Just another manic Monday ... up with the sun, gone with the wind ... get up, stand up ... working for the weekend ... the song remains the same.

This is cool ... the Mercator Puzzle reminds you how deceptive maps can be.  Reminds me of that time I discovered there are ten time zones in Canada... 

Speaking of maps, I thought this one was pretty interesting; a map of party affiliations in Congress as of the last election.  Of course those blue patches include the largest cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago... 

This was simply a news item at Thanksgiving, but I think it is going to be most important:  Google unveils app streaming.  With this technology it is not necessary to preinstall an app on your phone, instead, when you visit a website the app is automagically downloaded and executed.  Absolutely seems like the way to go, right? 

To be read: Ian McDonald's Luna.  "Luna has no government: it has contracts. You get to the moon by entering into a contract with the Lunar Development Corporation - the nice folks who'll be selling you your air, bandwidth, carbon and water for the rest of your life - and everything you do afterwards is also contractual: marriage, employment, and, of course, criminal redress."  Sounds about right... 

Les Johnson: Mars.  "Since I work for NASA and have looked extensively at the technologies required to send people to Mars, I am often asked how close we are to being able to take such a journey.  Basing my opinion solely on information that is publicly available, the answer is… not straightforward.  Let me break it into the three areas that Project Managers and Decision Makers use when they assess the viability of a project in an attempt to explain my answer."  Yeah, but ... never tell me the odds :) 

This incredible twisted building slash bridge is actually an art museum which spans a river in Norway.  Wow!  Just when you think you've seen it all... 

Lytro introduces the "Immerge" 360^o camera for cinematic virtual reality.  This stuff is getting real, fast.  And maybe - just maybe - this will be the application which drives adoption of Lytro's innovative camera technology, which can "focus" after an image is captured. 

So cool: This glass-bottomed sky pool will be suspended 115' in the air.  The glass will be 8" thick.  Imagine the weight of all that water... wow.  Doesn't seem possible, does it? 

Introducing the IBM Swift sandbox.  All you need now to start writing Swift is a web browser.  That's super cool, but I wonder if it will really foster adoption.  So far the Swift train has not really started rolling, despite Apple's enthusiastic backing. 

Global warming notwithstanding, you may find this useful: how to drive in the snow, in a regular-ass car, without freaking out.  "You are not actually required to lose your goddamn mind just because snow is falling. It is not the apocalypse. Neither physics nor society have been cancelled by it."  Hehe. 

This is pretty cool: Circular bridge in Uruguay lets drivers slow down and enjoy the view.  Seems like bridge designers often take the opposite tack, and deliberately block the view so drivers are not distracted.