Good lord, the World Cup is going to be a total shitshow next year. And the 2028 LA Olympics. A jingoistic facade papering over a faded superpower careening towards ruin.
This is great: a proposed “poli-sci course that equips one for modern political analysis better than most classic theory and has a syllabus sourced entirely from random internet posts”. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
How Was the Wheel Invented? “How did an obscure, scientifically naive mining society discover the wheel, when highly advanced civilizations, such as the ancient Egyptians, did not?”
“Fed up with big legacy news? Here are 13 independent, worker-owned outlets to support.” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
The Media’s Pivot to AI Is Not Real and Not Going to Work. “The only AI-related business strategy that makes any sense whatsoever is one where media companies and journalists go to great pains to show their audiences that they are human beings…”
I am only a couple of chapters into James McBride’s Deacon King Kong (loving it!) and in the first chapter, there’s a relatively short passage about some cheese, Jesus’s Cheese, that comes into the lives of the members of the book’s community that is a first ballot Hall…
Portrait photographers will have a blast with our presets made from the ground up for your favorite camera brands. Our presets are designed to make editing a minimal task so you can get back to shooting! We're in love with Retro Digital. Luckily, that's when we founded the websi…
A lovely, beautiful, and uplifting obituary of poet and activist Andrea Gibson. “One of the last things Andrea said on this plane was, ‘I fucking loved my life.’” 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
DOJ Removes All Mentions Of Justice From Website. This Onion article got me for a sec; totally plausible. Wouldn’t be surprised if they actually changed it to the Department of Jesus or something.
You'd probably think that any lens with a fast aperture is great for night photography, right? Well, you're not wrong. Some lenses are objectively better than others if you don't plan on bringing a tripod with you. And most people who own cameras don't ever plan on bringing a tr…
Here are some of the winners, finalists, and nominees from the 2025 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition and their People’s Choice Awards. Photos by (from top to bottom): Simon Biddie, Kat Zhou, Zhou Donglin, Jonas Beyer, and Hitomi Tsuchiya. A Ghost goby (Pleur…
America is Losing Its Soul in Brown-Skinned Screams and White-Skinned Silence. “The greatest, most grievous failure of America in this moment isn’t legislative but moral. The soul of this place is dying in screams and silences.”
Skater Demarcus James is skateboarding across the entire United States, from Oakland to NYC, to spread awareness about mental health. Check out his GoFundMe to support his journey. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Sigma has had a great year. The company launched its BF camera, which stirred a controversy, as well as their new lenses, which seem to showcase the brand's new approach. The company has also filed a patent for new lenses, designed for travel and wildlife photographers, and it s…
"By now, Samsung cameras are synonymous with innovation," I wrote in my 2014 review of the Samsung NX30. "The AMOLED screen has gotten a big boost in resolution and the new, tilting EVF is an innovative feature." Since then, none of the Japanese-made cameras designed for photogr…
Any photographer who wishes to improve their images needs three key elements: knowledge, practice, and constructive criticism. While the first two are entirely dependent on the individual's will, the latter requires inputs from a third source. In many cases, a good photo critic…
This article isn't going to get into the question of why someone owning a Nikon Z camera would want to use a Sony E-mount lens. Nor is it going to discuss which of the two brands has better autofocus modes or lens performance. We know there are photographers out there who would…
Yesterday, the NY Times published an article about Donald Trump’s threat to take away citizenship from a US-born citizen: Trump threatens to strip Rosie O’Donnell of U.S. citizenship. The Times Bluesky account posted a link to the article accompanied by this text: Preside…