How To Infuse Vodka Wired offers a guide to infusing vodka with other flavors.

How To Pour Cider The official way to pour Spanish cider.

Robert Lang, Origamicist, At TED Boing Boing liveblogs a talk by origami scholar Robert Lang at TED.

Funny Answers From Kids Who Didn't Study Scroll through these amusing pictures of answers students gave to questions they hadn't studied for.

Packing Planes Quickly An astrophysicist has used computer simulations to figure out more efficient ways to get passengers on board airplanes.

Making Beef Jerky The Paupered Chef makes beef jerky without all the normal accoutrements.

Pickled Ginger Eric Gower, Breakaway Cook, explains how to make and use pickled ginger.

The Rebirth Of Hebrew As A Spoken Language Wikipedia's article on Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who resurrected Hebrew as a spoken, not just religious, language.

Inside A WSWA Convention Craig Camp relates his experiences as an attendee of the annual Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Association gathering, which he calls "an event stewed in sleaze."

The Etymology Of Bruschetta A brief look at the origins of the word "bruschetta," though the author fails to explain its proper pronunciation, which most Americans get wrong.

Kumquat Salsa My friend Elise describes a salsa made with an overflow of kumquats.

Your Bookshelf And You Scott McLemee looks at two recent blogosphere posts about what you should and should not put on your bookshelf, and then he offers his own analysis of his own bookcase.

How Languages Die An NYT Magazine article from 2004 looks at how languages die.

Bacon Cups Not Martha shapes bacon slices into little bowls for the ultimate in edible dishware.

Just Deserts, Not Just Desserts Because of its pronunciation, I've always assumed that a person getting their comeuppance gets their "just desserts." Not so, says Snopes.

Google Captcha Cracked Google's captcha system, designed to separate humans from spam bots in gmail account creations, has been cracked. Spam bots are signing up for accounts with a 20% success rate.

Life Magazine Cover Search Life magazine has a searchable online gallery of their covers.

Amanda Berne On Beans Writer (and acquaintance) Amanda Berne writes of the pleasures of bean cookery and breaking in a new home.

Encyclopedia Titanica A website devoted to discussing the sinking of the Titanic.

Michel Marcel Navratil: Titanic Survivor Michel Navratil was the last male survivor of the Titanic's sinking. He and his brother Edmond were known as the Titanic Orphans because they were the only children to survive the disaster without any guardians.

Tom Rice On Paso Terroir Paso Robles winemaker Mary Baker interviews Tom Rice, a geologist who has done extensive research into the geology and climate of Paso Robles and written a book on the subject.

Bad Hair Days For Bottles Jamie Goode looks at the phenomenon of "bad hair days" for wine bottles: wines that just don't taste right some days.

Breakfast Polenta Heidi Swanson makes a breakfast polenta that will have you swooning.

Clark Smith On Fining Clark Smith, founder of Vinovation, discusses the role of fining in wine and the new practice of microoxygenation, which he argues is an improved technique.

Games Need Criticism Greg Costikyan discusses why video games need critics, which aren't the same as reviewers.

Oscars Flopped Nielsen says that the ratings for 2008's Oscars ceremony may be the lowest ever. Maybe people no longer care about meaningless awards granted by a bunch of insiders?

Apache's Java Math Library Apache offers a suite of higher-level math for Java programmers.

Tetronimo Ice Cubes They're sold as tetris piece ice cube trays, but puzzle geeks know tetronimoes when we see them.

Doomsday Vault Inaugurated A vault for storing the world's seeds, located in the Arctic Circle, will be inaugurated this week.

From House To RV To House What happens when a family trades their monster home for a 370-square-foot RV? They learn that moving to the next biggest house isn't always the right solution.

George Washington's Beer Cooked Books has dug up a recipe from George Washington's notebooks.

Heathrow's System Update Gone Bad Heathrow lost its automated baggage-handling system after a software update. Oops.

LEGO MMO: 2009 Imagine a giant MMO where you can build things from LEGOs and run around the established LEGO sets with other players. Now add it to your 2009 tickle file; you know you want to.

Future Of Story In Videogames Joystiq recaps the "Future Of Story" session at the Games Developer Conference. A little hard to follow, but interesting to see where people come down on the importance of story for their games.

Which Novel Is A Novel? Can you name the books from their covers? From the tiny part that says, "A Novel"?

WBW 43: Comfort Wines Pick a wine based on the feelings of warmth and balance it gives you.

Collective Intelligence In ARGs Jane McGonigal, ARG expert, has written an academic paper about the group intelligence that arises among ARG players.

Raw Broccoli Salad The New York Times ponders a better name for a raw broccoli salad.

Bad Fruit vs. Good Cookies Joanne at Fork and Bottle wonders whether a school's decision to ban sugary sweets is too black and white. Which is worse for a kid: Unripe, non-organic, flavorless fruit or homemade cookies from high-quality ingredients.

Tobacco And Wine Tablas Creek's Jason Haas looks at how a Supreme Court ruling on tobacco might affect wine shipping.

The Case Of The Missing Bridge Czech police are working hard to solve a recent crime: A 4-ton bridge has gone missing.

The Business Of Writing How to have a sound writing business.

Unclutterer On Meal Planning The folks at Unclutterer offer a strategy for meal-planning management.

BBQ Sauce In South Carolina How South Carolina divides up in terms of barbecue sauce preferences.

Vegetarian Discrimination Is Legal It's legal to discriminate against vegetarians, evidently.

Secret History Of The English Language = Crackpottery Language Hat despairs about the critical acceptance of The Secret History of the English Language, a book that claims that English isn't derived from Anglo-Saxon roots, among other things.

National Register Of Historic Places Research DB The National Register of Historic places has a research database allowing you to search by location, subject, and more.

U.S. Recalls 143 Million Pounds Of Ground Beef The USDA has made its biggest beef recall ever, after the Humane Society videos showing workers forcing downed cows into the slaughterhouse.

The Most Misused SSN Of All Time The story of the SSN misused by more people than any other.

Superdelegates Under Scrutiny Wired reports on how the Internet's masses are working to keep superdelegates honest ... or at least under pressure to vote their constituents' wills.

Peter's Valentine's Day Dinner Peter Barrett cooks up a Valentine's Day feast. I wonder if he'd marry me?

Brief How-To On Card Counting Wired offers a quick snapshot of card-counting for blackjack.

Google Charts API Google has a nifty RESTful API for creating dynamic charts on a webpage.

What Not To Buy From Bon Appetit James Norton takes a look at Bon Appetit's latest "What to Buy Now" and suggests more reasonably priced alternatives.

WBW 42 Round-Up Fifty-two tasting notes, each just seven words.

Google MyMaps Slideshow Having a hard time finding interesting uses of Google's MyMaps feature? Now they have a slideshow of some of their most popular ones.

Whatever Happened To The Joystick? MSN UK looks at the history of one of gaming's most iconic controls: the joystick.

Publishers Talking Modern Content UC Press breaks down the main themes (all very Web 2.0-y) in the Professional/Scholarly Publishing wing of the American Association of Publishers.

Indiana Jones Trailer What more do you need to know?

Organizing A Home Library By Color Every bookseller has heard a customer ask, "I'm looking for a book; it has a blue cover." So what would it look like to organize a bookcase that way?

The Human Cost Of Poultry Production What's the toll on the humans who process poultry for us? Read this article (but not over breakfast) to find out.

The Difficulty Of Writing A Bio Giles Turnbull discusses the difficulty of writing a bio of oneself.

Edible Bugs Resources Cooked Books offers up a sampling of the edible bug resources at the New York Public Library.

Learning To Cook Without Recipes Michael Booth learns how to cook food without a recipes. You gasp, but it's true. It can be done.

Biodynamic Grains In A CSA Dylan gives readers a look at Windborne Farms, a California farm that has a CSA for their biodynamic grains.

Let Your Cheese Breathe The porous paper used by cheesemongers is now available for home use.

What Do Ducks Dream Of? Novella writes a sweet post about bringing a moment of happiness to an injured duck in her care.

Integrating Children With WoW Raids The unique challenges of modern parenting: How do you manage the kids when both parents are on the same WoW raid schedule?

Bloggers: Not The People, But Influencers Of The People A blog post from the author of Blog Wars suggests that bloggers don't represent the people of the U.S., but they do help sway opinion.

High-Speed SCP A paper describing the current limitations on scp (secure copy) and how to improve it.

Location-Based Blogging From Yahoo! Pipes Combine Google Maps' MyMaps feature, Yahoo! Pipes, and a good dose of cleverness, and you get location-based blog posts.

Teensy Tiny Pterodactyl Discovered Scientists have unearthed evidence of a sparrow-sized pterodactyl. Too cute.

The First Social Security Recipient The history of the first woman to get a social security check (check #: 00-000-001)

The Most Expensive Item In the World Measured by weight and volume, the Tre Skilling Banco Yellow stamp is the most expensive item in the world.

A History Of The Evil Eye A short overview of the history of the "evil eye"

Meeting The Head Of NYT Review Of Books What's it like to meet with Robert Silvers, the head of the New York Times Review Of Books? Grueling, from the sound of it.

Adoption Rates Of Various Tech How quickly were ubiquitous technologies adopted once the came out? The second graphic on the page shows you.

Interview With Darra Goldstein, Gastronomica Editor Utne Reader interviews Darra Goldstein, who helms the eclectic food journal Gastronomica.

American Heritage's Interesting Usage Note For "Redundancy" The usage note for "redundancy" in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language takes an unusually soft whack at redundancy in language, and points out examples you probably never think about.

Cute Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries Simply Recipes guest writer Garrett presents his technique for the cutest little chocolate-dipped strawberries you ever did see.

Farming The Amazon, Sustainably A woman in the Amazon has figured out how to grow unlikely crops in the flood plain. Carbon-fixing and sustainable, her farming neighbors are taking note.

First Amendment Protects Trolls, Too A California judge ruled that Internet trolls can stay anonymous, thanks to the First Amendment.

Sam Goes Spear-Fishing Sam of Becks and Posh tries her luck at spear-fishing.

The Laws Of Web Development A list of the many "laws" that pepper the world of software development.

The Evolution Of Only Children Why do families shrink as prosperity grows? Wired examines some of the current research.

Beattie's Rule Of Application Development Russell gives his law of application development: It has to look better than it works. Having worked with Russell, I remember him saying that, and I still quote it.

Dry-Erase Paint: Make Any Surface A Dry-Erase Board Paint this transparent paint onto a wall and it becomes a dry erase board.

Questions About Winter Tornadoes A Q & A with a Weather Services official about the massive tornadoes that hit the South.

We Live In The Anthropocene Some geologists want to call our current era the Anthropocene in recognition of the massive effect humans have had on the world's ecology.

TSA Confiscating Laptops, Passwords The TSA has started to confiscate and inspect laptops and other electronics at airports. Victims of the searches are required to divulge the passwords and allow the TSA to copy off potentially sensitive information.

Color Scheme Generator For Websites Pick a color, pick a scheme type, and see a set of colors to use on your website.

Reporterist: eBay For News A new site lets journalists pitch to a market of editors instead of one at a time.

"Less" And "None": Usage Notes The Oxford University Press looks at the proper usage of "less" and "none" and finds the prescriptivist argument lacking.

How To Judge Code An amusing comic about judging code quality

Name That Tune Can you identify the song being sung in this video before he gives you the answer? According to the notes, there are no tricks; just memorization.

2008 MIT Mystery Hunt Puzzles The puzzles from this year's MIT Mystery Hunt.

Regulating Pi 111 years ago, Indiana considered a bill that would define pi to be 3.2.

Molecular Gastronomy For The Layperson Lore Sjoberg provides a FAQ about molecular gastronomy, except that he missed the memo that says you shouldn't call it molecular gastronomy.

In Defense Of Bordeaux Eric Asimov defends Bordeaux and its stuffy reputation.

Spin The Black Circle An addictive puzzle game with an intriguing mechanic.

Trailer For Second Skin The official site -- and trailer -- for a new documentary about life in a virtual world. (Looks like the focus is WoW, of course.)

Losing A Local Brewery Means Losing A Local Business A Good Beer Blog notes that when a local, independent brewery gets bought, the new overlords don't always fund local projects.

Notes From "Customer Service Is The New Marketing Scott Rosenberg gives his thoughts on the "Customer Service is the new marketing" conference.

Writers vs. Editors A British comedy provides a look at how writers and editors work together. Or not.

Geeky Obsessions The Onion looks at 20 pop-culture obsessions more geeky than Monty Python.

How PopCap Makes Crack PopCap games, developers of the world's most addictive puzzle games, give some insight into what makes their games successful.

Star Wars Figures That Look Like Other People An amusing look at Star Wars figures who have more in common with other celebrities than the actors they're supposed to represent.

The Coded Sex Diaries of John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes kept diaries of his sex life ... but he kept them in code.

Michael Bauer's Favorite SF Dim Sum Chronicle restaurant critic (and my editor's boss) Michael Bauer gives his list of the best SF dim sum. No real surprises, but it's a good list to have at hand.

Champagne Cork Chairs The most recent results of the Design Within Reach contest to make a chair from Champagne corks.

Animation vs. Animator An animator's drawing engages him in deadly battle using the program's interface as a weapon.

CFL Disposal In Seattle Compact fluorescent lights are supposed to save the world, but disposal is a real issue. Here's how Seattle is trying to solve the problem.

The Rise Of Comics Mockers Mocking newspaper comics has become a lively subculture among bloggers.

People Aren't Going Outside Visits to National Parks are on a steady decline, says this AP story. They blame videogames, TVs, and the Internets.

Do eBooks Make Sense? Oxford University Press's Evan Schnittman ponders eBooks and their place in the world.

Dictionary Of American Regional English A book I'd like on my shelf: It tracks regionalisms in the United States.

Dwarves Looting Suitcases Authorities have fingered dwarves as suspects in a robber ring that targets bus luggage.

Wineries Fighting Drunk Tasters Santa Barbara wineries are trying to push back against drunk tasters.

Tycho Breaks Down Over Language Abuse Penny Arcade offers a comic about the long-term effects of language abuse on word nerds.

Do Consumers Want Cork? Jason Haas of Tablas Creek talks about his customers' reactions a recently screw-capped wine.

Biggles Tours The Oxbow Meathenge's carnivorous blogger takes a tour of Napa's new market, which features Bay Area star charcuterie The Fatted Calf.

Hybrid Pickups Are Coming GM will introduce hybrid pickups this week.

Science Fiction And The New York Times Crossword Author Nancy Kress notices an encouraging trend with Will Shortz's treatment of science fiction but still wants more.

All About EFF California Lawyer profiles the Electronic Frontier Foundation, champions of online rights.

This Is Zombo.com An old, satirical site from the Web 1.0 days that still makes me giggle. Picture this as a pitch to a venture capitalist in the late '90s.

Long Bets One of the projects of the Long Now Foundation tracks multi-year bets/predictions.

Grammar Girl On Hyphens Grammar Girl gives a good summary of hyphen madness, with some hard rules and some advice to check dictionaries and style guides.

Fishtank Habitrail Connect a bunch of fishtank modules to make a network for your little fishies.

Who Cares About Studies? Mark Morford rants about the unceasing flood of inane studies and our obsession with them.

CIA Creates Farm Liaison Position Our country's most prestigious culinary school realizes that there's this whole local food thing going on and adds a position that sounds just like the "forager" jobs many Bay Area restaurants have.

Tipping On Wine Frank Bruni offers advice -- or a lack thereof -- about tipping on wine.

Safari 3 And Quartz Safari 3 has the ability to render Quartz files directly. That means I can run my Mac screen savers in a browser tab.

How Real Programmers Code A very geeky strip about increasing levels of programming jujitsu. But in the end, it all comes back to my favorite editor.

Grand Central, Stopped What happens when 200 Improv Everywhere actors freeze in mid-action for five minutes in Grand Central Station? Watch the video and find out.