he's the only musician I'd travel to see perform live.I missed numerous chances.When he was found dead in an elevator at...

I never knew such things existed until I happened on them in Clive Thompson's Linkfest.From reddit:.......................................I started collecting these cards several years ago when I was really interested in collecting antique Coney Island postcards.Each of the cards has been intricately "carved" out and painted with bright colors...

I first saw this beautiful Riedel decanter back in 2005 and featured it in bookofjoe (above).The other day I got to wondering if it was still being made and sure enough, it's been popular enough to continue being produced for the past twenty-one years.Lead crystal hand-blown in Austria.$280.FunFact: $159.95 in 2005 is worth $266 in today's dollars.

Every ten years or so (see what I did there?) I like to watch this mind-expanding classic film made in 1977.Back story here.FunFact: last century, when I lived in LA, I visited Charles & Ray Eames house and studio (below), which is open to the public for tours. Wonderful.Highly recommended.Apply within.

From the website: "Intertapes is an updating collection of found cassettes from around the world. The audio fragments include: voice memos, field recordings, mixtapes, bootlegs, and more."Fair warning: there goes the day.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?[via Clive Thompson]

My candle burns at both ends;   It will not last the night;But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—   It gives a lovely light!

From the website:• You see a rotating array of blue crosses and three yellow dots• Now fixate on the center by watching the flashing green spot• Note that the yellow spots disappear once in a while:• Singly, in pairs, or all three simultaneously• In reality (!), the three yellow spots are continuously presentMore?Your wish is my demand.154 others...

I've been on a jerky jones for the past month or so, trying a zillion different brands ranging in price from $19.99/lb (Jack Link's) to $44.99/lb (Wild Bill's).About two weeks ago Episode 1 in this series appeared here.Long story short: the best of them all is Jack Link's Original (above).This is confounding to me because it's also the cheapest...

From Kottke:.................................The Library of Congress recently discovered a copy of a "long-lost film make in approximately 1897 by George Méliès called "Gugusse and the Automaton" (Gugusse et l'Automate), which "had not been seen by anyone in likely more than a century" and "was the first appearance on film of what might be called...

Human population within a distance, from any point in the world."Select a radius and click on the map."Hey — there's my house!:15,050 people live within 3km of my house (top)."The data is the Global Human Settlement Layer population grid for 2025. This release was known to be less accurate for small areas, especially where there has been rapid...

A lot going on here:• Super-sharp ceramic blade• Blade protected by stylish housing• Dedicated hole for included keychain or yours• Magnet to affix device to fridge/any ferrous surface• Extremely elegant and the sound it makes slicing open letters is fo shizzle$10.99.More?Your wish is my demand.Below,the director's cut of Part 2 above.

This is a 3D billboard on a Bank of China building in a city in China. Using an optical illusion, it makes the building look like it is wrapped in metallic ripples and being distorted, creating a stunning dynamic visual effect. pic.twitter.com/LRGI4JBSDK— China pulse 🇨🇳 (@Eng_china5) March 18, 2026

Are you sure?Because doctors can fool you.Let me tell you a little story, all the more profound because every word of it is true.Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, I went to UCLA Medical School.I got to be friends with some of the members of the class a year ahead of me; I saw them on rotations, in the mail room, what have you.While in...

I was strolling down memory lane yesterday and happened on a boj post that appeared on December 15, 2005, headlined My Top 10 Songs.That's them up top, followed by the number of times I'd listened to each song in the years immediately preceding the post (iTunes launched in 2001 and the iTunes Music Store in 2003).You know what?I must be frozen in...

Res ipsa loquitur.Above and below from boj Studios©®™, World Premiere videos demonstrating this wonderful device.$7.99 (pencil not included).

kagi is a paid ad-free search engine founded in 2018.Up top, what it has to say about bookofjoe.Spot on: I'm flattered and impressed.Apart from the fact that bookofjoe is attributed to one Joe Peach, a long-time commenter on bookofjoe who retired from the Comments section about ten years ago.And the inception date, which kagi states is 2003, is...

I very much like just-released Acme Weather's approach to users: they don't even ask for a credit card number or email to try it out.Rather, you download the iPhone app free and use it for two weeks: only then will they ask if you want a year's subscription for $25.I'm betting they're doing a land office business with their great app and this...

This Charles Addams cartoon originally appeared in the New Yorker in 1940.It's remarkable that Addams was able to so elegantly characterize the nature of quantum mechanics just fifteen years after its formulation in 1925-1926.He also gave a glimpse into the future: it was in 1957 that Hugh Everett III first proposed what's now called the...

A very strange 2017 Russian sci-fi film about first contact.mos def not "Arrival II."Quite entertaining.They do things differently in Russian cinema.Understatement.More on this film here.FunFact: It became the highest grossing ever Russian sci-fi film.

In Every Language is a Wikipedia search engine that lets you see how different regions of the world depict the same thing. Search a word and notice the subtle ways different cultures and collective psyches encode the same idea differently across languages.

From Marginal Revolution:.....................................In 2024, the entire neuronal diagram of the fruit-fly brain – some 140,000 neurons and 50 million connections – was mapped. Later research showed that the map could be used to predict behavior. Now, Eon Systems, a firm with some of the scientists involved in the fruit-fly research and...

Supposedly Jean-Jacques Cartier, then head of Cartier London, saw one of the company's watches that had melted in a fiery auto crash, and in 1967 created this timepiece.Its unusual asymmetric form kept the signature Cartier Roman numerals, blued steel baton hands, and sapphire cabochon.At first the design was only made and sold in London from...

I read where you can generate a QR code for any URL so I gave it a whirl.It worked!Up top, my QR code: aim your camera at it and see what happens.If all goes well, you'll find yourself right back here where you started.For lulz I posted my QR code on X just to see if it worked there too: indeed it does.That got me thinking about posting my QR...

This is a terrific 10-episode spy thriller set in Canada, mostly Montreal, which I stumbled on last week.I watched the first 40-minute-long episode and was hooked, such that I had to forcibly get up out of my chair and stop after the fourth one.Great cast none of whom I've ever heard of nor seen in any other shows/movies that I can recall — but...

"The Fish Doorbell in Utrecht, The Netherlands, is back for another season! Did you spot a fish? Press the Fish Doorbell! Then our lock keeper can let the fish through."This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "gated community."[via Kottke]

From Open Culture:..................................................We can go through most of our lives holding out hope of one day seeing in person such works as Van Gogh's Sunflowers, Monet's Haystacks, a clay tablet containing actual cuneiform writing with our own eyes, or the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur. We can actually come face to...

Wait a sec, you say: how can it be possible to use it wrong?Long story short: I had my CrackResearchTeam©®™ drill down on this question many, many years ago because one day it occurred to me that since the two sides are not the same — only one side has bubbles while the other is flat — one side must be meant to be on the inside against whatever...

“Everyday Infrasound in an Uncertain World”https://brianhouse.bandcamp.com/album/everyday-infrasound-in-an-uncertain-worldEven though you can’t hear it, infrasound fills the air. And because the atmosphere doesn’t absorb it like regular sound, infrasound comes from hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. If humans could perceive frequencies...

A mesmerizing live feed from a camera near a water hole in the Namib Desert.Among the creatures you will see if you're a regular visitor: Porcupines, giraffes, warthogs, cape crows, jackals, ostriches, kudus, zebras, elands, springboks, pied crows, oryx, gnu, Lanner falcons, goshawk, sandgrouse, spotted hyena.Wonderful knowledgeable moderators...

Held by designer Jhoanna Wiegman.They are custom made.Doh!

Say what?Last week I saw that WordPress had created some sort of new feature that lets you create a website that only you can see 'cause it lives in your browser, whatever that means: no WordPress account needed.From TechCrunch: "There is a big caveat: The sites set up on my.Wordpress.net are private by default and not accessible from the public...

"Turn your YouTube subscriptions into a 2000s cable TV guide. Flip channels, watch what's on, and relive — or experience for the very first time — the golden age of channel surfing."More here.Free, the way we like it.Fair warning: there goes the day.Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?No — this one, not that one!

Just read an excellent detailed analysis of where things stand right now in terms of AI eating the world, as some predict will happen.Wonderful charts and graphs, two of which appear above and below.Me: I use Perplexity (Pro; $20/month and well worth it) daily on both my computer and phone.I use Meta AI on my phone in conjunction with Oakley Meta...

Sometimes you don't want to love the person you loveYou turn your face away from that facewhose eyes lips might make you give up angerforget insult steal sadness of not wantingto love turn away then turn away at breakfastin the evening don't lift your eyes from the paperto see that face in all its seriousness a sweetness of...

Architect Katerina Kamprani showcases her designs for everyday objects that are ever so slightly wrong in the most chaotic way possible.See also: Chindōgu

I became acquainted with the myriad uses of disposable latex gloves back in medical school when I was exposed to them in the course of my clinical rotations.When I spent my obligatory six weeks on general surgery during my third year I'd occasionally take a box of gloves home — if I could remember to do so after 36 straight hours awake running...

Finally.Since forever I've wanted someone to chat with while I'm out running, someone who's comfortable running and talking at my pace.I hate running and always have: it's boring and tiring and it hurts.Nevertheless, I persist.I've tried talking to peeps on the phone but they universally find it unpleasant, what with all the ambient noise and my...

Videreest credere.Discovered late last year in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, it weighs 213 pounds and "has the ability to expand when swallowing enormous prey, right up to the size of a cow, which is virtually impossible for most people to comprehend," said photographer Radu Frentiu, part of a team of experts who measured and documented the...

It's an online game called COVER STORY, brought to you by the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame.Free, the way we like it.

For the past several weeks I've been trying a wide variety of super-premium beef jerkies, some of which cost nearly $50/lb (!).Jerky's been what's for dinner, as well as breakfast and lunch.But I digress.A box of 46 (forty-six) snack-size Slim Jims costs $11.47 and they're available everywhere and you don't have to pony up for 1/2 to 1 lb at a...

But wait — there's more!"I'm confused. What purpose does this serve?""TF do we need this for?""This is dumb.""No help at all."Above and below, a few of the many disdainful comments that followed my posting of a Meta glasses hack (top) to YouTube back in January 2024.As a rule, my hacks are trashed far more often than they're praised but that's...

Constant readers know that I have a jones for 1-trick devices.Here's one that's new to me: a specialized pistachio nut opener.Who hasn't been vexed by a handful of recalcitrant pistachios that you've set aside for later while you enjoy those that open more or less effortlessly?And then had to live with the broken fingernails and sore fingers...

From the USPS:.........................................Celebrate a culture that originated in the working-class Mexican American/Chicano communities throughout the American Southwest with the Lowriders Forever® stamps.Available in sheets of 15, these stamps showcase 5 dazzling car models..........................................At post offices...

Since boj's 2004 inception, my BehindTheMedspeak feature has been one of the two most popular ("What is it?" is the other) of the many that have come and gone.A couple weeks ago I was proofreading what was intended to be a "BehindTheMedspeak" post when I noticed, much to my surprise, that I had headed it "BeyondTheMedspeak."What?Somehow I...

300 choreographed synchronized swimmers come together to create the titular waterfall.From the 1933 box office smash "Footlight Parade."

"Watch live TV from around the world and guess which country it's from!Free, the way we like it.Fair warning: there goes the day.

[Part 1 appeared last Saturday at this time; several readers asked for more. As always, your wish is my demand.]I've had a LifeStat Emergency Airway (above and below)in my car's glove box ever since I first learned of its existence around the turn of the century.It was invented by ENT and otolaryngologist Dr. Ronald J. French and patented in 1996...

[Evolution of the United States of Mexico and the Confederation of North America.]I rarely read alternate history; this 1973 novel is probably my first such book in twenty years.Its thesis is that the American Revolution failed and England as victor proceeded to dominate the world from that point forward, with the narrative tracking from around...

Far more frequently than chance would dictate — perhaps 3-4 times/year — I find something I thought was lost only after ordering/buying a replacement.There's usually a lag lasting anywhere from an hour to a couple weeks before I finally throw in the towel and give up on locating the lost object.I've tried to figure out why this has been a...

I love how the USPS has widened its scope of subjects over the decades from dead presidents to just about anybody whose visage will sell stamps.Now comes Bruce Lee.From the USPS website: "Honor the legendary Chinese American martial artist, actor, and filmmaker with the Bruce Lee Forever stamps. Available in sheets of 20, these stamps celebrate...

Here's an excellent British thriller which premiered in January 2020 in the UK on Sky One.Its premise is that a solar particle-driven electrical storm akin to the Carrington Event of 1859 disables the power grid of the entire country.Chaos ensues.Excellent cast, most of whom are new to me; there are three series, of which I've completed watching...