"How is it that we live in an era of apparently unprecedented choice and yet almost every film and TV series, as well as a good many plays and novels,… Read the rest of the article: Why every movie and TV show follows the same formula

"The Games and Pleasures of Childhood" is a set of 50 engravings published in 1657 by French engraver Claudine Bouzonnet-Stella (1636-1697). Some of the games depicted in the series are… Read the rest of the article: Drawings of bizarre and violent kids' games from 1657

A YouTuber named Steve bares his soul, recounting the sad tale of how he fell for a romance scam in the Philippines. As Steve walks through a jungle, he films… Read the rest of the article: YouTuber tells how he was "scammed beyond belief"

My friend Dug North, who wrote a lot of excellent how-to articles for me when I was editing Make magazine, has a YouTube channel where he make things from old… Read the rest of the article: Build a tin can steam engine from a 1963 Mechanix Illustrated magazine article (video)

Years ago, Carla and I spent a five weeks in Kobe, Japan. Carla had a gig there, and I was just tagging along. It's a lovely city, and I mainly… Read the rest of the article: Inside Japan's $10 hotel: Guest reviews reveal horror movie-like conditions at Sanwa

When your local Waffle House locks its doors, it's time to evacuate. The venerable chain is famous for staying open through almost any weather conditions. But when storms are projected… Read the rest of the article: Man creates unauthorized Waffle House disaster map, gets served legal papers instead of waffles

Bad cars are lemons. Good cars are peaches. There's a special kind of lemon that appears on the surface to be a peach, which Uri Bram calls an "internally bruised… Read the rest of the article: Bruised peaches: things that are too good to be true

David Lynch's collection of stuff will be sold at a live auction in Los Angeles of June 18. It's going to be a mob scene. Take a look at the… Read the rest of the article: David Lynch estate auction: 450+ personal items for sale

"Mickey Mouse started as a mischievous, rebellious trickster in the late 1920s," writes Justin Papan in his newsletter, "a subversive figure who connected with audiences struggling through the Great Depression."… Read the rest of the article: Mickey Mouse is a mutant — "always a reflection of the culture around him"

If "Where's Waldo?" is too easy (or dull) for you, give MicroMacro: Crime City a try. In this cooperative tabletop game, players use task cards and a giant-sized, ultra-detailed, black-and-white… Read the rest of the article: Solve 16 cartoonish crimes in this award-winning cooperative board game

Fernanda Eberstadt, granddaughter of Wall Street financier Ferdinand Eberstadt, writes about working at Andy Warhol's Factory in 1977 when she was 16. From her essay in Granta, titled "Buring Mao."… Read the rest of the article: Inside Andy Warhol's Factory: A teenager's intimate memoir from 1977

In 1970, coffee growers hired an ad agency to convince young British people to drink more coffee. This 17-minute, black-and-white BBC documentary starts with a slow pan across a group… Read the rest of the article: 1970 BBC documentary about Ridley Scott's coffee commercial

"The human body is, roughly speaking, one percent phosphorus," writes Jack Lohmann in Quillette. The exceedingly rare element is one of six that are absolutely essential to life. (The others… Read the rest of the article: Phosphorus: The 1% element vital for life

Jay Glennie, an author known for his deep dive books into renowned films such as Raging Bull, Trainspotting, and The Deer Hunter, has been tapped to write a series of… Read the rest of the article: Read excerpts from upcoming book about the making of Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time …in Hollywood"

PBS has censored a documentary about Art Spiegelman, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, Maus. It removed a 90-second clip of Spiegelman at a public event.… Read the rest of the article: PBS censors free speech documentary

Two years ago, the Texas Lottery Commission proudly announced Ryan Mindell as its Executive Director, saying in a release, "We are confident that his appointment to Executive Director will sustain… Read the rest of the article: Texas lottery commission shut down by unanimous Senate vote, leaving winners in limbo

Scientists who win Nobel Prizes become "visible scientists" — getting "almost bulletproof prestige and a reputation that can open just about any door," writes Massimiano Bucchi in The MIT Press… Read the rest of the article: The Matthew effect: Why famous scientists keep getting more famous

If you watch anime and read manga, you know that many of the stories take place in Japanese high schools. A company in Japan has created a fake high school… Read the rest of the article: Tourists can now spend a day as Japanese students at mock high school

New York City recently redesigned its subway train arrival times. In a LinkedIn post, Mark Krawczuk writes about how the seemingly small changes to the signs have made them more… Read the rest of the article: NYC subway arrival boards get user-friendly redesign

"Happy Birthday To You is a terrible song," says Uri Bram in Atoms vs Bits. "It's a terrible song in general and a terrible birthday song especially. It sounds like… Read the rest of the article: The "Happy Birthday" song like a funeral dirge — we can do better