"Theo Jansen is engaged in creating new forms of life: the so-called strandbeests."
He call his walking kinetic sculptures "a new form of life."
They walk the coastline of the Netherlands, feeding on wind and fleeing from water.
His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@strandbeestfilm
His Wikipedia entry is here.
Since forever — at least 10 years, probably more — Xfinity, my internet/cable company, has periodically sent me notices that I'm eligible for a free upgrade to my cable/internet box.
It's been longer than that since I had the one I'm using now installed.
Xfinity promises much faster internet speed and smoother TV watching.
I'm happy with my current internet speed, whatever it is: it's fast enough for me to do whatever I need to do without waiting more than a second or three.
I must say watching TV is increasingly degraded by regular streaming glitches and the need to go back and restart whatever I'm watching.
But here's the thing about Xfinity's upgrade spiel that they'll send me a new box: I drilled down and it turns out I'm supposed to install the new box MYSELF by following the instructions that come with it.
Clearly Xfinity hasn't a clue that TechnoDolts©®™ like me and everyone else in Geriatric Park have ZERO chance of being able to get the new box connected and working by themselves.
There's no option to pay for a technician to come and do it, which was the case with my current box.
Hard to believe no one in the Xfinity C Suite realizes how this FAIL is why peeps like me don't upgrade.
It is a rich, thickish light, heavy with late summer. Lavish, almost. The colour of candlelight against an untouched buttercup. He could weep.
Behind him are the chalky walls of the city in which he was born. It will not be too many years before the son of his father's employer will reduce the whole complex to rubble. And it will be his tutoring of this man's son that will, in turn, sweeten tempers enough to have the city rebuilt again.
The pain in his stomach has spread much as a deep burn begins its slow ruin. He feels it in his groin, the joints of his knees, the bolts of his thighs. How much longer now until it reaches the heart, the throat? He wonders what part of himself will yield first and whisper its submission to the whole.
He's ashamed to say that he's frightened to die. It has been such a privilege to be a small purposeful share of the Earth. To look out onto the atomic darkness and to thrill. To savour what it is to sense the spring's first warmth on naked skin or to lay himself out on summer-struck stone and absorb its energies after a long walk. To taste the goodness in a ripe strawberry. To feel the sorrow of desire in the first kiss with a lover.
And to belong among others in kind. The old olive trees that buckle against the generations of storm and heat and still service the birds and men with their fruits. The gambolling bears drunk on light in the first mornings of re-emergence. The dolphins. Ah, the dolphins. Slender, muscular incarnations of joy. He will miss them. He will miss all of them.
Aristotle feels the quickening of tears at the edges of his eyes. All he can hope is that he has done enough, given sufficient energies of his own to the vast, communal conversation on the why, the how, the what next? He hopes that others will correct his errors, make good on his intuitions, and draw knowledge of the world into something that might almost be virtue.
And what might come? He doesn't know. But of this he is certain: There is no soul but the body itself that in its wit and striving becomes an instrument of freedom. Not freedom from the Earth itself. Not freedom from others. But freedom in its oldest sense of a beloved one. For if the soul is anything, it is the gift of knowing the body and loving the world in return.
...
[From "Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World," by Melanie Challenger]
[Top: "Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer" – Rembrandt, 1653]
The Washington Post's kitchen and culinary team tried 5 different methods.
Long story short, published in the October 13, 2026 edition: Results are inversely proportional to the time you spend reheating yesterday's perfect slices.
Results, worst to best:
5. Microwave
4. Cold oven set to 350 degrees
3. Air Fryer
2. Skillet
1. Pizza stone in preheated oven
Yes, I have a pizza stone; no, I will not take the time and go through the rigamarole required to yield its apparently optimal result.
I'm sticking with my microwave, which has served up excellent reheated pizza in around a minute for as long as I've used it.
My tip: watch through the window and when the cheese starts to bubble and melt, pull it out.
Long story short: AI use and awareness are inversely proportional to average national income.
[Graphic from 2026 Gallup Poll results]
Made in the late Qianlong Period [1736-1795], it will be sold at a Sotheby's Hong Kong auction on October 28, 2026.
It is 2 1/8 in. (5.5 cm.) high with a pink tourmaline stopper.
Estimate: HKD 3,500,000 – HKD 5,500,000 (US $450,000 – US $700,000)
This emergency supplies calculator has you enter your household size and its members' ages, dietary needs, and pets, then tells you what you need to have on hand while you ride out the Apocalypse.
Reaching nearly 10 feet in diameter,
the waterlilies were discovered by chance deep in a remote Colombian rainforest.
[via The Guardian]; a paper published two weeks ago in Phytotaxa describes the new species in detail.]
Jeannie Lit invented it in 2006 and more than 40,000 have been sold since.
She created it because her young left-handed son always came home from school with graphite smudges along the side of his left hand from writing and drawing.
Fits either hand.
Check out the testimonials: a lot of heavy hitters there.
Size Guide here.
One-finger: $16.99.
Two-fingers: $18.99.
Centuries before Pantone, in over 900 pages of handwritten Dutch, the author — who identifies himself as A. Boogert — describes how to make watercolor paints.
In the 17th century, the "Golden Age of Dutch Painting," this manual was likely ubiquitous.
Now comes modern technology with a complete high-resolution digital scan of the compendium.
More at Open Culture.
Fair warning: there goes the day.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
It's to be found outside the Little A'Le'Inn (pronounced Little Alien), a bar and restaurant in Rachel, Nevada, along State Route 375
(above and below),
officially known since 1996 as the Extraterrestrial Highway.
Above, four buttons which I've had on my fridge since last century.
They've never steered me wrong.
Try 'em all!
If you're not delighted with how much better your life gets let me know and I will cheerfully refund three times what you paid to read this inane post.
That's the bookofjoeWay©®™.
Remember those tiny shrimp or suchlike to which you added water and suddenly they expanded a billion or two times while you watched?
You don't?
Huh.
Maybe they were a twentieth-century thing.
No matter.
These nifty pill-like thingies work on the same principle.
Just don't confuse them with Alka-Seltzer.
No — I have no idea what that principle is nor do I care.
Sheesh.
Now where was I?
From websites:
.....
InstaCloth
Keep a washcloth always on hand!
No washcloth in your room? No problem!
Just splash a little water on one of the 1"-diameter tablets and it will unfold into a full-sized disposable white washcloth.
• Additive-free.
• Super-absorbant.
• Package dimensions: 5.5" x 2.75" x 0.5".
• Great for home, auto, camping, and travel.
.....
Pack of 8: $2.95.
2.5 million views since it was uploaded to YouTube 2 days ago.
It cannot be overstated.
When I get an email that makes me uneasy, unhappy or feel out of sorts, my response is predictable after the initial wave of alarm, anxiety et al: I move on, preferring to deal with it the next day.
No matter how disheartening the content, it's never as powerful and upsetting the next morning.
It's as if the emotional payload loses some of its power overnight.
This pattern of behavior stems from something I read early this century, to wit: "Anxiety is interest paid on a balance that may never come due."
I don't recall the source but there's truth in that epigram.
And that's all I have to say about that.
I've had these since forever: they're great for all sorts of things.
From websites:
.....
Retrieve items in jars, disposals, or drains.
Convenient hole for hanging.
Serrated handles and tips.
Stainless steel, 12" long.
.....
Two for $5.99.
Do a solid for a friend and give them the second one.
Especially delightful if they're the sort of person who thinks they have everything.
"Over 100,000,000,000 have ever lived — choose one."
"You'll draw, step by step: a year; a place; a life, each taken at random from real data."
"One life, drawn at random from over 100 billion who have ever lived."
In addition to its excellent AI capability, Perplexity Pro does an excellent job of presenting its results.
Above, how a typical response looks on my MacBook screen.
Below, what I get when I put the identical query into Google search.
You be the judge.
From the website:
.........
This incredible broom is hand made in Japan by Takada.
The bristles are made of shuro bark fiber.
The stem is gorgeous Japanese cypress.
Form meets function meets cool.
..........
$265.
Apply the McCluhan Test: Read page 69 and, if you like it, buy the book.
[via Susan Elderkin, writing in the February 17, 2007 Financial Times]
Photographed by Nicolas Reusens at the Hummingbird Sanctuary (Santuario de ColibrÃes) in Mexico City.
Said Reusens:
"When I saw the detail of this particular hummingbird, I was blown away; those tiny symmetrical feathers, perfectly aligned. Absolutely amazing!
[via My Modern Met]
One thing I've always loved doing is passing on to others things I think might be of interest to them.
I've been this way since I was in college: back in the day it was newspaper and magazine articles I'd accumulate and then mail.
These days there's a list of people and online publications I subscribe to and regularly update with things they might want to share with their readers.
Here they are:
The Linkfest (Clive Thompson)
Dense Discovery (Kai Brach)
Scope of Work (Spencer Wright)
Kottke (Jason Kottke)
Damn Interesting Digest (Alan Bellows)
The Overspill (Charles Arthur)
New Things (Joanna Stern)
Unsung (Marcin Wichary)
Recomendo (Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, and Claudia Dalton)
It's taken me a while to realize that I will never ever hear back from Jason Kottke, Kai Brach, Joanna Stern, or Benedict Evans, but I keep sending them stuff anyhoo.
FunFact: It was around twenty years that the penny dropped and I recalled that my mother used to do exactly the same thing: every month or so when I was in college and med school I'd get a fat manila envelope filled with newspaper and magazine clippings.
Clearly the acorn doesn't fall very far from the tree.
One of my favorite things about being an Apple fanboi from inception (I bought my first Mac in the early 1980s) is how much delight I still get uncovering an Easter egg.
Above and below, the latest.
It appeared after I updated to macOS 27 (Golden Gate); I noticed it last week.
When I use the cursor to include more than one item on my desktop, the number of items included appears inside a giant red dot (top).
But wait — there's more!
If the number of items exceeds nine, the dot changes shape (below) to accommodate the added digits without altering the size of the included font.
It's the little things that give me the most happiness.
Wait a sec — what's that song I'm hearing?
1.5 billion views!
I've loved this lamp ever since I first saw it around the turn of the century.
A 1970 design in hand-cast acrylic.
22" x 22" x 22".
