Plurib.us

The wild world of how many spaces to place in between sentences.  (This site goes out of its way to display 2.)

evolt.org/article/Two_Sp...

Before radar, soldiers tried to listen for enemy airplanes with these great gadgets:
dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/e...

(via Presurfer)

Idaho House Concurrent Resolution No. 29.  In part:

WHEREAS,  Tina  the  llama,  the  chickens with large talons, the 4-H milk cows, and the Honeymoon Stallion showcase Idaho's animal husbandry; and
WHEREAS, any members of the House of Representatives or the Senate of  the Legislature  of the State of Idaho who choose to vote "Nay" on this concurrent resolution are "FREAKIN' IDIOTS!" and run the risk of having the "Worst Day of Their Lives!"

www3.state.id.us/oasis/HCR029.h...

Sweet!

A world conflict-map for the 20th century.  Kind of scary, really.

nobelprize.org/peace/educatio...

If you have no idea about how they choose a new Pope, you'll probably need this handy chart.

drewmarlowe.com/pictures/brack...

Greatest image of Titan's features yet.  To the eye, Titan is all clouds.  This is taken at a near-infrared wavelength.

saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/ima...

Kids are make random action figures out of random toy-parts.  My inner six-year-old is throwing an envy-inspired super-tantrum.

toy-lab.com/gallery/albums...

Former Newsday reporter  Laurie Garrett's memo to her co-workers about why she left.

The sort of in-your-face challenge that the Fourth Estate once posed for politicians has been replaced by mud-slinging, lies and, where it ought not be, timidity.

  tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/c...

Among us are persons on the frontier edge of future internet media, which is moving away from streaming, and toward download-and-play.  (You know who you are.)  This article lends a lot of support [network wise] to the argument.  Interesting.

pbs.org/cringely/pulpi...

By the time I was done reading this, I laughed so hard I cried.
zug.com/pranks/credit_...

And there is more where that came from one level up.
zug.com/pranks/

Due to the growing popularity of the original, the streets are teeming with counterfeit Mini Coopers.  Make sure you're not being fooled!

counterfeitmini.org/

And make sure you look at the pictures of confiscated counterfeits, so you know the quality of work we're dealing with!

The multi-tasking loonies at Bible Life Ministries have managed to combine their two great passions, God and meat, into one sweet webpage.

Are Vegetarian Diets Worse Than Terrorists?  Yes! History is beginning to show the deadly results.

The mental paranoia and brainwashing in the vegetarian community are astonishing. Vegetarianism should be classified as a mental disease and an eating disorder.

  And there's way more at the bottom of the page.  In fact, their whole site is kind of awe-inspiring.
biblelife.org/animal_rights....

A little bit of political righteous fury:

The crucial lesson of the Pentagon Papers and then Watergate was that presidents are not above the law. So we thought. But today government lawyers argue that the president is above the law—that he can order the torture of prisoners even though treaties and a federal law forbid it. John Yoo, a former Justice Department official who wrote some of the broad claims of presidential power in memoranda, told Jane Mayer recently that Congress does not have power to "tie the president's hands in regard to torture as an interrogation technique." The constitutional remedy for presidential abuse of his authority, he said, is impeachment. Yoo also told Ms. Mayer that the 2004 election was a "referendum" on the torture issue: the people had spoken, and the debate was over. And so, in the view of this prominent conservative legal thinker, a professor at the University of California law school in Berkeley, an election in which the torture issue was not discussed has legitimized President Bush's right to order its use.

To summarize: The Bush Administration claims that a vote for Bush is a vote for the President's right to torture prisoners.  I don't even know what to say.

nybooks.com/articles/17890

George Orwell's plea to retain meaning in the English language, particularly with regard to politics. 

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism., question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.

resort.com/~prime8/Orwell...

I've never really understood anything about the game of cricket.  And, thanks to this explaination using an analogy of pies, all I know about cricket is that the players tend to need more napkins.

coudal.com/writing.php

Lesser-known synonyms for the name of God, from themorningnews.com.

Jimmy:
The archangel Gabriel was summoned by the will of God. Gabriel bowed his head and replied, “How may I serve you, Jimmy? I mean, Lord?” Thus followed the awkwardest silence in the history of heaven.

themorningnews.org/archives/stori...

Democracy is kind of a weird thing.  This article discusses its oddities. 

Democracy cannot work without a fair level of political and social stability. This implies a certain amount of political apathy. Anything resembling fanaticism, a domination of the normal internal debate by "activists" is plainly to be deplored. And democracy must accept anomalies.

  nationalinterest.org/ME2/dirmod.asp...

I had this idea that it would be useful for each citizen (especially these days) to come up with a list of actions which would be actually harmful to them (rather than distasteful) and then force political discussions to center on those things.  (article via Arts & Letters Daily)

This Cassini photo of Saturn's rings looks like it was 3D rendered on an N64.
saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/ima...

So, maybe everyone already knows something about this, while I just wrote it off as another farfetched Luddite scare.

Strangelets are formed entirely of strange quarks.  They occasionally zip around through space, and apparently, through the Earth.  Unlike neutrinos and other weird particles that fly through planets, strangelets have a noticable effect.  They cause earthquakes.  They're the size of pollen-specks, weigh several tons, and travel at 900,000 mph.  You don't want one to hit you on the head.
telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtm...

What's more, they can theoretically be created in certain particle accelerators, and if that happens, there's a finite chance that they would grow and swallow the planet.  This guy wants you to take legal action against the physicists responsible:
chess.captain.at/strangelets-fa...

Question: If a neutral or negatively charged metastable strangelet (NNCMS) is created, what are the odds that it will cause the destruction of the earth?

Answer: Almost certain.

Awesome.

The Indian Ocean earthquake caused Earth's day to get shorter, but it was nothing compared to El Niño.

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050302....

Ludwig Wittgenstein put together a children's dictionary.  From the preface:

· Again and again psychological principles (where will the student look for the word, how does one guard him against confusions in the best possible manner) clash with grammatical ones (base word, derivative) and with the typographical utilisation of space, with the well-organised appearance of the printed page, etc. Thus it happens that the superficial critic will meet with seemingly arbitrary inconsequences everywhere, but those inconsequences are caused by compromises between essential viewpoints.

Form vs. Substance!  Cat vs. Dog!
books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/...

Until now, my rockstar aspirations have been limited to either backup bassoon or rhythm-vocals.  But thanks to the Xaphoon, hedonistic superstardom need elude me no longer!

Why own a Xaphoon?
    * It will bring you JOY - Imagine being able to create a sense of community wherever you are - at a bus stop, in a cave, waiting in line, even a parking garage!

  Dang--all you need to find joy is an 18-inch neo-sax!
xaphoon.com/

Mars Express found a frozen lake on Mars.  Next, it will probe for water beneath the ice.  If water is there, that's where future missions will go to look for life.  Could be big.

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

Cassini just flew by Saturn's Moon Enceladus.  The surface is composed almost entirely of pure water ice.

Check out "Enceladus Mosaic" on Feb 18.
ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/view_event.php...

More fly-by description:
saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-rel...

When I first saw this flash video, I thought it was good but not anything special.  Since then, I have recurringly wondered why all my friends hadn't seen this (admittedly long) video.  Now I realize it is a classic, but then why haven't I posted it here?  This mystery may remain unanswered, but not unresolved.

"How to kill a Mockingbird"
stanford.edu/~scodary/tkam....

So-pretty-I-still-can't-believe-they-can-be-real pictures of Valles Marineris canyon from ESA's Mars Express orbiter:

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050217....
esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_...

Last night in full, unabridged glory, They Might Be Giants performed "Alphabet of Nations" on Conan.  The Johns were posing their eccentric, mighty poses, adorned in suit & tie.  And with Dan on piano, they uleashed their new song, on their new children's album, to the studio audience and everyone watching on TV.  It was a performance not to forget.

And now we can all watch it on the internet:

cheesegod.com/crudpants/ (ctrl-f for "alphabet")

Haiku error messages.  Some of these are great.  Reiterating something from the intro, I like that these have a sad-ish tone, like the messages they deliver.  (via Chris)

archive.salon.com/21st/chal/1998...

I've meant to post this site for months.  It's one of the greatest things I've ever looked at on a weekly basis.  This week's is kind of racy.  Too racy?  Look at last week's.  And the week before. 

Sometimes people make web-art, and you feel like they're your best friends, even though you'll never meet them.

You used that brush for the cat. . .
and ruined my voodoo love spell.
Now every time I pick up the phone, I hear a soft, sad purring.

asofterworld.com/

The country of Bhutan now has a national smoking ban.  Also, it seems like a neat place.

This is a country that has elevated contrariness to a national trait. Convention says an impoverished yet stunningly beautiful nation like Bhutan should welcome tourists with open arms—and count the dollars. Yet Bhutan restricts the number of foreign tourists (about 9,000 last year) and charges fees of $200 per day. Convention says that gross national product is the best measure of national progress. Yet Bhutan is aiming for another mark: What it calls "gross national happiness." If Bhutan were a celebrity, it would be Johnny Depp—reclusive, a bit odd, but endearing nonetheless.

  slate.msn.com/id/2112449/