Love this cool JS pattern-making script.
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New from Neal Agarwal: Sandboxels. “It’s a falling-sand game with hundreds of elements, heat simulation, electricity & a lot more. I like making little cities and then adding tons of rats.”
Some modern collective nouns: a cringe of Cybertrucks, an anxiety of authors, a migraine of toddlers, and “a group of two or men is called a podcast”.
kdo rolodex · a list of kindred spirits, friends, open web enthusiasts, role models, fellow travelers, and collaborators
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Rosecrans Baldwinhttps://rosecrans.substack.com -
Aftermathhttps://aftermath.site -
Annie Rauwerdahttps://annierau.com -
A Cup of Johttps://cupofjo.com -
Colossalhttps://thisiscolossal.com
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Business/product advice: launch it three times. “The vast majority of the time, the single biggest problem you have is that nobody knows you exist, and nobody gives a damn about what you do.”
A Sense of Getting Closer
With music by Max Cooper and visuals by Conner Griffith, A Sense of Getting Closer is a music video that was inspired by a quote submitted to Cooper’s On Being project:
I have a sense of getting closer to something which my life depends on. I can sense it but I cannot tell if I should be excited or terrified about what will happen.
Mesmerizing. Like literally, given that it’s based on “a hypnotic light show we can’t look away from, yet we know is made up of low-quality content fed to us by engagement algorithms.” (via @aaroncoleman.bsky.social)
Searching for Birds, an engaging visualization of eBird and Google Trends data that reveals human curiosity about birds.
How to raise children. “It’s wild to me that we parent our children to fit into society, then get together with our friends and talk about how broken society is.”
Team Pursuit speed skaters used to trade off leads like cyclists but the sport has been revolutionized by the US team’s invention of the “bump drafting” technique.
Vintage Art House Movie Posters by Peter Strausfeld
The excellent Poster House museum in NYC currently has an exhibition up of posters by Peter Strausfeld.
Between 1947 and 1980, Peter Strausfeld, a German refugee interned on the Isle of Man during World War II, created unique, compelling posters for London’s Academy Cinema—the city’s premier art house movie theater. Founded by Elsie Cohen in 1931, the Academy specialized in international films that eschewed classic Hollywood narratives, highlighting works by now-famous directors like Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman, Andrzej Wajda, and Satyajit Ray. While these films now hold cult status for cinema aficionados, in the early to mid-20th century, art house remained a novel and daring form of cinema that few theaters showcased.
Throughout his longstanding relationship with the Academy, Strausfeld created over 300 bold, predominantly single-color linocut compositions with a deceptively simple hand-printed feel.
An accompanying book is available from RIT Press. More of Strausfeld’s work can be found at It’s Nice That, Orson & Welles, and Mubi. (via the new yorker)
Paul Ford on AI and the Infinite Software Era. “All of the people I love hate this stuff, and all the people I hate love it. And yet, likely because of the same personality flaws that drew me to technology in the first place, I am annoyingly excited.”
Current is an interesting new RSS reader that doesn’t function like an email inbox. “There is no count because counting was the problem.”
Reimagining the Origins of Winter Sports
A New Winter is a project from Colombian-American photographer Sofia Jaramillo that seeks to
This project revisits the early depictions of skiing, which often portrayed Eurocentric ideals and a narrow vision of who belongs on the slopes. By reimagining the first images of skiing in the United States, A New Winter challenges the stereotypes and exclusive culture perpetuated by these initial depictions, inviting us to expand our understanding of winter sports and celebrate its evolving culture. It seeks to disrupt traditional narratives, challenge stereotypes and promote representation in winter sports by placing people of color at the center of these images.
Several of the images were featured in Outside magazine, where Jaramillo says, “I’m doing this for all the young Black and brown girls and boys out there who don’t see themselves when they walk into a ski resort.”
The goal of the Trump Action Tracker is to “document how the trajectory of Trump’s presidency is aligned with the authoritarian playbook”.
The K-Shaped Economy
I think I’d heard the term “k-shaped economy” somewhere before but didn’t really know what it meant until I watched this video:
American Airlines is changing the layout of some of their aircraft to add 31 first class and premium seats while cutting out 73 economy seats. This is the hot new trend in air travel: pulling out all the stops to cater to the wealthy.
Airlines are adding suites with more bed space, privacy doors, an extra ottoman for guests. They’re offering caviar, free PJs, luxury skin care products, and multi-course meals with wine pairings made by gourmet chefs. They’re also building more airport lounges. Meanwhile, economy is getting more cramped and low-cost carriers are going bankrupt. It’s because wealthy passengers are where the money’s at.
For years, airlines have made more money from their credit cards than from actually flying passengers around. And these days, premium seating is bringing in more revenue than the economy cabin. It’s a perfect example of the K-shaped economy.
Here’s an AP article about the K-shaped economy from late last year.
Corporate executives are paying attention and in some cases explicitly adjusting their businesses to account for it. They are seeking ways to sell more high-priced items to the wealthy while also reducing package sizes and taking other steps to target struggling consumers.
Why AI Writing Is So Generic, Boring, and Dangerous: Semantic Ablation. “The AI identifies high-entropy clusters — the precise points where unique insights…reside — and systematically replaces them with the most probable, generic token sequences.”
The 19 richest Americans hold more than 2% of the total US holdhold wealth. That figure has roughly doubled in the past 5-6 years. “The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering.”
Vote Dizzy!
In 1964, legendary jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie ran for President as a write-in candidate. Some of the more interesting details about his campaign:
- If elected, he’d rename the White House to the Blues House.
- Running mate was slated to be Phyllis Diller. “She seems to have that sua-a-a-a-ve manner; she looks far into the future. She’s looking into the future. So I’m a future man, I said to her.”
- His nominees for a stacked cabinet: Duke Ellington (minister of foreign affairs), Charlie Mingus (minister of peace), Peggy Lee (minister of labor), Malcolm X (minister of justice), Louis Armstrong (minister of agriculture), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), and Miles Davis (head of the CIA). Of Davis, Gillespie said: “O-o-oh, honey, you know his schtick. He’s ready for that position. He’d know just what to do in that position.”
Gillespie dropped out before the election, paving the way for Lyndon Johnson’s victory over Barry Goldwater, who Gillespie said “wants to take us back to the horse-and-buggy days when we are in the space age”.
From designer Beth Mathews, a free “Private Property! No ICE” sign you can print out for your shop or restaurant.
What movies can you brag about seeing during their original run in the theater? Not big movies, more culty ones. I’ve got Iron Giant, American Movie, Run Lola Run, Hands on a Hardbody, and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. 😂
From a draft of the opening narration of Star Trek: “Assigned a five year patrol of our galaxy, the giant starship visits Earth colonies, regulates commerce, and explores strange new worlds…” I’m glad they punched it up.
If what you want is to see tiny people all over your plate, you 100% absolutely have to try Lanmaoa asiatica. The mushroom is a popular food during mushroom season, but if undercooked has the same effect worldwide: lilliputian hallucinations.
A Brief History of Japanese Art
I know I probably say this every time I post videos like this, but I wish I’d gotten into art & art history earlier than I did. Channels like Behind the Masterpiece are so good at making this stuff come alive and their Brief History of Japanese Art scratches my recent interest in Japan itch quite nicely. I was lucky to see some of the pieces from the video on my Japan trip last fall, including the Big Buddha in Kamakura, hand scrolls, sumi-e, and so many woodblock prints. (via open culture)
On historical accuracy in movies (Wuthering Heights, The Odyssey) and the “anxious, professional monitoring in which the images onscreen must be checked and rechecked for their accordance with the original text and preexisting notions about it”.
Recently released: Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play. “What magical mushroom could have turned an unassuming playing card company into one of the dominant cultural forces of the twenty-first century?”
A molly guard is a safety cover that you need to move out of the way before pressing an important button. “Anecdotally, this is named after Molly, an engineer’s daughter who was invited to a datacenter and promptly pressed a big red button…”
Polar explorer and scientist Felicity Aston shares her beauty uniform. “When I come back from an expedition, my hair is in the GREATEST shape. That whole thing about washing your hair less frequently? It’s true.”
Food Is Love is a collection of essays about “how memory, food, and love are all intertwined”. “We are reminded that food is an expression of love, and sometimes the only way people who loved us were capable of showing it.”
14-year old Miles Wu recently won the top prize at a junior innovators competition for an origami shape that can hold 10,000 times its own weight “that could be used to build deployable shelters for emergency situations like natural disasters”.
The 50 Most Underappreciated Movies of the 21st Century. I’ve only seen a few of these; I’ve added a bunch to my to-see list. Any particular faves? Or additions to the list?
Comments Are Back On
As I mentioned previously, comments have been unavailable on the site for the past few weeks:
There was a rise in casual negativity that felt too close to how social media feels, i.e. a place where even well-meaning folks are not incentivized to think “this isn’t for me” and move on without comment. I understand that the pull of treating this social space just like other social spaces is strong, but we’re trying to do something different here…
In the meantime, I’ve updated and refreshed the community guidelines; if you are going to participate in comments threads here, I would appreciate you reading it. (Quick reminder: you need to be a KDO member to comment.)
Instead of going over the guidelines here, I thought it might be helpful to share some examples of what I would consider good comments & threads:
👏 Margaret M’s comment on The Lies and Falsifications of Oliver Sacks (it’s a good thread in general); an excerpt:
I’m a doctor. It’s my second career; I was a book editor before. Naturally, when I decided to go back to school to pursue medicine, I read all sorts of books by doctors about taking care of their patients. Obviously, I read everything he wrote (for a general audience, anyway).
This is such a betrayal.
🙌 Stuart Kern’s comment on Core Memories With the Swiftie Dads; an excerpt:
Got time for a lengthy Worst Dad Ever Goes to See Taylor Swift story?
2018 Taylor Swift tour. I take joy in what brings either of my two daughters joy. Happy to take my 17 year old daughter to see Taylor Swift. It involved snakes for some reason.
Months in advance she camps out online and scores two tickets. Days out she decorates a t-shirt. Concert day she gets home from school, paints her face. We sit in traffic for two hours to get to the stadium. She floats across the acres of parking lot, grooving on the scene. We get to the gate.
“These tickets were for last night.”
👍 Both discussions about Pluribus — perfect posts for folks to express opinions. And so many people thoughtfully disagreeing with me and each other with kindness & respect.
😊 The thread about the “devilish” 2025 game. Quick comments work here — everyone understood the vibe of the thread.
🎯 Dalton’s comment on Playing Boards of Canada on a DEC PDP-1 from 1959:
Somewhere there is a Venn diagram of all the things I like, and this is right in the middle of all of it!
It’s always OK to express your enthusiasm and appreciation for a link or comment.
I also pulled some examples of feedback from social media that I don’t find helpful in contributing to a good discussion. None of these have a “yes, and…” vibe:
👎 These replies to the CIA deleting the World Factbook:
But then, did we ever trust “facts” published by the CIA?
I’m pretty sure half of them are functionally illiterate anyway so they probably don’t see the point.
Perfectly fine posts for social media but they wouldn’t work on KDO; they’re casually negative and don’t improve the conversation for others. Discussing the trustworthiness of the CIA, the propaganda aspect of the World Factbook, and the incompetence of the current regime are all worthy topics of discussion, but you’ve gotta work harder than these drive-by dunks.1
🤦♂️ This reply to The Strangers’ Case:
Many would say that Shakespeare and Sir Thomas More were unoriginal. This same guidance is found from 1,600 years earlier in Luke 10. Many know is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Again, very normal social media post. Further context/reading is good, but you can tell us about the Parable of the Good Samaritan without dinging Shakespeare for unoriginality.
😱 This reply to the news about canned juice being discontinued:
OJ is liquid candy anyway, which is why juice sales are stalling. I just wish it weren’t towards the horrid paint thinner that is kombucha…
Self-explanatory, I hope.
Anyway, I hope you get the gist and that I haven’t completely scared you off from commenting here. Really, the vast majority of comments here are great and I’m glad this facet of the site is back.
- That said, the tone of my post about the Factbook was not at all positive or constructive: “The CIA has deleted the CIA World Factbook (a popular almanac about the countries of the world) from the web. Fuck this. All these assholes do is pillage & destroy.” (And because of that tone, I probably would not have turned on comments for that post — not a good conversation starter on my part.)↩
Fun fact of the day: at the height of his quadruple axel, Olympic figure skater Ilia Malinin is spinning at 350 rpm, “about the same as a kitchen stand mixer”.
If you haven’t seen this or heard about it (or even if you have), the full story of this McDonald’s mural is well worth your time. “Giving that talk…was one of the greatest moments of my life. Bar none.” (Don’t skip the video!)
Building a Lego-Powered Submarine
As you know, I love me some Lego engineering builds. This one is pretty fun: using a large syringe, a Raspberry Pi, neodymium magnets, a controller scavenged from a toy submarine, and a bunch of Lego pieces, Brick Experiment Channel built a remote-controlled submarine. And it works so well! They even tested it by navigating 200 meters in a real stream.
Spider-Noir is an upcoming live-action series starring Nicolas Cage as his noir Spider-Man character from Spider-Verse. The trailer is available in color and black & white.
The Track
The Track is a documentary film about a group of athletes training in post-war Bosnia to make the Olympics in luge.
The Track is a coming-of-age journey of three friends chasing their improbable Olympic dreams in post-war Bosnia. Training on a crumbling track left behind from the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, the boys are guided by their devoted coach Senad, whose fight to rebuild the neglected track mirrors his determination to create a future for his athletes in a country facing one of the highest youth unemployment rates in Europe.
Filmed over five transformative years, The Track captures an intimate and deeply human coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of a nation still recovering from the scars of war, political corruption, and rising nationalism. As the boys balance Olympic ambition with the pull of street life, heartbreak, and survival, their paths begin to diverge, revealing the stark realities young people face in modern Bosnia.
You can check the website for online and IRL showings; it’s on Amazon Prime in the US.
“‘CEO said a thing!’ journalism generally involves a press outlet parroting the claims of a CEO or billionaire utterly mindlessly without any sort of useful historical context as to whether anything being said is factually correct.”
“Our Milky Way galaxy may not have a supermassive black hole at its centre but rather an enormous clump of mysterious dark matter exerting the same gravitational influence.”
The Origins of One of the Most Beloved Video Games of All Time. “Something I’ve heard from every Mario developer I’ve ever spoken to over the years is this: Whenever you press a button, something fun should happen.”
Michelle Zauner (Crying in H Mart) on the 30th anniversary of Infinite Jest. “If you allow yourself to trust-fall into the barbed intricacies of the writing, you will discover soft, exquisite humanity as its perennial landing.”
“It’s Fine If I Suck Sometimes”
Sara Hussain for Vogue India: In 2026, I’m No Longer Interested in ‘Working on Myself’, aka the exhausting “hyper-policing [of] our thoughts and language until having a personality feels like a risk assessment exercise”.
Everything began to feel like a diagnostic exercise. If I’m tired, it’s burnout. If I’m irritated, it’s dysregulation. If I don’t reply to a message immediately, I’m either protecting my boundaries or avoiding intimacy. I am never simply annoyed. I am always processing.
To be fair, some of this shift was necessary. Therapy helps. Naming patterns helps. Talking about things publicly has helped people survive things they otherwise might not have. Awareness is progress. My awareness, however, has tipped into surveillance.
Being in therapy these last few years has been great, essential even. But I feel what Hussain is talking about here. One of the helpful things I’ve learned is that while you do need to change and grow, you still need to be yourself. I forget who, but someone once said that the job of an editor is to make a writer sound more like themselves. That’s probably true of the therapeutic process as well, including the part we’re responsible for.
“Any serious push to account for the actions of this government — to abolish the president’s private army, restructure immigration enforcement and punish anyone responsible for wrongdoing — must include recompense and repair for its victims.”
When Gmail was released as a public beta in 2004, it “ran on three hundred old Pentium III computers nobody else at Google wanted”.
Actor-style headshots from the 80s of artists like Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer, and Robert Longo.
Recently Discovered: an NYC Underground Railroad Stop
The Merchant’s House Museum was NYC’s first landmarked building, but until this year, the function of a small hidden passageway in the house was unknown. When historians and preservationists examined it in detail, they found that it was built by the first owner of the house, abolitionist Joseph Brewster, as a hiding place for enslaved people escaping from the South.
But when visitors head upstairs to the bedrooms on the second floor, there’s something strategically hidden within the walls of Manhattan’s first landmarked building: a link to the Underground Railroad.
“We knew it was here, but didn’t really know what we were looking at,” Camille Czerkowicz, the curator for the Merchant’s House Museum, said.
Now they know that the Merchant’s House was also a “safe house” for enslaved Africans who escaped bondage in the South.
Architects and preservationists recently investigated the building’s hidden vertical passageway along the west wall and examined it for themselves.
“I’ve been practicing historical preservation law for 30 years, and this is a generational find. This is the most significant find in historic preservation in my career, and it’s very important that we preserve this,” Michael Hiller, a preservation attorney and professor at Pratt Institute, said.
Underneath those built-in drawers is the path to freedom.
AI Is Getting Scary Good at Making Predictions. “From this point on, for as long as we exist, we might be asking AIs what comes next. We won’t always understand how they arrived at their predictions.”
Zoning Out Is Good For You
Sleeping cleans your brain. Research suggests that zoning out, daydreaming, and being bored can perform a similar function without the need for deep sleep. So put down that phone occasionally and let your brain chill for a bit.
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