When the iPhone 4 launched in 2010, some users immediately complained about poor reception when using the device. It eventually came to light that gripping the phone in a certain way covered the antenna integrated into the bezel and appeared to cause a not-insignificant signal drop. That was all in the past. However, Apple has now settled a class-action suit with dissatisfied customers, with those affected winning their choice of a free iPhone case or $15. Don’t spent it all in one place!

R.L. Stine is probably best known for his young adult horror series Goosebumps, which graced the tissue-paper thin pages of Scholastic book order forms for most of the 1990s and early 2000s. What you may not know is that Stine is an avid Twitter user, and last week took the opportunity to tweet out an entire horror story, 140 characters at a time. It’s no Welcome to Dead House, but it’s a reminder that Stine is a master of brevity in storytelling. It also features a haunted kitchen, so there’s that.

For those who have been waiting since the debut of the iPhone to weaponize it, your time has come. Piexon, the makers of fine pepper spray related products, has developed the SmartGuard, a tube of mace attached to an iPhone case. The device’s creators reason that if everyone is carrying a smartphone these days, it makes perfect sense to attach a pressurized nozzle of irritant to it. That way, you’ll never leave home without your pepper spray.

About 298 million years ago near the modern day city of Wuda, China, a volcano erupted. Over the course of several days it rained down volcanic ash with such ferocity that branches were torn from plants and enormous trees were felled in a nearby forest. The forest plants were completely buried in a layer of thick ash, and was in turn buried over eons of new growth. Now, scientists have unearthed this lost forest, giving them a glimpse into a long forgotten time.

For Homer Simpson, there is only one beer: Duff. However, Matt Groening is on the record as saying that he will never allow an officially licensed Duff beer on the grounds that it will encourage underage drinking. That surprisingly thoughtful stance has prevented an official cash-in, but that hasn’t stopped some breweries from either trying to push counterfeit Duff, or just coincidentally producing a beer with the same name. If you’re keen to drink Duff, real Duff beer, then these are the best you can get.

Douglas Adams, the author of that staple of sci-fi satire The Hithhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, died 11 years ago at the tender age of 49. For me, and likely for others, it was the first time that an icon of mine died. To celebrate his life and what would be his 60th birthday, his friends and family are putting together an enormous party featuring comedy, Adams’ college plays, and music. If you happen to be in London on March 11 at 5:00 P.M., you can take part in this most exciting of revelries.

In the early afternoon of February 20, 1962, John Glenn climbed inside the cramped confines of Frienship 7. The spacecraft sat atop a modified Atlas missile, originally designed to ferry nuclear weapons towards targets toward the Soviet Union. However, in what might be the greatest triumph of the military-industrial complex, the rocket blasted off and made Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth, putting this country on the path to becoming a leader in space sciences.

Conventional scientific wisdom has held that most mammals make vocalizations based on one thing, and one thing only: Genetics. Unless the creature uses its voice to communicate or navigate — as is the case with bats, whales, and good ol’ Homo sapiens — a mammal will sound the same no matter where it comes from. A U.K. sheep will be the same as a Utah sheep, and so on. However, a new study looking at (adorable) pygmy goat kids suggests that this might not be the case, and that the voices of mammals are far more flexible then we thought.

Just a quick reminder from filmmaker Randy Halverson: The universe is a beautiful, wonderful place. Or at the very least, South Dakota looks pretty great in a long-exposure time lapse video.

Ever wonder what they’re listening to at Mojang? (Last.fm)

Facebook retailers are bailing (Bloomberg)

So who wants to be an iOS developer? (TNW)

Everything OS X Mountain Lion aims to kill (Giz)

The worst ship in Navy history (Cracked)

Take Edison’s job interview quiz (Mental Floss)

Point Roberts, the American city in Canada (The Atlantic)

(a fork in the road at a fork in the road, via Bits and Pieces)