XKCD: What if chess included the offside rule? (If...
XKCD: What if chess included the offside rule? (If someone hasn’t done one already, I’d guess at least one person is working on a playable Football Chess game rn.)
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Inside the Strange, Fragile World of Keeping Exotic Cats as Pets
"As of May 2026, you can no longer buy or sell exotic cats in British Columbia. What do we do with them all now?"
Africa’s cultural landmarks: rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia
Most buildings rise from the bottom up, stone by stone. Not so these churches: carved from a single rock, top-to-bottom - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon
With a Little Help From My Art Friends
Gertrude Abercrombie’s crew of Magic Realists, the artist selling trash from outside Taylor Swift’s wedding, and the truth about stock photography.
How to offset your brain
From confirmation bias to loss aversion, everyone suffers from cognitive biases. Skilfully targeted mindfulness can help - by Stephanie Dorais Read on Aeon
Generous collusion
The professionals you have the most in common with may be your competition. They wrestle with similar problems and have similar goals. And you can offer value by sharing what you’ve learned and what you know–and that value will often be reciprocated. I met Tom Rielly when was
Watch the First Spectacular Film Adaptation of the Odyssey (1911)
Public and commercial spaces around the world are now lined with imagery of a vertebra-studded battle helmet and statues surrounded by flame. It’s all part of the promotional campaign for Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the Odyssey, which will begin opening in theaters later
Albert Einstein Imposes on His First Wife a Cruel List of Marital Demands
Albert Einstein passionately wooed his first wife Mileva Maric, against his family’s wishes, and the two had a turbulent but intellectually rich relationship that they recorded for posterity in their letters. Einstein and Maric’s love letters have inspired the short film above,
This is a fun and really well-done triple mashup of...
This is a fun and really well-done triple mashup of Outkast’s B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad), Hitchcock’s The Birds, and Sesame Street.
A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. NES cartridge...
A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. NES cartridge recently sold at auction for $3 million . “It bears the coveted gloss sticker seal affixed to the top lid, identifying it as a second-production example.”
This is neat: Robin Sloan is rewriting his 2009 short...
This is neat: Robin Sloan is rewriting his 2009 short story, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore . “The interplay between books and technology has changed since I wrote them…but also that I have become a different writer, and a better one.”
Remembering Yervant Gianikian, Valerie Brathwaite, and Jerry Moriarty
This week, we honor a giant of 20th-century cinema, a sculptor of the natural world, and a self-described “paintoonist.”
Artist Sells $25 Trash Souvenirs Found Outside Taylor Swift's Wedding
“It wasn't as dirty as I was expecting,” said Justin Gignac, who suited up to collect garbage with a claw grabber outside Madison Square Garden.
Stop chasing life goals and start trying tiny...
Stop chasing life goals and start trying tiny experiments to learn from instead . “Chasing goals doesn’t work for life’s most important questions — career, relationships, health. It’s like locking in your answer before you have understood the question.”
Gertrude Abercrombie’s Band of Midwest Magic Realists
A pair of exhibitions at the Milwaukee Art Museum underscores the support, comradeship, and spirit of rebellion shared by the Surrealist and her friends.
What’s the Point of Sex, Anyway? “There is yet...
What’s the Point of Sex, Anyway? “There is yet another kind of male, known among ichthyologists as a ‘sneaky mater.’ This type dispenses altogether with nest-building and partnering and simply darts around squirting.”
The Hidden History of Stock Photography
In her first book, scholar Simona Supekar mines the history of stock imagery as a vessel for racism and sexism and considers its role in the age of AI.
Whitney Museum Screens Taken Over With Gaza Protest Messages
Jonathan Allen’s guerrilla installations superimposed anti-genocide messages onto advertising displays outside the museum.
How a Differential Gear Works
I’ve posted this before, but it’s so good, here it is again: a super-simple explanation of why differential gears are necessary in cars and how they work. (via @stevenstrogatz ) [This is a vintage post originally from Apr 2013.] Tags: cars · science · video
The Open Source AI Gap Map shows the current...
The Open Source AI Gap Map shows the current capabilities of open source AI tools with an eye toward answering an important question: “What building blocks are missing for creating completely open source AI products?”
The End of Reading Is Here . “The decline of...
The End of Reading Is Here . “The decline of reading will bring about changes of the same magnitude. It will affect our innermost thoughts, our society’s politics and culture, and how we tell the history of our civilization.”
The Florida Alligator Dragnet
"When an alligator kills someone in America, it can make international headlines. What happens to the thousands of gators that people deem 'nuisances' does not."
Why The Best Player Alive Barely Runs
David Epstein, author of the recent Inside the Box (a book about the value of constraints), did a fascinating video on “anticipatory skill” and “chunking” and how players like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (who can accurately head the ball even in the dark ) use them to
The Power of a Thin Skin
"To be thin-skinned is to feel keenly, to perceive things that might go unseen, unnoticed, that others might prefer not to notice."
Inventing ELIZA: How the First Chatbot Shaped the Future...
Inventing ELIZA: How the First Chatbot Shaped the Future of AI . “This book presents the rediscovered original source code of ELIZA alongside previously unseen scripts…, revealing a far more sophisticated system than previously documented.”
Atmospheric Scenes and Layered Interpretations Top the 2026 Hasselblad Masters Contest
This year, photographers in 160 countries submitted more than 108,000 images. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Atmospheric Scenes and Layered
The Prom Went On in Kyiv, but Masha’s Date Danced Alone
"Masha Polska, 15, was an avid dancer who had been dreaming of a star turn in the group waltz. That was not to be."
British political news: Nigel Farage is facing...
British political news: Nigel Farage is facing competition for his parliamentary seat from “ a man with a trash can on his head, better known as Count Binface ”. From the country that brought you Boaty McBoatface …
The True Story of Laura Ingalls Is Wilder than Little House on the Prairie
"Netflix’s new adaptation of the beloved book series will probably leave out some of the most fascinating details from the author’s life—from Pa Ingalls’s ineptitude to the serial killers that stalked Kansas during her childhood."