Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

kottke.org @kottke.org · 9h

Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning ‘Annie Hall’ Star, Dies at 79. [variety.com]

Diane Keaton, Oscar-Winning ‘Annie Hall’ Star, Dies at 79

Diane Keaton, who starred in “Annie Hall,” has died. She was 79.

variety.com

2 19

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

I listen to music all day while I work. But choosing what to listen to was starting to become a repetitive chore. So I built Underscore, an opinionated “home-cooked meal” music player. Here’s how it works. [kottke.org]

The Underscore Music Player

For the past several months, I’ve been using a web-based music player I built called Underscore. It’s playing music for me right now. I recently revamped & improved it and thought it was time to show it off. Here’s a scr

kottke.org

1 4 26

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

Minute/Year is an art piece/installation where the sound occurring in a space for a single minute is recorded each day. Simultaneously, the previous day’s recording is played back. So each day’s recording features something of the previous day. [kkto.net]

Minute/Year

Minute/Year is an automated, process-based, durational work, in which sound is played, recorded, and layered, in a resonant space, for one minute each day. This process has been ongoing, daily, since 2016. The location of the space in which the work runs alters annually. Over time, this has meant th

kkto.net

3 11

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

Missed this from a few days ago: the winners of the 2025 MacArthur Fellowship. “I think this year, we see empathy and deep engagement with community figures prominently in this class.” [macfound.org]

9

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

This is great: ILM visual effects artist Todd Vaziri breaks down some of the “hidden” special effects that he and his team have worked on, incl. for Rogue One, The Force Awakens, and Transformers. “I make the stars in Star Wars.” [kottke.org]

ILM Visual Effects Artist Breaks Down Hidden VFX

If you were one of those people who loved watching DVD extras, you’ll enjoy the hell out of ILM visual effects artist Todd Vaziri breaking down some of the special effects that he and his team have worked on, including

kottke.org

3 26

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

An oddly fascinating video on the Barney Google comic strip, which began in 1919 and is somehow still running (it’s called Snuffy Smith now). Interesting how art forms shift through innovation and evolution with society at large. [youtube.com]

The comic strip that won’t die

The comic strip Barney Google first appeared on a comics page in 1919, and over 100 years later it’s still running. For the last 70 years or so, Snuffy Smith has taken over as the star of the comic, but Barney still makes the occasional appearance.

www.youtube.com

2 1 6

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

I love the synchronized waves that these Himalayan giant honey bees use against their hornet predators. [youtube.com]

Bees vs Hornets: Nature’s Most Synchronised Defence System | BBC Earth

Hornets can overpower a single bee with ease, but facing an entire hive is a different story. The bees’ synchronised Mexican wave is a hypnotic display of unity and defence that keeps even the fiercest predators at bay. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/BBCEarthSub #Bees #Hornets #Himalayas Watch more:

www.youtube.com

1 11

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

Can You Recommend a Good Bookmark Manager? “I don’t want to organize links into collections or obsessively tag things — mostly I just want to throw everything into a big bucket and use search to find stuff.” [kottke.org]

Can You Recommend a Good Bookmark Manager?

I know I’m opening up a can of bees here, but I am in the market for a bookmark manager. I’ve got a good workflow going for potential KDO fodder, but my, um, system of Chrome bookmarks + memory + pasting links & snippets

kottke.org

8 2 22

kottke.org @kottke.org · 1d

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado wins the Nobel Peace Prize. “When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist.” [apnews.com]

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel committee praised her as a key unifying figure in the opposition, advocating for free elections and representative government.

apnews.com

2 9 42

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

Comey and now James. When Trump was re-elected, I thought he'd go after Clinton, Obama, and Biden first. Wonder when he's gonna get around to them — he hates them and publicly called them all criminals... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Letitia James criminally charged in Trump’s latest effort to punish rivals

Prosecutor who sought charges was installed amid Trump frustrations with pace of investigations against rivals

www.theguardian.com

5 1 14

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

“ShadeMap is a global simulation of mountain, building and tree shadows for any date and time. ShadeMap calculates shadow positions in realtime and displays them on a map.” [shademap.app]

Simulate sun shadows

Every mountain, building and tree shadow in the world simulated for any date and time

shademap.app

2 3 22

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

Hokusai. Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. A large, beautiful art book by Taschen of Hokusai’s most well-known collection, which includes the Great Wave Off Kanagawa. [kottke.org]

Hokusai. Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.

This book, from Taschen, looks amazing. Bound in Japanese style, it’s a reproduction of Katsushika Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, a collection of woodblock prints of which the most famous is the Great Wa

kottke.org

1 20

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

If you google around, there are claims of people with a max vertical jump of 55+ inches, but the official record seems to be 51” by Darius Clark (he touched 12’4” w/ a standing reach of 8’1”). It’s incredible how high in the air he gets. [youtube.com]

New Max Vertical Jump World Record - 51” by Darius Clark

Darius Clark @Verticaljumpguy and Isaiah Espinoza (@04zay) competed in a 1 v 1 style Max Vertical Jump contest at The Dunk Camp 2025. Darius had previously set the Guinness World Record for highest Max Vertical Jump of 50” in 2022 at the Dunk Camp. On June 19, 2025, Darius broke his own record by

www.youtube.com

1 14

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

“It turns out playing God is neither difficult nor expensive.” That line was written about the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing tool but I’d argue that the increasing power of individuals is the defining challenge of modernity. [noemamag.com]

Editing Nature To Fix Our Failures | NOEMA

Gene editing may enable us to prevent a species from ever becoming extinct in the first place. But should we?

www.noemamag.com

2 7

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

The Evolution of the YouTube Progress Bar (2005-2025). There have been almost a dozen different versions since they launched in 2005, including a new look this year. [kottke.org]

The Evolution of the YouTube Progress Bar (2005-2025)

Since launching in 2005, YouTube has changed the progress/volume/tool bar on their video player several times. Here’s what it’s looked like through the years:1 I don’t remember the first two or three at all, but that

kottke.org

6 16

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

Area Man Has Far Greater Knowledge Of Marvel Universe Than Own Family Tree. [theonion.com]

Area Man Has Far Greater Knowledge Of Marvel Universe Than Own Family Tree

LA CROSSE, WI—Returning to his hometown to attend a cousin’s wedding Saturday, Josh Sundling, 29, reportedly demonstrated on numerous occasions a vast, far more intricate understanding of the fictional Marvel Comics Universe than of his own family’s genealogy.

theonion.com

5 30

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

A Data Love Letter to the Subway is a fantastic data-driven animation visualizing the NYC subway system. “Imaginatively animating each train line’s age, length, and path, we wrote a poetic story that explores the trains’ interwoven encounters…” [kottke.org]

A Data Love Letter to the NYC Subway

Giorgia Lupi and her team at Pentagram have created a data-driven animation for the MTA called A Data Love Letter to the Subway. More from Lupi (who calls this an “absolute dream project”): The project, “A Data L

kottke.org

1 4 19

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

“We’ve put together a reading list about capitalism, imperialism, policing, and the politics and strategies of anti-war resistance movements of the past and present — tools in the struggle against repression, surveillance, and state violence.” (via @dansinker.com) [haymarketbooks.org]

No War on Chicago; No War Anywhere!

“The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose—especially their lives.” —Eugene V. Debs Capitalism is a global system of viol

www.haymarketbooks.org

6 19

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

An interview with Ann Goldstein, Elena Ferrante’s English translator. “I had never heard of Ferrante. I didn’t know anything about her. I still don’t know anything about her.” [chireviewofbooks.com]

The Translator’s Voice — Ann Goldstein on Translating Elena Ferrante’s “Neapolitan Quartet” - Chicago Review of Books

The Translator’s Voice is a monthly column from Ian J. Battaglia here at the Chicago Review of Books, dedicated to global literature and the translators who work tirelessly and too often thanklessly to bring these books to the English-reading audience. Subscribe to his newsletter to get notified of

chireviewofbooks.com

2 7

kottke.org @kottke.org · 2d

Winners of the Bird Photographer of the Year for 2025, including photos of a huge golden eagle feasting on a deer carcass and a nearly inscrutable drone photo of geese flying over some lakes. [kottke.org]

Bird Photographer of the Year for 2025

The organizers of the Bird Photographer of the Year competition received more than 33,000 images for 2025’s contest; here are the winners and runners-up. Photos above by Franco Banfi, Francesco Guffanti, Tibor Li

kottke.org

1 5 20

kottke.org @kottke.org · 3d

if biden had... etc etc 🫠

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Q: Have you given any more thought to possibly suspending habeas corpus?

TRUMP: Suspending who?

Q: Habeas corpus

TRUMP: I don't know. I'd rather leave that to Kristi.

3 3 33

Reposted by kottke.org

Clayton Cubitt @claytoncubitt.bsky.social · 3d

No other book better synthesized for me all the strands of American history, of enslavement and capitalism, of the power relationships between the colonies and states and how they were warped by the original sin of slavery. Must read. (hard read)

kottke.org @kottke.org · 3d

The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry. “Instead of treating slavery as a source of unpaid labor, as it is typically understood, they focus on the ownership aspect: people as property, merchandise, collateral, and capital.” [kottke.org]

A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry in the United States

The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry (Amazon) by Ned & Constance Sublette is a book which offers an alternate view of slavery in the United States. Instead of treating slavery as a source

kottke.org

8 16

kottke.org @kottke.org · 3d

This is a lovely & thoughtful essay on the messiness of teaching and learning, an alchemy endangered by efficiency & automation. “What A.I. can’t do is feel the shape of silence after someone says something so honest we forget we’re here to learn.” [therumpus.net]

Human Error Is the Point: On Teaching College During the Rise of AI - The Rumpus

My syllabus is a mess of half-remembered intentions. I re-use icebreakers that I know don’t work. I forget to grade the first assignment until Week Four. I write emails that begin with “So sorry for the delay!” and I mean it. I use “This reminded me of something I once read—” as a stall tactic. I sa

therumpus.net

3 27

kottke.org @kottke.org · 3d

The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry. “Instead of treating slavery as a source of unpaid labor, as it is typically understood, they focus on the ownership aspect: people as property, merchandise, collateral, and capital.” [kottke.org]

A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry in the United States

The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry (Amazon) by Ned & Constance Sublette is a book which offers an alternate view of slavery in the United States. Instead of treating slavery as a source

kottke.org

1 3 12

kottke.org @kottke.org · 3d

The Oatmeal’s take on AI art. “When I consume Al art, it also evokes a feeling…until I find out that it’s Al art. Then I feel deflated, grossed out, and maybe a little bit bored. This feeling isn’t a choice.” [theoatmeal.com]

A cartoonist’s review of AI art

This is a comic about AI art.

theoatmeal.com

1 13 34