This fascinating piece, from This American Life (animated by Chris Ware), tells the story of an elementary school where a couple of kids made a TV camera out of cardboard and tempera paint. Soon,...  more

If you're reading this post, chances are that you're pretty familiar with the concept of net neutrality and understand what's at stake in the debate surrounding the FCC's...  more

Darren sez, "A disarming video of an 86-year-old WWII veteran from a public meeting on Maine's marriage equality bill on April 22, 2009." The woman at my polling place asked me...  more

Where is Microsoft based? Redmond in Washington State, you might say. Except that when it comes to licensing its software, apparently that all happens from an office in Reno, Nevada. At least,...  more

'E-Mom' Gloria Bianco shows Jim and Tracy how geographical distance is no longer a roadblock to shamelessly interfering with the lives of your children.

It was pretty much the perfect story: The Senate introduced a bill that would let the President take over the entire internet during a crisis. Our online Weimar Republic is crumbling beneath the...  more

Here's a link to another interesting entry over at Strange Maps--this one, a map of US states, renamed for countries with similar GDPs. California? It's France now. Texas? It's...

The Mayo Clinic, the world famous institution cited by all sides in the contentious health care debate, defines schizophrenia as a serious brain disorder "in which reality is interpreted...  more

When Patrick Blanc was a boy, he suspended plants from his bedroom wall and ran their roots into a fish tank. The greenery received nourishment from the diluted—ahem—fertilizer and...  more