Editorial note: I've added Google Friend Connect to the bottom of the left column. The slow yet inexorable Googlefication of my online presence continues...

Amateur cartographers, listen up: Londonist wants your hand-drawn maps of the city! They can be as detailed or as rudimentary as you like.

More UK news: the Crufts Dog Show is huge and happening right now. Also going on this weekend: the Calle Ocho celebration in Miami's Little Havana district, the annual Ostrich Festival in Arizona, and about a thousand St. Patrick's Day parades in cities all over the world.

If China has its way, we might be able to travel from London to Beijing in two days via highspeed rail. Yes! This would be fantastic!

And for those who come for the spooky on Wednesdays and not the travel: here's a list of unconventional ways to live on after your death. I am intrigued by the pencil concept.