Author: Matt Maldre

One gold medal's ripple effect: How Erki Nool's 2000 Olympic victory inspired a generation of Estonian decathletes in 2024.

Olympic Committee claims breaking isn't 'American enough' for LA 2028. Excuse me? It literally originated here! Time for the IOC to break out of their outdated mindset.

Today I disovered one of my photos was used 15 years ago by the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid committee.

The WeatherBug radar map was a bit of a surprise to me. It has no state borders. No city markers. No roads or highways. Just land, rivers, and lakes. Thankfully, there is a very identifying feature to help me locate…

Imagine a radio show playing ONE song from EACH Spotify genre. It'd take 8 years to finish! Anyone want to DJ?

Ten years ago, on July 29, 2014, I was going to use the free video rental coupon in a 1998 phone book. I was going to bring the entire phone book with me, and tear out the coupon right in…

The next time you drink a Pepsi, you are actually consuming something called “Digestion Soda.” You may have seen an article going around saying: “Pepsi fans just realizing drink’s original name that ‘sounds like a rock album'”. I’ll save you…

Detailed close-up shots of the frog Grogu ate in "The Mandalorian"

If you’re looking for an alternative to Google, there are several options worth considering. Diverse Tech Geek, a well-respected technology blog, recently published a post titled “Google alternatives – 2024 edition” where he discusses a couple of notable search engines:…

The underlying message of this graphic is to caution people against sharing personal information through social media prompts. When read together, the answers form the phrase: "STOP GIVING PEOPLE YOUR PERSONAL INFO TO GUESS YOUR PASSWORD AND SECURITY QUESTIONS." However,…

Tomorrow is the day Idaho became a US state. If I had an Idaho flag, I would fly it. Especially since it’s the land of potatoes. But it’s the day before July 4th, so I would have to take down…

I was only scrolling on my homepage of Facebook. Then I got a message saying: You’re Temporarily BlockedIt looks like you were misusing this feature by going too fast. You’ve been temporarily blocked from using it. If you think this…

Do you have a friend or loved one who adores libraries? For their upcoming birthday, consider creating a unique and thoughtful gift by wrapping their present in custom-made wrapping paper featuring a design inspired by the date stamps found in…

Did you hear how the Empire State Building’s Twitter (X) account is picking fights with the Chicago Bean? Someone tweeted about the Chicago Bean reopening. The Empire State Building tweeted with a video saying sarcastically, “Clap if you care” Here…

We almost have a Full Moon and the Summer Solstice on the same day! The tricky part of matching up a Summer Solstice and a Full Moon is that the Summer Solstice changes days every year. 6/20 or 6/21 or…

"We are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you any different." - Kurt Vonnegut. How embracing the joy in the ordinary moments, like a laid-back baseball game, can enrich our lives.

These two items appeared in my eBay “Keep shopping for” section. I did indeed look at both of these auctions previously. Cool how they visually look a bit similar.

Discover a new way to experience art with Good Things Vending. These unique machines across Chicago offer affordable, handcrafted items from nearly 200 local artists. #SupportLocalArtists #ChicagoArt

Atlas Obscura has published a list of potato places to visit. 10 Places That Will Take You to Potato Paradise: take a global tuber tour. Place City Country Potato Shed Memorial Boston, Massachusetts USA Frietmuseum Bruges Belgium Big Idaho Potato…

I totally missed out on Yarn Bombing Day. It’s on June 5th. “Yarn Bombing Day: Adding Color and Joy to Public Spaces” by Dean LaBerge, Grizzly Gazette. I love how this small town in Canada is covering Yarn Bombing Day.…

Have you seen this tool where you can figure out the location of a photo based on the shadow? It’s amazing. (video explainer) Although for it to work, you also need to know the exact time the photo was taken.…

Maybe Jasper Johns’ crosshatch paintings from 1973-1983 were inspired by this photograph in a 1973 National Geographic. Read more about this research from greg.org.

Today via my blog, someone found out that their dad installed the giant broadcasting antennae on the Tribune Tower in the 1930s. My post about the Tribune Tower observation deck included those who inscribed their names on the wall below…

Instagram will use your art, because you use their app. It’s time to drop Instagram. Is Cara the solution? The artwork on there is really high-level. I signed up for Cara, but I don’t think I’ll really be using it.…

This is a pretty funny action figure of Anakin Skywalker. It would be frightening to pair that up with a Darth Vader figure.

How to make a bookmarklet that will automatically search what you tweeted on this day ten years ago.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I bought a year’s subscription to Peacock just so I could watch the Olympics. I watched the first three minutes of ping-pong qualifications. It’s pretty cool how they check the height of the table…

Today I bought a one-year subscription to Peacock for $20. 100% of the reason is for the upcoming Summer Olympics. One of the tech blogs I follow mentioned this discount, and the price will soon go up.  I figure I’d…

This wee winged Ewok has taken flight in the most unexpected places around my house.

Who knew a train could do more than chug along tracks? Astrotrain can split open into a giant claw! See how Transformers can surprise you in unexpected ways.

When you find a new song on Spotify, how do you know if it's a new song or one from ten years ago?