“I hate all the fetishistic twaddle about books promoted by the chain stores and the book clubs, which make books seem as cozy and unthreatening as teacups,” writes Luc Sante in defense of his sprawling book collection, “instead of the often disputatious and sometimes frightening things they are.”
***
Please enjoy the most hilarious typo of all time.
***
A drought-caused famine in Somalia has starved to death more than 29,000 children in the past few months, making this no time to cut foreign aid, pleads U.S. Catholic.
***
You’ve heard that old saw: Religious disputes fill the world with violence and strife. But new research suggests that idea is just a veneer for less spiritual issues.
***
The Atlantic’s exhaustive look at the state of alternative medicine and the move towards more integrative clinics, “The Triumph of New-Age Medicine.”
***
The Queen of Conservativism supports equal rights for gays and lesbians. Wait, you thought we meant Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann? No, no, silly–we’re talking about Lady Gaga.
***
Vladimir Putin, the Action Man.
***
Fast Company brings good news to the world. Announcing: a windshield wiper for your bathroom mirror.
***
Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek has now been going boldly for 45 years.
***
A former examiner of Social Security disability applicants had forty minutes to determine a claimant’s fate.
***
10 buildings shaped like what they sell.
***
Near the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica, researchers learn more about the social world of the sperm whale, one of the planet’s most mysterious creatures. “Sperm whales have distinct dialects, complex relationships and a set of traditions passed down between generations–what scientists are calling a ‘multicultural civilization.'”
***
Check out this video of a jacket that collects, stores, and purifies rainwater, and allows you to drink it with a built-in straw.
***
Write a poem for Bill Murray, win $1,000.
Image by Saltygal, licensed under Creative Commons.
