Just in time for your next dinner party: mermaids are considered halal. In case you were wondering.

Here’s a really cool museum idea: 80 years of patent models.

The Wall Street Journal reminds us why R. L. Burnside matters. Didn’t know they had it in them.

Why do cars look like douchebags? The human kind, I mean.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think it warrants a reminder–if you really want inside baseball on the making of a tv show, John Rogers, one of the creators of Leverage, answers questions about each week’s episode at his blog.

And finally, what do you get when you combine a MacBook, an organ, cymbals, a Shruti box, and a gramophone(!) and jam it in an old wardrobe with a bunch of robotics? Pure awesome. More here.