kottke.org Quick Links for January 2016

January 29

January 28

How Whitney Houston reinvented the Star Spangled Banner

This is fun: from 2011, why Cam Newton is the worst #1 NFL draft pick ever (p.s. Teeeeboooow)

Hunger is a mood; making it so you're less in that mood is tricky and sometimes counterintuitive

In defense of B.o.B, the rapper who believes the Earth is flat

January 27

This seems troubling: a Chinese company now owns the rights to photos of Tiananmen Square uprising, incl Tank Man

Theory: the hospitality industry isn't all that hospitable

January 26

Who owns your fave booze? Tanqueray, Smirnoff, Ketel, Johnnie Walker, Bulleit, Baileys, Guinness: same owner

Marvin Minsky, Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88

Are plant butchers the hot new food trend for 2016?

January 25

12 things restaurants need to stop doing in 2016, incl. giving the check to the man

Former NYC barkeep boxed Larry Holmes, married Obama's former girlfriend, and is now reclaiming his Serbian mansion

Threadbase is like a currency exchange calculator, except for tshirt sizing across brands

NBA big men can suck at FTs because their combo of size/agility/quickness is so rare to begin with

The worst passwords of 2015; congrats to returning #1 "123456"

Devil's advocate: liberals should support Trump because it's the only way to move the needle on climate change

Former Secretary of Defense and war criminal Donald Rumsfeld is now an iOS app developer

How To Drive In The Snow, In A Regular-Ass Car, Without Freaking Out

January 22

Violinist imitating a car alarm

Smartphones are a relatively new thing in Myanmar, but everyone is already on Facebook 24/7

January 21

FAQ about Blizzard 2016; "Is this El Niño making landfall?"

A restored 4K version of Fargo is playing at Film Forum starting Friday

Travel advice from @legalnomads: how to eat street food and not get sick

Nothing says "I am a rich dipshit" more than 24kt gold socks (only $275!) via @alexandrak

January 20

Former NFL star Antwaan Randle El, mind and body already failing at 36, says he shouldn't have played football

Upcoming book by Chuck Klosterman: But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past

"By any objective measurement, Obama's presidency has been perhaps the most consequential since FDR's time."

January 19

There are all sorts of rules you need to follow to be a flight attendant; "Marital Status: Unmarried"

Tad Friend writes about getting older and trying to master the game of squash

Whoa, Univision (parent company of Fusion) has bought a 40% controlling stake in The Onion

January 18

This is fantastic: the amazing Eyes on the Prize is back on TV. Check your local listings!

January 17

David Bowie finally has his first #1 album on the Billboard charts

January 15

The oldest film footage of Paris, 1887-1900

I love this video by @noahkalina

The rise of the hipster mattress; "It was only a matter of time before the hipsters got a hold of memory foam."

Things I didn't know about that sound terrifying: sleep paralysis

January 14

Foursquare raises some more money ($45m) and @dens hands over CEO role to take Exec. Chairmanship

Hilarious mansplaining about manspreading

Very lovely remembrance of Alan Rickman by @tcarmody

January 13

Now on HBO, Sesame Street is gentrifying; "Elmo has moved from an apartment into a brownstone"

Trailer for Money Monster, a financial thriller directed by Jodie Foster w/ Clooney & Julia Roberts

10 Ways You're Making Your Life Harder Than It Has To Be

January 12

"80% of all marriages in history have been between second cousins or closer"

19th-century map shows beaver dams still standing 150 years later

Dang! Pete Wells knocks Per Se down to two stars in the NY Times.

How low are oil prices? Buying a 55-gallon barrel to store it costs almost double the value of the oil itself.

When your Instagram has 8 million followers and you turn on push notifications, it looks totally crazy

The last known survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake just died; he was 109

January 11

The Globe followed a Boston heroin addict for a year as she struggled w/ recovery and keeping her kids

Steven Soderbergh's list of all media consumed in 2015. He bingewatched Transparent and Making a Murderer too!

David Bowie, RIP

January 8

What if the subject of Serial was Seinfeld?

HBO confirms that Deadwood will return as a movie!! YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

Radiohead has formed a new company and that usually means a new album is coming soon

My Gen X life has been Columbused by Millennials; "You did not discover or invent having shit mailed to your house"

January 7

Jerry Seinfeld's first guest of the new season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee? Barack Obama

Here's something new: an assertion that Clones & Sith were the best Star Wars movies & Williams' score sucked

My Marriage Didn't End When I Became a Widow #cryingatwork

January 5

The CRISPR gene editing technique can also be used to control genes, which may prove more useful

18 children's books with female main characters

From @pieratt, A Big List of Small Retailers with Nice Sites

There's evidence that Native Americans bent trees into directional trail markers

January 4

In 2009, Jimmy Carter quit the Southern Baptist Church over women's rights

I Know What's Best For The Health of My Family, And It's Magical Thinking

For kids, exercise might be an effective medication for ADHD

Pete Wells' NY Times review of Senor Frog's in Times Square is entertaining

For the NYC crew: Dr. Zizmor has retired

This Man Ate Only Junk Food for 30 Days and Lost 11 Pounds; it's all about the calories…

December 2015 Archives »