Plurib.us

Jerry Springer for Senate in '04!

runjerryrun.com/

2 apartment photos.
plurib.us/1shot/2003-06-...

A while back I recall plurib.us coming up on top in searches for "rockstar ninjas" and other such absurdities.  Apparently, this is a problem.

theregister.co.uk/content/35/310...
theregister.co.uk/content/6/3062...

Plurib.us Bookmarks is ready for your (beta) internet-surfing pleasure.  There isn't much in the way of documentation/explanations yet, but there should be enough for one to experiment.  The authors of this site are already using the bookmark section as a start-off site for internet surfing.

plurib.us/bookmarks/

1. A dollar spent at a locally owned book or music store tends to "[create] more than three times the local economic activity" than its counterpart large franchise.

2. "Big box retail", shopping centers, and fast-food restaurants tend to require more money to be spent on higher road maintenance costs and more public safety services (etc., as a result of their presence) than they pay in taxes, which does not tend to be the case for locally owned businesses.

reclaimdemocracy.org/independent_bu...

An online quiz, which determines how accurately you can make the decision between art and crap.

modestypanel.com/artorcrap/

I've been trying to figure this "Creative Commons" thing out, and it looks pretty neat.  They have a flash video that makes everything clear and features, oddly, The White Stripes.  They even have South-Park-esque flash animations of Meg and Jack White.

creativecommons.org/license/
Flash video: mirrors.creativecommons.org/

Also, if anyone has the patience to figure out who these people are... then... tell us.  They seem to have some activity (and have vague relation to) the Creative Commons' discussions.

negativland.com/

This is a review of what sounds like a neat new search engine.  Unfortunately, I can only assume that the article (and maybe other articles?) has instigated too much traffic to the new search engine, because their "search function" is down as of this morning.

theregister.co.uk/content/6/3096...
turbo10.com/

As I read articles from the Journal of Mundane Behavior, I wasn't quite sure if it was farce or scholarship.  It seems that it's the latter, and what's more, it's all fantastic.

The Journal of Mundane Behavior, hosted by the Department of Sociology and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State University, Fullerton, is a peer-reviewed journal that is devoted to the study of the "unmarked" -- those aspects of our everyday lives that typically go unnoticed by us, both as individuals and as academics. We approach these topics with both the sense of whimsy about the extraordinary efforts we put into maintaining such "mundane" aspects of our lives, and with the seriousness of intellectual integrity in our analysis of these matters.

mundanebehavior.org/index.htm

Lest you feel that this site contains too much useful information, we present Koala Bear Poo Earrings. 

roopooco.com/prd_koa.htm

Geek-perb speculation about Microsoft, IBM, Linux, SCO, blah blah blah.  The beginning is also a nice overview about what's been going on lately in extreme tech news.

pbs.org/cringely/pulpi...

The waterways of Hennepin County, painstakingly drawn to scale.

plurib.us/1shot/2003-05-...

I came across this the other day in the store.  It is something that I (with the help of my friends) invented also, but these people have done far more research and have produced a product:  The Ultimate Meal.

ultimatelife.com/eForward.htm

The site is full of great utopian-type declarations such as these:

... A MEAL REPLACEMENT?  It is BEYOND a mere replacement, hence an entirely NEW standard for a meal (a lightbulb is far more than a mere replacement for a candle) ...

... As your taste buds and health improve, it is best to avoid juice and other sources of concentrated sugar ...

Also, if you don't read the site yourself (which they command you to do "word-for-word at least 3 separate times" on one of their front pages), read this at least:

WHY IS IT GREEN?
It certainly was not in vogue when we started this concept over 15 years ago, but in case you have not noticed yet, green is in! The problem is, a small amount of any sub-standard algae will turn anything green.
The primary source of greenness in THE ULTIMATE MEAL® and THE ULTIMATE MEALBAR® (the first and only green bar anywhere) is a therapeutic dose (by far the highest in the industry) of the ultimate quality spirulina on Earth from Hawaii, which is one of our most expensive ingredients. It also happens to be THE richest source of beta carotene and chlorophyll (the primary detoxifying agent in dark green vegetables, which comes only in green). Without chlorophyll, it would be THE ALMOST ULTIMATE MEAL. . . We would rather inform and educate than lower our standards.

Thinking about food:

opendemocracy.net/articles/ViewP...

Hilarious study of a doctored image on the cover of the April 9, 2003 London Evening Standard.

thememoryhole.org/media/evening-...

Dictionary.com gives the meaning of every internet common-phrase-abreviation I can think of.  They seem to be getting the data from this site that does the same thing, but with a harder-to-remember URL:  foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/

Example: foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/foldoc....

Long Arundhati Roy speech on the world and the war (5 days ago).  It's nothing new, but one should expose one's self to the other side of the coin, especially those of us who've been oversaturated with local news on these subjects.

commondreams.org/views03/0518-0...

She offers some useful, revelant propositions at the end.  Ctrl-F to "What Is To Be Done?".  A snippet...

It would be naïve to imagine that we can directly confront Empire. Our strategy must be to isolate Empire's working parts and disable them one by one. No target is too small. No victory too insignificant. We could reverse the idea of the economic sanctions imposed on poor countries by Empire and its Allies. We could impose a regime of Peoples' Sanctions on every corporate house that has been awarded with a contract in postwar Iraq, just as activists in this country and around the world targeted institutions of apartheid. ... It would be a great beginning.

Also, another rehash on privacy/security today regarding automated pattern recognition.  Again, worth a read-through as a reminder.

pbs.org/cringely/pulpi...

When second- and third-graders get to illustrate the school lunch menu:

elps.k12.mi.us/donley/classro...

Corporate free speech:
There was a California Supreme Court hearing a few weeks ago on Nike vs. Kasky (decision due in June).  There is a storm brewing, and I'm hoping it doesn't fizzle out.

tidepool.org/original_conte... (Excellent coverage of what is going on.)

Soon, nobody will invite me over, for any reason.

All thanks to House Gymnastics!

housegymnastics.com/

The offical site of the Dull Men's Club. 

"This is a two-step program:  (1) we admit we are Dull, (2) we're going to keep it that way."

dullmen.com/table_of_conte...

A pretty timeline of the confusion of dietary health (link at bottom)

sirc.org/timeline/timel...

If we were to follow even a fraction of the guidance we are given we would swing from one faddist eating pattern to another, and end up both unhealthy and quite miserable.

What is this "Social Issues Research Centre" thing?

How to thrive in a British pub:

sirc.org/publik/pub.htm...

Today I had tooltips popping up behind the start bar in XP, where I couldn't read them.  Here is an article on human interface design in the real (up close and ugly) world.

theregister.co.uk/content/4/3057...

Very Robot-Wisdomy advice on how SlashDot blurbs should be written -- applies equally to writing links anywhere.

robotwisdom.com/web/blurbs.htm...

A fantastic review of an English usage dictionary by David Foster Wallace--it's both gigantic and fantastic:

findarticles.com/cf_0/m1111/181...

A call-in radio show with both DFW and the author of the book:  (in RealAudio)

realserver.bu.edu/ramgen/w/b/wbu...

The They Might Be Giants news site is looking cool.  Check out the "production rider".  Also, the free MP3s are good.

theymightbegiants.com/

I'm looking for things to sell on eBay, just for the possibility that this guy will leave me feedback:

cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISA...

Eg:  Praise: FREAKY! Seller is FANTASTIC, but, somehow, REALLY DOESN'T EXIST AT ALL!

IBISTEK calls them "High-performance Stealth Vehicles with
Remote Control Weapons and Sensor Control Systems," but I call them "SUVs With Freaky Guns On The Top."

ibistek.com/security_vehic...

Every year, the Journal of Improbable Results awards a series of Ig Noble Prizes to scholars and world leaders.  For example, in 2001, the Peace Prize was awarded to Viliumas Malinauskus of Grutas, Lithuania, for creating the amusement park known as "Stalin World".

improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinn...