About Interesting Thing of the Day
Interesting Thing of the Day is a virtual museum of interesting things. The articles are written by Joe Kissell and Morgen Jahnke (with periodic contributions by guest columnists) and published by alt concepts.
Publication schedule: Earlier incarnations of the site took the phrase “of the day” quite literally: for a while, there was a new article every single day—even weekends and holidays. Now, with our improved burnout-resistant schedule, new articles appear on average about twice a week (with recycled articles from the archives appearing about once a week), but we do not guarantee any particular frequency. We take weekends, major holidays, and vacation time off from publication as well. The frequency of new articles may rise or fall according to the site’s income.
About alt concepts
alt concepts is an internet publishing business that produces smart, entertaining, and user-friendly Web sites. Along with a team of enthusiastic contributors, Wordsmiths-in-Chief Joe Kissell and Morgen Jahnke share a passion for language and ideas. Besides Interesting Thing of the Day, alt concepts publications currently include SenseList, a compendium of clever, useful and surprising lists; Spectatrix, a blog that provides humorous and insightful commentary about the world of introverts; Truffles for Breakfast, the ongoing story of Joe and Morgen’s life in Paris; The Geeky Gourmet, a blog about food and technology; and I Am Joe’s Blog, Joe’s thoughts on topics ranging from computers to cooking. Several groovy new sites are in development.
A Brief History of Interesting Thing of the Day
This site has undergone numerous changes over the past few years. Here are the highlights.
- April 1, 2003:
- Initial launch (ITotD version 1.0)
- April–November, 2003:
- New articles every single day through November 2, plus two more articles later in November
- December, 2003:
- ITotD goes on hiatus
- April 1, 2004:
- New article announces relaunch of site with a solid year of daily articles, to begin June 1, 2004
- June 1, 2004:
- ITotD version 2.0 goes live with several new features, including email subscriptions and audio recordings, plus a commitment to a solid year of daily articles
- June 1, 2004–May 31, 2005:
- Daily articles, of which 207 were updated versions of articles that appeared in 2003 and 158 were brand new
- June 1, 2005:
- ITotD once again goes on hiatus
- June 1, 2005–May 30, 2006:
- Selected recycled articles from ITotD version 2.0 run on weekdays (excluding holidays)
- May 31, 2006:
- ITotD version 3.0 launches: new logo, complete site redesign, new burnout-resistant schedule
Interesting Thing of the Day is designed, edited, and hosted exclusively on Macintosh computers.
