Pessimism is intellectual laziness.

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious” – Albert Einstein

“My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a ‘lone traveler’…” – Albert Einstein

Bike-Eye rearview mirror – a clever way to tuck a mirror on a bike

Google finally solves the age-old question of the ideal crank length: 87 minutes

“In his first week in office, President Obama requested that he see 10 letters a day ‘representative of people’s concerns, from people writing into the president,’ recalls Gibbs, ‘to help get him outside of the bubble, to get more than just the information you get as an elected official.” – ABC News. Very cool way of tapping into real people’s needs.

Coolest commute ever – kids in Colombia riding a zip line over a 1200-foot valley to get to school.

“If called, I will certainly serve,” he said. “But if not called, I will probably serve anyway.” – Carl Malamud, who works to make government documents easily available. Love the attitude.

For all those times you’ve said “I wish I could invest in that person”: Swayam: Education Funding, people investing in people – “We offer ordinary people the opportunity to become angel investors in the education of talented students, in exchange for a share of their future income.”

Informing Ourselves To Death – a good counterpoint to the “inforevolution”: “I believe you will have to concede that what ails us, what causes us the most misery and pain — at both cultural and personal levels — has nothing to do with the sort of information made accessible by computers. The computer and its information cannot answer any of the fundamental questions we need to address to make our lives more meaningful and humane.”