'25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small, Round Room'

The Onion's AV Undercover has come up with a great idea: Have 25 bands perform live covers of 25 songs by artists big and small. Here's the catch: The list of 25 songs is finite, with one song performed a week. After a song is performed, it's scratched off the list, leaving fewer choices for the next performer.

Week to week you don't know who the performer will be or what song they'll choose.

So far, artists as diverse as Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Alkaline Trio, Cursive and Justin Townes Earle (Steve Earle's kid) have had their shot in the spotlight, covering songs by Tears for Fears, Archers of Loaf, Starship and Bruce Springsteen.

Songs yet to be performed include M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes"; REM's "Driver 8"; and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." Journey's "Faithfully" is even on the list, which is some kinda curveball. I'm waiting to see who has the courage to tackle The Replacements' "I Will Dare."

It's all great fun, and a cool way to show off some fresh artists adding their own twists to great songs.

Photos That Changed the World

One of my dreams in life is to be able to attend a TED conference, where the brightest -- and often the least known -- minds in the world gather to share ideas that make the world a better place.

TED.com is a treasure trove of short video presentations from previous conferences, and one released this month is titled "Photos That Changed the World." Jonathan Klein of Getty Images discusses some iconic photographs as well as some I had never seen before that remind you quickly how much power superb photographs contain.

Some of these images aren't for the faint of heart, but neither are some of the world's challenges.

Whoops!

The March issue of Racecar Engineering has an "exclusive" that isn't so relevantGreat moments in bad timing:

Just saw on newstands the latest edition of Racecar Engineering magazine, which features an "exclusive" look at the new car from U.S. F1. "Inside a New Breed of Grand Prix Team," the teaser reads.

One problem: U.S. F1 earlier this year missed deadlines to race in 2010, and earlier this month laid off all employees.

D'oh!