Dry-aged meat is crazy expensive. But oh man is it delicious. The dean of food science writers, Harold McGee, writes in Lucky Peach Issue 2 about what makes it taste so good — and what makes other things taste, well, not so good. More »
iTune’s dominant position atop the digital music market is not happenstance. Donald A. Norman discusses how, through the integration of its products, design and service, Apple became a media distribution juggernaut. More »
Tim Ferriss has tried a lot of diets. Here’s one that he thinks is the best. And it is pretty easy to follow. More »
Many a revolutionary technology has grown beyond its original, intended use; the internet, the steam engine and the spiral-cut glazed ham, to name a few. This week’s excerpt looks at some of the more… unconventional… uses of the 18th century’s newly developed “balloon”. More »
Set your phasers to overkill and bring ensign Jimmy along as a decoy while we follow a band of fanboy survivors as they escape the horrors of GulfCon, site of the worst undead Trekkie outbreak this side of Fortune City. More »
Before scientists figured out electric motors, batteries were first used in chemistry experiments and primitive medical research. From his enjoyable book, The Battery, Henry Schlesinger describes the real-life Dr. Frankenstein who inspired Mary Shelley’s classic horror story: More »
In Your Flying Car Awaits, author Paul Milo discusses “robot butlers, lunar vacations and other dead-wrong predictions of the 20th Century.” Here are 10 calamitous tech failures. Even the ones that did make it aren’t anything like the original vision. More »
Take your spitball firepower to the next level with this guide for constructing a No. 2 Pencil Crossbow, one of many undersized armaments in John Austin’s must-read new book Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction. More »
During the Cold War, the CIA hired a master magician to teach them deceptive maneuvers. Here are a handful of tricks, recovered from a super secret manual the government thought it had destroyed over 30 years ago. More »
