Random Linkage

• The worst designs and ugliest cars (10 of each) ever made
  

  Introduced in 1975 the Pacer met with initial success, but sales dwindled quickly and the model was phased out after only five years. Among its odder features was a passenger side door that was four inches longer than the driver’s side door The idea was to allow easier access to the rear seats. Almost 40 percent of the car’s total surface area was glass, leading to “fishbowl on wheels” wisecracks.

• The 30 greatest conspiracy theories in history.  Skipping the obvious 9/11, JFK assassination, and fake moon landing bunk, here are a few that made me roll my eyes or chuckle for absurdity:
  

  14. Paul is dead (re:well-known Beatle)

  17. Black or unmarked helicopters (no mention of The Catcher in the Rye)

  26. Plastic coffins and concentration camps (re: FEMA and martial law)

• US Gov’t officials score worse than US voters on basic tests of American history, civics, economics
  

  Forty percent of respondents, meanwhile, incorrectly believed that the US president has the power to declare war, while 54 percent correctly answered that that power rests with Congress.

  Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to “supervise the first televised presidential debates.”

• Wallpaper is actually a coloring book (via DQ)
• Amateurs keeping an eye on the floating space tool bag
  

  The tool bag can be seen through binoculars, a few minutes ahead of the space station’s orbit. The satellite tracker predicts that the bag will be visible through binoculars from Europe and western North America during a series of passes this week. By late next week, the tool bag should appear in the evening skies over most of North America.

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