Transom » Radiolab: An Appreciation by Ira Glass »

A fantastic article by Ira Glass discussing all the things that make Radiolab so great.

How many photos have ever been taken? | 1000memories »

According to these boffins, Facebook hosts around 4% of all the photos that have ever been taken. And roughly 20% of all the photos taken this year will be uploaded to Facebook.

Kids – not even kids, teenagers – are growing up in a world where cameras are ubiquitous, they’re just part of the device you carry around with you. And photography isn’t some arcane, expensive hobby. It’s been democratized.

I can’t wait to see what this means for the next generation of photojournalists.

AV Club: Louis C.K. walks us through Louie’s second season (Part 1 of 4) »

I know people are probably sick of me linking to

1. The AV Club, and
2. Louis CK stories

but honestly, this second season of Louie was one of the best seasons of TV I’ve ever seen. (And “Duckling” was one of the best episodes of any TV show I’ve ever seen). Reading this background on the production of the first couple of episodes is fascinating.

Also, much as I hate to say “X is the new Y”, anyone else get the feeling that Louis CK is taking the reins left over from when Woody Allen packed up for Europe? No-one else is making New York seem so gorgeous.

Boom »

Boom is a command-line key-value store written by Zach Holman. If you don’t know what this is, you probably don’t need it. Still, I really love the installation instructions:

Hey, run this:

$ gem install boom

See? Now you can do this:

$ boom

Pretty easy. Like your mom.

I wish more software developers were brave enough to make ‘your mom’ jokes in their installation instructions.

Whyday is Friday »

Even if you do nothing else to celebrate _why’s anniversary, just read some of the stuff he wrote. I swear, the guy is what I imagine would have happened if David Foster Wallace had gotten really, really hooked on programming Ruby.

Zooborns »

Daily dose of cuteness - keeping track of all the new arrivals at zoos around the world.

Gibsonton, Florida »

Gibsonton is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,752 at the 2000 census.

Gibsonton was famous as a sideshow wintering town, where various carnival “freaks” would spend the off season. It was home to Percilla the Monkey girl, the Anatomical Wonder, and the Lobster Boy. Siamese twin sisters ran a fruit stand here. At one time, it was the only post office with a counter for dwarves. Aside from the agreeable winter climate, Gibsonton offered unique circus zoning laws that allowed residents to keep elephants and circus trailers on their front lawns.

Japanese scientist invents burger made from human shit »

Related: NASA invents a bag to turn piss into a sports drink

This is not the future I signed up for.

YTTM »

Using Youtube as a video time machine - pick a year, back to 1860, and check out all the cultural artifacts.

Also: holy shit, The Dig came out in 1995?! Man, that makes me feel old.

The Hobo Lobo of Hamelin »

Hobo Lobo of Hamelin is a thing by a dude, who’s all like, “I’M GONNA MAKE A THING.” And then he did. Or is doing. Or, you know, whatever. This dude can be found on the internet. He websites to put food on his family.

This is the future of internet storytelling.