1. Geek out moment of the week. A cross section of a leica lens. So awesome. I had the basic mental picture of how a camera lens worked, but this blew me away.

2. A crystal clear diagram on how spam works. A picture is worth a thousand words, but if you prefer the thousand words, you can read the whole research paper here.

3. For all the poetry lovers and writers out there, here is a go-to website for all things poetry. Contest information, advice and news.

4. How to make an x-wing fighter out of a sharpie and some rubber bands.

5. Speaking of beards last week... here are pictures from the 2011 beard championships. I don't know whether to be impressed or horrified.

6. For anyone who has weather geek tendencies (our meteorologist may or may not write the only twitters I read), weatherspark is a fascinating new website where you can compare multiple forecasts side by side, historical averages, records, graphs...everything. It is addicting.

7. If you ever buy spaghetti squash in a spontaneous moment at the grocery store and then don't know what to do with it? Here is a delicious butternut squash casserole recipe. I recommend adding two more varieties of cheese. *cough *cough

8. This is by far the most unique nail polish art I've ever come across. We've all painted sparkles and flowers on our nails (perhaps only as children), but did you know you can print things on your nails using newspaper and vodka? In English: 1. Put on nail polish and let dry. 2. Dip fingernail in alcohol-basically any will do, vodka is suggested. 3. Press a strip of newspaper big enough to cover the whole nail on to your alcohol soaked nail. 4. Pull off slowly and be really impressed with yourself. 5. Paint top coat if desired.


9. Catechism question for the week: Where does Christ's exaltation exist?