A collection of photos from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, including the Buran shuttle from the Russian space program that never flew. Only mildly disappointed that the outside doesn’t look like Destiny.

Blind test: can you hear the difference between uncompressed WAV, 320kbps MP3 and 128kbps MP3? I got an awful 2 of 6 for picking the WAV, though thankfully I never picked the 128kbps MP3… but it’s a close run thing.

https://vimeo.com/87342468 Sometimes I wish it snowed here so I could see what these things look like up close, and then I remember I hate the cold. Snowflakes are still pretty cool, though.

Not sure if this is the kind of article that sparks revolts or is conveniently ignored for real politik - Bin Laden’s location was known to Pakistan, his killing was more about managing political realities than it was about the Americans finding him and taking him out: ‘The compound was not an armed enclave – no machine guns around, because it was under ISI control.’ The walk-in had told the US that bin Laden had lived undetected from 2001 to 2006 with some of his wives and children in the Hindu Kush mountains, and that ‘the ISI got to him by paying some of the local tribal people to betray him.’ (Reports after the raid placed him elsewhere in Pakistan during this period.) Bank was also told by the walk-in that bin Laden was very ill, and that early on in his confinement at Abbottabad, the ISI had ordered Amir Aziz, a doctor and a major in the Pakistani army, to move nearby to provide treatment. ‘The truth is that bin Laden was an invalid, but we cannot say that,’ the retired official said. ‘“You mean you guys shot a cripple? Who was about to grab his AK-47?” ...

Antartica, in a unique way you’d never have the chance to see from the air: https://vimeo.com/124858722 The beauty of nature is truly astonishing.