Monday’s Links For Curious People

Here are things I found of interest during the last week.

• The percentage of American’s owning passports by state. The results aren’t too surprising. Rich states have more passport holders than poor states, as well as states with the most immigrants.
• Is Michelangelo’s Statue of David Threatened by New High-Speed Train? Microscopic cracks in the ankles of the sculpture are threatened by vibrations of a nearby train tunnel. Vibrations from earthquakes as well as the footsteps of visitors are also a concern.
• The Blind Man Who Taught Himself To See. A man with no eyes taught himself to identify objects through clicking with his tongue and echolocation.
• Anthony Bourdain live tweets No Reservations. He was giving commentary on Twitter as the show aired for the first time.
• JD Roth’s (GetRickSlowly.com) trip to South Africa. The takeaway line is ” Tourism is the biggest transfer of money from the rich to the poor in the world.”
• Has evidence of alien life been found in a meteorite? Phil Plait says “probably not“.
• The Kilauea volcano is active again on the Big Island of Hawaii. Lava has been seen shooting 80 feet in the air.
• A profile of David Murdoch, the man who own’s the island of Lanai