Author Archives: Jason Kottke

Here’s the entire source code + helpful annotations for the original Metroid game for the NES.

Labels corresponding to address values have been added to every line to make the code easier to follow for beginners interested in understanding the inner w… Continue reading →

The McGurk effect: the same sound plus two different mouth movements produces two different sounds.

Read more about the McGurk effect. (via ★interesting-links) Tags: illusions   video Continue reading →

I knew the male lyrebird is an amazing mimic (other birds, camera shutters, car alarms, chainsaws):

but I didn’t know he could sing the Seinfeld theme song:

Seriously though, that chainsaw noise is amazing. (via ★aaroncohen) Tags: video Continue reading →

Time lapse movie composed of photographs taken from the International Space Station as it orbits the Earth at night.

This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visibl… Continue reading →

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you.” — Gandhi

“Give me death.” — Patrick Henry

“The world is more dangerous than sincere.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you di… Continue reading →

Using a chalkboard and a simple graphical axis, watch as Kurt Vonnegut explains the different shapes that stories can take.

(via @coudal)

Update: This is part of a longer talk that Vonnegut gave…a transcript is here.

I want to share with you som… Continue reading →

This handy chart of defunct country names can help you determine the age of your globe.

When you find the FORMER place name on your globe instead of the NEW name, you have confimed the age of your globe. Tags: maps Continue reading →

Really cool…I can see the music!

(via ★than) Tags: music   video Continue reading →

Watch as magician Derren Brown beats a room full of grandmasters and other top chess players even though he doesn’t really play chess all that well. At the end, he explains how he did it…it’s a dead simple clever method. Tags: chess   Derren Brown Continue reading →

Artist Jeremy Hutchison commissioned a series of intentionally incorrect products from factories around the world.

“I asked them to make me one of their products, but to make it with an error,” Hutchison explains. “I specified that this error should r… Continue reading →