This is one of Malcolm Gladwell’s best speeches ever.

“Intellectual property” is one of those ideologically loaded terms that can cause an argument just by being uttered. The term wasn’t in widespread use until the 1960s, when it was adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization, a trade body that later attained exalted status as a UN agency.

People are keeping their cars and trucks longer as quality improves and the uncertain economy makes new purchases less appealing, according to a study released this week by automotive consulting firm R.L. Polk & Co.

A Canadian scientist has found that extra estrogen, which can get into rivers and lakes through the toilet-flushed urine of birth control takers, kills fish. Karen Kidd, an eco-toxicologist at the University of New Brunswick, “poisoned” a small lake in northwest Ontario with estrogen, and she found that the smallest fish in that lake, “fathead [...]

Google is reportedly looking into investing in or buying a company called Space Data, which provides wireless voice and data services to remote areas with a fleet of weather balloons fitted with transceivers.

When given the option, 61% of Canadians would actually prefer to look at a newspaper advertisement rather than a TV commercial, according to an online survey conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of the Canadian Newspaper Association.
Overall, 66% of respondents indicated that they enjoyed the ads and product inserts found in newspapers. There was some [...]

Just imagine the look on peoples faces when you take one of these special cigarettes from your pocket, drop it into a cup full of water and after a while start enjoying your hot cup of tea. Of course there’s tea, not tobacco inside of these cigarettes and the filter works like a float.
via Funniest [...]

A nice piece of music created from the sounds that come with Windows XP and 98.
via Spluch

Bravit Candles, designed by German-born and Eindhoven-trained Christophe van Bömmel, are made of sheets of paraffin. They have trails of wicks that cause the original flame to ignite other flames and to die out over time.
via Dedeceplus

The Sagan Appreciation Society is petitioning for the US Postal Service to issue a postage stamp honoring astronomer and science writer Carl Sagan. An article last week in the Ithaca Journal says the petition should be available online at the Society’s site, but it isn’t currently there. This is one of the proposed stamps, illustrated [...]

Looking like Casper the Friendly Ghost’s distant undersea cousin, he is one of a dozen baby thornback – or roker – ray fish born as part of a captive breeding programme, hatching from eggs known as ‘mermaid’s purses’ at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Southsea, Hampshire. He’s only 12cm (5in) tall.