stray bullets

Arctic has 90bn barrels of crude The Arctic holds as much as 90bn barrels of undiscovered oil and has as much undiscovered gas as all the reserves known to exist in Russia, US government scientists have said in the first governmental assessment of the region’s resources.

The Top Ten Myths in FBI History Well, according to the FBI, anyway. (via)

In Africa, No Coke Can Mean No Stability (audio) Coke is a big business all around the world. But in Africa, the soda is so pervasive that it acts like a key indicator of political stability. In other words, if you can't get a Coke somewhere, you might want to get out of the country — fast. Alex Cohen talks with Jonathan Ledgard from The Economist about this unusual political indicator.

CalTech: Intelligent space robots will explore universe by 2020 Before the year 2020, scientists are expected to launch intelligent space robots that will venture out to explore the universe for us.

Counterfeit Chic A periodic collection of news about counterfeits, fakes, knockoffs, replicas, imitations, and the culture of copying in general around the globe. (via)

also:
Reclaim Your Time: 20 Great Ways to Find More Free Time (via)
It takes us two days, nine hours and 25 minutes to fully relax on holiday
The &%£§$‡@?!!-ing grawlix (via)
Fantasy Cartography is a blog that posts maps from science fiction and fantasy books. (via)
Mike Patton interview
Anecdotage Anecdotes from Gates to Yeats. We'll start you off with a good one about Steve Martin (via)
Japanese sitting etiquette at a Japanese home

viddy:
Tiny Blue Dot Mind-blowing cosmic perspectives. You think our sun is big?
The Shining (With Robots)
If I want a female to go away, I play this track. It works every time.

Word Spy: DWT abbr. Driving while texting; driving a car while reading or sending text messages. —DWTer n.