Wired’s July issue has an article on the construction of a new building at the South Pole. Consider the logistics of building a normal house at the South Pole, getting the supplies there, dealing with weather. Now consider the fact that the original, 1956 station is sitting somewhere under 30 feet of ice. The current central station’s dome is slowly being crushed by snow. The new design is raised, to avoid snow drifts, and can be lifted up to counter the sinking that is occuring.

Target is racking up the style points with yet another prominent designer on the payroll. Philippe Starck is designing a myriad of products for the affordable retailer, which also has Michael Graves and Stephen Sprouse on the shelves. Starck is perhaps best-known for his chic interior design of hotels, creating everything from rugs to sconces for a distinctly unified look. His Target designs include a curling iron, wearable baby monitor, food storage containers, and there is more to come.

Meowsers! Mice have been spotted snacking at the British Parliament. “Eight Liberal Democrat MPs” have signed a motion stating it would be “fiscally prudent for the Sergeant at Arms’s department to invest in a House of Commons cat to try to tackle this problem.” A mouse which appeared under a skirting board was described as “very brave, very bold and it looked extremely healthy.” Thus they will need an equally brave, bold, and healthy kitty to solve this problem. But will it be like some cats and bring its successful catches to the feet of members of parliament as gifts?

The world’s fastest train is being tested in Japan and some lucky people have been able to ride it. It’s a maglev, and can reach speeds of 500 kph (which I can’t imagine even when I translate it from metric, ~300mph). Soon after departure, the train’s wheels retract and it floats 10 centimeters above the track. Some say this is the key for the future of Japan, creating new economic growth, but some think the cost will be prohibitive . Regardless, the technology is fascinating and makes me feel more like that fictional future of the new millenium may actually arrive someday. (via SlashDot)

While the cooking show America’s Test Kitchen is dry and bland compared to something like Good Eats, it still delivers solid, well-researched information. The accompanying magazine, Cook’s Illustrated, is, as reported by the NY Times, discovering actual profit in avoiding advertising and creating loyal subscribers. They are the Consumer Reports of the cooking world. The company, Boston Common Press, “will have more than $20 million in revenue this year and profits of more than $4 million. It is also debt free.” It is refreshing to see a publishing company with its consumers as customers instead of the advertisers.

What art makes you cry? There is much that I would not consider art that has made me cry, for example, many sappy episodes of Little House on the Prairie. There are those cheap tears and also the deeper ones that come from a purely beautiful experience. An emotional connection to art comes from an understanding that touches you personally.

The Modern Library is a series of affordable reprints of classics, begun in 1917. 800 titles have been published and that doesn’t count the different covers, styles, forewards, etc. which make the same titles unique. Do you sense a collectible? You sure do. There are even subcategories to collect: the “buckram reinforced” editions, the “giants” who weigh in at over 1,000 pages each, and all sorts of specific binding types and dustjacket artists. Publisher Random House was originally a Modern Library subsidiary, formed to print random titles outside of the M.L. charter. (via xBlog)

Perhaps about a third of the people I knew from MIT graduated with an uncredited minor in the art of pen spinning. Learned and perfected during monstrous lectures and then performed without much thought in smaller recitations, tutorials, and study sessions, the 360 degree spin was legendary. Some started with their mechanical pencils, others with their white clicky erasers. Only the truly bored became ambidextrous. In the same vein (not recommended for class): ZippoTricks.com. (via antenna)

Former Maxim editor Dave Itzkoff reveals The (not so secret) Formula that congeals into every issue. It seems more time and effort is spent on the attention grabbing cover lines than the actual contents (maybe they should have hired Helen Gurley Brown’s husband who penned all of Cosmopolitan magazine’s cover lines when she was editor). To make Maxim sell, they pumped up the page turning teases and never really delivered much. And when they couldn’t get a recognizable woman for the cover they had to scramble to actually try something creative, to the derision of media critics. Well, at least it’s reassuring to know that a men’s magazine can be as content-free and formulaic as the average women’s magazine. (via misnomer)

William H. Calvin, neurobiologist, author of fascinating books, has started a weblog. His June Science Surf has a nice piece on Stephen Jay Gould.