Our understanding of the universe is about to change…

Massive news today from the folks over at CERN. The search for the infamous Higgs boson may finally be over. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this discovery.

Our species takes another baby step out of the darkness. For all of us who are part of the scientific community, today is a great day.

In Heaven all the interesting people are missing.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

Beefeater, Tanqueray, Bombay, and Boodles are all reliable, worthy London dry gins. Try Booth’s, Gilbey’s, or Gordon’s if you’re in the mood to experiment. Tanqueray No. 10 and Bombay Sapphire are both premium gins: they both cost more, and they’re both very good. Plymouth Gin is not a London dry gin, but it is steeped in history as well as botanicals, and makes a damn fine Martini.

Impressively comprehensive lecture of general culture. Don’t they teach kids this stuff at school?

To complete your assignment, here’s the appropriate etiquette to prepare an original, classic Martini (which uses gin instead of vodka):

Strain the concoction into two martini glasses (I say two because martinis need to be drunk in the presence of beautiful women. The same logic goes for the olives. You use two, as Sinatra put it, so there’s one for you, and one for the beautiful gal that’s about to walk in the door.) In go the olives. Out go the day’s troubles.

Yes, sir. A million times yes. Suddenly I’m feeling thirsty.

Jim Coudal, on the perfect Martini:

First a note about substituting ingredients or tools. Don’t. This method has been exhaustively tested and retested for excellence and the smallest variation can result in catastrophic and unintended consequences. See the “butterfly flaps its wings and causes hurricane” metaphor from Chaos Theory. There is room for personal preference and improvisation in many things. This is not one of them.

Obligatory reading. Gentlemen, you have your homework. Engage!

Scott Hanselman:

Terrific overview of the many icons that are still around, depicting ancient objects that were replaced a long, long time ago. Great fun.

See also: There’s only one cloud icon in the entire Universe.

Via Ben Brooks.

That is All:

First of all, their parallels. Both geniuses, top of their field. Both suffered an accident that physically changed them, forever, and not in a wholesome Spider-Man kind of way. Both try to do what they can to help others despite their own issues; Banner heals people, Tony works on developing clean energy. And both struggle, in their own way, with duality; Tony and Iron Man, Bruce and the Hulk. Two identities, one body. Only difference is Iron Man’s bad side is Tony.

Agreed. I love how the movie portrays the relationship between the two. Kudos to Joss Whedon for an incredibly fun, entertaining and exciting film.

Horace Dediu:

The reason lies in the way the Earth is tilted and the way the continents are arranged upon it. So perhaps a better understanding of astronomy and geography would have helped investors make decisions during the past few weeks. I suggest remedial lessons for those who missed this.

Horace Dediu, being badass. I love it.

Pretty cool thing for a President of the United States to do.

Fast Company:

There was one other big lesson he learned from his Hollywood adventure: People remember stories more than products. “The technology we’ve been laboring on over the past 20 years becomes part of the sedimentary layer,” he told me once. “But when Snow White was re-released [on DVD, in 2001], we were one of the 28 million families that went out and bought a copy of it. This was a film that is 60 years old, and my son was watching it and loving it. I don’t think anybody’s going to be beating on a Macintosh 60 years from now.”

This should go straight to the top of your Instapaper queue, if it’s not there already.