In the pop-culture memescape, he’s best known for predicting the eventual fusion of man and machine — at last, the belly-button USB port we’ve always wanted! — but there’s more to Ray Kurzweil than Skynet-friendly futurism. Dude’s in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Those torturous tax questions that keep you up at night, answered once and for allIt’s that time of year again — for procrastination, free-floating anxiety and pencil-chewing late nights at the kitchen table as you tackle the family taxes. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Documentary filmmaker“I’m a provocateur,” filmmaker Stan Armstrong says, his soft voice bereft of self-satisfaction. It’s not a boast; it’s a statement of fact.

If you can gauge a man’s sincerity by how doggedly he returns to his core message, R. Byron Stringer is utterly focused on helping people, particularly troubled kids.

Food & Drink Shops & Services Leisure, Family & Fun Outtakes Best headliner Taylor Hicks The fifth-season “American Idol” winner’s success story actually began in Las Vegas. Stranded in New Orleans the night before Hurricane Katrina and unable to return home to Birmingham, Ala.

Food & Drink Art & Culture Leisure, Family & Fun Outtakes Best place to get away from it all 23rd Floor Lobby at Mandarin Oriental Hotel A feeling of serenity settles over you once you’ve ensconced yourself in the 23rd floor lobby (that’s right) of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. From far above the Strip, you can enjoy its vistas yet feel comfortably removed from its hurly-burly, and the staff is the essence of solicitude.

At Echo & Rig, the stylish new steakhouse and butcher shop at Tivoli Village, steel-cut oatmeal is available near the host stand for $17 a tin. It’s hard to believe that anyone who would come here with a taste for prime rib would leave with an offensively priced breakfast staple.

1. “Heritage declares there is still something to be done with the American steakhouse,” wrote Brock Radke in our December issue, awarding Tom Colicchio’s Heritage Steak in the Mirage our coveted Restaurant of the Year Award.

The blossoming of cocktail culture has given rise to many liquor trends. But sometimes the new sensation is an old tradition, like mezcal.

Sampling the culinary traditions of Israel, Iran, India and beyond reveals countless variations in the valley (usually with a kick of heat)I’m convinced there’s an art to skewering and grilling meat. Consider the care and thought that goes into a koobideh kabob, for instance.