Half two!  Time to start playing :)

I've enjoyed the World Cup so far (go Oranje!) but have a fundamental observation about soccer: the game doesn't become interesting until after one team scores.  Maybe they should flip a coin to see which team starts out ahead 1-0, in the interest of making things interesting.

I am *not* tired of pictures from Yosemite Valley yet.  Stay tuned for [possibly a lot] more...

A weird map showing the world's countries drawn according to their population size.  This is excellent.  One of the key takeaways for me from my recent trip to Kazakhstan was how much bigger the world is than just the US.  We all know this intellectually, but a map like this really brings it home.  Just look at all those people in Asia. 

So, is there such a thing as "coder's high"?  Of course there is.  Pass the C++ please. 

Seth Godin: Don't blow it (the secret of b2b).  "If you sell to businesses, you're either calling on unsuccessful companies, who are panicking and afraid and don't have a lot of resources to spend on new things...  Or you're selling to successful businesses. And in those organizations, most people walk around with a three-word mantra imprinted on their arm: Don't blow it." 

This is awesome: Rube Goldberg meets MTV, in M.C.Escher's warehouse.  The writing is on the wall ... or is it? 

Did you know, I love church organs?  I do.  Not only their awesome music, but their amazing physics and ancient engineering.  So now Wurlitzer wizards bring the music back to Amsterdam's art deco marvel.  How cool is that? 

Do I think this is cool?  Yes.  Software spots genetic disorders from regular photos.  Do I think this is real?  No. 

Welcome to the 21st century:  Intel offering 3D-printed robot kits.  I can only imagine where this will go ... how soon before they start printing themselves? 

On the Fermi Paradox (aka, "where is everybody?").  "Depending on where The Great Filter occurs, we're left with three possible realities: We're rare, we're first, or we're fucked." 

Excellent: SecondLife's second act will be a social network for virtual reality.  

Microsoft are preparing to release 'Threshold', a new desktop-focused version of Win 8.  Whew.  Kind of like the way Win 7 was a correction to Vista, this will be a correction to Win 8.  But it might be too late to matter much... 

From Popular Mechanics: 25 Makers who are reinventing the American Dream.  Unlike a lot of such lists, I actually knew of most of these people, and yes they have made an incredible difference.  Where would we be without them? 

There is no App.  M.G.Seigler considers WUT, in which the notification is the message.  Not groundbreaking but interesting, and potentially useful. 

Dan Frommer, on the new Android Wear watches from LG, Samsung, and Motorola: These are not the wearables we've been waiting for.  Bad grammar but good points. 

And meanwhile, on the surface of the sun ... wow!