Jalopnik: Sydney has been having a big problem with oversized trucks driving into tunnels that are too low. So Sydney needed a stop sign that is absolutely impossible to miss. Here it is and it’s amazing.P It’s a curtain of … Continued

Slate: …as a scientist, I can’t help but notice that every now and again, just sometimes, maybe, Trek ventures into some pretty dicey science territory. Let me be clear: I have no problem with faster-than-light travel, time travel, teleporters, the … Continued

Gizmodo: On December 21st of last year, Commander Hadfield and his team (Expedition 35) docked with the ISS after a two-day flight in aboard a Soyuz TMA-07M, and began their mission. Hadfield was the first to realize, on a large … Continued

io9:

The human palate is arguably the weakest of the five traditional senses. This begs an important question regarding wine tasting: is it bullshit, or is it complete and utter bullshit?

There are no two ways about it: the bullshit is strong with wine. Wine tasting. Wine rating. Wine reviews. Wine descriptions. They’re all related. And they’re all egregious offenders, from a bullshit standpoint.

Just like many of us suspected.

Sex, Cigars & Booze Lifestyle Magazine:

A new poll finds that Americans are twice as willing to go without sex for a week than a smartphone.

“Our poll shows that the tech revolution has changed our culture to the point that too many Americans seem to derive more pleasure and satisfaction from their smart phones and text lives than from their relationships and sex lives,” said Ron Sachs, President and CEO of Sachs Media Group.

If you choose a smartphone over sex, you’re doing sex wrong.

io9:

In the first three days of accepting applications, the Mars One project has received a whopping 20,000 applications, with more than 600 coming from China alone. The project plans to send a select group of colonists to the Red Planet for permanent settlement — with permanent being the key word. The Dutch aerospace project, which is aiming to put four humans on Mars by 2023, started accepting applications and audition tapes early last week.

No chance they make that very ambitious schedule but it’s good to dream. One question: Would you go on the one way trip if it was offered?

Jalopnik:

Ever wondered what happened to the mall in The Blues Brothers after Jake, Elwood, and all those cops drove right through it? They actually left it just the way it was, but that’s only the start of the Dixie Square Mall’s decline.

One of the most iconic car chases ever filmed.

Every year, we hear from Forbes and others about the people who are the “x richest people in the world”. Have you ever wondered where you might fall on that scale?

The Global Rich List asks users how much their yearly salary adds up to, and then let’s them know what percentage of the world’s richest people they’re in.

You’ll be surprised at how high on the list you are, compared to the vast majority of the world’s population.

The Verge:

It takes 13 minutes and seven seconds to complete Snake, the decades-old game that enjoyed a renascence (sic) through Nokia’s early mobile phones. What reward lies at the end of this snake’s insatiable desire for food?

Nothing.

Weirdly mesmerizing.

Chicago Tribune:

For the Bulls and Blackhawks to share the floor at the United Center, it takes a choreographed conversion from ice to hardwood and back again — something that will happen 26 times this season. Once a Blackhawks game ends, the crew of 45 springs to action, changing the playing surface in about two hours.

Fascinating video and description of the process of turning a hockey rink into a basketball arena.

Vanity Fair:

When Felix Baumgartner set out to make a living by stunt jumping—from cliffs, buildings, and bridges—the young Austrian had no idea where it would take him: to a pressurized capsule nearly 24 miles above New Mexico, last October 14, preparing to free-fall farther than any man in history, and at supersonic speed. Detailing Baumgartner’s quest, William Langewiesche explores what drove him to ever greater heights.

I’m still not as hugely impressed as some by Baumgartner’s stunt but the story has many interesting details regarding what it takes to put together this kind of event.

How much fun would it be to be Ken Block for a day?

Flavorwire:

This month marks the 70th anniversary of one of our favorite children’s books of all time, the beautiful, contemplative novella The Little Prince. To celebrate the book’s legacy (and to encourage any parents currently dragging their feet to get it for their little ones), we’ve put together a list of 25 essential books that every kid should have on his or her bookshelf growing up.

Embarrassed to say I’ve only actually read two of these – “The Phantom Tollbooth” and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” How many have you read?

The Wirecutter:

It’s actually harder to pick a good, affordable camera than it is to pick an expensive, high-end one. But, with a bit of leg work, we’ve managed to plow through the fifteen or so vaguely respectable cameras that cost less than $150 and narrow it down to the Canon PowerShot 320 HS.

The comparatively low image noise, sharp photographs, and kinda-fast lens put it ahead of most of the competition at this price point. And while the touchscreen and Wi-Fi may not be perfect, they’re still good features to have on hand.

BuzzFeed:

In Canada, this transcendent dish is served at every possible opportunity — restaurants, bars, truck stops, diners, doesn’t matter. In America it’s still treated like a culinary novelty. The few stateside restaurants that have attempted to make poutine can’t seem to get it right.

This is downright tragic.

I’ve had poutine four times here in the US. Every time, it was utterly inedible. C’mon America!

Esquire:

No American drinks foam. Give one a glass a third full of the stuff at almost any bar, and he’ll indignantly ask, “The hell is this?” Especially for a pilsner. But the exception to this rule is Hospoda, a restaurant in Manhattan that pours the best drafts you’ll find….its bartenders use Hospoda, a unique tap system to pump out four unique pours, each of which enhance the act of drinking in their own way, because of, yes, the foam.

We thought we’d introduce you to them, and tell you how they pour such strange and delicious drafts.

I may never get to Manhattan again so one of you needs to go to this restaurant and tell me just how wonderful and delicious this beer is.

Visual.ly:

An easy-to-use guide to cuts of beef. The chart shows where each cut of meat comes from on the cow, how much it costs and how to best cook it.

Mmmm. Ribs. Skirt steak. Sirloin. Pot roast. Ever wonder where on a cow all those cuts of meat come from? Visual.ly has a really interesting infographic about one of our most useful (and delicious!) animals.

raskalov_vit:

I want to tell you a little story about how we climbed to the top of one of the seven wonders of the world. We had to hide from the guards at the Tomb near the foot of Cheops. Climb the stone slabs on the most ancient structure of humanity to the sounds of prayers. It was one of the most intense nights of my life. Many thanks to good friends who accompanied and supported the idea.

While I can’t condone the climbing of these beautiful and ancient structures, the view from the top must be magnificent. I’ve been to the Great Pyramids at Cheops and some things are striking – how massive they are and how close the city of Cairo actually is, for example.

RocketNews24:

Sometimes the hustle and bustle of big city life in Tokyo makes you forget your manners. With most people commuting by train and working very long hours, sometimes there’s no time to do things at home. And sometimes, you’re just so tired and stressed that you don’t care that you are behaving badly.

As a result, back in 2008, the Tokyo Metro system launched a three-year-long campaign aimed at reminding subway passengers to mind their manners while riding the trains.

Some of these are hilarious.

Are you a fan of the Alien movies? Are you a fan of William Gibson, SciFi author? Then you’re in luck.

Gibson just tweeted a link to a site that has the script of his first ever screenplay – Alien 3. This version was never made but it’s an interesting look into what might have been.

Grab it before some tight-assed Hollywood type makes the script disappear.

FedEx:

On March 25, 2013 the Toronto Zoo welcomes two giant pandas. This will be the first time since 1985 that pandas have visited the Toronto Zoo. They will spend five years in the Toronto Zoo before residing in the Calgary Zoo for an additional five years.

You really can ship anything via FedEx. And, unlike those of us forced to ride in coach on most airlines, the pandas will have In-flight catering that will include 220lbs of bamboo, 330lbs of bamboo shoots, 110lbs of apples and 33lbs of fresh water.

New York Times:

Last week, scientists sequenced the genome of cells taken without consent from a woman named Henrietta Lacks. She was a black tobacco farmer and mother of five, and though she died in 1951, her cells, code-named HeLa, live on. They were used to help develop our most important vaccines and cancer medications, in vitro fertilization, gene mapping, cloning. Now they may finally help create laws to protect her family’s privacy — and yours.

I read the original book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” (Amazon referral) and it tells a fascinating story of medicine and ethics.

BBC Radio 4:

Every Friday we bring you a new drama from Radio 4 or Radio 3. This week begins Neil Gaiman’s classic, “Neverwhere”, voiced by X-Men’s James McAvoy, Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer and soon to be Star Trek bad guy and present BBC Sherlock Holmes, Benedict Cumberbatch.

The first episode is available for download from the iTunes Store and other episodes are streamed from the BBC’s web site.

New York Times:

Even as data moves to computers and the cloud, staplers continue to help people keep it together. On the computer, we can file copies in folders and send messages to mailboxes. We can cut, copy and paste text and files. But which computer activity is similar to stapling? Sure, there’s the paper-clip icon that attaches documents to e-mail. But nothing, really, comes close to the satisfying ka-chunk of a stapler: it’s a sound that means work is getting done.

More than you ever thought you could know about the lowly but oddly treasured office stapler.

Poynter:

“Let Me Tweet That For You” is pretty simple — you type in a Twitter username and a message, and it generates a realistic-looking image of a tweet from that person. It even adds fake retweet and favorite counts to lend some more credibility.

That should be a bit scary for journalists and anyone else concerned about potential hoaxes. Of course, it would be pretty easy to debunk one of these fake tweets if you just visit the person’s actual Twitter profile to see if the tweet really exists.

But what if it’s passed off as screenshot evidence of an allegedly deleted tweet?

Poynter says it raises concerns for journalists but it should raise flags for all of us who use Twitter and social media. Such as this fake Tweet:

USA Today:

Two giant rocket engines that launched U.S. astronauts to the moon four decades ago have been recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Canaveral by an expedition paid for by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The F-1 engines, which powered the first-stage Saturn V boosters that fell back to Earth after their fuel was depleted, were found at a depth of 14,000 feet, Bezos’ expedition announced Wednesday.

Remarkable use of private funds to do public good.

Hello World:

Go outside, be present with the people you love when you’re with them, or go make something. Staring at your little screen isn’t doing anything for you.”

Take a look at the fascinating photo comparison on the linked web site. What do you think? Does the 2013 photo represent a good thing, a bad thing or just the nature of the world we live in?

ShellyBlog:

Each year’s SXSW conference turns my hometown into a giant carnival of music, food, and strangers from strange lands.

My contribution to SXSW coverage is a listing of free music downloads and samplers, featuring bands who will be in or near Austin next week.

A lot of techies may not realize that while the first five days of SXSW is a tech conference, there’s a huge live music component too. Even better, a lot of these undiscovered bands make their music available for free online. Shelly Brisbin has collated some of the links to these gigabytes of MP3s.

As the Papal Conclave happens in Rome, the cardinals spend their days in the Sistine Chapel. Here is a very cool VR of the inside of the chapel.