Thursday, August 31, 2006

Finding the Good Stuff

Head Butler reviews all the cool stuff (music, books, movies, products) that might otherwise go unnoticed in today's information overload.

This plugged-in cultural concierge will tell you about the New Good Stuff (such as Little Miss Sunshine, a must-see movie) _and_ the Great Old Stuff (such as Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain).

You can subscribe and get these friendly recommendations right in your inbox, or visit the web site.

Let the discoveries begin!

Vulcan Philosophy

Quotes From Mr. Spock

In Real Life

Vader Sessions - Star Wars and James Earl Jones mashup with all of Darth Vader's scenes in Star Wars: A New Hope overdubbed with James Earl Jones' voice from his other movies.

Midnight Snack

GopherNow - Listing of restaurants open late into the night in major metropolitan areas of the United States.

It's Not The Drugs

I think the reason George Bush stumbles, ends sentences midway through to jump to another thought, rattles off non-sequiturs, and makes up words, is that George Bush is breaking under the strain of lying almost all the time about almost everything.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

A Pirates Life For Me

Ahoy! Ye came lookin' to become a pirate, eh? Ye came to the right place. Ye be at Cap'n Eli's Online School of Swashbuckling, the finest institution on the seven seas for pirate-tutoring and pirate-teaching. Located on secret pirate internet island, our fine school of swashbuckling carries the pride and knowledge of a thousand generations of pirates. Whether ye still be getting ye sea legs on or whether ye be a scurvy scurve, ye can benefit from Cap'n Eli's Online School of Swashbuckling. Navigate using the stars, your compass, and the toolbar on the left.

Pink Sinatra

Another Boot In The Wall

Be It Resolved

Impeach the President - Michael Moore's cut and paste template for applying to impeach Bush.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Ain't That Strange

Top 15 Strangest Coincidences

via

Whiskey And Blues

The Single Malt Guitars - Built using timbers reclaimed from the scottish, malt whisky industry, each instrument is created as an individual, according to the available timbers and the customer's requirements.

Air Time

Farecast's goal is to help you predict when is the cheapest time to buy an airline ticket.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Darfur Update: The Final Decision

"There is Paralysis at the UN as Khartoum prepares to resume genocidal onslaught."

-Eric Reeves August 25, 2006

The final moment of diplomatic truth for Darfur has at last arrived. All evidence suggests that the international community is prepared to acquiesce before the military onslaught Khartoum’s National Islamic Front is preparing for North Darfur, an offensive that will target both rebel military forces and non-Arab civilians who do not support the deeply flawed “Darfur Peace Agreement” (May 5, 2006, Abuja, Nigeria).

Blink Of An Eye

The Guardian's 15 Websites that changed the world

¡Ay, Caramba!

Aranjuez Guitar Quartet plays Danny Elfman's Simpsons theme.

Make Things Helpful???

Interesting ideas to redesign San Francisco public transportation signage

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Darfur Update

Wikipedia: Darfur Conflict - User-created, hyperlinked article on the ongoing Darfur conflict in western Sudan. Includes a history of the conflict, maps, and related links.

Raising Cost of Education

A Guide to Free and Low Cost Textbooks

Some Mad Scientists

Pluto has been demoted.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Canary In A GovMine

Govmine: The Alternative Search Engine is a government-oriented search engine that ranks documents "based on relevance, not just popularity."

Speaking Out Of Synch

Nippon Cinema - Features Japanese movie related news, reviews, trailers, and a forum.

Is This Thing Working?

The Gettysburg Address in Powerpoint,

Friday, August 25, 2006

They Planned This?

The History of the California Master Plan for Higher Education site "provides access to digitized historical documents, images, and analysis related to the development of the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education in California," which helped guide the expansion of California's higher education system (community colleges, state universities, and the University of California). Features a timeline (1849-1960), overview of past and current law, and biographies of key participants. From the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) at the University of California, Berkeley.

Lucky Lotto

Lottery Report: Links to Various Sad but True Winners Stories - read more about the misfortune of lottery winners.

Wink Wink Nudge Nudge

Understanding Body Language - Explains the types of nonverbal cues others communicate to us and how to read them. Details the differences between kinesic, haptic, and proxemic communication and looks at the Mehrabian study on how your facial expressions and tone of voice convey more meaning than the actual words you speak.

Life Explained, On Film

VideoJug - Hosts instructional videos created and uploaded by people just like you.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

From Here To There

HopStop - This incredibly useful site provides step-by-step directions via bus or subway in four cities: New York, Boston, Washington and San Francisco. Plug in start and end points and you get clear instructions, alternative options and maps. The site factors in service changes and provides alternative routes.

What Is It Good For?

How Many and Where Were the Nukes? What the U.S. Government No Longer Wants You to Know about Nuclear Weapons During the Cold War

On The Chalkboard

50 Popular Science Blogs (written by scientists)

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

A Place To Park

Central Park - This comprehensive, interactive guide to one of the world's most famous public spaces offers up-to-date information on 43 different attractions, from the Carousel to the Conservatory Garden, Strawberry Fields to the Swedish Cottage.

Citizen's Manual

50 State Bluebook Guide - Table with links to "blue books" for most U.S. states. These books are directories to each state's government, with material on topics such as branches of government, departments, and elections. Compiled by Daniel Cornwall, a librarian at the Alaska State Library.

High Flying

DEA: Drug Information - Fast facts and news about illegal drugs and drugs that are abused in the U.S., such as OxyContin, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, LSD, steroids, methamphetamine, ecstasy (MDMA), ketamine, and other "club drugs." From the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Darfur Update: Plain And Simple

How hard are your congressional representatives working to end the genocide? To find out, click here. (It was scary to see the partisan split in CA, the Democrats got generally grades of B's and higher while the Republicans got D's and worse, with a handful of C's but none higher).

Appearently there is a test for good and evil.

Thank you Ray for reminding me of my coalition commitments.

Do You Believe?


Science has just published a short comparative study of international acceptance of evolution. Thirty-four countries were polled, and guess what? We score 33rd - edging out Turkey for last place.

Reference is, Jon D. Miller, Eugenie C. Scott, and Shinji Okamoto (2006) "Public Acceptance of Evolution" Science Aug 11 2006: 765-766.

via

Infornt Of The Screen

Torrent Search - Scrape Torrent

One Banana, Two Banana

Banana Splits (6 videos).

Monday, August 21, 2006

33rd Degree

How to become a Freemason.

Light Up The Sky

A list of forthcoming close approaches to the Earth by minor planets and comets.

Red Rubies

The Gemstone Files, the beating heart of conspiracy from the early 50's to the late 70's.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Beware Of The Cashless

DigitaMoney - Information resource covering digital currency, digital gold, Internet fraud, and related security technologies.

Anybody Out There?

Others Online - Toolbar that shows people relevant to the user's web browsing and other interests, on every page visited.

FreeBird!!!

Festivals.com - find festivals in your area with the kind of music you like.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Approach The Bench

vLex.us: Supreme Court Opinion Search - Features a searchable database of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Really Really

ReallyReady.org - A emergency preparedness resource, from the Federation of American Scientists, designed to correct inaccuracies in the Ready.gov website.

UFO Highway In Nevada

Why not scope out some of the weirder spots of the globe?

Friday, August 18, 2006

Your True Calling

Popularity Dialer - Schedule a call to yourself and take part in a fake conversation, right when you need it.

Red Hot MILBs

Minor League Baseball

Not Hardly

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival - Provides information on the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, the free festival held every fall in San Francisco.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Next Of Kin

Katrina Information Network (KIN) - KIN is an activist network that shares viewpoints and action updates from the communities that have been devastated by Katrina, with up-to-the minute news and analysis.

Pick Of The Litter

Dems4Pres - Potential Democratic candidate analysis and ranking.

Through The Gates

WikiPortals - Different views on the Wikipedia

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

True Talent

Hoff Blog - can anyone be as talented as David?

My Lucky Shoe

Sports Superstitions - whatever you do, don't step on the foul line!

Glad Somebody Knows

How Dreams Work - Includes an intro on how dreams work, lucid dreaming, nightmares, and dream interpretation.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Super Stereo

HOW-TO: Replace your car stereo with a Computer

Super Hero

Powers and Abilities of Superman

Good Stuff

A Behind the Scenes Guide to the Things We Buy - The Purpose of this Online Guide is to answer questions about the environmental and social impacts of the products you buy and use. It contains many of the tips, facts, and links you'll need to start making more informed purchases that benefit your health and the environment.

The Worldwatch Institute publishes a unique blend of interdisciplinary research, global focus, and accessible writing that has made it a leading source of information on the interactions among key environmental, social, and economic trends.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Blister In The Sun #3

In Broad Daylight- Daily updates of corruption in the news.

Blister In The Sun #2

Dollarocracy - A citizen's guide to the money-in-politics complex.

Blister In The Sun #1

Under the Influence - A real-time investigation of money in Washington politics.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

High Flying

Airline portal is directory of websites. You can use the website to access thier database by alphabet, by regions, or by code.

Double Points

Cheat Codes in Video Games

It's A Bird, It's A Plane

Famous Firsts in Aviation

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Bottom Of The Barrel

Suicides and Suicide Attempts - Collection of articles about suicides and suicide attempts published in The New York Times.

Blackstone Stamp Of Approval

The Scrutinizer is a single page from which you can run dozens of different tests on the content of any page in your site. Available tests run the gamut from HTML and CSS validation and link popularity and rank checks to pings and traceroutes, plagiarism checks, site speed tests, and more.

via

Colbert Truthiness

Wikiality - If enough people believe something is true ... it is.

"I love Wikipedia, any site that's got a longer entry on 'truthiness' than on Lutherans has its priorities straight."

- Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Important Questions

Do bubbles in Guinness go down? We are used to seeing bubbles float up in a glass of beer, but bubbles in Guinness appear to break the rules. Do the bubbles really sink in Guinness, or is it just an illusion?

Chased Aounrd The Desk

The 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill.

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Frigid Libations

How to Keep Beer Cold

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Things Just Popped Up

With PopUp Politicians you embed a little code in a Web page and it creates a popup with information about a politician, including links to background information (from Congresspedia), campaign finance history (from OpenSecrets) and voting records (from the Washington Post). From the Sunlight Foundation.

Sizzling

What to do about Extreme Heat.

That Time Of The Month

Observances & Commemorations

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Teach The World To Sing

50 Albums that changed Music

We're The Kids In America

The Almanac of Hunger and Poverty in America 2006 , from America's Second Harvest, includes statistics by state.

Eureka!

The subject of this website is a manuscript of unique importance to the history of science, the Archimedes Palimpsest. This tenth century manuscript is the unique source for two of Archimedes Treatises, The Method and Stomachion, and it is the unique source for the Greek text of On Floating Bodies. Discovered in 1906 by J.L. Heiberg, it plays a prominent role in his 1910-15 edition of the works of Archimedes, upon which all subsequent work on Archimedes has been based. The manuscript was in private hands throughout much of the twentieth century, and was sold at auction to a private collector on the 29th October 1998. The owner deposited the manuscript at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, a few months later. Since that date the manuscript has been the subject of conservation, imaging and scholarship. The Archimedes Palimpsest project, as it is called, has generated a great deal of public curiosity, as well as the interest of scholars throughout the world.

Follow along on the Exploratorium presents a live webcast as the Stanford Synchotron Radiation Laboratory x-ray examines the 1,000-year-old document

Friday, August 04, 2006

Nuvah Den

Judaica Sound Archives - 7,000 different sound tracks produced between 1901 and the mid-1950s

Extra levels

All you ever wanted to know about Space Invaders on the web and a Stop-Motion Human Space Invaders

Sand Storm

The many influences of Herbert's Dune on Lucas’s Star Wars

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Form Of A Question

The Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project grows from this premise and this goal: to help the press ask penetrating questions, critical questions, questions that matter, questions not yet asked about today's news. NiemanWatchdog.org seeks to encourage more informed reporting by putting journalists in contact with authorities who can suggest appropriate, probing questions and who can serve as resources.

Extended Dance Mix

The Prisoner (Free Man Mix featuring MC No.6)

Got Time?

Watch grass grow is it ALWAYS greener of the other side (I've always wondered if optimists feel the grass is always browner on the other side)? Or watch water evaporate is it half full or half empty (or is there just not enough to drink)?

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Tailgate Planner

International Sports Calendar - Browse by date, year, country, and sport. Content thru 2010. Provided by General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) via IOC.

Excuse This!

The Urban Etiquette Handbook

Excess Cash

2006 Investment Company Fact Book - 46th Edition of A Review of Trends and Activity in the Investment Company Industry

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

A Neighborhood Walk

The New York City Map Portal provides you with access to New York City data and NYC.gov applications with address level data and maps. Find building, property, and community information as well as neighborhood statistics with ease.

That's Hollywood

The 10 Best Sci-Fi Films That Never Existed

On The Dole

Archer Daniels Midland: A case study in corporate welfare