Montreal Moving Day

The Wall Street Journal has an article about a Canadian phenomena that I have always wondered about.  Why does everyone in Montreal move house on the same day?

DIY Grad School

The Art of Non-Conformity has a post about a do-it-yourself version of grad school.  I have been vaguely considering going to grad school but maybe I should try this instead.  Especially since I already have a subscription to the Economist.

Escher Tile Hardwood Flooring

Technabob has a post about hardwood floor cut into the shape of the Escher reptiles.  I think this might look a bit strange in reality but maybe I'm just hung-up on have long thin strips of wood.

A Bell that has been Ringing for 173 Years

According to this article on io9, there is a bell at Oxford University that has been ringing for 173 years.  Apparently no one knows what is in the battery and they are waiting for it to run down before opening it up.

20th Century Causes of Death

Information is Beautiful has a post with an infographic showing the total numbers of people killed by various causes during the 20th century.

Worldly Personal Space

CNN has a page with an interactive graphic that show the amount of space people take up in various cities around the world.

via Flowing Data

The Most Isolated Man in History

The BBC has an article about Al Worden who was the command module pilot on Apollo 15 and as such orbited the moon alone while the rest of the crew went down to the lunar surface.  When the command module was on the far side of the moon (from both the Earth and the lander crew) he (and the five command module pilots on the other Apollo missions) was the most isolated that any human has ever been.

A Friend's App: Linger

The Atlantic has a write up on my friend Chuck Shnider's new app Linger. The app gives an organised view of the films in the Prelinger Archives.  I was at the NSNorth conference a few weekends ago and during some of the breaks Chuck played films from his app on the giant screen.  This app could be a real time eater.

Fuel Surplus

The Pacific Standard has an article about the amount of oil in the world.

We human beings have consumed, over our entire history, about a trillion barrels of oil.

They continue with:

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there is still seven to eight times that much left in the ground. The oil that’s left is just more difficult, and therefore more expensive, to get to.

Photo: Owl and Mouse

National Geogrpahic Photo of the Day has an awesome shot of an Owl about to pick up some lunch.

World's Oldest Aerial Photo

The Smithsonian has a blog post about the world's oldest surviving aerial photography.  It is a picture of Boston taken in 1860.

Obit: Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist - last of the anti-Hitler plotters

The Economist has the obituary of Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist.  During the Second World War he twice agreed to be a suicide bomber in plots to assassinate Adolph Hitler.  He was the last surviving member of the July 20 plot (which was the subject of the Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie). 

Words from Shakespeare

Mental Floss has a post listing twenty words that were coined by William Shakespeare.  Apparently he created "over 2200 never-before-seen words".  I was amazed that one of them was the word manager.

Obit: John E. Karlin - Dialing Pioneer

The New York Times has the obituary of John Karlin who was involved in the development of the modern telephone numbering scheme.

2013 Dakar Rally Photos

The Atlantic has a nice photo post on this year's Dakar Rally.  I have never understood why this event doesn't get more coverage.

Awesome Gadget-filled Antique Desk

Make has a post with a video demonstrating the amazing features of an antique desk.  There is no electricity in the desk, all of the mechanisms are powered by falling weights.

How Tall can a Lego Tower get?

The BBC has an article, though it was in many other places as well, about a study to determine the maximum possible height of a tower made of Lego bricks.  The short answer is 3.5 km but it is worth reading the article to see how they figured that out.

via The Brothers Brick

Where the Bombs Hit

Bombsight is a website that maps the locations of all of the German bombs that were dropped on London during the Blitz (7 October 1940 to 6 June 1941).  Apparently two bombs fell on the small street we used to live on in Fulham and four landed in the square opposite my first London apartment (as well as two on the block where the apartment was).

via Yahoo News

The Sun's Energy

According to this Google+ post, the sun produces enough energy in one second to power the world for 1 million years.

Follow up: A vaguely related article in the Economist has a graph showing the falling cost per Watt of solar panels.

Mayan Calendar Converter

Now that we know the Mayan calendar still works, the New York Times has a page that converts dates to and from the Mayan system.