Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #143

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

• Parsley Fern Slide. "I mentioned this in passing at lunch today (which was long overdue, BTW!) The GoPro HD camera is cropping up everywhere, from a drone I saw flying over SXSW last week to referees’ heads at sporting events. Here’s an ice climber. You can imagine what happens next. William Gibson said that the future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed. What will life be like when everyone records everything? Consider the legal, insurance, and liability consequences of this video alone. Also, you may not want to go ice climbing after this." (Alistair for Hugh).
• How One Dad Got Lawn Darts Banned – Mental Floss. "Sometimes, when I’m surfing, I wind up in weird places. I’m sure you guys remember those giant lawn darts from our childhood. They were banned, thanks largely to the efforts of one grieving parent. This is that story–and it’s doubly tragic, because the number of injuries due to the toy was grossly understated. Say what you will about our connected culture, but it’s hard to imagine something like this happening in a world where the story would fly to the top of reddit or be widely shared on Facebook." (Alistair for Mitch).
• This is What Happens When You Run Water Through a 24hz Sine Wave – Colossal. "Sine waves, big speakers, and a water spout. Then science takes over. All you physics teachers out there, here’s how to spend a great spring afternoon with your students." (Hugh for Alistair).
• This column will change your life: Helsinki Bus Station Theory – The Guardian. "There is a theory about art, which can be applied (I think) to start-ups and many other things. The theory says: if you want to be fulfilled in your creative endeavors, you should stay on the bus. Specifically, a bus running from Helsinki’s main bus depot. I think this is good advice." (Hugh for Mitch).
• Google’s X factor: “Captain of Moonshots” describes secret lab – Gigaom. "I’m spoiled rotten. Every year I get to attend events like TED and Google Zeitgeist, where I see some of the most fascinating people taking on initiatives to either change our world or better our humanity. Beyond it being a very humbling experience, after a few years, you start to realize that Google is so much more than business and a brand. It used to be that Presidents of nations would take to the podium and announce to the world our advancements and innovations. Now, with a warchest of money to tinker with, companies like Google are tackling some of the most interesting challenges in society… privately… without R&D money from the government." (Mitch for Alistair).
• Imagine a Digital Library in Every Bus or Train – The Atlantic. "There are so many ways to inject more culture into our society. I read this article, smiled and thought to myself, ‘why doesn’t this become a reality?’ We’re struggling to figure out what the value of a library is or how book stores are going to stay in operation, and then something like this happens. There are enough books in public domain to make a project like this a reality without needing the whole e-commerce component. As an avid reader, I’m not sure why so many people don’t make more time to read. With this initiative, we may have just helped those people solve the problem by bringing books to them, when we know that not much else is going on." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.