Buffalo grocer gives away millions

The Buffalo News has the story about a grocer who anonymously gave away millions of dollars while living quietly in a small apartment above his store. He died recently so the charities have gone public with his name.

The numbers aren't as large as those in Warren Buffet's recent announcement but the idea is the same.

The end for Top of the Pops

The Guardian reports that after 42 years the British music show Top of the Pops is being cancelled. I never really watched the show myself but I did like the idea of it having been around forever.

Thailand offers to replace Afghan statues

The Thai government has offered to rebuild the ancient Bamiyan Buddha statues that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

Robo-roach

According to this article in the New Scientist, scientists have developed a robotic cockroach that can convince real roaches to follow it out of hiding into the light.

Google map pics: Diego Garcia

Some interesting pictures on Google Maps of the US base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. If you zoom in you can see the B-52s parked on the runway.

Email management

Lifehacker has an article on how to manage and keep on top of your email using only three folders.

Living a carbon neutral life

An interesting blog post about the various options for offsetting the carbon you use in your life. There seems to be a lot of variation in the price of a ton.

The deepest hole

It turns out that the Soviets drilled a hole over 12 kilometers deep.

Liquid armour

According to this article, scientists have developed a substance that acts like a liquid under low-energy conditions, but when agitated or hit, stiffens and behaves like a solid. They plan to use this in body armour.

Life at the top

Have you ever wondered how practical those super stretched limos made from SUVs are? Well this picture may have an answer for you.

via RobotWisdom

How to get the perfect shave

Apparently the old ways are the best ways.

Travelling light

An article on SF Gate about travelling with just one carry on bag. There are several other articles in the series about travelling light.

via 43Folders

Organised shoplifting

An article with some amazing numbers for the losses to stores from organised shoplifting gangs.

via robotwisdom

Baseball playing robot

According to this article in the New York Times, engineers at Arizona State University have built a robot that can intercept ground balls on a baseball field. It doesn't actually catch them at the moment it just manoevers into the path of the ball and stops it with a rubber bumper.

In case the NYT article goes away there is a summary, also with photo, on Robot Gossip.

Digger hits bridge

Some amazing photos of what happens why you drive a truck carrying a digger (aka an excavation hoe) under a highway bridge at full speed with the digger arm partly raised.

Beerhunter

Beerhunter.ca is a website that overlays a database with the locations of Ontario liquor and beer stores onto Google maps.

Why are there so many startups in the US?

An article by Paul Graham explaining what you would need to start your own Silicon Valley and why it would be difficult to do in various countries.

Online function grapher

This is one for the math geeks. This page lets you enter a function and then displays a graph for you. The whole thing is written in javascript and it will let you graph multiple functions at the same time.