Jonatan Hildén
@jhilden.bsky.social
Information designer from Helsinki. Co-founder of Koponen+Hildén
Co-author of the Data visualization handbook / Tieto näkyväksi (Finnish edition)
Co-author of the Data visualization handbook / Tieto näkyväksi (Finnish edition)
Discussing mythical beings with daughter and now wondering: who came up with the notion that elves in high fantasy should have pointy ears? As far as I can tell Tolkien at least doesn’t mention their ears at any point in Lord of the Rings or Silmarillion? Pre-Tolkien artistic depictions?
November 27, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Discussing mythical beings with daughter and now wondering: who came up with the notion that elves in high fantasy should have pointy ears? As far as I can tell Tolkien at least doesn’t mention their ears at any point in Lord of the Rings or Silmarillion? Pre-Tolkien artistic depictions?
hall of fame tweet. Also some Swedes pronounce ”kaos” very nearly like ”cows”
November 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
hall of fame tweet. Also some Swedes pronounce ”kaos” very nearly like ”cows”
TIL:
"The word "catamaran" is derived from the Tamil word, kattumaram (கட்டுமரம்), which means "logs bound together" and is a type of single-hulled raft made of three to seven tree trunks lashed together. The term has evolved in English usage to refer to unrelated twin-hulled vessels."
"The word "catamaran" is derived from the Tamil word, kattumaram (கட்டுமரம்), which means "logs bound together" and is a type of single-hulled raft made of three to seven tree trunks lashed together. The term has evolved in English usage to refer to unrelated twin-hulled vessels."
November 27, 2025 at 11:59 AM
TIL:
"The word "catamaran" is derived from the Tamil word, kattumaram (கட்டுமரம்), which means "logs bound together" and is a type of single-hulled raft made of three to seven tree trunks lashed together. The term has evolved in English usage to refer to unrelated twin-hulled vessels."
"The word "catamaran" is derived from the Tamil word, kattumaram (கட்டுமரம்), which means "logs bound together" and is a type of single-hulled raft made of three to seven tree trunks lashed together. The term has evolved in English usage to refer to unrelated twin-hulled vessels."
This is Black Friday in the current Finnish economy
November 27, 2025 at 10:32 AM
This is Black Friday in the current Finnish economy
looking at reference images in the City of Helsinki content folders for a thing and going ”hey, this one street view is very obviously too old to ever be used anywhere”, based on the fashion and the cars, and it is from… 2004.
November 27, 2025 at 8:42 AM
looking at reference images in the City of Helsinki content folders for a thing and going ”hey, this one street view is very obviously too old to ever be used anywhere”, based on the fashion and the cars, and it is from… 2004.
I think I said somewhere like over a year ago that the sort of good thing (?) about AI images is that maybe finally it drives home that you can't know if a picture is real from looking at it.
Yeah doubt it works that way, but.
Yeah doubt it works that way, but.
this picture is more real than most cell phone pictures with any amount of filter added
this image was generated with google's latest nana banana pro tool. we have no idea how bad it is about to get.
November 27, 2025 at 7:38 AM
I think I said somewhere like over a year ago that the sort of good thing (?) about AI images is that maybe finally it drives home that you can't know if a picture is real from looking at it.
Yeah doubt it works that way, but.
Yeah doubt it works that way, but.
These are going to look quaint in a short while.
Uhh,,, Figure 1 shows you... what exactly? Trying to understand Medical fryrmbial, runctitional features and mum's legs going through concrete.
This whole article is a bit of a disaster. And it's very difficult to find other published work for the author. Strange! 🧪
(via @smutclyde.bsky.social)
This whole article is a bit of a disaster. And it's very difficult to find other published work for the author. Strange! 🧪
(via @smutclyde.bsky.social)
November 27, 2025 at 7:18 AM
These are going to look quaint in a short while.
Hovercraft! Isn’t that a technology of the future from the past? Some Arthur C. Clarke book I read as a kid had them replacing all land transport.
Would have wanted to ride the Dover route but just now found out there still is regular service to the Isle of Wight!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovertr...
Would have wanted to ride the Dover route but just now found out there still is regular service to the Isle of Wight!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovertr...
November 27, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Hovercraft! Isn’t that a technology of the future from the past? Some Arthur C. Clarke book I read as a kid had them replacing all land transport.
Would have wanted to ride the Dover route but just now found out there still is regular service to the Isle of Wight!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovertr...
Would have wanted to ride the Dover route but just now found out there still is regular service to the Isle of Wight!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovertr...
Reposted by Jonatan Hildén
500-year paleoclimate record inferred from Greenland Juniper wood contextualizes current climate warming
"By providing a 500-year context for long-term climate variability, it has been confirmed that the observed recent warming is unprecedented"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"By providing a 500-year context for long-term climate variability, it has been confirmed that the observed recent warming is unprecedented"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 27, 2025 at 6:39 AM
500-year paleoclimate record inferred from Greenland Juniper wood contextualizes current climate warming
"By providing a 500-year context for long-term climate variability, it has been confirmed that the observed recent warming is unprecedented"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"By providing a 500-year context for long-term climate variability, it has been confirmed that the observed recent warming is unprecedented"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
realized a while ago that Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is impossible to play on a Mac so that one
November 26, 2025 at 7:54 PM
realized a while ago that Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is impossible to play on a Mac so that one
LinkedIn is the Upside Down of social media, where you go to find out that someone you went to school with that hasn’t posted a thing on other socials for the last 15 years in fact keeps doing lengthy Thought Leader ™ insights on the regular.
November 26, 2025 at 6:19 PM
LinkedIn is the Upside Down of social media, where you go to find out that someone you went to school with that hasn’t posted a thing on other socials for the last 15 years in fact keeps doing lengthy Thought Leader ™ insights on the regular.
There’s a reason Slow TV was invented in Scandinavia. Every 6th of December like half of the Finnish population is glued to their devices, raptly observing the independence day reception, which includes this. Around 2,000 handshakes.
Wondering if it is the longest regularly televised display of shaking hands. Because the president and spouse shake hands with Every. Single. Guest. And this is all shown live on TV.
November 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM
There’s a reason Slow TV was invented in Scandinavia. Every 6th of December like half of the Finnish population is glued to their devices, raptly observing the independence day reception, which includes this. Around 2,000 handshakes.
Reposted by Jonatan Hildén
Fitting, since the circa 2016 Russian Facebook activity got orders of magnitude more traction in the Discourse than it did among regular people.
I'm deeply skeptical of mainstream disinformation discourse, and it's pretty clear that most of the foreign X accounts are just engagment farming. But to the extent they're politically important, it's to X's gathered elites, not the masses nymag.com/intelligence...
November 26, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Fitting, since the circa 2016 Russian Facebook activity got orders of magnitude more traction in the Discourse than it did among regular people.
Kids watching the 1st episode of the og Pokemon series and it struck me that here is a pretty big change compared to my generation. There must have been parents that were really into the same pop culture stuff as their kids, but it was definitely not the norm. Now entire families are Pokemon stans.
November 25, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Kids watching the 1st episode of the og Pokemon series and it struck me that here is a pretty big change compared to my generation. There must have been parents that were really into the same pop culture stuff as their kids, but it was definitely not the norm. Now entire families are Pokemon stans.
Do They Even Know It's Christmas?
November 25, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Do They Even Know It's Christmas?
iDraw, the temptation to spend all day doing op art butts instead of actual work
November 25, 2025 at 7:55 AM
iDraw, the temptation to spend all day doing op art butts instead of actual work
Reposted by Jonatan Hildén
Reposted by Jonatan Hildén
this blew my mind a while back,
November 24, 2025 at 11:53 AM
this blew my mind a while back,
Reposted by Jonatan Hildén
it just didn't have the legs 😢
Turns out interest in Metaverse had about a ~9 month half life.
November 24, 2025 at 9:55 AM
it just didn't have the legs 😢
when u go Hooooooo
November 24, 2025 at 11:41 AM
when u go Hooooooo
I’m wondering when someone launches a camera that automatically watermarks all images for provenance tracing.
Image credits! No longer just a sign of courtesy, but the only way to tell whether an image is real, that it's worth remembering. Then another certified human ( @benjaminpope.bsky.social ) confirming that it's real (that it's their image!). Now you can finally enjoy it!
Welcome to a new world haha
Welcome to a new world haha
November 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I’m wondering when someone launches a camera that automatically watermarks all images for provenance tracing.
Reposted by Jonatan Hildén
Lol damn it secret car knowledge:
Manual says mirrors need to be turned in when using an automatic car wash. Does not say how. Only way I know is if it is locked from the key fob. This activates the alarm. Thus, washer starts, car screams and blinks. Can see no way to stop this.
Manual says mirrors need to be turned in when using an automatic car wash. Does not say how. Only way I know is if it is locked from the key fob. This activates the alarm. Thus, washer starts, car screams and blinks. Can see no way to stop this.
November 23, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Lol damn it secret car knowledge:
Manual says mirrors need to be turned in when using an automatic car wash. Does not say how. Only way I know is if it is locked from the key fob. This activates the alarm. Thus, washer starts, car screams and blinks. Can see no way to stop this.
Manual says mirrors need to be turned in when using an automatic car wash. Does not say how. Only way I know is if it is locked from the key fob. This activates the alarm. Thus, washer starts, car screams and blinks. Can see no way to stop this.
Suzanne Vega simply goes hard
tidal.com/browse/track...
tidal.com/browse/track...
Suzanne Vega - Ironbound / Fancy Poultry
Listen to Ironbound / Fancy Poultry on TIDAL
tidal.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Suzanne Vega simply goes hard
tidal.com/browse/track...
tidal.com/browse/track...
Partner found these flashback-to-Greece ”pastiles”
from last summer. They are αρωματικες – aromatikes, which means they taste exactly like the most common type of incense??
from last summer. They are αρωματικες – aromatikes, which means they taste exactly like the most common type of incense??
November 22, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Partner found these flashback-to-Greece ”pastiles”
from last summer. They are αρωματικες – aromatikes, which means they taste exactly like the most common type of incense??
from last summer. They are αρωματικες – aromatikes, which means they taste exactly like the most common type of incense??