How we almost blew up Jupiter

There's another deal in Ukraine; we'll see how that goes. Reddit has a before-and-after picture of Kiev's Independence Square. A detail:

The BBC has more before-and-after shots here.

WINTER On a lighter note, here's a shot of my backyard yesterday morning, and today.

The chair is like the Sphinx, which was buried up to its head for hundreds of years.

TECH Only 12 iPod chargers left! After that you'll have to look elsewhere for things that pop, sizzle, and burst into flames. A sample review:

More quotes: "Our youngest son plugged one in on the day they arrived. The plug exploded in the socket and blew all our electricity." And: "Had the product for just over a year and it exploded, with black soot all round the socket." And: "t is totally unsafe. It blew up in my face the first time I tried to use it.it threw the charging cable across the floor." You can understand if the thing was made by CDCK, or Cheap Dangerous Chinese Knockoff Ltd., but the Amazon page says it's from Apple. Which it isn't.

There's also the mater of melty power supplies, Daily Dot takes a look at the situation, and asks why Amazon allows these things to be sold. Caveat Emptor doesn't seem to capture it.

This is one of the least horrifying ones.

Not to hoover up all their links, but here's another: "The Museum of the City of New York and Queens Museum have embarked on an 18-month project to make their collections from the 1939/40 and 1964/65 New York World's Fairs accessible." Every other site about the World's Fair might as well close their doors; this sounds like the motherlode collection.

Reminder: bookmark Coudal so you don't need anyone else to remind you how much cool stuff they have.

SPACE Hair-raising historical note of the day:

Yipes. Not a situation where you wanted to say "I told you so."

No. Then again, is it really that much of a stretch to say the probe may have influenced one of the greatest sci-fi writers of the 20th century?

Yes. But it's a fun read. The Black Knight Bracewell Probe, the decoded message, and Philip K. Dick.

But a Vulcan visiting the Star Wars universe? That totally happened.

EULA There's a new genre in online legalese: casual, friendly, and comprehensible. Imagine that. I got an email from Dropbox: "We're adding an arbitration section to our updated Terms of Service. Arbitration is a quick and efficient way to resolve disputes, and it provides an alternative to things like state or federal courts where the process could take months or even years." Interesting. It had a link to the new terms, and wondering if it was as breezy and helpful as Tumblr's Terms & Conditions, I actually read it. You have to admit you don't see things like this often:

Sharing Your Stuff

It's the word "stuff" that stuck out. Apparently that passed muster with the lawyers. Lest your think that everything's totally cool, there's this:

No Refunds. You may cancel your Dropbox Paid Account at any time but you won't be issued a refund.