Inching closer to a DNA-based file system: this is a fascinating glimpse at the future. The information storage density and self-replication ability of DNA makes it a compelling data storage platform.

Student investigated after allegedly saying a math symbol looked: zero tolerance for saying the g-word. The authorities searched his home and decided against criminal charges for the observation, but he may still face discipline at the school. (I know it’s different city and a different agency, but this got investigated thoroughly while actual threats were passed over?!)

This Week in Unnecessary Censorship: also funny.

Inappropriate Laugh Track: so hilarious. There are a ton of them.

The Winter Olympics Feature 2,951 Of The World’s Greatest Athletes, And Also This Woman: by hook or by crook, I suppose. I completely understand how galling it must be to Olympians who actually worked hard to get there.

Jamison Bachman, the Worst Roommate Ever: the range of people in this world will always surprise me.

China wages war on funeral strippers: that’s just weird. Imagine the first family that did this, before it caught on. Awkward!

Plyscraper city – Tokyo to build 350m tower made of wood: I don’t get the impetus behind this at all. What’s wrong with steel?

Passengers Recall ‘Flight From Hell’ After 3-Year-Old Screamed for 8 Hours Straight: I’m surprised no one on board was arrested. I can’t even imagine but I can easily believe it.

Facing the Death Penalty With a Disloyal Lawyer: this is a travesty and I don’t understand how his attorney isn’t facing ethics charges or disbarment. Oyez has more.

How Star Wars The Last Jedi Should Have Ended: damn straight—a huge improvement. {via

Skydio R1: this is pretty slick, might make GoPros obsolete. {via}

The #MeToo era is making dating more confusing: my favorite was the line “men have the power in courtship.” A backlash is surely coming.

‘Super blue blood moon’ leaves Venetian gondolas stranded on dried-up canal banks: it looks so eerie. Poor Venetians have to walk like those Florentine suckers.

The Japanese Office: pretty much nailed it.

Hermione Growth Spurt: funny SNL?!

English Sports: that pretty much nails their inscrutability to me. {via}

Entrepreneur developed a solution to smartphone addiction now used in over 600 U.S. schools: elegant solution, now they just need one for cars.

The #MeToo-Fueled Character Assassination of Nolan Bushnell: Brianna Wu is a menace. Her and her ilk want to turn every award into a Woke Award (In Some Category). It’s a social media pitchfork mob.

Jordan Peterson Is Canada’s Most Infamous Intellectual: the makeup/high heels answer is deliberately provocative and a convenient way to dismiss (or deliberately miss) the point he’s making. If you think he’s saying the harassed was asking for it, listen again.

The Biggest Opportunity Everyone Is Missing In Self-Driving Cars: hear, hear!

Vitapods – Pod-Shaped Multivitamins: love this idea. Naturally people are commenting that this is irresponsible. {via}

The blue marble: whoa. {via}

Britain’s Giant Airship: I’ve read his book and it is wonderful. The writing is so compelling.

Live Views of Starman: something about this whole stunt just rubs me the wrong way. The attention whoring? The precious details that put it over the top? The possibility that somehow taxpayers are paying for this malarkey?

Ehang’s passenger-carrying drones look insanely impressive in first test flights: I really thought this was vaporware when it was announced at CES two years ago. The problem—at this point—is much simpler than autonomous cars, but will face a very real coordination problem at scale.

MetPublications: free digital versions of their publications back to 1964. I found this Frank Lloyd Wright one and another on the sculptor Bernini.

The Fascinating Company That Tears Cars Apart To Find Out Exactly How They’re Built: this is an astounding amount of work. (I found out about this company when they revealed some Tesla Model 3 build issues. On that front, I suspect that the quality issues are due to the rumored hand assembly.)

Ass Is The Most Complicated Word In The English Language: this is absolutely hilarious. {via}

Sprawling Maya network discovered under Guatemala jungle: this was presaged by the events in The Lost City of the Monkey God. Far from being a dead field, archaeology is going to have a boom soon just to deal with excavating the findings from LIDAR.

Family fun with deepfakes: I particularly liked his closing paragraph imagining legitimate uses of the technology. (It’s so easy to think of the evil that can be done: Black Mirror‘s “Shut Up and Dance” episode but without having actually done the initial act.) {via}

‘Emotional support peacock’ barred from United Airlines plane: this is blatant avian discrimination. What is wrong with people!