Last summer there was a photo of a giant goldfish making the rounds on the Internet, only it looked totally fake and was from the Daily Mail, which, despite its impressive web presence, is not widely heralded as a source of great veracity. This, however, looks legit: A Kansas City woman named Olivia Riley apparently caught a giant goldfish in Troost Lake.

As to how the fish got in Troost Lake, Riley said there are several possibilities.

“There’s a lot of theories. One that he went down the old toilet bowl and ended up in the right place,” Riley laughed. “And the one of someone not able to take care of a baby goldfish and threw him in, and he survived.”

Don’t worry, she threw it back in.

(via TDW)

The fact that libraries across America are facing real challenges to their very existence is nothing new. In this hard economies, many communities are asking if a place to rent books is really a worthwhile investment and are, sadly, shutting libraries down. But rather than loose a resource, Newport Beach, California is considering a radical option that would keep the library space but eliminate books from the building.

The plan is being spearheaded by City Manager Dave Kiff, who sees it as a modern re-imagining of a library. Instead of having books in the labyrinthine stacks we are all so used to seeing, the town’s central library would have an electronic system to loan out physical books. A patron would request a book at an electronic kiosk, and then pick up the book from specific lockers. The rest of the space would be turned over to a 2,200 square-foot reading area with a central fireplace.

The decision is unusual since it acknowledges the community’s commitment not only to having books available, but to ensuring that some of these books be physical in nature. Other libraries have sought to modernize by providing eBook loan programs, despite the difficulties involved. But after a careful survey of Newport’s four library branches, the city determined that few people were browsing or checking out books. Most, came in to use computers or work on laptops. The new space would preserve the library’s collection, while creating space for how most patrons use the library.

The BBC reports this morning that Brian Jacques, the author behind the Redwall series of children’s fantasy novels, died this weekend of a heart attack.  He was 71.

The Redwall books were the first chapter books that drew me into becoming a voracious young reader, a primary refuge in an elementary school environment where I only had a couple of friends.  As mentioned elsewhere, I’d read Mariel of Redwall eleven times by the time I was eight.  And I know I’m not the only one who wished almost every day that they lived in Brian Jacques’ exquisitely described world.

The first book in the Redwall series was written with no intent to publish: while working as a truck driver delivering milk, Jacques befriended the students at a school for the blind and wrote Redwall in a exceptionally descriptive style precisely for them.  Fortunately for the rest of us, a friend showed his manuscript to a publisher without telling him, and the company immediately agreed to publish it and signed the author for five more novels.  Jacques’ kindness towards his readers, especially children, didn’t flag once he became a world famous author whose books have been published in twenty-eight languages, either.

The Enoshima Aquarium in Kanagawa, Japan, has a very energy efficient way of lighting a small Christmas tree, but it’s till one that PETA would probably disapprove of.

(via Neatorama.)

We will be the first to admit that we have no mathematicians on the Geekosystem payroll, but we wouldn’t have our jobs if we couldn’t pick up on the times when geek culture as a whole loses someone very special.

What has yet to be confirmed by news sources, but what the internet already knows, is that Benoît Mandelbrot has died at age eighty-five.

On Friday afternoon Jack Horkheimer, veteran astronomer and naked-eye-astronomy enthusiast, died of “a respiratory ailment” at the age of 72.

He was the executive director of the planetarium at the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit, but was most well known for his weekly PBS series. It’s called Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer and he started doing it in 1976.

Baskin-Robbins, famous for its 31 flavors of ice cream, does occasionally have to mix it up a bit. Flavors like Charlie Brownie, 2001 Spice Odyssey, and the improbably named The Mask “Somebody Stop Me” Twist Ice have all come and gone. But among the non-standard flavors being retired today like Campfire S’mores, Apple Pie a La Mode, and Caramel Praline Cheesecake, one stands out.

French Vanilla.

Read on...

The Colossal K was a 450-foot tall cooling tower built at the very very end of the Cold War as a part of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, in order to refine nuclear materials for nuclear weapons. Due to its late arrival, it didn’t get much use, and all of its technological equipment was removed seven years ago. Now, at the very end of its life cycle, it’s getting a lot of attention: as the second largest nuclear cooling tower to undergo controlled demolition ever.

It bears mentioning again that the Colossal K is more than two football fields wide. Video below.

Ah the floppy disk, portable media of my childhood, fragile vessel of games and homework assignments. Now, of course, the floppy has been eclipsed by the advent of cheap and available CD burners and the USB drives that get handed out like candy at any business event.

Sony has put another nail in the (well, lets face it, already pretty nailed) coffin of the humble 3.5 inch floppy by announcing that it will be discontinuing production of floppies for pretty much everywhere within a year.

Read on...

In an interview with The Toronto Sun, Leonard Nimoy has announced his retirement from acting. Though the actor legendary among the sci-fi community for his role in Star Trek, the occasional voice acting credit, and odd affection for the works of J.R.R. Tolkien has taken several breaks from active duty before, he seems sincere that this is a lasting proposition.

“I want to get off the stage. Also, I don’t think it would be fair to Zachary Quinto,” he says, referring to the actor who portrayed a youthful Spock in last summer’s smash Star Trek relaunch. “He’s a terrific actor, he looks the part, and it’s time to give him some space. And I’m very flattered the character will continue.”

Read on...