• Around the world used to be a very, very long way. Wikipedia has a page detailing early European exploration of Asia.
• In case you haven’t had enough 2009 music lists, Jacob and the folks at Reckless published their favorites.
• I think this comic is very funny.

As a representative for the old guard and someone who is not afraid to get behind an issue, Neil Young has been all over the place recently.

He appeared at the Haiti benefit concert doing a surprisingly somber Hank Williams song with Dave Matthews.

Young was also Conan O’Brien’s musical guest on his last Tonight Show on NBC, playing Long May You Run. O’Brien said that when the news of his departure broke, Young was the first person to call and offer support.

To see some more early shots of Neil (and CSN), check out this post at the Selvedge Yard.

• In 1953, Harry Truman and his wife took a cross-country road trip. It could have only happened then. The highways were brand new, and the ex-president had no security concerns and no obligations.
• Want to browse an awesome collection of images from out-of-print books? I do! It’s the flickr account for the equally-cool blog BibliOdyssey.
• For fun, designer Tyler Thompson attempts to redesign the airline boarding pass.

I’ve been reading about Ancient Egypt. Above is the simple rope and clay seal that Howard Carter found untouched inside Tutankhamun’s Burial Chamber. The clay is stamped with the seal of Anubis, the Old Kingdom’s god of the dead. It was intact for over 3000 years.

• A favorite topic of mine, NPR reports on bad Beatles covers.
• Some great street photography of young Russians in the 1970s.