Weird, that two of history's most amazing people have birthdays on the same day, and today is that day.  Congratulations on another trip around the sun, Mr. Darwin, and Mr. Lincoln...

Scott Johnson remembers Mr. Lincoln.
And Boing Boing remembers Chuck D, natural selecta :)

Taking nothing at all away from Mr. Lincoln, who had an impressive series of failures before an even more impressive legacy of success, I think Mr. Darwin had one of the most important insights ever.  He saw that over time natures behaves like a rachet, in which good ideas accumulate and in so doing yield even better ones.

And so ... how being awesome became the great imperative of our time.  I have resolved to cut down on "awesome" as my go-to adjective for greatness. 

But ... literally awesome: spot the International Space Station.  If you do, you will be awestruck :) 

Hmmm...  Time Inc acquires MySpace.  That feels like a headline from fifteen years ago, doesn't it?  Who know that Time Inc. and MySpace still existed... 

I was in a meeting the other day with some twenty-something colleagues, and PayPal came up, and someone said "PayPal, that's so old school."  Heh.  (covers eyes and shakes head sadly.)

Good question: Who will own the virtual reality interface?  Of course sensing and reacting to head motion is all very exciting, but what about hand motion?  (Remember Minority Report!) 

Meanwhile... Microsoft's latest iPhone app will tell you what kind of dog you are.  A pretty low use of visual search, but still, cool and possibly even useful. 

Sadly: scientists have given up on the Philae lander.  As time passes the dust accumulation will make it increasingly less likely the robot will have enough power to wake up. 

Okay, I agree: this little Russian truck is amazing.  The secret is the giant tires, which give it floatation, the ability to go anywhere, and ... cuteness :)