Things I Think Are Kinda Cool

* Forgetting your past is virtually impossible because of the cringeworthy digital trails we leave on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Those embarrassing mistakes you made in college are often the first things that strangers know about you. Uh oh. – NY Times

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* Go behind-the-scenes at the Library of Congress as the pros preserve and digitize ancient texts…it’s an insanely delicate (and unbelievably important) job. – Boing Boing

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* Humans spend the majority of time (even more than having sex) in imaginary worlds through books, films, video games, etc – Why is it that even when we know something is fictional, there’s a biological part of us that truly believes it’s real? – Chronicle

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* Take an in-depth look at Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video, and how the production revealed cracks in the seemingly unstoppable Jackson Machine. – Vanity Fair

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* The age-old mystery has finally been solved – why do some countries drive on the left versus the right? Great info for your next cocktail party (or a dive bar, or wherever you get drunk). – Today I Found Out

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* A Russian dude turned down the $1 Million he won for solving one of the world’s most difficult math problems, the Poincare Conjecture, because he got in a little tiff with the ‘math community’ (bitchy mathematicians). Here’s what the Poincare Conjecture is all about. – Slate

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* Did you hear how Chinese corporations are hiring white dudes to act like the president of the company in the hopes of attracting more investments? So crazy. Check out these interviews with guys that have actually taken part in the bizarre stunts. – VBS & The Atlantic

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* I’ve wanted cities to install moving sidewalks for as long as I can remember…it’s been a slight obsession of mine. (Yes, I need a hobby.) But is it really a good idea? – Slate

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* The potential successor to the Dalai Lama isn’t an old sage sitting silently in a forest cave waiting for his turn. His name is Karmapa Lama. He’s 24 years old, loves video games, listens to rap music, and is WAY cooler than you and me – Global Post

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* Have you noticed the new subculture called ‘Steampunk’ gaining steam lately? (Sorry, bad pun). It’s based on an intense love with Victorian-era machines and the world of Jules Verne (think “Back to the Future 3″). Learn more about this crazy world. – More Intelligent Life

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(Did you see I used a photo from my Awkward Stock Photos post? Apparently they ARE useful!)

If you’ve ever wanted to be the Grand Marshal in a parade in your head, now’s your chance. Just click over to this weird little Japanese site, and type in your Twitter username. You’ll soon see yourself marching along to quirky music, being followed (literally) by all your Twitter followers. It’s oddly entertaining…and pointless.

-Link via Neatorama

YOU:  You’ve been quiet lately…everything ok?

BRAIN:  Yeah, just thinking.

YOU:  About the Icelandic volcano?  Or maybe the SEC’s charges against Goldman Sachs?

BRAIN:  Um…not exactly.  You know what, actually, let’s just drop it.  You have any articles for me?

YOU:  Come on, you can tell me anything.  We’re friends.

BRAIN:  …Fine…I…uh…I just can’t get this image out of my mind:

YOU:  What the – is that Betty White holding a flaming chainsaw while riding a Jon Ritter centuar?

BRAIN:  Um…yeah.  DON’T say anything – just give me those articles…
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* It’s impossible to walk out of a Costco empty-handed, no matter how much we don’t need that 20 lb tub of peanut butter.  There’s actually some serious scientific stuff going on in our brains that explain this phenomenon. – Science Blogs

* Humans are superstitious animals…especially when we’re playing & watching sports.  Why can’t sportscasters (and the rest of us) resist finding meaning in completely random events? - Skeptic

* Every single tweet ever tweeted (even this one) will now be saved and stored by the Library of Congress…it might sound laughable, but it actually makes sense. – The Atlantic

* Accidentally leaving a child in the backseat of a car is a terrifying mistake.  But is it a crime?  The answer is more complicated than you might think…this Pulitzer prize-winning piece explores the thorny issue. - Washington Post

* It was once thought that artistic globalism (and Evil Hollywood) would suffocate and homogenize local cultures around the world.  But in reality, new D.I.Y. hyper-local cultures have thrived. – NY Times

* The obsessive need for kids to be constantly connected online shouldn’t be discouraged or ignored.  It’s actually made younger generations more empathetic, and has shifted the emphasis from individualism to collaboration. – Huff Po

(crazy Betty White / Jon Ritter image from Neatorama)

This is amazing – an 80 year old grandma named Dorothy Miller uses Twitter to keep in touch with her family…but she never touches one of those complicated and scary computer keyboards. Instead, she uses a good-old-fashioned fax machine (they still exist!) and a service called Celery which posts her faxes to her Twitter page. Forget the pink slippers…it looks like this year I’m buying my Grandma a fax machine for Christmas!

-via Neatorama