flickering pictures

I’ve started making National Geographic one of my regular online stops, and I’m starting to realize just how fantastic this magazine is. A few days ago it reported that in 1971, five pairs of Italian wall lizards were moved onto a small Croatian island. Today, they’ve taken over, and their bodies have adapted to their [...]

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The eBay behemoth is suing the craigslist classified ad site, and strangely won’t say why. All it’s saying is that craigslist “unfairly diluted eBay’s economic interest by more than 10%,” and that the lawsuit aims to “safeguard its four-year financial investment.” That could mean anything or nothing. I’m guessing nothing. The case has been sealed, [...]

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Hopefully, if you’re reading this, the site is back to normal and pages aren’t taking several minutes to load anymore. If by some chance you sat through the wait, thanks — your patience is formidable and very much appreciated. I checked the site this afternoon and found it unbearably slow, and Bluehost, my hosting company, [...]

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Abe Lincoln notwithstanding, the U.S. five-dollar bill is looking just a little bit more Canadian these days, with a brand new splash of purple to help visually-impaired people distinguish between denominations. It includes new watermarks and an “enhanced security thread,” and the new colour is apparently also meant to foil counterfeiters who’ve run out of [...]

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National Geographic reprints the amazing first-person account of Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian soldier who escaped from a British P.O.W. camp in modern-day Pakistan and fled to Tibet, where he ended up as one of the Dalai Lama’s tutors. The article chronicles his extended stay in Lhasa, and originally ran 53 years ago. Here’s an excerpt: [...]

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I admit it, I like lists. List of strange things, cool objects, bizarre coincindences, you name it. Usually I spare you guys the full extent of my geekiness, but this one was too neat to pass up. The good people at the aptly named List Universe have compiled images, descriptions and causes of some of [...]

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New Iranian research suggests that saffron affects the way our brains produce serotonin and can significantly ease the symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome. Iran produces 81 per cent of the world’s saffron, and saffron prices range from $40 to $65 per ounce — at that price, Iran stands to make a mint by moving the spice [...]

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Probably not. But a tech company called Emotiv is putting the finishing touches on its “Epoc,” a wireless hands-free device that lets you control a computer using the power of your mind. The image above is of the super-spiffy prototype, while the one at right is a shot of the consumer version. From Kotaku: “At [...]

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Contrary to popular belief, there’s an excellent chance that buckling up your airline seatbelt will save your life. The International Herald Tribune tells us why: What’s the point of listening to the safety instructions given by flight attendants? If there’s a crash, everybody dies, right? Most airline passengers apparently feel this way. More than half [...]

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The New York Times ran a great piece today on the world’s growing hunger crisis, with a focus on Haiti. Here’s an excerpt, because I can’t say it any better than this: Hunger bashed in the front gate of Haiti’s presidential palace. Hunger poured onto the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and the [...]

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