- GQ compiled a list of the windbags who qualify as the 25 least influential people alive. Among the useless: Hosni Mubarak, Harrison Ford, Amy Chua, and Michele Bachmann’s husband Marcus. (Oh, and the guy pictured above.)
- The coolest artists’ retreats in the world: the Fogo Island Studios.
- Some schools say computers don’t belong in classrooms.
- Bisexuality isn’t a lie.
- Environmental journalism doesn’t always have to be tragic—or does it?
- Local-food smackdown: Anna Lappé takes on economist Steve Sexton, a.k.a. the Freakonomics guy, after he crunches the numbers and determines that Big Ag should feed the world.
- Some people step on ants and vacuum up spiders. Others build overwintering structures for insects.
- Would mauve roses convince you to accept biotechnology?
- Race to the bottom: India’s maiden Grand Prix, reports Caravan, arrives in the middle of a simmering controversy over land and development.
- There’s a certain sort of sardonic humor in the visual history of the airline safety card.
- Created by the founder of PayPal and a philosopher who wears purple pants to work, Palantir is the CIA’s secret weapon against global terrorism.
- Pointlessly gendered products. Who knew women sleep better with pink earplugs?
- Science nerds, rejoice! Scientific American is offering its complete archive of magazines from 1845 to 1909 online for a limited time. Included in the issues are lists of new inventions: the December 18, 1909 edition includes an antiseptic toothbrush holder and adjustable candelabra, with an artificial foot and baby gate on the list of patents pending.
- Are scribbled drawings by the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten as important as ancient hieroglyphics and cave paintings?
