Guys, during the papal conclave in the Sistine Chapel, alternating puffs of black and white smoke emerge after the voting, "coming from a copper flue jutting from the chapel roof."… Read the rest of the article: Conclave smoke: a mystery recipe

These images compare rocks seen by NASA's Opportunity rover and Curiosity rover at two different parts of Mars. On the left is " Wopmay" rock, in Endurance Crater, Meridiani Planum,… Read the rest of the article: NASA: in Martian soil, Mars rover finds conditions once suited for ancient life

Carolyn Porco, who is the Cassini Imaging Team Leader and Director of CICLOPS in Boulder, CO, writes: Cassini's very last targeted flyby of Saturn's moon, Rhea, occurred this past weekend,… Read the rest of the article: Images from Cassini's final targeted flyby of Saturn's Moon Rhea

"A KEY CHANGE: The best weapon to make any song that much more epic."

The Freedom of the Press Foundation today published the leaked audio of Bradley Manning's statements to the court during his hearing last week.

Photo: Ngauruhoe Rise, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (2.0) image from astronomr (aka Jason Brown)'s photostream, shared in the Boing Boing Flickr Pool. Another beautiful shot, showing trails as the… Read the rest of the article: Starry night: skies over New Zealand

Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, "no smelly hippie," according to Wired News, believes the consequences of a warming planet are likely to "cripple the security environment, probably more likely than… Read the rest of the article: Biggest threat in the Pacific, according to top U.S. Admiral? Climate Change.

Adweek reports that YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley is working on some kind of collaborative video startup, possibly to rival YouTube, sort of. He left the company in 2010; since then,… Read the rest of the article: YouTube co-founder develops possible rival; thinks Denny's is nice place to have breakfast

A state judge has blocked New York City's ban on large soft drinks in restaurants, movie theaters and other establishments. Calling New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban "arbitrary and… Read the rest of the article: Bloombergian ban on large sodas in NYC blocked by judge with awesome name

David Carr invited some "media geeks" to tell jokes, for a video played during Carr's talk at SXSW yesterday. Xeni has a brief cameo.

A neat project by David Hirmes: The Aleph: Infinite Wonder / Infinite Pity. Sentences from Project Gutenberg and Twitter that start with two words: "I saw…" You can view only… Read the rest of the article: The Aleph: Twitter and Gutenberg mashup tribute to Jorge Luis Borges

Two new videos to raise money and awareness for the ongoing plight of victims of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Celebs unite with Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono, calling for governor Andrew Cuomo to ban fracking for gas in New York.

The environment ministry in China recently told attorney Dong Zhengwei he couldn't have access to two-year old data about soil pollution because it was a "state secret." The incident amplified… Read the rest of the article: Reuters: In China, public anger over gov't. secrecy on environment

The Boston Globe today broke the news that administrators at Harvard University secretly searched the e-mail accounts of 16 resident deans last fall, in an attempt to determine the source… Read the rest of the article: Investigating leaks, Harvard secretly searched deans' email accounts

In an article that reads an awful lot like an Onion parody, Politico reports that Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "is well known for pulling a flip phone out of his… Read the rest of the article: US lawmaker uses neat flip phone trick to avoid talking to "pesky reporters"

"I'm a 31-year-old, fifth-generation Mormon (member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) from Salt Lake City, Utah and I love video games." Skip Cameron, in a guest… Read the rest of the article: Mormon gamer praises Fallout for getting his culture right

Larry Ellison, billionaire and CEO of Oracle Corporation, bought 98% of the land on the Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi last year. In 2013, his 288-foot, four floor luxury superyacht "Musashi"… Read the rest of the article: Oracle CEO Ellison's luxury yacht docks near homeless camp in Hawaii

Yuri Gagarin on BBC TV, July 11 1961.

My new ambient-sound-while-working internet radio jam: Brazilian Birds. (Photo: Toucan eye, a Creative Commons image from doug88888's photostream)