The Week: December 6, 2013

It’s once again sunny here in Seattle, and yesterday, during Thursday Night Football, the commentators could not stop talking about how awesome the Seahawks are (and we weren’t even playing).

So, clearly, clearly, sometime in the last few weeks I’ve managed to fall into some weird parallel universe. I’m not sure how to get back to my world – or even if I want to. While I ruminate over that very, very difficult question, you enjoy these links.

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Nelson Mandela died yesterday. Here’s his obituary from The New York Times, and a collection of photos from his life, via Slate. Oh, and here’s my not-so-brief rundown on the history of apartheid in South Africa from earlier this year.

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Cats and mirrors: a “scientific” study (And as IF it couldn’t get any better: French narration with English subtitles).

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When communicating over text or IM, ending sentences with a period can make you seem angry. Really.

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Captain Picard and the crew of TNG sing “Let it Snow.” Kind of.

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Before it closed in 1998, Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong was considered one of the most difficult airports at which to land and take off. These pictures illustrate why.

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This is just delightful: My Wedding to Captain Von Trapp Has Been Cancelled

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Canadian artist and photographer Dorota Pankowska has recreated the logos of popular food and hygiene products in public places. Her chosen medium? The product themselves. Nutella, Colgate toothpaste, coffee, – it’s weird, kind of gross, and thoroughly awesome.

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Max Wilson took over 200,000 timelapse photos of Chicago over two years, and assembled them into one amazing montage. The result, Windy City Nights, is captivating and totally beautiful.

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New rankings for the top 10 best and worst cities in which to live. I have comments. Many of them.

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In what might be the greatest news, ever, George Takei has a new fragrance out, just in time for the holidays.

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There’s a site called bookshelf porn, and it’s just as magical as you’d expect it to be.

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That’s it for me this week, folks. I won’t be traveling much for the rest of year, so the blog might veer off into weird lifestyle-blogging territory from now until Christmas. Also, sugar cookies may somehow be involved.