“Al Gore funds development of the open internet: 1991–1993.” Cool.

I remember. When the instant messaging bunch?

Thanks, Iancu.

When Star Wars stuff starts happening for real, it means that you’re kinda old.

Classicism at its peak, for the cognoscenti. Truly Homeric. Via Kottke.

Absolutely hilarious yet totally freaky translation from PR-speak to English of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s company-wide memo regarding the Microsoft takeover bid. Gruber-style.

One incredibly smart traffic-management philosophy: reclaim the common sense and courtesy. Tear down the street curbs and get rid of the signs. Make people drive slower. Via DO.

Cultural guerrilla of illegal restorers establish secret workshop in Pantheon and clandestinely repair the antique clock that had been left to rust in the building since the 1960s. Wow.

How does Massimiliano Vasile name sound to you? Well, here is what he does: asteroids stuff.

Erwin Wurm’s work: fat Porsche, fat houses, fat David. Via OffCenter.

Today’s bubble. Via Orlando.

Worst IT fuckups of all time. Via Coudal.

The discreet charm of the old catalogues. Someday we’ll be just as outmoded. Via DO.

Analog sounds fat and warm while digital zings cold and crappy, right?

Buy now, pay never. Via Radu.

Giant balls made men feel good about themselves—a dazzling history.

I realize that magazines — especially technical magazines — inconspicuously refrained from picturing the future. The childhood ended. The future is no longer what it used to be.

Good magazine: “There are only three countries that do not use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States.”

“A wide-reaching ban on smoking in enclosed places just went into effect on July 1st in the UK, and in the two weeks following, carrier Orange reported that 7.5 million more messages were sent on its network than in the two-week period the month prior.” It has a name — smexting.

The man who — during the beginning of the nineties, right after the Revolution — thought us about the great rock music via his radio show, passed away: Florian Pittiș. Rest in peace.

Hystorical median temperature in January for Bucharest is 1°C during the day. This January we currently have temperatures over 10°C, occasionally reaching 16°C. However, in the USA people complained about Al Gore’s global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth, claiming it does not present an opposing view of global warming, such as creationism and the Bible.

Staring at the talented young men of the seventies and their beautiful matching costumes I wonder if in thirty years from now something from our culture could be seen as wildly ridiculous as this lads.

The New York Times Magazine looks back on the passing year from a distinctive vantage point: that of ideas. 74 of them, from good to bad, from serious to silly in The 6th Annual Year in Ideas. [via Kottke]