The idea that Aaron Swartz fought for is that the public should have access to federal court documents as well as access to scholarly research that was being put behind paywalls.

"Power is something of which I am convinced there is no innocence this side of the womb."- Nadine Gordimer (born on this date in 1923)

“It's funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they'll do practically anything you want them to.” ― J.D. Salinger

"I don't paint things. I only paint the difference between things."- Henri Matisse (born on this date in 1869)

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition.” ― Rudyard Kipling (born on this date in 1865)

"I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits."- Charles Goodyear (born on this date in 1800)

“Quotations are useful in periods of ignorance or obscurantist beliefs.” ― Guy Debord (born on this date in 1931)

"I demonstrate by means of philosophy that the earth is round, and is inhabited on all sides; that it is insignificantly small, and is borne through the stars." - Johannes Kepler

"The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." - Henry Miller (born on this date in 1891)

"The freethinking of one age is the common sense of the next." - Matthew Arnold (born on this date in 1822)

"New capabilities emerge just by virtue of having smart people with access to state-of-the-art technology." - Internet pioneer Robert Kahn (born on this date in 1938)

"Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles."- George Eliot

"People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute." - Rebecca West (born on this date in 1892)

"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry." - Emily Dickinson (born on this date in 1830)

Researchers used thermal infrared sensors to pinpoint the record-setting pockets on a high ridge of the East Antarctic Plateau. The record low: minus 136 F (minus 93.2 C), set on August 10, 2010.  

Warning: this video might drive you a little bit nuts. Even after you realize that it is messing with your head, the optical illusion in the video will continue to convince you to believe that two squares are identical. What a reminder of how easily we are fooled!

This illustration represents the possible extent of an ancient lake inside Gale Crater on Mars. Examination of mudstone confirmed the exist of the lake which formed billions of years ago. 

A lawsuit is demanding certain rights for a 26-year-old chimpanzee named Tommy on the basis that personhood derives from cognitive and emotional qualities that chimpanzees, like humans, possess in abundance. 

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..” ― John Milton

“I've never believed in God, but I believe in Picasso. ”- Diego Rivera (born on this date in 1886)