I departed TEDWomen feeling very inspired, happy, and exhausted. The event was amazing, though I do think they could have done a better job of bringing more smart women who… Read the rest of the article: TEDWomen Day 2 highlights: personal robots, breast cancer detection, and parenting taboos

There were three really amazing talks in the second session of TEDWomen this evening. (Highlights from session 1 are here.) Here's a quick summary: Courtney E. Martin, the 30-year old… Read the rest of the article: Highlights from TEDWomen Session 2: Feministing.com, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, and A Call To Men

I'm at TEDWomen, which takes today and tomorrow at the International Trade Center in Washington, DC. The organizers have turned this venue into a wonderful little sanctuary with massage stations,… Read the rest of the article: Highlights from TEDWomen Session 1: finance in Iceland, Hans Rosling on washing machines, and how women + humor = change

I'm a volunteer at Maitri, the only remaining AIDS hospice in San Francisco. Once a week, I hang out with its 15 residents, run errands for them, and — sometimes — sit at their bedsides as they go through the process of dying. I do it because I like to face my fears, and death is the one thing that I fear the most.

Over the weekend, the staff of Longshot Magazine (previously known as 48 Hour Magazine) hid $750 somewhere in San Francisco. Now they've revealed four clues on their web site —… Read the rest of the article: Longshot Magazine's treasure map: follow it and win $750

I want to entertain an offhand theory that I've had ever since I became obsessed with indoor rock climbing two and a half years ago: It's great for geeks, and we should all be doing it.

Artist Michele Banks uses watercolor to depict natural, scientific, and medical phenomena. This one above shows cell divisions (note that it's not meant to be completely accurate); another one I… Read the rest of the article: Watercolor painting depicting cell division

Check out this great Japanese TV commercial for Delicare M's, a jock itch cream. Tokyo gets really hot in the summer, and men still have to wear suits to work,… Read the rest of the article: Japanese TV commercial for jock itch cream

What's the plural of octopus? Octopuses? Octopi? Octopodes? According to this video by Merriam Webster editor Kory Stamper, all three are technically correct. Video link. (via Jen Phillips' Twitter)

On August 18th, an expedition team will be heading out to the Titanic site to create a 3D map of the wreckage 2.5 miles beneath the sea. 1,522 people died… Read the rest of the article: August Titanic expedition will create 3D map of the wreckage

This seems like the perfect shirt for those of you who are theater geeks and zombie geeks. Art by Kyle Strahm. Product page (Thanks, SamCostello! via Submitterator)

Boing Boing developer Dean Putney found these great advertisements for Pilot's Extra-Fine ballpoint pens. They're so thin you can draw these intricate tattoos on Lego people! [via Flavorwire]

A garage sale enthusiast from Fresno, California scored big time when he bought two small boxes of glass plate negatives for $45 a decade ago. He has just confirmed that… Read the rest of the article: Man finds Ansel Adams negatives, worth $200 million, at garage sale

This is one of those design-y objects that is conceptually and visually neat but might be hard to justify in daily life. It shows world time via an arm that… Read the rest of the article: Clock shows world time as a spiraling line graph

The latest creation from Joe Sabia is this video of people smoking cigarettes in Mad Men. They write: This video will have one of two results. This repetitious, perfunctory and… Read the rest of the article: Remix of scenes in Mad Men of people smoking cigarettes

If Mel Gibson was a talking plush toy… (Thanks, hyAnis! Via)

Above, a letter written by Arthur C. Clarke in 1956 predicting, quite accurately, aspects of the future of communications. Link [via Letters of Note via dvice]

A 5-year old girl was accidentally kidnapped this morning when someone carjacked her dad's Cadillac while he was paying for gas at a Richmond, CA gas station. The girl —… Read the rest of the article: 5-year old girl accidentally kidnapped in carjacking

A study published in the July issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology found that romantic break-ups activate parts of the brain that are associated with addiction cravings: "This brain imaging… Read the rest of the article: The neuroscience of break-ups: it's like craving cocaine!

Estee Longah, a fabulous vintage queen and founder of a semi-pro all-Asian drag troupe called the Rice Rockettes, puts on lavish, highly sexualized performances… They're empowering a population of gay men to experiment with a mode of self-expression that is often taboo and sometimes even non-existent in their own cultures.