Chicago’s Design 50
Despite the portrait of me in the piece (possibly the most unintentionally sad snap ever), I am very honored to be included in this list of designers in Chicago. Happier still that the definition of designer seems to be expanding.
Here’s the full article.
Hi, I’m John Tolva!
The Ampcamper
How I hauled myself, two teens, an 80 lb dog, and a whole load of crap 4000+ miles across six states in twenty days using an electric vehicle. And survived to tell the tale.
The Terror Tourist
A roughly monthly exploration of places in horror fiction — real or imagined, geographical or psychological — culled from The Heavy Leather Horror Show.
Subscribe to the podcast or the email newsletter or just read through the archives posted here.
Views From The Tank
Coral and fish photos, water chemistry data, and notes on home reef-keeping. Dive in.
Latest Photos
Marginalia
Stuff I’ve found interesting from around the web lately.
‘I’m good, I promise’: the loneliness of the low-ranking tennis player
I was 10 when I first told my folks that I wanted to give up playing tennis. They didn’t yield then, and they never did. Tennis was our family business. I first picked up a racket at the age of three, and spent 15 years of my life travelling the world in pursuit of entry into major tournaments.
Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art
In 1953, Roald Dahl published “The Great Automatic Grammatizator,” a short story about an electrical engineer who secretly desires to be a writer.
America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny
Few things symbolize our national dysfunction as much as this accursed coin, which we mint by the millions because it’s too worthless to spend. Caity Weaver is a staff writer for the magazine.
CTA L mapmaker Dennis McClendon, who found a calling in cartography, dead at 67
If Dennis McClendon noticed someone lost in the Loop, he’d ask if they needed directions. He might even pull a little map out from his pocket to pass along. It was a thrill for him — like a chocolatier giving a kid a piece of chocolate.
The Many Lives of Null Island
Last year we rebuilt our well-loved Stamen basemaps from scratch, re-creating them on a totally new tech stack in partnership with Stadia Maps.
Planetary Sapience
Consider a thought experiment: What if the famous Blue Marble image of Earth taken by Apollo 17 astronauts was instead the Blue Marble movie that portrayed the whole 4.
2024 Commencement Address by Roger Federer at Dartmouth
Tennis great-turned-philanthropist Roger Federer delivered the Commencement address at Dartmouth on June 9, 2024. The eight-time Wimbledon champion gave pointers on how to win at life. Federer received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the Commencement ceremony. More from our 2024 Commencement:
Deep-ocean floor produces its own oxygen
An international team of researchers, including a Northwestern University chemist, has discovered that metallic minerals on the deep-ocean floor produce oxygen -- 13,000 feet below the surface.
One Small Controversy About Neil Armstrong’s Giant Leap
When, exactly, did the astronaut set foot on the moon? No one knows. The Apollo 11 mission was, in most respects, a feat of extraordinary precision.
Welcome to Fright Club: How I Fought the Greatest Horror Movie Villains of All Time
The Ringer’s resident survivalist watched more than 200 horror movies to figure out the unimaginable: Could he take Freddy, Jason, and dozens of other villains one-on-one?