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Some Cooler Thoughts on Air Conditioning
An assortment of air conditioning factoids that didn't make it into my Foreign Policy piece
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Christmas On the Computer: A Millennial Remembers
memories of a long-gone and strange holiday computer world
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Jethro Tull Is My Favorite Christmas Music: An Explanation
Everybody who celebrates Christmas has a particular song, or perhaps an entire Christmas album, that rattles around eternally in their brain. Maybe you love The Eternal Christmas Song That Inhabits Your Mind, and how it begins to play in your mind more regularly, more insistently, as the days grow shorter
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Facebook's Terrible Uncle Strategy Is Driving Away The Kids
a social media network that makes your terrible uncles even more terrible and lets them see all your stuff was not going to stay cool for long
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Noticing the View From Above: Thomas Baldwin's Airopaidia
“Nor did the Eye seem to want the Aid of Glasses: as every Thing, that could be seen at all, was seen distinct.” - Thomas Baldwin, on the occasion of his first ascent into the air in 1785. In the late 18th century, the term “Aeronaut” was reserved for the
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The Flying Lawnmower that Killed a Man
In 1979, a flying lawnmower killed someone at a football game - and society responded with a shrug.
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Fridge Magnets and Memory: Part 2
Fridge magnets are our memories, in the form of plastic alligators.
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Fridge Magnets and Memory: Part 1
Fridge magnets are more than tacky souvenirs. They're vessels for our memories.
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The Ancient History of Drones Explains Why They Freak Us Out Today
Ancient myth and legend has a lot to tell us about the drones of today.
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Drones and Trust, Air Conditioning, and Anime Crawdads
the latest from July 23rd
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Why the Northeast Sucks at Air Conditioning (And Other Cool Facts)
Using data to explain why some parts of the US are less cool than others.
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How the Smartphone Loosed Applebee’s Dread Grip Over the American Road Trip
I am a technology skeptic. Sometimes I think we really would have been better off if we had forgotten all about leaving the ocean, and had instead remained cheerful filter feeders at the bottom of a tropical sea. But I’ll admit to this: smartphones have made the American road