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Practical Engineering: Are beavers actually good at building dams?

The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.

Trace is a daily puzzle game where you build a “recipe” of up to 4 steps to turn a starting set of numbers into another set of numbers.

The lessons four Islamic polymaths — al-Biruni, Alhazen, Avicenna and al-Khwarizmi — hold for students today: “breadth over specialisation, and never let constraints get in the way”.

50 Songs That Explain America.

{Ira Glass voice} On this week’s episode of This American Life, the story of middle schoolers too young for social media chatting in the comments section of NPR’s podcasts on Spotify.

How to rescue an orphaned baby elephant.

I visited Jimbōchō today, a neighborhood that’s home to more than 100 used bookstores.

Robert Eggers is doing Romeo & Juliet.

Play Solitaire Alone Together.

The Museum of Time-Based Art.

I can’t remember where I heard about this, but judging by the trailer, Hope by Korean director Na Hong-jin looks pretty good.

For New York magazine, Emily Gould writes about her quest to cry again: I Miss My Tears (archive).

Chimpanzees use tools to collect food and deliberately teach other chimps (often their offspring) to use them for ant dipping, algae fishing, and termite fishing.

Some advice on giving good advice.

I love these black & white photos of Devils Tower by Zac Henderson.

TIL they can do wing replacements on injured butterflies…just take a look at this repair video.

Engaging read on how the Bugs Bunny cartoon What’s Opera, Doc?

The 25 Photos That Changed Fashion Forever.

Just a short note to say that because of some internet scammer shithousery, I had to bulk-unsubscribe a bunch of email addresses from the KDO Newsletter subscriber rolls.

A thoughtful review of Nolan’s The Odyssey, comparing it to the original Planet of the Apes movies.

I always learn so much from Evan Puschak’s videos about art.

3D models for every single object in Katamari Damacy, all 1680 of them.

Ross Anderson on NASA’s recently launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which may “be able to deliver the first direct images of distant planets in visible light” as well as measure the effects of dark energy.

Canyon Groove.

So that companies can use them to make accessories like cases and bands, Apple maintains a collection of downloadable dimensional drawings and tech specifications for many of their products, including the iPhone, AirPods, Watch, and iPad.

What’s your “origin” video game?

TIL Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris (aka The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) was written in part to help save the cathedral from demolition.

“The best next steps are the concrete ones: Big AI needs to follow all current laws—just like everyone else.

Ed Sheeran tried to stay neutral on a moving train.

Monopoly as a metaphor for racial inequity.

Relationships are key to human happiness.

In the 70s, photographer Langdon Clay took photos of cars parked on NYC streets at night and compiled them into a project: Cars, New York City | 1974-1976.

The Film Experience is a free online course from MIT about movies & cinema.

I didn’t know Beehiiv had a program to support independent journalists.

Imagine playing chess against a seven-year-old who’s dancing around and barely paying attention to the board (bc it’s all in her head) and she just casually checkmates you like this.

Oh my goodness, I love the look of these cups.

In Prison, White Supremacist Literature Is Required Reading.

“Starring Genden Phuntsok, Tom Hiddleston, and Willem Dafoe, Tenzing follows the true story of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary’s historic first summit of Mount Everest.

I believe I have featured login.jp_ here before — they pair electronic music with different locations around Japan to highlight the Japanese experience.

This story, about a dressage trainer who shot his female student and got away with it, is completely bonkers.

I am stunned that we are still finding new species of cat in 2026.

Cole Escola’s Broadway smash Oh, Mary!

Amazing piece by Nikole Hannah-Jones about the betrayal her child felt at her school choice.

New novel from Emily St.

Wes Anderson steps into the mobile Criterion Closet to select some films that he enjoys.

“The clan of predators currently in charge of the U.S. federal government” are striving to make the world safe for grift, corruption, and theft, with their mob boss president leading the way.

Artist Maya Barkai assembled a collection of pedestrian traffic signals from around the world: Walking Men Worldwide.

Instant click for me: how NYC street signs are made.

The History of Concrete, a new documentary film by John Wilson, who one review called “the Werner Herzog of the mundane”.