The FREAKest Links: Pay Kidneys Forward Edition

Here’s a unique solution to the problem of incentivizing organ donations: ABC News reports that a chain of kidney transplants has been started by a 28-year-old father of four, who donated his kidney to a stranger he found online. His generosity led the recipient’s husband to donate to another stranger, whose mother is now donating, and so on.

Miguel Helft at the New York Times reports on the development of Internet mapping tools that allow Web users to create their own maps or contribute data to existing maps. The result is a massive “GeoWeb” of user-generated maps likened to Wikipedia — though, like their encyclopedic predecessor, they run the risk of total inaccuracy.

In Slate, writer David Shenk revisits his ten-year-old book Data Smog, which prophesied society’s “satur[ation] with data and stimulus” following the growth of the Internet. His conclusion? He was right.