King of the Food Nerds:
Alton Brown

Model Post-Human:
Aimee Mullins

Science Guy:
Bill Nye

Experimental Surfer Dude:
Laird Hamilton

War Photo Ace:
Teru Kuwayama

Some Guy Who Wrote Us a Guest Blog:
Bill Gates

Our Spiritual Mascot:
Woz

Masters of the Science of Yum:
Nick Kokonas and Grant Achatz

King of Vacuums:
Sir James Dyson

Yep, 10 years ago he managed to buy a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter for $25,000, and he and his buddies have spent the years since turning it into the world's fastest hot rod.

The goal is to break the land speed record last year, shooing for 800MPH. He's got competition from more professional and better-funded groups, but come on. We've got to pull for the most extreme garage tinkerer in the country. Kick some ass, Ed! [NY Times

Jim MacConnell and Tom Masciulli had been installing a phone line at a neighboring house, when an old man ran onto the street screaming that his house was on fire and his wife was trapped inside. MacConell and Masciulli ran into the house and plunged through thick billows of black smoke to find her.

"There was so much black smoke and she had soot all over her face," MacConnell said, while watching firefighters battle the blaze. "If we had left, it's just my opinion, but if we weren't here she would've perished."

Today, Comcast Repairmen, we salute you. [Thanks Jon!]

Actually, what's that I see? A parachute? You mean he didn't die? Oh, then I don't need to be polite about this at all. [CNN -Thanks Geoff!]

He's a supercomputer, but even faster (how delightfully racially stereotyped), which makes him really good at predicting the future, and of course, stock trading. Guess whose stock his superpower picks for the win? (I won't spoil how this revelation comes to him.) [io9]

"The new Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon from Hasbro is the greatest Star Wars toy ever made. No joke. Beats Amidala’s Royal Starship. Beats the AT-AT. And even the Imperial Troop Transporter. This Falcon is the “hunk of junk” we’ve been waiting for since May '77.

First thing you’ll notice when you crack the cardboard is her size. Some 30 percent larger than the original from back in the day. You know—the one your Mom tossed in the garbage while you were in college rolling D20’s and learning BASIC. So prepare to upgrade your playroom/display case shelves to docking bay 94 size.

This Falcon has plenty of interior room for parties. And doesn’t lack for little nubs to slot your figures atop. Or chairs where they can take a seat. The chairs are particularly cool. Remember those babies? From the scene where Luke trains with the saber and Han flips him attitude? The ones that George Lucas copied for his custom Lear Jet back in the '80s. You knew that, right? That he took a large portion of his Star Wars gold and used it to have the interior of his private plane modified to resemble the interior of the Falcon! (Not true, of course. But still—my favorite old school SW rumor!)

This Falcon’s paint job is slick. And so detailed I’m guessing it must’ve been done by next-gen droids, or Jawa slave children with very small hands. All the tech in this Falcon is state of the art. She’s got sound effects up the gundark. Triggered via multiple buttons strategically placed around her sturdy Corellian hull. The orange light at the rear of the cockpit is cool. As is the sweet blue band of engine light that accompanies the jump to hyperspace. But my fave feature has to be the twin LED’s that illuminate when the boarding ramp slowly lowers at the touch of a button. Perfect for lighting up the squishy floor of any odd looking asteroid cave.

One can only hope this magnificent spice smuggler heralds an approaching renaissance from the boffins at Hasbro. The build quality, attention to detail, and sheer number of features on the Legacy Collection Falcon will raise the expectations of Star Wars Fans the republic over. Owning your own freighter ain’t cheap. You may need to sell your mint in-box landspeeder from ’77 to cover the cost. But she’s worth it. See you on the Kessel run! I think 11 parsecs is doable! "

Jesse Alexander also blogs at Global Couch.
[Hasbro]

He says:

"Being a part of a global effort that is enabling children to learn, grow and succeed in life is both tremendously gratifying and important to me," said Masi Oka. "I'm very excited about this opportunity to represent One Laptop per Child and bring my love of technology and education to the global community. I believe that it is incredibly important to enable access to learning for all children so that every child has the opportunity to create a better life for themselves, their family and their society."

Leaders of Nations hear my cry. Please buy these $100 $200 laptops. Seriously. They're super bad ass and for kids and stuff. Now where's my check.

For this decision, we're sure one guy at OLPC camp just went "who's the most popular Asian nerd right now" and another went "that guy from Heroes!" To them, I present my head shot. I would post it here but most of you are working, and I don't want to melt any panties/boxers. [Businesswire]

Trucking along at 12 to 19 mph the bugbots could cover wide areas by being able to get close to the heat without getting burned. In fact, a team of merely 30 of the robots could cover an area as large as 4,400 square miles. With smoke jumping being one of the more dangerous professions out there, it'd be nice to see our forest fire fighters helped out and kept safe by some friendly robots. Unfortunately, there's no date set for when these will actually be made a reality. [Research in Germany via BotJunkie]

Hmm...that's not much of a sell. What did you expect, it's 4 a.m. – Brian Lam

Fergie likes RAZR 2[YoutubeThanks Matias]

Also part of the announced deal are several free, ad-supported on-demand shows, such as "Friday Night Lights," along with content from Bravo, SCI FI, USA, Telemundo and mun2 on five new ad-supported channels available to MobiTV subscribers. But who cares about that when you can get this kind of awesomeness?

While over-the-air on demand has great potential, the 24-hour rental period is a deal-killer, unfortunately. $1.99 makes a great impulse buy if you're stuck on a train or in a doctor's office and missed Sylar impaling ******** on the ceiling the night before, but not if the content magically disappears a day later, especially when you can buy it from iTunes for your iPod to keep for the same price. Or for no price from BitTorrent. – Matt Buchanan

Press Release [MobiTV]

Isaac Mendez - He's an artist, and what's an artist without his Mac? He may be broke, but I'm betting his rich ex-girlfriend could have been talked into getting him a nice, midrange MacBook with a Wacom tablet to do some of his initial sketches on.

Hiro Nakamura - Hiro needs a powerful laptop that's only available in Japan and reflects his family's wealth and high standing. Enter the Sony Vaio Z93 with its carbon-fiber casing. Never mind the high price - he may be a cubicle worker, but daddy bought this one.

Hit the link to see more. –Travis Hudson

Laptops for NBC's "Heroes" [Gearlog]

This is just a lesson. You never know what worthless, broken gadgets of yours will eventually become superstar celebrities on hit television shows. So get to Ebay and start selling that worthless crap. Hit the link to read the full, somewhat entertaining, story.

I'm a celebrity, you're not... [Summel]