Advertise here with Carbon Ads
This site is made possible by member support. 💞
Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.
When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!
kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.
Beloved by 86.47% of the web.
Entries for January 2006
The proprietor of The Million Dollar Homepage
The proprietor of The Million Dollar Homepage has sold 999,000 pixels (for $1 each) and is auctioning off the final 1,000 pixels on eBay (current bid is ~$30,000). (thx, jonah)
A long list of business buzz words
A long list of business buzz words compiled from a short time on the job for a big-box retailer. If we don’t boil the ocean, concentrate on the big rocks, and avoid getting thrown under the bus, our surge to streamline is a whole other type of animal and at the end of the day, we’ll all be on the same page.
How’s this for meta: my list of 2005
How’s this for meta: my list of 2005’s best links made it onto a list of the best links to lists from a list of “best of” lists. I might have to put this link on my list of best links of 2006.
Backronym is “a type of acronym that
Backronym is “a type of acronym that is constructed to match the letters of a actual word appropriate in some fashion to the topic at hand”.
New York magazine enters the NYC dining
New York magazine enters the NYC dining fray with a listing of the best 101 restaurants in the city. Only two got their highest (5 star) rating: Masa and Le Bernardin.
Typographica’s favorite fonts of 2005, part 1. Arrival and Vista look nice.
Typographica’s favorite fonts of 2005, part 1. Arrival and Vista look nice.
According to some recent analysis, Antonin Scalia
According to some recent analysis, Antonin Scalia is the funniest Supreme Court Justice. Justice Thomas, on the other hand, generates no laughs whatsoever.
BBC Magazine has compiled a list of “100
BBC Magazine has compiled a list of “100 things we didn’t know this time last year”, including this copyright tidbit: “musical instrument shops must pay an annual royalty to cover shoppers who perform a recognisable riff before they buy, thereby making a ‘public performance’”. Here’s last year’s list.
In an era when players are so
In an era when players are so much bigger, stronger, faster, and richer than the rest of us, it’s getting harder for fans to really connect with pro sports teams.
Waiter Rant on how to order wine
Waiter Rant on how to order wine without looking like an asshole. “When I see someone [smell the cork] I know I’m dealing with a complete amateur. Guess what you’re gonna smell? Cork!”
Talk of the Town piece about Bryant
Talk of the Town piece about Bryant Simon’s upcoming book about Starbucks.
The Edge’s annual question of the year
The Edge’s annual question of the year for 2006 is “what is your dangerous idea?” Last year’s question (what do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?) prompted some conversation on kottke.org.
Retrievr is a simple, amazing use of
Retrievr is a simple, amazing use of the Flickr API. You draw a little drawing and Retrievr fetches similar photos from Flickr. Photodisc, the stock photo site, used to have a feature like this back in 1997-98, but then they discontinued it (I have no idea why…it was insanely useful). One feature request…instead of a drawing, let me pick a starting Flickr photo and find me similar ones. (via mh)
2005 favorites
If you’re like me, you’re waiting patiently for that day in early January when you can go more than 10 minutes without seeing a reference to some best of 2005 list. If you’re also like me, you love lists so much that you can’t get enough of them. So, with apologies to that first part of me, here’s a final 2005 lists from me: a few movies, weblogs, books, and musical selections that I enjoyed this past year (in no particular order).
Music (not necessarily released in 2005)
Ladytron, Witching Hour. This one grew on me a lot.
Kelly Clarkson, Since U Been Gone.
Fischerspooner, Odyssey.
Bloc Party, Silent Alarm.
Royksopp, The Understanding.
Diplo, Megatroid Mix. (download)
Boards of Canada, Campfire Headphase.
Mark Mothersbaugh (and others), The Life Aquatic soundtrack.
Stars, Set Yourself on Fire.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
Kanye West, Gold Digger.
Sigur Ros, Takk.
BBC Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphonies.
Two disappointments: Franz Ferdinand, You Could Have It So Much Better and Broken Social Scene by the band of the same name. I enjoyed Franz’s debut album and You Forgot It in People so much, but the follow-ups fell flat for me. Still trying though…
Movies (not necessarily released in 2005)
Primer.
Garden State.
Crash.
Revenge of the Sith.
Sideways.
Million Dollar Baby.
Deliverance.
Cinderella Man.
King Kong.
Didn’t see a lot of movies this year, unfortunately.
Books
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami.
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen.
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson.
Consider the Lobster, David Foster Wallace.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke.
The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan.
Pieces for the Left Hand, J. Robert Lennon.
Freakonomics, Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner.
I read a ton of non-fiction but always enjoy the small amount of fiction I do read more.
Favorite weblogs. Compare with last year’s list.
Waxy. Despite a year-end Yahoo! slowdown/hangover, still one of the absolute best.
Collision Detection. Enthusiasm about technology without the irrational exuberance or Web 2.0ness of other tech/tech culture blogs.
del.icio.us inbox. Not technically a blog, but I love this ever-fresh flow of my friends’ favorites.
Robotwisdom. The original weblog was back this year after a 1.5 year hiatus. Jorn still has it.
The Morning News. Also not technically a blog, but TMN has been delivering high quality content on a daily basis for a long time now.
Flickr friends. Still the most fun on the web.
Cynical-C. Can’t remember where or when I found this one, but almost every single thing on there is something I’m interested in.
Scripting News. I skim most of his opinion stuff, disagree with 90% of the rest of what I do read, but Dave has his finger on the pulse of the part of the web I care most about. He gets links so quickly sometimes that I think he’s actually part RSS aggregator. “He’s more machine than man now.” “No, there is still good in him…”
Boing Boing. There’s stuff I don’t care about here, but the best of BB is really good.
3 Quarks Daily. The most accessible smart weblog out there.
Marginal Revolution. Quirky economics. Interesting everyday.
Goldenfiddle. I dislike celebrity gossip, but gf makes it seem interesting somehow. Damn you!
Youngna. Rationally exuberant.
You may notice that there are few “pro” blogs on this list. The best stuff out there is still being generated by interested, enthusiastic amateurs. When you’re producing media for a profit, there’s a certain vitality that’s lost, I think…a loss I’ve been struggling with on kottke.org for the past few months. kottke.org was on last year’s list but doesn’t appear this year…here’s hoping for a better year for the site in 2006.
After four days as a porn site,
After four days as a porn site, suck.com is back to its old self. No explanation yet about the outage.
Cory is leaving the EFF (at least
Cory is leaving the EFF (at least on a full-time basis; he’ll still be an EFF Fellow) to be a full-time writer (Boing Boing, novels, short stories, etc.). Good luck!
Socials & More