Plurib.us

This computer desk transforms into a bed:

flyingbeds.com/14.Euro_BunkBe...

In the future, I will own only one all-encompassing multitasking object.  This object will break in some spectacular fashion, and I will be sad.

The free and open source "planetarium for your computer", Stellarium, has just released a new version of their program.  What better opportunity to try it out yourself?  (It's awesome.)

stellarium.org/

Some fine new pictures from the aging Mars rovers Spirit & Opportunity:

jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/i...
jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/i...
jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/i...

Wii.  It will one day, be the new thing.  (And you're all going to like it.)
gameinformer.com/News/Story/200...

What I like about it is, it’s not about abbreviating anything. There will be no abbreviation needed. There is no Nintendo Wii. It’s just Wii.

Neato display of the Sun's spectrum, including thin color gaps where the surrounding sun-gas absorbs its own light.  (Don't look directly into it.)

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060423....

A key factor of my formative years was the post-preschool trifecta of The Muppet Show, Tom & Jerry cartoons, and Sesame Street.  The first two are well-archived and not-worth-archiving, respectively.  Now, thanks to this guy, the best Sesame Street clips are all linked from one place:
foldedspace.org/weblog/2006/04...

A slideshow on semiotics in advertising:

uvm.edu/~tstreete/semi...
(via monkeyfilter.com)

NASA's Mars rovers, long past their expiration dates, are still sending back great images.  Here are some relatively recent ones from each:

jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/i...
jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mer/i...

This is an awesome economy blog by an awesome economy commentator (technically, economy commentary commentator).  I admit that his topics tend to be a little over my head -- I've read Dean Baker writings in other e-publications for a few years now -- but I feel a lot better jumping into this than the economy section of random newspapers.  Indeed, he has a habit of criticizing mainstream newspapers for misinterpreting the facts.

Really, shouldn't correctly interpreting facts be rule #1 in writing about the economy?
beatthepress.blogspot.com/

Remember the old Batman TV show?  Remember how the fight scenes were rife with onomatopoetic text describing the ferocity of the action? 

Well, POW!  PAM!  zzZZWAP!

batmania.com.ar/paginas/serie_...

First images released from ESA's Venus Express.  The craft just went into orbit April 11.

esa.int/SPECIALS/Venus...

Totally awesome maps of religion in the USA, by county:

regionsofmind.blog-city.com/mapping_religi...

Neato meditation on a no-click mouse interface.  Maybe we should make plurib.us no-click.  We're already part way there.

dontclick.it/

Cirque du Soleil, and the closest thing we're ever going to get to an official new Beatles album - the combination could be lethal.

telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtm...

This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics.  He's a couple of weeks behind right now, but it's great anyway. 

math.ucr.edu/home/baez/this...

Interesting story I heard on MPR about evolution and freeloaders: (with surprisingly little digging around, transcripts of just about everything on mpr can be found on their site.)

npr.org/templates/stor...

New world's hottest chilli pepper discovered:
thisisdorset.net/dorset/bridpor...

The chilli went off the scales and the lab [ran] the tests twice - because they couldn't believe the results.

Copyright related intervew with Lawrence Lessig, "father of Creative Commons".

blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-0...

Venue Songs: They Might Be Giants make songs for each rock venue they play at.  (I have only watched a few of these so far.)  "Dallas" has an odd intro about our own First Avenue.  (Incidentally, Damn Good Times gets a video treatment that I wasn't expecting.)

tmbg.com/

Funny insight on the nature of RSS feeds
robotwisdom2.blogspot.com/2006/03/when-y...

Say hello to Carl Russell Overbye.  I imagine he is pleased to be on the internet.  (It took me 17 years to have an internet presence.  Thanks to his network of tech-savvy allies, Carl did it in days.)

plurib.us/photo/overbaby...

Mars is host to another robot with cameras:  Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  It just started sending back it's unprecedented quantity of data.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/n...
marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/

I am gradually [cautiously?] being hypnotized by the soft song of JavaScript.  This article (and a skim over the first few pages of comments) about sums it up for me.

themaninblue.com/writing/perspe...

My examples: This page (plurib.us) is a web page that is made better with JavaScript, but degrades nicely without it.  The Shrub is not a "web page" in this way, but an application that has no real functionality w/o JavaScript.

These maps are really, really neat:

sasi.group.shef.ac.uk/worldmapper/

(#38, "Container Ports" is kind of funny.)

A sign of life was found on a Mars meteorite that fell to Earth.  Not unambiguous, but compelling.  (Soon, robots are going to be looking for this kind of thing on Mars itself.)

spaceref.com/news/viewpr.ht...

I was wondering lately, with the flurry of news surrounding the Saddam trial, what are the possible outcomes of it.  This article says he/they may be hanged.  (It also contains a lovely excerpt, representative of the trial.)

guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,...

As the exchanges became more acrimonious, Judge Rahman shouted at Saddam: "Respect yourself." Saddam shouted back: "You respect yourself."

"Steve, don't eat it!":  This bloggish thing cracked me up.  And maybe it will crack you up too.

thesneeze.com/mt-archives/ca...

Q: What happens when you try to load too much cargo on to your vehicle?

A:  You look ridiculous.

ezprezzo.com/crazypics/over...
(via boingboing.net)

A finely crafted image of the big dipper, and a bit of astronomy I did not know.

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060317....

People I know are getting their own protopages.  Here is a list:

protopage.com/lisarlukis
protopage.com/kristamoessner
protopage.com/tsomkes
protopage.com/quixtrike

(ps - Peter now has one too.  Now both of our bookmark links [above] go to our respective protopages.)