Plurib.us

Music Boulevard.
PayPal.
Toys "R" Us.

cdnow.com/ joins the ranks of the "swallowed whole."  (via Tom)
--
Oh yeah!  (I want pictures tho)
web.archive.org/web/1999022319...

The latest Netscape blocks pop-ups.  The Register brings up some interesting points about it.  Particularily, that this feature could make more people choose it over Internet Explorer.  This feature along with tabs are the reasons that I can't tolerate IE anymore.  I'm really intrigued by thoughts about if/why (and if/why not) IE 6+ would include these features.

theregister.co.uk/content/6/2858...

I made some art.  It's the first in a series.
plurib.us/1shot/2002-12-...

Just about everything about Ben Stein impresses me--the only exception is the show where people try to win his money.  Anyway, here's an article he wrote on how the USA can destroy its ability to innovate.  (2 pages)

forbes.com/free_forbes/20...

Google has released the most important things/people of 2002, according to search queries:
google.com/press/zeitgeis...

Make sure to look at the timeline for some graphs on web-searches during specific events:
google.com/press/timeline...

You want complete translations of bin Laden's latest statements, you've got them.

"audio statement" from a few weeks ago that rose a hubbub here:
heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_p...

"Letter to America" from November 24th:
observer.co.uk/worldview/stor...

BBC has excerpts from Saddam Hussein's public statement today.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/not_in_we...

Somewhat relatedly, here's a long recent (Dec 3rd) essay by Noam Chomsky about US & Iraq & the world situation.

zmag.org/content/showar...

Get out your shockwave-enabled browsers and learn . . . How to Dance Properly!
zefrank.com/invite/swfs/in...
(I happen to be a master of the "Basic Twirl".)

Only slightly less impressive is his guide on How to Impress Your Date.
zefrank.com/date_1/navigat...

I made 2 icons (32x32 images, by my definition) tonight.  When I am able to updload stuff to sub-directories again, I'll make a link to them here.  (Despite their niceness on their own, they do not seem to make this page any prettier.)

As promised...
plurib.us/1shot/2002-12-...

Boxes that are large-ish and uniformly sized are extremely useful--I have a end table and some shelves made out of them and some tape.  These folks, though, furnished an entire room with them.  The sofa is truly something to behold.

kleqkleq.com/dole/

This article makes me want to get a palm pilot (but I'm not going to), a one-handed keyboard, a web browsing cell phone, and a bar code reader.

billbuxton.com/LessIsMore.htm... (via RobotWisdom)

Relatedly, the Phoenix web browser is fantastic.

mozilla.org/projects/phoen...

Humanity is doomed.

"You don't have to sing, you don't have to dance, you don't have to do
anything -- except think you're hot. It's good, pure fun."

story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...

An interview with Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club, et al.), who references Kierkegaard way more than you would expect.

theonionavclub.com/avclub3842/avf...

Frequently, we're more entertained and fascinated by those things which are the worst of their class--that is, we tend to give at least as much attention to those things that are really bad as we do to things that are really good.  Part of the wonder and mystery of the internet is its tendancy to document the horrible and bizzare. 

With all that being said, direct your hyperlinking skillz to:

The Gallery of Regrettable Food - lileks.com/institute/gall...

(first prize to the Gelatin Garden Salad - lileks.com/institute/gall... )

Niue, a pacific island nation just east of Tonga, holds a little over 2000 people.  According to the CIA world factbook, an important source of revenue for Niue is "the sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors."

lib.utexas.edu/maps/australia...
cia.gov/cia/publicatio...

Niue has only one ISP, but gets its own ccTLD, ".nu".

Glenn Fleishman has made a really neat-looking book searching site that, while hosted in what seems to be Seattle, has a .nu TLD in "an attempt to show how smarter systems combined with cleaner URLs can create shortcuts around roadblocks." (Much like this site, except for the shortcut-around-roadblocks part.)

isbn.nu/ - (thanks, Krista.)

Q: What happens when you replace the word "heart" with "horse" in well-known pop songs?
 
A: whiteshoe.org/miscellanea/02...

If only I had a use for any of these...
funklogic.com/products.htm

I am the biggest security risk.
theregus.com/content/55/267...

Soon we'll be able to listen to Real Audio without using Real One.  I'll have to add this into my 'music formats' info page.
theregus.com/content/4/2679...

Ever think that maybe the current administration just needs to get it out of their system?  These folks are taking donations to buy Prez. Bush a Playstation2™ with the game "Conflict: Desert Storm". 

evilninja.net/buybush.htm

Added bonus:  VP Cheney gets his own controller!

Arts and Letters Daily (aldaily.com/) is a frequently-updated list of news links for snooty people.  Although it's now owned by the Chronicle for Higher Education, the link-blurbs on it have the same biting wit as your favorite college professor.  It's good to know that someone is pandering to the liberal-arts majors.

Best Buy acquires Geek Squad.  "We value having fun," says VP.
startribune.com/stories/789/33...

Tom is selling his car.
carsoup.com/UsedVehicles/d...
(Select Minnesota from the drop down, then back up twice and hit the link again.)

The new online role-playing games are dominated by players who only care about the advancement of their characters (gaining levels, etc.)  Progress Quest (progressquest.com) takes these games to their ultimate conclusion.  From the manual:

"There is no need to interact with Progress Quest at all; it will make progress with you or without you."

Your character will go on random quests, kill monsters, and learn spells.  Automatically. 

If you're feeling snooty, check out the reviews. (download.com.com/3302-2097-8644...)

Back in the day, I got all uppity about the interpreted nature of art, ie. that art doesn't really make any clear statements, but instead calls for interpretation by the viewer.  I talked about Wittgenstein, but I should have been talking about the field of semiotics, the study of symbols and their interpretation.  There's nothing like finding out that your big idea has already been exhaustively discussed.
Brief glossary: ic.arizona.edu/~comm300/mary/...
Index of intro texts: carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_da...

(from an explanatory dialogue)
R:  Well, when they're represented they acquire additional meanings. Signs are never innocent. Semiotics teaches us that.
V:  And it teaches us to have dirty minds, if you ask me.
(abc.net.au/comms/lines/pr...)

Fashion alert: Carmen-Miranda-esque hats of fruit are out.

What's in?

hatsofmeat.com

A seemingly innocent college-newspaper article on Filipino-American History Month:
dailyevergreen.com/nn4/opinion/in...

The well-deserved retraction:
dailyevergreen.com/nn4/opinion/in...

Mel Gibson is going to do a movie in Latin.
groups.google.com/groups?th=5beb...

More pseudo-random about it...
google.com/search?q=%22me...

The new best game of all time is at holdthebutton.com/ .  If you come anywhere near the high score, you should be kept away from society.

Don't give them any email addresses, though--their "Privacy Policy" says that they'll spam the heck out of you.

I've been documenting every cent I spend since 9/20/2001.  I have now created a graphical representation of my spending that includes a full year.  Do with it what you will.

plurib.us/1shot/2002-09-...