In Utah, where the largest National Security Agency data center is located, a state legislative committee will soon consider a bill that could cut off millions of gallons of water for a major spy agency facility south of Salt Lake City.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ZCUQwGN9yB0/utah-may-cut-off-nsas-water.html

Entertainment icon Mike Nichols died suddenly Wednesday at the age of 83. He is best known as the director of films including “The Graduate” (1967) which won an Academy Award. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/wsLEhMxJkBQ/motion-picture-legend-mike-nic.html

Basically, brain fireworks. (more…)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/GaIyXAPZVbs/what-happens-inside-musicians.html

Described as “the only airplane of perpetual endurance, able to fly day and night on solar power, without a drop of fuel,” Solar Impulse is slated for an around-the-world flight attempt in 2015. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/-VI23ePn2wI/first-attempt-at-around-the-wo.html

I never tire of the conceptual trick of applying the metaphor of a map onto something non-geographical. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/dPBm5Lu6gs0/experiments-in-mapping-the-int.html

Man, we really need some rain. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/3r-4vPBxFBQ/more-than-80-of-california-is.html

Our thanks to our sponsors at Betabrand, who sent us three items to play with. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/9wtocNcUkjA/betabrand.html

Few things are as universally despised as passwords. The strains they put on our memory, the endless demand to update them, their sheer number. But there is more to passwords than their annoyance. In our authorship of them, in the fact that we construct them so that we (and only we) will remember them, they take on secret lives. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/6jBfte_VGvI/the-secret-life-of-passwords.html

Marine biology researchers investigating the virus linked to the “wasting” deaths of countless starfish are looking at what role environmental causes might play in the massive die-off. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/0n3kTWb7Sc0/why-are-starfish-melting.html

The Internets Celebrities (Dallas Penn, Rafi Kam, and director Casimir Nozkowski) explore the culinary delights of 125th Street in New York City, where Old Harlem meets New Harlem. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/HO34HWE_K18/watch-new-york-city-food-warr.html

“With sexual assault allegations gaining increasing attention, The Associated Press reviewed an on camera interview with Bill Cosby earlier this month and made the decision to publish his full reaction to questions about the claims.” [YouTube]

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/G_WWb8ZJnWA/bill-cosby-speaks-to-associate.html

She's funny even when she is impersonating celebrities I've never heard of!

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/SCZB2YNwlqk/woman-impersonates-celebrities.html

And it was probably not a meteor. The videos and photos collected here and here suggest the explosion occurred on the ground.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/7fBk4hpn2p0/something-big-exploded-in-russ.html

The NY Times' Nick Bilton took a deep dive into the world of Twitter bots, and even created his own army of Twitter bots (which the Twitter overlords murdered as soon as th article went live).

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ocqSEO0QiVo/the-weird-wild-world-of-twitt.html

Anti-semitism motivated top colleges to switch from entrance exams to more subjective—and more opaque—admissions criteria. By Dan Lewis Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/4-7zk-tWxWU/for-god-for-country-and-for.html

Traveling through Russia and Ukraine, Danila Tkachenko photographed "people who have decided to escape from social life and lived all alone in the wild nature, far away from any villages, towns or other people.

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/m1h3_zpy1sA/photographs-of-hermits-in.html

Above, the extrasolar planet 16 Cygni Bb as rendered by artist Ron Miller, illustrator of science, astronomy, and science fiction, and author of "The Art of Space: The History of Space Art, from the Earliest Visions to the Graphics of the Modern Era." Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/qM3gO7YJ_nA/a-master-of-otherworldly-space.html

There’s a move to redefine “homesteading” in a way that makes available to anyone who wants to take part. But what does it mean to homestead in the desert? By Reanna Alder Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/6bWuRQ8X4wg/trailer-homesteading-in-the-mo.html

Theresa DeLucci got a letter published in the only publication for girls that really attempted educational journalism—amid Twin Peaks fashion spreads and celeb interviews with grunge luminaries like Kurt Cobain and Kim Gordon. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/0TFBGpMNwrQ/remembering-sassy-magazines.html

The realisation that knitting (and cross-stitch) is pixel-based has been dawning on the crafty gamer world for more than a decade, and I've enjoyed chronicling the rise of 8-bit nostalgia textiles. Case in point: the £40 Street Fighter Christmas Jumper. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/LpAuSJ7nYnc/street-fighter-ugly-christmas.html