The World's Fastest Plane

The Ultimate Spy Plane - Smithsonian Magazine

Inspired by it's appearance the Transformers 2 movie, Smithsonian writes about the fastest airplane, Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird.

I asked Shul, a former Air Force fighter pilot and Vietnam veteran who has written two books about the Blackbird—one recounting his reconnaissance for a dramatic raid on Libya in 1986—what it was like to fly such a phenomenal craft. "It wasn't like any other airplane," he told me. "It was terrifying, exciting, intense and humbling every time you flew. Each mission was designed to fly at a certain speed; you always knew the airplane had more. It was like driving to work in a double-A fuel dragster."

Sid the Kid sleeps with the Cup

What would you do with the Stanley Cup?

Everyone that wins the Stanley Cup gets to spend one day with the Cup, doing whatever they want.  Many players take hockey's most important trophy to their hometown to show off.

Sidney Crosby slept with the Stanley Cup

Mario Lemieux had a pool party with the Cup, and the Stanley Cup went swimming.

What would you do?

News Photos from Iran

A Troubled Week in Iran

The Big Picture is a news photo blog from the Boston Globe that always impresses with their stunning photographs of news events.  Today's link is the fourth in The Big Picture's series on the disputed election in Iran.

Iran's Presidential Election

Iran's Disputed Election

Iran's Continued Election Turmoil

A Troubled Week in Iran

Canning food gets trendy

Preserving Time in a Bottle (or a Jar)

From the New York Times, it’s an article on the status of canning fruits and vegetables.  The local food movement has embraced large and small scale canning as a way to preserve the flavour and uniqueness of seasonal produce.

Knowledge workers vs. Manual trades

The Case for Working With Your Hands - New York Times

An article by someone with a PhD who left the "knowledge economy" decided to run a motorcycle-repair shop.  Bonus point for mentioning a lineman fixing the lines after a storm.

New research on aging and avoiding dementia

At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age

From an article in the NY Times, there are suggestions that staying active mentally and socially is the best way to avoid dementia.

Rooster Chili Sauce

A Chili Sauce to Crow About – NY Times

 

One of America’s favourite “ethnic” hot sauces is not imported, but is instead a domestic success.  The Sriracha Chili Sauce (aka Rooster Sauce or Cock Sauce) is used as a condiment in gourmet restaurants, pho restaurants, and as a ketchup or salsa replacement in burger and hot dog joints.

 

The sauce is made with fresh red jalapeños, garlic powder, sugar, salt and vinegar, which produces a not-TOO-spicy, garlicky hot sauce.

 

Thanks to MeFi for the bonus links to recipes using sriracha sauce to make steak fajitas, Korean-style filet mignon, and how to make Sriracha Chili Sauce yourself.

 

Bargain Basement Goalies Pay Off

High-priced goalies guarantee little - si.com

An interesting perspective from ex-goalie, Darren Elliott, regarding the performance of stud goalies in the 2009 NHL Playoffs.  The four goalies left in the playoffs are not normally considered the league's top goalies: Detroit's Chris Osgood,  Carolina's Cam Ward, Chicago's Nik Khabibulin and Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury.  

Meanwhile, the so-called top goalies (and top-paid goalies) have already been eliminated; such as:  Henrik Lundqvist (with his $7.75 million price tag), Presidents' Trophy-winning veteran goaltender Evgeni Nabokov from the San Jose Sharks ($5.5 million salary), New Jersey's Marty Brodeur (at $5.2 million), Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff ($8.5 million) and the Vancouver Canucks' own Roberto Luongo ($7 million).  

How much is a top goalie really worth?

Clean Up & Speed Up Your Mac - Lifehacker

Clean Up and Revive Your Bloated,  Sluggish Mac - Lifehacker

I'm running out of space on my Macbook, and it's starting to slow down.  It needs to be cleaned up, just to install Apple's new Mac OS X system update.  Thank you Lifehacker for this article.

Leadership video from TED conference

Tribes – TED Video

The video from my favourite talk from the 2009 TED Conference has finally been posted online- Seth Godin talking about leadership in his video Tribes.