Slate has just released its annual Slate 60 list, its annual list of those who gave the most money to philanthropic causes in the last year. The winner, surprisingly, isn't Bill Gates. Rather it's the the Druckenmillers, who have given $705 million to their foundation which funds medical research. Second is John Templeton (who is, in fact,... Read & Discuss 
To follow-up on yesterday's post of the first part of Jon Stewart on The Factor, here is the second part of the interview. It opens with a truly baffling section with O'Reilly speaking words that are then summarized in text to his left. I know they make fun of this on Colbert, but to see it in action is pretty amazing. You are saying the... Read & Discuss 
As you probably know, when you go to the grocery store, most of your non-luxury items are tax free. Your bread, and milk, and meat all comes without a tax. This is for the obvious reason that people absolutely need to buy food and it shouldn't be more expensive for them just so the government can make extra money. But that all may change in... Read & Discuss 
Neill Blomkamp, the director of the rather spectacular and Oscar-nominated District 9, spoke at the Vancouver TedX about what aliens will really look like. They wont look like District 9's prawns, because Blomkamp wasn't actually trying to create legitimate aliens, but rather an allegory for racism and identity. Real aliens will be much... Read & Discuss 
Yesterday, a statue of a man with very skinny legs became the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction in the world. Giacometti's walking man sold for $104.3 million (fees included), which beat a Picasso that sold in 2005 for $104.1 million.
Even more crazy: For someone to be able to pay $104 million at auction, someone else had to... Read & Discuss 
It's summed up pretty succinctly with the video after the jump (careful, there is some swearing). Maybe if Katie Couric, et al, deviated from the formula a little, we'd start watching again. Another idea, make it start not at a time when most people are still at work.
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Anil Dash, tech blogger extraordinaire, put up a rather exceptional post on his blog this morning, lamenting the fact that a large segment of the geek (and non-geek world) will be riveted by Apple's product announcement today, when the company is expected to unveil some sort of new tablet that will change the world.
But, Dash argues, all the... Read & Discuss This is totally amazing. But a key disadvantage that the creator doesn't mention: What happens when the population grows more in one state than another? Do we have to redraw the boundaries every four years to compensate? A great little animation would be to see how these states would have changed in the last 50 or 100 years.
China's recent internet attacks on American email accounts aren't the first time we've been the victim of Sino-cyber-espionage, and, in fact, might be some of the less important hacking the Chinese have done in recent years. Foreign Policy has an excellent list of the 10 biggest Chinese attacks, and some of them are pretty... Read & Discuss 
After China and Google's recent squabble, Hillary Clinton gave a rather nice speech saying that internet censorship is a human rights problem, and named some countries that do it, including China. China, apparently, doesn't think that internet censorship is much of a problem, as the Chinese Foreign Ministry has accused the... Read & Discuss 
The Burj Dubai is fascinating both because of its immense size and because it is being finished just as the cracks are beggining to show in the vision of Dubai that it presented to the world? The Burj Dubai towers over the desert, as a monument to outsize dreams. Over at Planetizen, a photographer has documented the trip to and... Read & Discuss 
The latest late-night-TV saga appears to be over: Jay Leno will return to his old time slot, and Conan O'Brien will leave the network. But not before he collects a severance package that has been reported as anywhere from $32 to $45 million. That's right, 45 million dollars.
O'Brien was already making between $10 and $20 million a year. He... Read & Discuss 
Last night, GOOD 100 winner Emily Pilloton was on The Colbert Report to talk about her new book, Design Revolution. She brought along some products (including a Hippo Roller), which Colbert amusingly tries out. Watch the video below. Congratulations, Emily.
The Colbert Report
Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Emily... Read & Discuss 
Remember, no matter who you vote for, make sure you vote in today's special election to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. Special elections, even those as important and talked-about as this, often have embarrassingly low turnouts. Try to buck the trend. Remember, every vote matters, says Mike Feeley. Here's the Globe's roundup of the race the... Read & Discuss 
Pat Robertson's recent exclamation about Haiti is too offensive to even repeat here. Suffice it to say, it was moronic. Thankfully, lest anyone think that this was a one time slip-up, Time has compiled an excellent little archive of the hilarious things that slip out of Pat Robertson's mouth sometimes. The full list can be found at the Time... Read & Discuss 
We've brought you the interstate highways as a subway map, and now here is the galaxy. In case you were confused how to get from here to, say Cygnus, this will help you out. Just take the red line to the blue line and hop on the express. For all the jokes, we know those stars are out there, but have no idea how they relate to each other... Read & Discuss 
We've told you about web- and text-based ways to give money to Haiti (over $2 million has been raised by mobile users so far), and now the folks at TakePart—who are doing an excellent job covering the disaster—have put together a great comprehensive list of ways to donate (Thanks, Adriana!). So has Global Giving.
From what I've been hearing... Read & Discuss 
City-Go-Round is a website by the same people behind WalkScore, which aggregates various internet and mobile applications that make using public transportation (as well as walking and biking easier). This is great because people need all the encouragement they can get to not drive, and an iPhone app that tells you when the next... Read & Discuss They're advertising it directly on their website, so they must think it's worth it even if it isn't non-negligible.
God forbid anyone offend Edward Tufte. GOD FORBID!