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| Friday, August 11, 2006 |
Today: links from others! Thanks, everyone.
From Dr. Matt's alter ego, Suuuperrr Sloooow Mannn, comes this great look at lessons learned from '80s cartoons. And they're all true!
From the Graveworm: the alchemy of flight. Evidently it led to some broken bones.
From Glenna: a great treatise on "monstrous little women" in horror films.
From Courtney (hi Courtney, we owe you email!): the homeless are suing Massachusetts libraries for their new policies requiring permanent addresses. The homeless advocates have a good point.
Mentos is so pleased with all the Diet Coke & Mentos geyser experiments out there that they're sponsoring a contest of their own. The people who run Mentos must be rather cool.
Comboling is a strange, minimalist, surprisingly addicting game. Have at it.
Have a safe weekend, everyone. See you Monday!
Jinnet @
: comments: 2
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| Thursday, August 10, 2006 |
In case you're stuck in an airport terminal for hours on end, with no liquid in sight, here are some informational-type link thingys to take your mind off the current situation. (Transatlantic flights with no carry-on possessions sound hellish.)
RIP, Frederick Kilgour, also known as the founder of OCLC. In related news, WorldCat has been revitalized and made more web-friendly!
The recent leaking of searcher information from AOL is causing all sorts of havoc and questions about privacy and security. AOL pulled the information pretty quickly, but a lot of other websites got access to it and have posted it. Don't Delete has a "random user" option that lets you surf around and see what people searched for, which can be really entertaining. I looked at one that had some relatively R-rated searches and then suddenly listed "grandma needs a pet." Heh.
In more local goof news, one of our libraries is giving out lead-filled toys. Oops!
I once worked at the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives as a graduate assistant, and I can vouch for the fact that there are some seriously weird government publication titles out there. Now there's a Flickr pool of strange titles. (I will dig out my old brochures on how to tell if your bread is safe and post them to the group, hopefully.)
Can't get to a museum right now? How about the Museum of Online Museums? Hours of fun!
Tomorrow: links from others. Stay tuned.
Jinnet @
: comments: 0
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| Wednesday, August 09, 2006 |
Travel/spooky link day. We start with travel. Zoom around a Google Maps image of a city with a tiny biplane! Use the arrow keys to move, and use the spacebar to shoot things you don't like! (It won't do any good, but it's the thought that counts.)
Not to be outdone with the Kentucky-to-Alabama yard sale that happened last weekend, Ohio and Indiana are getting in on the act with a 400-mile sale this weekend.
You hear a lot about coal mines, but not so much about iron mines. Now you can explore the strange underground world without going to the northeast.
Hey, the possibly first-ever game of border volleyball was played recently between the U.S. and Mexico! (Mexico won, by the way.)
National Geographic has a neat little interactive site regarding extraterrestial places and things. Which leads nicely into the spooky links. The After Death Communication Research Foundation is interested in dreams people have about those who have died, plus any other experiences they might have had. And in unrelated news, taxidermy is back, back, back!
Jinnet @
: comments: 0
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| Tuesday, August 08, 2006 |
Hey, it's been fifteen years since the web went public. Time flies, eh? Whenever people speculate about what life will be like twenty years from now, I think of how, in 1986, I would never have imagined the internet could exist, much less have such an impact on society. Twenty years from now, I might have it implanted in my brain! Woohoo! (Sorry, I'm a transhumanist.)
They're being sneakily quiet about it, but Washington has dropped that whole ridiculous "freedom fries" thing and have gone back to good old French fries and French toast. Vive les frites!
Sometimes I find links and save them with a short description so I can remember why the heck I saved them in the first place. This one was summed up as "a rave in your hands," and it's true. Literally! Buy two and become a techno conductor!
A new Muppet is going to show up on Sesame Street next week, and she's being touted as "the super girly-girl Muppet." I'm not kidding, either. Her name is Abby Cadabby, she's all into faeries and pink and dresses and magic, and, well, I don't know. I never felt that the Muppets were too male-dominated, which is apparently the concern here, but then again I was sort of a tomboy when I was little. I was never into Barbies or ballerinas, either. Your mileage may vary.
And finally, if you find yourself getting too riled up about Abby or French fries or whatnot, here's an example of just how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things. (Ever see that short film about magnifying the universe by the power of 10? It's kind of like that.)
Jinnet @
: comments: 2
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| Monday, August 07, 2006 |
A random smattering of arty links today...
Film: Have you seen the Four Word Film Review? You can vote for your favorites on current films. Some are merely okay, others are truly inspired.
Historical writings: modern scientists have found a way to uncover the hidden writing in the texts of Archimedes. How cool is that?
Theatre: Hey, how come no one seemed to care that much about George Bernard Shaw's 150th birthday last week? At least the Shaw Festival honored the day.
Architecture: Panopticons is a UK group dedicated to creating "21st century landmarks" across the country. We need a US branch.
Animation: Anyone near Los Angeles should check out the summer-long exhibit "It's Alive!" which shows some of the great animatronic figures of film, including characters from Gremlins, The Dark Crystal, Beetlejuice and more. (For those of us who won't be near L.A. anytime soon, there's a slideshow of some of the creatures.)
Fabric fun: Crafster is always great, especially when they bring you brilliant ideas like this zombie and ninja created from felt. Brains! Nice, knitted brains!
Jinnet @
: comments: 1
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