Nag on the Lake

Now I want to trade in my Rav4 for a pair of these. 

(Via Memo Of The Air)

An exploration of Saul Leiter’s revolutionary approach to making images.

This Columbia one-reeler offers a rare look at Hollywood's make-up artists. There are no perfect faces but using the Beauty Calibrator (above) can help create the illusion of perfection.

An animated 3D Timelapse by Michel Huard.

Nobody knows where they came from. (image above)

Prisoners of Fortune A story about the filthy rich and the freedoms they are willing to forfeit to avoid paying taxes.

The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls - by Adam Bonica analyzes how the US compares to 30 other wealthy democracies. He sees an America that is not some utopian dream but as a set of solutions waiting to be implemented. He begins with his earliest political memory of watching the Berlin Wall fall when he was six years old and he wanted a hammer. It’s a good read. Via Kottke

The Goblin XF-85: the world's tiniest (and cutest) fighter jet.

What are the machine elves? You pass through a membrane of some sort, and you’re in a place. You’re pushed through, and you see the tykes, as I call them. The self-transforming machine elves that are singing in a hyperdimensional language. They surround you and say, “Welcome, we’re so glad to see you.” Via Memo Of The Air

 The lion in me. Roarrrr!

The "New Brunswick Neurological Syndrome of Unknown Cause": Five hundred people in a small Canadian province were diagnosed with a mystery brain disease. What would it mean for the patients if the disease was never real? Read more BBC 
War Atlas: Mapping 3,500 years of conflict.

Freud’s Begonia An interesting story about the roots that tie us together. 

Do you think that the updated, meat-heavy US food pyramid goes against everything you know about healthy eating? That’s because input came from a newly formed review board, two thirds of whom have ties to the beef, dairy, and pork industries. NYT gift articles.

Paying a visit to Europe's last dictatorship A long read about taking a bus to Minsk and back. (Better than it sounds.) Via Web Curios

50% of World GDP vs 50% of World Population -A map

TYWKIWDBI explains the brutal origins of a phrase used by Homeland Security.

This poor little possum was trapped on the median of the Cross Island Parkway in New York City and looks absolutely terrified. Fortunately an animal rescue worker was able to help. 

Canada’s oldest hiking trail covers 560 miles of urban and rugged views I live at the base of the Niagara Escarpment and every day, when the weather is good, I hike a small bit of the Bruce Trail.

Pullman - "Kabul"

Imagine taking a seat at the piano before a full house of 2,000 music lovers ready to hear Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor but you thought you were supposed to play the Piano Concerto No.23 in A major.