Website: How far to Mars?

• I do not fear death a 2011 essay by Roger Ebert
• Secret Files Expose Offshore’s Global Impact
• Vlado Taneski a journalist who ended up reporting his own crimes
• In 2003: The 727 that Vanished
• The Plutonium ‘Gate To Hell’ Found In Ancient City Of Hierapolis
• How one man’s lies almost destroyed the comics industry
• Tantalizing New Clues Into the Mysteries of Dark Matter
• Tactile Helmet Uses Vibrations to Help Firefighters ‘See’ in the Dark
• Supercomputers help reveal dinosaur mechanics
• Best audio interview is best: Alec Baldwin sits down with Thom Yorke

• A gamer ‘leaked’ fake news on the new Xbox and it went mainstream within hours, wonderfully re-illustrating just how easy it is to be a ‘source’ in today’s ‘information age’. Nicely done, though seems to think this is lack of journalistic integrity is unique to video game reporters. If only.
• Kottke on inexpert experts: The challenges of conversational journalism
• So, this techwriter dies and goes to heaven…
• The best shots fired in the Oxford Comma wars
• The deadly history of Persia’s ancient assassins
• Yeesh… the strange, violent reach of Israel Keyes
• Interesting feature: Why you truly never leave high school
• Grantland: A battle for the best Chappelle’s Show sketch ever
• Prototype: a privacy visor that blocks facial recognition software
• Must remember this for the next time I have a pool and/or a party: projecting onto 65,000 floating ping pong balls

• The ‘end of history’ illusion and why we can’t imagine getting old
• “The finite is nested within the infinite” (or my favourite parable: somewhere in infinity, an alternate universe exists where you are the Batman)
• Of last year’s bestselling sci-fi list, only one was published that year
• Does a techno utopia require physical books?
• Reshaping the brain: scientists reprogram neurons after birth
• The mysterious disappearance of the Russian Crown Jewels
• The courtroom sketches of Bill Robles
• Inside the prison journal of West Memphis Three’s Damien Echols
• Papers reveal extent of the British royals’ veto over bills
• The Guardian’s stats on the size of their commenting community
• The science of why comment trolls suck
• An interesting design proposal: I want the world to scroll this way
• Good god, someone’s patent application disturbingly mirrors the artificial second stomach sketch from Tim and Eric
• Parkinson’s treatment can trigger creativity
• Password security in Deus Ex
• What Games Are: the fun boson does not exist
• To look into: a best comedy books of 2012 list

Lastly, a super-cut of famous people playing themselves

• A Pickpocket’s Tale: The spectacular thefts of Apollo Robbins.
• Don’t read the comments! How online communities shape risk perception
• From Mubi: The Best Movie Posters of 2012
• Tree seeds offer potential for sustainable biofuels
• Japan cyber probe cops find cat collar clue
• Nice. PaperTab prototype wows at CES
• SSD predictions at CES: fewer OEMs, lower prices
• Adobe almost does something amazing by accident
• An account of living on 1.5kW
• Scientists look to fireflies to make a more efficient LED
• I’m heavily considering backing this thin-watch kickstarter
• An account of when 1080p does matter (vs. screen size vs. viewing distance)
• Another op-ed on The Hobbit’s 48HFR
• Also, this invisible driver prank video is pretty great

40,000 LEDs and a perfect tree

• 10 favourite tweets the Modern Seinfeld account (Comedy gold Jerry! Gold!)
• Six scientists tell us about the most accurate science fiction in their fields
• The hum that helps to fight crime
• Finally! A project to curb down ocean noise pollution.
• Shake It, Baby: GOG.com giving Duke 3D away for free
• Oh wow, only now is it the end of 386 processors
• Why are dead people ‘liking’ stuff On Facebook?
• Raymond Briggs: The Snowman is not really about Christmas, it’s about death 
• Paul McCartney to replace Kurt Cobain in Nirvana reunion
• Website: every animated wikipedia gif
• Video: A student who has fallen asleep in a physics lecture

• Scientists create brain implant that improves thinking in monkeys
• Gaining consciousness: Could the Internet Ever “Wake Up”?
• What the brain draws from: Art and neuroscience
• MDMA through an MRI, for science!
• Wiki-editor’s guide: No one cares about your garage band
• Magic Mushrooms: Violins constructed from infected wood sound like those of Stradivari (awesome!)
• A 2,000 year old Magnolia seed was found, planted and it grew
• Potentially usable: The most well persevered Wolly Mammoth cells yet found
• 7 Things Science Says Make You Happy (Basically, I just need to keep up doing more of this)
• Who What Why: What is blood rain?
• The Astronomical Unit is now a fixed number: 149,597,870,700 meters
• Murder-Suicide in the Keys Unravels a Doctor’s Decades-Long Mystery
• Hollywood Accounting: How A $19 Million Movie Makes $150 Million… And Still Isn’t Profitable
• The patent, used as a sword
• A real-time map of Global Cyberattacks
• Interactive cool: comparing map projections
• 99 Life Hacks to make your life easier!

• Roger Ebert on the Aurora Shooting
• How a 70 year old and a 7 year old bonded over the loss of their legs
• The story of Jay-Z’s most obsessive fan and his ‘correspondence’
• Pennie Smith’s historic Clash photo: The greatest rock ‘n’ roll image of all time?
• Author Denise Mina predicts fiction revolution
• John McCain to Appear on Parks and Recreation
• Lowest crime rate in decades. Is Britain behaving better?
• Why Pot Is Illegal Everywhere in the World
• Traffic signs in New Zealand destroyed by prostitutes performing stunts
• 18 Chinese Police Officers Dispatched to Rescue Sex Doll From River
• Stephen Gough, ‘Naked Rambler,’ Allowed To Walk Home Nude From Scottish Prison
• Tosher Work: Quite Likely the Worst Job Ever
• Tumblr: Onion-like headlines in real life
• Meowbify a website
• How a 70 year old and a 7 year old bonded over the loss of their legs

Also, will have to try this sometime…