The 2010 Gulf of Mexico gusher is a replay of the 1979 Gulf gusher. The deep-ocean oil rig that exploded back then had the same type of malfunction, was run by the same company that was operating the currently-gushing rig, and failed attempts were made to fix it in the same way that failed attempts were made to fix the current one. It gushed for nine months until a relief well could be drilled. more inside

Texas Rangers raid an El Paso library demanding their computer signup sheets (shortly after Sept. 11 2001).

Long-exposure pictures of fireflies in a forest in Germany. In Japan. In Taiwan. In Elkmont Smokey Mountain National Park. Over a river somewhere. Fireflies on video in New York. Synchronous fireflies in a tree. more inside

Who would win in a fight, Spain or France? So #2 has a new job which entails travelling to the EU and US (alternating) four times a year. This means a minimum of 30-35 hours of economy-class travel for him each way, every time. I made the comment that it would make more sense to move to the EU or east coast of the US. Since we've already lived in the US, we have hypothetically decided to move to Europe. Help us narrow down options! more inside

Conan the Barbarian: The Musical.

A new ocean is forming in northern Africa. Cool, huh? Although the rift started forming in 2005, scientists now say that the volcanic activity in the crack is similar to what is happening in the ocean's trenches. (This link has a couple of photos for scale.)

Maximum 2010 Iconography: OKGO meets Muppets (plus celebrity cameos). Maybe not hilarity but amusity ensues.

How to Play Monkey-Pirate-Robot-Ninja-Zombie.

If you were just a little smarter, you'd know how dumb you are! Errol Morris, the guy who directed The Thin Blue Line and The Fog Of War, has an interesting essay/interview up at the New York Times about the way our egos and our ignorance shape our perception and conception of the world. more inside

The Age of Nanobotic Goo could make all of our pollution and oil slick problems go away through *bioremediation*. Yet many other kinds of goo might be possible - even the Scifi horror imagined in Michael Crichton's Prey. In short, rather than ushering in the Promised Age of universal health and wealth, the planet may just end up being covered in grey goo. more inside

What Higgs boson may sound like

John Hodgman, Neil Gaiman and OK Go's Damian Kulash sing "So Happy Together"

What cats are really thinking ! You know they only love us as their servants. Also: Catnip pleeeeze! 'N thank you. more inside

"Projecting Our Ignorance Is The Past, Injecting Our Ignorance Is The Future" It appears that Kynetx's Blog Post Buzzword Auto-Generator may have some bugs in it. more inside

Beautiful Photos of Infrared Trees.

BP well deeper than permit allowed, lacked safety valve . What we're not being told by the government or BP: "It's a race now...a race to drill the relief wells and take our last chance at killing this monster before the whole weakened, wore out, blown out, leaking and failing system gives up it's [sic] last gasp in a horrific crescendo." Republicans are calling BP's failure a "natural disaster," suggesting nothing could have prevented it.** BP's pointing fingers and blaming the other guy Of course. more inside

The Blues Brothers is a Catholic movie. The Apocalypse is just a bit further down.

Behold the Tsintaosaurus, the dinosaur with a... um... a "unicorn-like crest" on its forhead. Yeah.

This is my life. Is it yours?

Happy Captain Picard Day! (via)