The Rich Resonance of Small Talk
The rich resonance of small talk. As part of Self Improvement Quest, I'm trying to become better at this.
The rich resonance of small talk. As part of Self Improvement Quest, I'm trying to become better at this.
Feral Children, isolated, confined, wolf and wild children. This is another subject that fascinates me. To me, it's closely related to animal intelligence.
100 web sites for women> — 100 web sites for men (both from the UK)
Encyclopedia Obscura: "Lurking in the shadows of pop culture so you don't have to..."
43folders: turning procrastination into action
A fantastic weblog entry on mistakes in stories (esp. film and television) and the suspension of disbelief: The Imaginary Workshop.
You are a genie in a bottle. Weird.
Fascinating account of the process behind creating custom-bound comic books. I'd love to have some of my books and comics custom bound, but I don't know where to start. (Also: an interview with the guy who does this.)
The top twenty children's films — this list is well-thought and filled with great recommendations.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, a WoW expansion, was announced today. More information here. [via Scott S.]
My mother, tetherball champion (almost). Mom has posted a nice story from her childhood.
Top flotch: if you're Star Wars fan (and especially if you hated the prequels), then this is a must-see: lost Empire Strikes Back footage. Sort of. Hilarious and brilliant.
Good-experience games: the best of on-line flash games listed in one place
Repeat, but worth it: Kevin Kelly's cool tools, a web site devoted to the best of everything
Uncle Mark's 2006 Gift Guide and Almanac — I read the 2004 version of this guide, and it was excellent, filled with great suggestions.
Mildly amusing short film: How to Tell When a Relationship is Over
TravelWOWcity is a sort of virtual tour of World of Warcraft. I haven't played the game since April 21st, but boy have I felt its pull lately. I want to play. I want to play.
Darren Aronofsky will direct an episode of Lost. Now that should be fun.
For Kris: the George W. Bush countdown. She keeps telling me, with real anxiety, "I can't believe we have three more years of this guy."
Very funny: if Fox News had been around throughout history — there are some great bits scattered here
The history of Civilization (the computer game, that is) and a wonderful thread about it on Metafilter.
Via AmyJo: Food Porn, a long scholarly article about food writing, and Saute Wednesday, "random links to food articles and other bits of cork in your wine glass..."
The David Brent soundboard (for you fans of The Office)
Via Nicole: The Your Type of Girl Test: mine is The Girl Next Door (66% sexy-cute, 48% dark-light, 58% arty-stylish). Also, the Beautiful Faces Test: my ideal is apparently Denise Richards (57% eyes, 33% nose, 51% mouth, 50% sexycute).
Hack-a-day features all sorts of do-it-yourself geekery, such as build your own Segway, build your own flamethrower, and build your own bagpipes
Idea generation methods: the definitive collection
I find this grid game hypnotic despite the lack of real interaction (or skill) required to play. My high score so far is 1881.
Flash Gordon soundboard (I'm listening to the Flash Gordon soundtrack right now, and may watch the DVD tonight...)
Fantastic idea for better sleep: use two alarm clocks to exploit your natural sleep cycle. Set the first for the time you need to wake up. Set the second for somewhat earlier and put it in soft radio mode.
Bush's approval rating among Blacks is 2% +/- 3.4%: yes, our President may have a negative approval rating among one segment of the population...
The Parents Behaving Badly weblog documents the worst in breeders.
University lectures available for download: Stanford lectures in iTunes, Princeton's University Channel, the wonderful MIT OpenCourseWare and the U of Wisconsin - Madison.
Freshette is "the female urinary director". The ultimate in penis envy! [via Lynn]
A computer case made from corrugated cardboard? Sounds dangerous! Also sounds like a job for (Custom Box Service...) [via Dave]
Candy You Ate as a Kid features all sorts of old candy that you may remember from your youth. For Lisa's sake, I hope they have circus peanuts. (They do! You can build your own bag of candy. Fantastic!) [via Lisa, who is getting old]
I just googled for a Proust action figure; I thought it would be a fun ironic thing to own. (Proust and action are kind of opposites). The search result made me sigh.
The Marines may use airships (blimps) to airlift troops (!?!) [via Dave]
Good Sleep, Good Learning, Good Life — a fantastic (but long) guide to good sleep, similar to my recent entry: A Brief Guide to Better Sleep.
The usable home: home hacks to make life easier. For example: put items you need to remember in your path. And: leave writing instrumens everywhere.
The Common Census map project creates a map of the United States based on how respondents self-identify with a particular region. Fascinating idea.
LiveMarks is a fascinating del.icio.us. links viewer featuring popular items and a live updated stream of new items. Very cool. Very.
I've transferred the following popular entries from the crashed weblog: Getting Things Done, Get Rich Slowly, Pocket Bikes, Sexy Songs, The Velvet Ribbon, The Power of the Internet, Too Much Cat, and the most popular entry: 622 Music Videos.
Prison time for woman who deliberately killed her cat in the washing machine. I sure hope so. This makes me so angry.
Body as Billboard features provocative t-shirts for women with slogans like: "The only Bush I trust is my own"
I will be gradually re-creating important entries from Before the Crash. The first one I've moved is The Cinnamon Bear.
Apple's new Aperture is a piece of software designed for professional photographers. It looks intriguing.
Amazing video from NASA showing the track of every 2005 tropical storm/hurricane. Well worth the download.
Willamette Week has published its annual restaurant guide. Instead of a restaurant of the year, the've name a street of the year: NE Alberta. They cite one of our favorites — Ciao Vito — as a key to this street's success.
Scientists study tool-using gorillas [via Dave]
Pranks: college pranks remembered at AskMe, MIT's interesting "hacks", cockeyed.com's collection, by Joey Skaggs, from zug.com, and in the office.
AskMetafilter questions about discovering opera: where to begin? and where to start? I've added a question of my own. Apparently Discovery HD shows high-quality operas every Friday night!
The joy of small favors — I always like when I'm able to help someone in a small way. I don't do it enough.
Saint Triceratops (from The Lives of the Saints)
The latest issue of Preservation magazine, the publication of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has a fantastic article on Oregon's land-use planning (specifically Measure 37). If you'd like to borrow my copy, let me know.
Tom Tomorrow presents The Very Bad Idea
A Star is Born laserdisc review (I could explain why I'm posting this, but that's like a weblog entry in and of itself)
Read Halfway to three score and ten, Lisa's lovely meditation on aging and parenting.
Several flash-based games for your Monday: master lightning pool, play the original Prince of Persia, or check out the many fun diversions at Teagames.
Hungry? Learn everything you ever wanted to know about hot dogs (including history and legends of hot dogs), sip on Coca-Cola's secret formula, and then have an Easter Bunny Twinkie car for dessert!
Holy war looms over Narnia film — Philip Pullman speaks his mind
I love these Flying Spaghetti Monster car plaques (and dinosaur-eating-fish plaques, etc.)
The food timeline is a fun way to explore the history of edibles. Great for my foodie friends!
The zeppelin library archive. I love zeppelins. There's something nostalgic and fascinating about them.
More advice to aspiring writers. Also Paperback Writer, a weblog.
Going beyond the Staten Island boat graveyard, the same site has a huge collection of "abandoned photography and urban exploration" stuff. (See also.)
The top ten accidental discoveries in science.
The next iPod killer? A PEZ dispenser mp3 player. [via Dave]
I was all excited to show Kris the Microgram Bulletin — the DEA's monthly drug smuggling newsletter, but she's all like, "Yeah, whatever: I print that off for the chem lab every month. Everyone initials that they've read it, then they give it to me, and I file it." She's a trained observer.
And, finally, fantastic Monty Python toys.
How not to get hit by cars while riding a bicycle.
Everybody's heard about the new video iPods, etc., right? You can now buy music videos and a few television programs (such as Lost and Desperate Housewives) for two bucks a pop. They play back in iTunes or on a video iPod. (Read Daring Fireball's take.)
Deeper Motive, a weblog of interest. I like the layout.
The Staten Island boat graveyard, a remarkable photo gallery of old ships left to rot in the sea.
I've been toying with the Movable Type style generator, exploring new possiblities for this site. (Though based on early feedback, I'll probably do what I can to keep it basically the same as before.)