10. Bees can make green honey
December 29, 2023 5:26 AM Subscribe
52 Interesting Things I Learned in 2023, via Kottke.org
If I were an Author, I'd be sure to use more than 59 exclamation marks across my published works purely for the bragging rights of having surpassed Hemingway
neat list, 10/10 with tea*
*I wrote this before getting to number 47, that's truly deeply horrible
posted by Baethan at 5:43 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
neat list, 10/10 with tea*
*I wrote this before getting to number 47, that's truly deeply horrible
posted by Baethan at 5:43 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Top Speed of Zeppelins would make a good name for an album.
posted by chavenet at 5:48 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 5:48 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
I cannot believe I am almost 50 years old and this list is the first time I heard of holding down A when restarting in Super Mario Bros
posted by caution live frogs at 5:50 AM on December 29, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by caution live frogs at 5:50 AM on December 29, 2023 [8 favorites]
Human ancestors almost went extinct 900,000 years ago.
I mean, I have at least one ancestor who’s still alive, and I consider myself human. Other people must have this experience.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:04 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
I mean, I have at least one ancestor who’s still alive, and I consider myself human. Other people must have this experience.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:04 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
Almost 800,000 Maryland licence plates include a URL that now points to an online casino in the Philippines because someone let the domain registration lapse.
:-O
I was talking with someone who had a domestic violence pamphlet from my city, and asked why they had to enter a credit card when calling the state hotline. I was like "what?", and sure enough the number had lapsed, and someone had taken it over with some scammy scam.
posted by Gorgik at 7:26 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
:-O
I was talking with someone who had a domestic violence pamphlet from my city, and asked why they had to enter a credit card when calling the state hotline. I was like "what?", and sure enough the number had lapsed, and someone had taken it over with some scammy scam.
posted by Gorgik at 7:26 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I saw this list earlier in the week and I have shared several factoids from it with all the people around me. I especially like the Ciabatta one and the Maryland licence plate one.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:29 AM on December 29, 2023
posted by jacquilynne at 7:29 AM on December 29, 2023
The great British Kettle surge was a revelation, we’ve only just begun to use an electric kettle (which is fantastic, I grew up with a copper bottomed Revere ware and old habits die hard) which when traveling we discovered were ubiquitous in the UK.
And now I’ve been inspired to finally track down a way to watch Taskmaster here stateside (Pluto has six seasons, free with adds), and it’s often laugh out loud funny.
Love kottke, thx for sharing
posted by GrandPunkRailroad at 7:59 AM on December 29, 2023
And now I’ve been inspired to finally track down a way to watch Taskmaster here stateside (Pluto has six seasons, free with adds), and it’s often laugh out loud funny.
Love kottke, thx for sharing
posted by GrandPunkRailroad at 7:59 AM on December 29, 2023
More than 100,000 public school students in NYC were homeless during the 2021-22 school year.
This is a truly devasting statistic and one thing to be aware of, if you want to sleep at night, is that the DOE's definition of "homeless" does not mean what you might think. This number is about two-thirds kids sleeping "doubled-up" with family or friends, and about one third (about 33,000 kids) sleeping in shelters. This is still utterly horrific, but at least it is not a measure of children sleeping on the street.
Worse, the DOE's utter failure to manage the system during COVID means that, according to a recent study, over 50,000 kids -- FIFTY. THOUSAND. KIDS. -- simply disappeared from the NYC educational system at the height of the pandemic and are currently unaccounted for by the DOE. It's not clear how those kids are being educated (or fed, since public school meal programs are a food safety net) if at all.
If these numbers seem staggering (and they are) remember that there are about 1.1 million kids in the NYC public school system, so the numbers just get really big, really fast. It's somewhat astonishing that the system works at all.
Remember: 1 in 300 Americans is a New York City public school student -- not a grad, not an alum, a current student.
posted by The Bellman at 8:51 AM on December 29, 2023 [18 favorites]
This is a truly devasting statistic and one thing to be aware of, if you want to sleep at night, is that the DOE's definition of "homeless" does not mean what you might think. This number is about two-thirds kids sleeping "doubled-up" with family or friends, and about one third (about 33,000 kids) sleeping in shelters. This is still utterly horrific, but at least it is not a measure of children sleeping on the street.
Worse, the DOE's utter failure to manage the system during COVID means that, according to a recent study, over 50,000 kids -- FIFTY. THOUSAND. KIDS. -- simply disappeared from the NYC educational system at the height of the pandemic and are currently unaccounted for by the DOE. It's not clear how those kids are being educated (or fed, since public school meal programs are a food safety net) if at all.
If these numbers seem staggering (and they are) remember that there are about 1.1 million kids in the NYC public school system, so the numbers just get really big, really fast. It's somewhat astonishing that the system works at all.
Remember: 1 in 300 Americans is a New York City public school student -- not a grad, not an alum, a current student.
posted by The Bellman at 8:51 AM on December 29, 2023 [18 favorites]
The Maryland license plate thing was true, but they did fix the situation quickly and institute a redirect shortly after the news broke, back in June. I am loathe to give the MVA credit for much of anything, but they did respond quickly in this case.
posted by kpmcguire at 8:54 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kpmcguire at 8:54 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
“By 1920, the network of interurbans in the US was so dense that a determined commuter could hop interlinked streetcars from Waterville, Maine, to Sheboygan, Wisconsin — a journey of 1,000 miles — exclusively by electric trolley.”
*sigh*
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 9:14 AM on December 29, 2023 [11 favorites]
*sigh*
posted by howbigisthistextfield at 9:14 AM on December 29, 2023 [11 favorites]
The San Francisco subway system still runs on 5 1/4-inch floppies.
Well that's not frightening at all.
/s
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:25 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Well that's not frightening at all.
/s
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:25 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
The San Francisco subway system still runs on 5 1/4-inch floppies.
I'm just amazed they can support the weight of a subway car.
posted by srboisvert at 10:07 AM on December 29, 2023 [22 favorites]
I'm just amazed they can support the weight of a subway car.
posted by srboisvert at 10:07 AM on December 29, 2023 [22 favorites]
Yeah, it would’ve been best if he had never even mentioned it, ed.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:49 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 10:49 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
The San Francisco subway system still runs on 5 1/4-inch floppies.
Forget the subways, NORAD only went off floppies 4 years ago.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:53 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Forget the subways, NORAD only went off floppies 4 years ago.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:53 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Forget the subways, NORAD only went off floppies 4 years ago.
and 8" floppies at that
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:55 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
and 8" floppies at that
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:55 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
YouTube has quite a lot of Taskmaster, including full seasons, pretty sure.
posted by Jacen at 1:11 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Jacen at 1:11 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Why, gosh gee wilikers, I, Jason Kottke, a completely unremarkable and thoroughly mediocre white middle-aged feller of "influence" (please fund my vapid lifestyle!)....
At first I was like whoa, pretty spicy take about a guy who's mainly about sharing interesting things he finds on the web, much like we are here and in fact pretty interwoven with the early days of MeFi if I recall the story right. Then I clicked on ed's username and followed the link to his website and realized, oh, that Ed, ha, totally tracks.
(I'm a big fan of Ed's old radio show Bat Segundo btw, in fact it was a big influence on the community radio show I myself produced and hosted for around 9 years here in Austin.)
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 2:20 PM on December 29, 2023
At first I was like whoa, pretty spicy take about a guy who's mainly about sharing interesting things he finds on the web, much like we are here and in fact pretty interwoven with the early days of MeFi if I recall the story right. Then I clicked on ed's username and followed the link to his website and realized, oh, that Ed, ha, totally tracks.
(I'm a big fan of Ed's old radio show Bat Segundo btw, in fact it was a big influence on the community radio show I myself produced and hosted for around 9 years here in Austin.)
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 2:20 PM on December 29, 2023
great British Kettle surge
We had a similar event in Canada during Canada's Olympic hockey games, but with flush toilets (measured through water consumption).
posted by porpoise at 3:11 PM on December 29, 2023
We had a similar event in Canada during Canada's Olympic hockey games, but with flush toilets (measured through water consumption).
posted by porpoise at 3:11 PM on December 29, 2023
The San Francisco subway system still runs on 5 1/4-inch floppies.
I'm just amazed they can support the weight of a subway car.
The dad joke thread is 10 FPPs up
posted by TedW at 6:01 PM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
I'm just amazed they can support the weight of a subway car.
The dad joke thread is 10 FPPs up
posted by TedW at 6:01 PM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
I knew about the colored honey thing from the Cherry King story cited in the article linked from the list.
posted by TedW at 6:04 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 6:04 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Buried in the Spotify fact link is this fact;):
posted by Mitheral at 7:33 PM on December 29, 2023
In 2022, Sweden registered 90 blasts and another 101 cases of attempted bombings or preparations for bombings, as well as 391 shootings, 62 of them fatal, according to police data.What the hell Sweden?
posted by Mitheral at 7:33 PM on December 29, 2023
Mod note: One deleted, attacking another member.
posted by taz (staff) at 10:40 PM on December 29, 2023
posted by taz (staff) at 10:40 PM on December 29, 2023
We had a similar event in Canada
Toilet flushing is also a part of the British kettle surge, but the kettles get the credit as they are the more significant factor. Basically everyone jumps up, puts the kettle on, runs to the loo then comes back to make their tea. Iirc, about 3 of GB's 5 biggest peaking events have been sporting events.
posted by biffa at 2:06 AM on December 30, 2023
Toilet flushing is also a part of the British kettle surge, but the kettles get the credit as they are the more significant factor. Basically everyone jumps up, puts the kettle on, runs to the loo then comes back to make their tea. Iirc, about 3 of GB's 5 biggest peaking events have been sporting events.
posted by biffa at 2:06 AM on December 30, 2023
Since he only just discovered rules about referee neutrality in the EPL I wonder why he has not initiated a proper investigation of the Simon Hooper debacle in the Spurs-Liverpool game.
posted by biffa at 8:09 AM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by biffa at 8:09 AM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Slightly retroactive deletion of a comment attacking a member and a few related comments. Don't do that here.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:10 AM on December 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:10 AM on December 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Scorplings. A word learned via the link neither inappropriate to nor out of context in this thread.
posted by y2karl at 3:35 PM on January 1
posted by y2karl at 3:35 PM on January 1
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posted by glonous keming at 5:41 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]