- Let’s kickstart 2026 with two brilliant essays from Anil Dash. How the Hell Are You Supposed to Have A Career in Tech in 2026? and How Markdown Took Over the World should both be required reading for every high school sophomore in America.
- In April of 2010 a diver found a nearly seven inch Megalodon tooth.
- I missed this bit of good news from last year: Vatican City Is Now Powered By Solar
- How to Turn Toilet Paper Rolls Into DIY Boxes – via cassidoo
A massive 535-pound bluefin tuna sold for a record $3.2 million at the first auction of 2026 at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market.- Spend a few minutes watching these interviews with dads outside Taylor Swift concerts. – via paulscheer.com
- Netflix released the Stranger Things series finale in 600+ theaters over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, generating north of $25M in concession revenue. (That’s more than Avatar: Fire and Ash earned in actual ticket sales over the same stretch ($23.7M).) – via The Dailies
- And finally, a handful of wonderful links from Laura Olin that I keep meaning to share:
Posts tagged “Avatar”
- The death of Brigitte Bardot, 1960s sex symbol turned militant animal rights activist, means there are now only three people mentioned in the 1989 Billy Joel song We Didn’t Start the Fire who are still alive: Chubby Checker, Bob Dylan, and… Bernie Goetz. – via Simon Kuestenmacher
- There’s really no way to explain to anyone under the age of about forty what a big deal MTV was when it launched. It’s not at all surprising — I haven’t watched in at least twenty years — but it’s still a bit sad to learn they’re shutting down all music-only channels as of December 31.
- Also nostalgic: The HTML Elements Time Forgot
- Prepare to waste some time playing the Top 10 Free Browser Games of 2025.
- Rome just unveiled two new subway stops that transform its metro into a museum experience. – via Ciao Bella
- Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a runaway supermassive black hole ten million times larger than the sun, rocketing through space at 2.2 million miles per hour.
- I had no idea there was a sequel to one of my favorite SNL sketches.
- “That first post-game sacrifice only aired online, but the explosion was immediate.”
- A new study suggests moderate fitness appears to act like an insurance policy against alcohol’s long-term negative health effects. – via Arnold’s Pump Club
- It’s hard to believe that Steven Spielberg has made only four studio films about aliens, primarily because his first two were so incredible. Disclosure Day, coming in 2026, will be his fifth.
- “If you want a job in the moisturizer industry, the best advice I can give is to apply daily.” – via Cassidy Williams
- Not securing domain names before announcing something idiotic has been a perpetual epic failure of the current administration.
- Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premieres December 3rd on Disney+ Wow. The trailer looks amazing.
- If you know anyone with an iPhone — and, duh, of course you do — one of these MagSafe power bricks is a great gift idea.
- Superman Is Still America’s Greatest Superhero: We need Christopher Reeve now more than ever.
- How Selling $160 Sweatpants Turned a SoCal Surfer into One of America’s Richest Women – via @forbes
- Forget Matt Gaetz. Merrick Garland Is America’s Worst Attorney General. – via @usnews
- I would rather watch three straight hours of Progressive commercials than another Avatar movie.
- Pamela Hayden, the voice behind Milhouse Van Houten, will retire from The Simpsons after 35 years. – via @dailycosmicmarvel
- It’s always been somewhat puzzling that Donald Duck chooses to use an airplane to fly and a boat when he’s in the water. I don’t have a problem with his insistence on eschewing pants. But I find it deeply, deeply disturbing that he carves a Thanksgiving turkey for his family. – via me
- Here’s everything you need to know about the new 12-team college football playoff format.
I would rather watch three straight hours of Progressive commercials than another Avatar movie.
Every now and then I remember that Disney spent a gajillion dollars building an entire Avatar-themed land at Animal Kingdom (of all places!) despite the totally insignificant impact that “film” had on pop culture.