Behold the Alot, a large, shaggy beast found principally in internets. [Hyperbole and a Half via Ectomo]

The New Yorker's Ken Auletta has a feature about the current power struggle between Apple, Amazon, and Google for the ebook market. "By the end of last year, Amazon accounted… Read the rest of the article: Amazon's plans to kill book publishers thwarted by Apple

Several years ago, I posted about a funny series of finance videos Daniel Rubin created for Motley Fool. Lately, Daniel has been drawing celebrity caricatures that remind me a bit… Read the rest of the article: Daniel Rubin's celebrity caricatures

Vann Hall writes: In Mark Helprin's "Winter's Tale," a war breaks out between two NYC newspapers. One, the Sun, is a serious, NY Times-ish publication, while the other (the Ghost)… Read the rest of the article: Cocaine smuggler's bestiality farm

Ben Greenman of The New Yorker says Sly Stone's exceedingly bizarre Coachella performance was an act of "obliterating rebellion."

Many U.S. voters were outraged in the 2000 presidential election when Bush Jr. won despite losing the popular vote. But Britain's electoral map is even weirder. After a spectacular TV… Read the rest of the article: Lib Dems soar in UK polls after debate

Photo: Troy Holden Harvard Secular Society conferred lifetime achievement awards on MythBusters' Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman this weekend. Adam's splendid acceptance speech follows. Food for The Eagle – Adam… Read the rest of the article: Adam Savage's speech to the Harvard humanists

Engadget gets shots of the new iPhone. But is it real? Gizmodo confirms the curious new design: it has the actual thing in hand. Glass on both sides? Gruber finds… Read the rest of the article: iPhone 4G details emerge

It Often Begins with a Smile, 1930s. By Jin Meisheng (19021989). Chromolithograph on paper. Collection of the Shanghai History Museum. The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco has a great… Read the rest of the article: The Asian Art Museum does Shanghai: opium hulks, Communist propaganda, and neon brush strokes

GoogleSharing is a pretty ingenious new plugin and service for mixing up your search and browsing history with other net users and transmitting it to Google, so that you are… Read the rest of the article: GoogleSharing: blending your net-activity with others to trick Google

TOR (The Onion Router, a technology for bouncing your traffic all over the net so that your ISP can't spy on you) is now available for Android phones. Just take… Read the rest of the article: TOR for Android: anonymize your phone's data-connection

According to an old ledger book, George Washington (the George Washington) checked two books (one on international law, one a transcript of debates in the British House of Commons) from… Read the rest of the article: George Washington owes $100K in library fines

I found this Mars bar cake at a cake shop in Oxford. I wonder if it just looks like a Mars bar, or tastes like one too.

If you're online between 1pm and 3pm today, tune in to the Coachella Oasis webcast I'm hosting with the LA Times and we will be joined by special guest Die… Read the rest of the article: Die Antwoord live, 1-3pm on Coachella Oasis webcast

Above: Live stream of LA Times Brand X Coachella webcast at Coachella Oasis. Hello from the Coachella Oasis (at Merv Griffin's estate), where I'm hosting a weekend-long webcast with the… Read the rest of the article: Coachella: LA Times Brand X webcast rolls today, Xeni hosting

In 1978, a team of scientists succeeded in proving that "vaginal malodor" among women using the contraceptive sponge is caused by sperm—specifically, the components sperm breaks down into after having… Read the rest of the article: Sometimes, "lady funk" is caused by sperm

It may have succeeded at stranding Cory in the U.S., stranding Lisa in London and producing some beautiful sunsets (not to mention forcing John Cleese to pay for the world's… Read the rest of the article: So far, Icelandic volcano isn't likely to cause a cooler summer

Treehugger's Chris Tackett brings this sad story of corporate waste and legal sillyness to our attention. Two employees of the Columbia, Missouri Solid Waste Division and beer rescuing heroes, Beer… Read the rest of the article: Treehugger wants you to "Save the Beers!"

I'm not clear on whether this Cracked.com image is a photoshop job or an actual fountain somewhere in the world (the former USSR?) or just a clever idea for repurposing… Read the rest of the article: Soviet statues as comedy fountains

This incredible video from 2008 shows Saudi activist Wajeha Al Huwaider driving a car in Saudi Arabia on International Women's Day. Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive;… Read the rest of the article: Wajeha Al Huwaider, a woman, driving in Saudi Arabia