The National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution map of waterways, created by the US Geological Survey, is the highest-resolution survey of its kind. With nearly 25 million rivers, streams, pipe… Read the rest of the article: Ultra-detailed map of U.S. rivers
If Elon Musk thought he could outshine Donald Trump at his own inauguration with a bit of edgelording, his bankrolling of the far-right and his own antisemitic tweeting mean that… Read the rest of the article: Hundreds of Reddit communities ban Twitter links
On Reddit, u/SnapeSev reports the discovery of mysterious plastic disks that washed up on the Italian shore near Rogivo. They're flexible but hard and have the distinctive hyperbolic paraboloid topology… Read the rest of the article: What are these weird Pringle-shaped plastic things that washed up on the beach?
TabBoo adds "random jumpscares" to sites you specify. The idea is to make it risky to visit them, because a startling image might pop up at any moment. This, perhaps,… Read the rest of the article: Add "random jumpscares" to sites you can't stop visiting
The Mercator projection of the world map is suited for marine navigation and once so commonplace that generations of schoolchildren thought Greenland was as large as Africa. Though out of… Read the rest of the article: Mercator Extreme explores map projection's wildest distortions
Mittens the cat was left in a plane's cargo hold. Unnoticed by the crew, Mittens continued on to Christchurch, New Zealand before the owner's complaints were heeded. It was then… Read the rest of the article: Cat left in plane's cargo hold
Pizza Hut is attempting to "stay relevant," as the Washington Post's Tim Carman archly puts it, with a pop-up restaurant for one. Yet here she was, at the corner of… Read the rest of the article: Pizza Hut pop-up restaurant seats one
Rachel Heller posted a fabulous article about Icelandic turf houses. I don't know if I'd like to live in one, but I sure do want to visit! They cut thick… Read the rest of the article: Guide to Icelandic turf houses
Giant polypropylene rollers at the 3M factory generated so much static electricity that it formed a strange "invisible wall" that would alarm and impede employees there. William Beatty, citing David… Read the rest of the article: The legend of 3M's invisible electrostatic wall
Fujifilm's compact digital cameras, especially the X100VI and the new XM-5, are hard to find unless you're willing to line the pockets of scalpers. Its instant-film models, though, have come… Read the rest of the article: The Fujifilm camera that's more fun than an X100VI
I owned Vortex's Core mechanical keyboard, a tiny 40% model. It was an idea of minimalism, focusing the user on the letters, the writing. In practice, it left me dependent… Read the rest of the article: Finally, a low-profile 40% wireless mechanical keyboard
In 2024, the most-read articles are Wikipedia were Deaths in 2024, with 50,119,053 views, 2024 United States presidential election, with more than 31m views, Kamala Harris, with more than 29m… Read the rest of the article: Wikipedia's most-read article of 2024 was about the year's deaths
After Donald Trump's election victory in November, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk were named as co-heads of a vaguely-defined "Department of Government Efficiency" charged with reducing the cost of running… Read the rest of the article: Vivek Ramaswamy out at "DOGE"
Made by MSCHF is a Phaidon art book about the Brooklyn art collective's principles and evolution. Founded in 2019 by a group of friends, MSCHF began as a series of… Read the rest of the article: Made by MSCHF book charts collective's history
Benj Edwards writes that it's "Time to Make Computing Personal Again," taking the technology back from the algorithms, the business incentives and all the other things that have made computers… Read the rest of the article: Make computing personal again
It's not who is in charge now that matters, but who will be in charge tomorrow. After president-elect Donald Trump promised to issue an executive order blocking the ban imposed… Read the rest of the article: TikTok allows U.S. users on again after Trump promises to block ban with executive order
The law effectively banning Tik Tok went into effect today. The ban is unpopular, the Biden administration already said it won't enforce it in its last two days, and president-elect… Read the rest of the article: TikTok goes dark, but hopes Trump "will work with us to reinstate" service
Is it 1984? Are you trying to port a BASIC ap–sorry, program–from Microsoft BASIC to the newfangled Locomotive BASIC? Well, here's the chart for you. A note on this scan… Read the rest of the article: Chart helps you convert between BASIC dialects in 1984
The presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on monday has been moved indoors. It's going to be dangerously cold, he writes. In fairness, it is likely to be brass monkeys next… Read the rest of the article: Trump moves inauguration indoors because of the cold
The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld congress's ban on Tik Tok, weighting national security fears over the free speech interests of the video site's users and foreign owners. In a… Read the rest of the article: Supreme Court upholds Tik Tok ban
