I know I link to Kottke a lot, but you MFers don't seem to be reading him any more (near as I can tell), so I'm just gonna throw down with a week's worth of the best Kottke-links. Each of these leads to the Kottke page where he links to a story. The descriptions... they're so good. Sometimes I've read the linked-to thing, sometimes I've not. Sometimes the description is all I need, so I'm gonna give you that respect too.

Tarantino on the studios vs. the artist.

Aging in bursts through family-event photographs.

Why do we feel suspense re-watching a movie?

Richard Gerrig, the psychologist who gave anomalous suspense its name, offers a different solution. He posits that in general, when we reread a novel or rewatch a film, our cognitive system doesn't apply its prior knowledge of what will happen. Why? Because our minds evolved to deal with the real world, and there you never know exactly what will happen next. Every situation is unique, and no course of events is literally identical to an earlier one. "Our moment-by-moment processes evolved in response to the brute fact of nonrepetition" (Experiencing Narrative Worlds, 171). Somehow, this assumption that every act is unique became our default for understanding events, even fictional ones we've encountered before.

Apple Store prototyping.

Maps of world-civ at 2000BC, 1000BC, 500BC, etc.
(Most interesting to me is the collapse of the Indus River Valley state-societies between 2000 and 1000 BCE. What gives? And why does nobody talk about it?)

Out of the suburbs into a life.
(I, like many, have long suspected this to be the case about cars. It's nice to see that intuition verified.)

From BB: People are excellent at picking out faces in pictures just 10 by 12 pixels.
(You are a machine designed to recognize faces.)

BB: Wikipedia entry trumps other Libby Verdict coverage.
Kottke: Nope, more people have died that are alive today, you gullible bastard.

Brackets can solve every cultural argument: The Enlightened Bracketologist on Amazon. Some samples here. Probably via Kottke.

Kottke links to tremendous (and short) sci-fi story about the discovery of an intelligent race made of meat.

Ira Glass explains storytelling on video.

I mock This American Life from time to time, but that simply because I can't listen to an entire episode without losing my emotional shit.

For example, act four of this episode ("Kid Logic") is just... the saddest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. I sat in my car, in the parking lot of the grocery store and just bawled over it.

Stupid This American Life.

Also: the Michael Chabon story that is act three of that episode ("Werewolves in their Youth" from his book of the same name) ain't half bad, either.

McSweeney's: Yesterday's Book Reports from Today's Notables:

A Separate Peace

MATT DAMON, FEBRUARY 8, 1986

I really related to this book. It's about two best friends who go to a respected New England school: an earnest, responsible student named Gene and a carefree, inexplicably successful student named Finny. Even though it didn't make any sense to me that a guy like Finny could go to a respected New England school, I still liked this book. Especially the part where Gene pushes Finny out of a tree and Finny breaks his leg.

Finny is too busy having fun to notice that there's evil in the world. He doesn't even believe Gene when Gene confesses to pushing Finny out of the tree on purpose. That actually works out great, because Finny runs away and breaks his leg again. But this time marrow enters his bloodstream and kills him. I think this means that people who are too lazy and irresponsible to know what's going on deserve to die, even if they're your friend. And that people who study hard and go to good schools will be successful even if they're friends with an idiot they wish were dead.

via Junkiness

italisizy: Hey, what the fuck is RPI?
Motherfuckers talk about it all the time w/r/t college basketball and I'm fucking lost.

Sir Turley: Runs Per Inning Pitched

italisizy: ...but about basketball.

Sir Turley: Ratings Percentage Index

italisizy: Now THAT's funny.

Sir Turley: it's three things
[types furiously]

italisizy: The Index is comprised of: that team's winning percentage (25%); its opponents' winning percentage (50%); and, the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents.

Sir Turley: right

italisizy: I know, I know, I could've googled it to begin with, but I was hoping it would be simple.
When I got the name "Rating Percentage Index" back, there was no way a wikipedia-less explanation was going to help me.

The wikipedia article on bracketology.

BB: How the Soviets would have you sleep.
BB: Just how recently the milk-tolerance gene emerged.

NY Mag by way of Daring Fireball: Internet privacy is the first generation gap since Rock and Roll.
(None/almost none of the shit in here should be news to any of you, but it's nice to see it explicated/explained by someone on the gap's bubble.)

Speak up, by way of Kottke: Graphic design in Idiocracy.
(Makes me want to see the film even more, now.)

Wikipedia article on New Silent generation in America (hypothesis: they are silent because they are, at most, twelve years old right now) includes handy list of American generations.

We're Generation Y, by the way. If you don't believe me, check the list of Generation Y's defining moments.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Strom Thurmond's relatives used to own Al Sharpton's ancestor.

What Japan Thinks.com tells us how one's room turns off Japanese men or women.

Chip the size of postage stamp computes at 1 Teraflop.

No, fuck you! Your cell phone will have a chip in it capable of doing a trillion calculations per second and you will fucking like it, capisce?

TV Squad pre-reviews the This American Life TV show, which is coming soon to Showtime.

BB: First in-tact colossal squid caught off New Zeland.
I, for one, welcome our new cephalopod overlords.

BB: Chimps use spears to hunt vertebrates.
Add this to the fact that any time 12 or more chimps hunt together, they have a 100% success rate (a stunning fact for the animal kingdom) and you've got a pretty formidable primate.

Though, I've got say that I, for one, think that the squids could take 'em, could squid survive outside the ocean (and thank god they can't).

Lars, aim away from your keyboard, it's the trailer for the This American Life TV show.

Coming soon to Showtime.

indexed strikes again. This time, it's vaguely dirty.

Drew from toothpaste for dinner (linked here long ago, before they changed their naming structure, breaking my widget and made it harder for me to read it every day) tried Second Life. Hilarity ensues.

I've always been curious about Second Life, and I'm glad someone did a reasonably hilarious review.

He named his character Wenis Swindlehurst.

That's comedy.

By way of Boing Boing.

The Regina Spektor album is good. (Just a note before we start: I bought the "Bonus Track Version" off of iTunes, and while I feel like it dilutes the through-line of the rise-and-fall of the album, it's worth it for the extra tracks, which flesh out Spektor's range.)

Anyway, one of you plugged it a while back, probably Susan, I think? Too lazy to check. I didn't buy it off that recommendation (though I still like you, Susan) because a few years ago I stopped buying CDs off the recommendations of all but the smallest of small groups of people. Basically that group boils down to: Matt (sometimes) and Andy (fewer times) and Lars (fewer times, still). And that's about it. It's not that I don't like the rest of you, but what gets me interested in an album seems to be wildly different than just about everybody else, and that's OK. That's the way it should be.
But that won't stop me from having the unmitigated gall to recommend the Regina Spektor CD to you. It's solid and, better yet, it's what that first Nellie McKay album should've been. They remind me a lot of each other, too. Not just the fact that they are pale, petite piano playing gals that deliver strange, quirky music, but also in, it feels like, musical background and goals. Even their elocution, at times, is strikingly similar.
But where McKay gets too caught up in her own cleverness to deliver on the intense promise of her talent and intelligence, Spektor manages to walk that fine line; "Edit" could've used another verse or two's worth of writing but then maybe that's the joke of it, given the lyrics. Even songs like "Uh-Merica" which could've devolved solely into an excercise, Spektor still manages to come up with the goods, in this case with the lyric "there's nothing like / emptying a cartridge / at the sun." Good stuff.
I bought the McKay album off the strength of "Ding Dong" (which is the best song on that album) and felt burned when McKay's cleverness couldn't sustain itself enough to make up for her unwillingness to settle into a form. And while Spektor display some of that same restlessness, the individual songs themselves are brilliant little self-contained gems. Whether the slow dance of "Samson" (brutal in its simplicity), the danceable meloncholy of "Hotel Song," the scattered geographic play of "Dusseldorf" the thick Soviet swell of "Apres Moi" or the bright, slickly produced and ingenious pop of "Fidelity" and "On the Radio," Spektor switches gears between songs, rather than mish-mashing everything together like McKay.
Anyway, that's just my take. I welcome disagreement.

A further question: where does Fiona Apple fit into the petite, piano-playing songstrix conversation? And is there anyone else like these three that I've missed?

(Fuck! I did my whole review and forgot to mention "That Time," which rocks hard, and, additionally, could've been one of those songs that devolved into crap after starting out with a clever (or, well, semi-clever) premise. And then it almost does and then ... BAM! She pulls it out and hits you with the last half of the last verse and completely kicks your ass. Or, mine, at least. Shit. So good.)

Science and Faith: Two Flowcharts.

Humorous.

via Boing Boing

Giz: Rubik's cube for the lazy.
BoingBoing: Early Iraq war plan: 5000 troops only by Dec 2006.
Techdirt: DMCA takedown for clip illustrating how copyright owners eggagerate their rights? Hilarious.
Kottke: Nerdy band uses infographics to tell the story of love. Reminds me of the title sequence for Eurotrip. A little.

I think that's all...

...for now.

A little late, but worth it: This Valentine's Day, say it with a wolverine.

Did you know that 46% of all women expect at least one wolverine for Valentine's day?

My V-Day Away Message:

Dear The Ladies,

What gives?

Cordially,
Me

Kendall's Reply:

Dear The Pot,

Black!

Kisses,
Kettle

Krugman on John Edwards' Healthcare Plan.

I listened to Edwards describe this on Talk of the Nation last Thursday while driving and swooned so badly I almost had to pull over.

Q. Have you given up on posting?
A. No, I just haven't had anything interesting to say. Went on Tucson/New Orleans/Tucson trip and that kinda took me out of it for a while.

Q. Oh, yeah! How was that?
A. Tucson was good. NO was much better than expected.

Q. Still teaching for the Princeton Review?
A. Yes, but my latest class makes me want to stab them.

Q. Are you, um, going to do, like, anything with your life or anything?
A. Yes. Returning to Tucson for Summer II and then the Fall and Spring Semesters. Applying in Dec 07 to grad schools in Philosophy for Fall '08 admission. (Probably.)

Q. Tucson, huh. Why?
A. That's where they keep the University of Arizona, sadly; though it could be worse. It could be Phoenix. Or Boerne.

Q. Nailing anybody?
A. No.

Q. What's up with sloths? Are they hardcore?
A. Yes. Sloths are hardcore.

Q. What's the funniest card to be on indexed lately?
A. Juvenile.

Q. Written anything lately?
A. I've written precisely one story in the past year. It is available for reading.

The Patriots lost, but what an amazing game.

To be in Tucson from 23 Jan to 30 Jan.

...

If you're in town, then we'll both be there.

So much good The Onion recently, I can't not link to it.

Bill Parcels: I've Always Hated Football

Ate:
12,00
(2) Garlic Herb Fish Fillet, HEB Brand
(4oz) Dannon "Light 'n' Fit" Yogurt, Raspberry
-
16,00
(11) Buitoni Italian Sweet Sausage Rigatoni
(1/2cup) Buitoni Parmesan Tomato Sauce
(16) Cherries, Medium, Chilean
-
21,05
(1/2 package) HEB Brand Lemon Chicken
(1.5oz) Pretzels, Stick

Listened:
KT Tunstall, album "Eye to the Telescope," entirety
Part of "Talk of the Nation" on NPR
Ben Folds Five - Lullaby
Ben Folds Five, album "Whatever and Amen," entirety

Watched:
Friends, ep. 7.01, "The One with Monica's Thunder"
     --  After Monica and Chandler's engagement, she feels Rachel is trying to upstage her. Joey needs to look younger.

Dharma and Gret, ep. 3.03, "Dharma's Inferno"
     --  With Greg still 'finding himself,' to make ends meet Dharma must deal with the devil (Kitty). Faust references.

Around the Horn, ep. "04 Jan 2007"
     --  Showdown: Plashke vs. Adande, winner: Plashke

Pardon the Interruption, ep. "04 Jan 2007"
     --  Le Batard "BAM!" for first time in '07; Over/Under

The West Wing, ep. 7.10, "Running Mates"
     -- Leo's poor debate prep worries Josh.

My Name is Earl, ep. 2.12, "Our 'Cops' is On!"
     --  Camden county is on "Cops."

The Office, ep. 3.11, "Back From Vacation"
     --  Michael returns from vacation; Pam helps Karen with her living situation.

Scrubs, ep. 6.04, "My House"
     --  JD's pregnant girlfriend may be leaving; medical mysteries. Cameo by Dave Foley.

30 Rock, ep. 1.10, "The Baby Show"
     --  Liz's biological clock; mother problems for Jack. Tracy and Josh butt heads.

The Knights of Prosperity, ep. 1.01, "Pilot"
     --  Donal Louge heads a group of misfits planning to rob Mick Jagger.

Read:
Who Invited Joe Pesci?, Jane Espenson
Poor Bastard of Yesteryear, Dethroner
Web-Based Productivity Applications, Dethroner
04 Jan 2007, Silent Penultimate Panel Watch
Thomas Jefferson was a an America Hating Islamo-Fascist, Junkiness
Motorola Q Official for Sprint, Engadget
SanDisk: Big Price Drops for SSD, Engadget
Piper Jaffray Analyst Ranks MacWorld Rumors, MacDailyNews
2007 MacWorld SF Guesses, Macworld
Celebrity Patents, Ironic Sans
Royal Mail Delivers Mail Based on Hand Drawn Map, BoingBoing
Muslim Congressman to be Sworn In on Jefferson's Quran, BoingBoing
Antartica's Ice Chimneys, BoingBoing
Fact Freak Ben Schott, BoingBoing
Life Incompatible DNA, Maybe, BoingBoing
Improvised Technological Solutions, BoingBoing
Underground Economy of the Urban Poor, BoingBoing
IRS Demands You Report Your Bribes as Income, BoingBoing
A Picture's Worth Half a Dozen Boners, goldenfiddle
Screen Actors Guild Nominees for TV, TV Squad
Screen Actors Guild Nominees for Movies, Cinematical

It was John Adams, Sylloge
Debating a Bubble, Anil Dash
Depends on the Definition of "Defend," 1115.org
More on Free Will, The Dilbert Blog
Pitch Black Restaurant in Bejing, Gizmodo
Tree Shaped 'Fridge, Gizmodo
Westinghouse to Debut Quad-HD LCD at CES, Gizmodo
Non-Apple Mac Tablet at MacWorld, Gizmodo
Mixed-Milk, Tcritic
The Latest Jerky Thing Our President Did, Amy's Robot
Low End Theory: Old Style Laptops, Gizmodo
USB rechargeable AAs, Gizmodo
IBM: Cell Processor to 6Ghz,  Engadget
Why an Apple-made Mac-Tablet Makes No Sense, TUAW
Broadcomm announces Cable Modem on a Chip, HD Beat
Plasma Screen TiVo Burn In, PVR Wire
Bush OKs Opening Your Mail, BoingBoing
Saddam Hanging Video Copycats, BoingBoing
Brazil Orders You-Tube Shut Down, BoingBoing
Creepily Realistic looking Man's Face made of Haircut, BoingBoing
United Rips Off Two Old People, BoingBoing
Early Days of Plastic Watches, BoingBoing
WriteRoom 2.0, TUAW
CES 2007: Microvision to Debut Tiny Projector, Gizmodo
Less Dick, More Rice, Junkiness
L-Lo's Appendix Nixed, Junkiness
"Yes, and...", Jane Espenson
The Best and Worst of 1994 and Predictions for '95, via kottke
Best and Worst of 2006, Joel's List, TV Squad
Best Episodes of 2006, #20-11, The Futon Critic

TV/DVR Functionality Coming to iLife?, Gizmodo
04 Jan 2007, Silent Penultimate Panel Watch
Toy Police Belt Drops F-Bomb, Engadget

Ironic Sans: Patents filed by Celebrities.

via BoingBoing.

Ate:
11,30
(1) Red Baron Thin and Crispy Singles, Pepperoni
(1oz) Pretzels, Stick
(158g) Blackberries, Fresh, from Mexico
(4oz) Dannon "Light 'n' Fit" Yogurt, Strawberry
-
16,10
(11) Buitoni Sweet Italian Sausage Rigatoni
(1/2 cup) Buitoni Tomato Parmesan Sauce
(4oz) Dannon "Light 'n' Fit" Yogurt, Raspberry
-
21,05
(14oz) Tyson BBQ Hot Wings
(1tbsp) Ranch Dressing, Light
(1oz) Pretzels, Stick

Listened:
Jimmy Eat World - Your New Aesthetic
Jimmy Eat World - A Sunday
Jimmy Eat World - Crush
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbor
The Darkness -Giving Up
The Darkness - Stuck in a Rut
The Darkness - Friday Night
The Darkness - Love on the Rocks with No Ice
The Darkness - Holding My Own
Part of "The World" and "Talk of the Nation" on NPR
The Format - Tune Out
The Format - I'm Ready, I Am
The Format - On Your Porch
The Format - Sore Thumb
The Format - A Mess to Be Made
The Format - Let's Make This Moment a Crime
The Format - Career Day
The Format - A Save Situation

Watched:
(5 min) Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien, ep. "02 Jan 2007"
     --  LL Cool J, Abigail Breslin, Gov't Mule performs

Friends, ep. 7.21, "The One with Rachel's Big Kiss"
     --  Phoebe investigates Rachel's lesbian experience, the rest work on Monica and Chandler's wedding.

Around the Horn, ep. "03 Jan 2007"
     --  Showdown: Paige v. Marriotti; Winner: Marriotti

Pardon the Interruption, ep. "03 Jan 2007"
     --  Wilbon still on vacation; Lebotard in again.

Dirt, ep. 1.01, "Pilot"
     --  Lucy Spiller and her schizophrenic photographer will go to great lengths to get their tabloid a story.

The West Wing, ep. 7.09, "The Wedding"
     --  Ellie Bartlett's wedding goes forward amidst the Kazakstan crisis and a crisis within the Santos campaign's leadership. Will Bailey and Kate Harper attend together.

(5 min) The Knights of Prosperity, ep. 1.01, "Pilot"
     --  Donal Logue fronts a ragtag group with his plot to rob Mick Jagger.

Friends, ep. 7.20, "The One with Ross and Monica's Cousin"
     --  A cousin (Denise Richards) visits, causing problems for Chandler and Ross. Rachel and Phoebe plan Monica's shower. Joey needs prosthetic foreskin to get a part.

In Case of Emergency, ep. 1.01, "Pilot"
     --  Four highschool friends (Jonathon Silverman, Greg Germann, David Arquette and Kelly Hu) reunite during a rough night.

Friends, ep. 7.22, "The One with Chandler's Dad"
     --  Monica and Chandler go to Vegas to meet Chandler's dad (Kathleen Turner). Joey investigates wearing women's underwear and Ross and Rachel take the Porsche out for a drive.

Read:
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares coming to FOX, The Futon Critic
Inappropriate Humor, The Dilbert Blog
The "Stare," By Ken Levine
News is an Application, Anil Dash
Saddam Execution Fallout, 1115.org
Subway Savior, Dethroner
02 Jan 2007, Silent Penultimate Panel Watch
Underwater hotel coming to Dubai, Gizmodo
Stormblade Turbine = Far Better Wind Power, Gizmodo
Egg-Head: PS3 Will Win, Gizmodo
A New Year!, Susananity
Best Episodes of 2006, #30-21, The Futon Critic

US MIllitary Developing Enormous Slingshot, Gizmodo
DisplayPort to Support HDCP, HD Beat
Holiday 2006 Figures Erroneous, So Far, Engadget
Isn't soap self cleaning because it's, you know, soap? Explainer Question of the Year, Slate
Amazon's Secret Price Guarantee, Slate
Time top 25 Videogames of 2006, Time
13 Photos that Changed History, Neotorama
Jay's Best and Worst of 2006, TV Squad
Bionic Woman coming to NBC, TV Squad
The 10 on Seinfeld Before They Were Famous, Sports Illustrated
Sports Journalist Cliche Phrases, TV Squad
Everything's Coming Up Hockey, fivehole
Statistics, Crime and Community, Anil Dash
Denzel says no to snog and pony show, Junkiness
LOST HOUSE 24, By Ken Levine
She's My Rushmore, Tcritic
Windows XP Sounds on Keyboard, Gizmodo
Tactile Messaging Vest, Gizmodo
Which Movie Download Service Sucks Least?, Gizmodo
Only 6 US Cities excel in crisis management, CNN.com
How to Beat the Arcade Claw, Gizmodo
FrankenRumor: MacWorld SF Predictions, Gizmodo
Why Upcoming Mac-Apps are Leopard Only, TUAW
200 Calories, Photographed

"Weird Rock Crashes Through Roof," BoingBoing
Tactile Messaging Vest, BoingBoing
Gladwell on Enron, BoingBoing
Alphabetical Restaurant Eating, BoingBoing
Map of London if Seas Rise 1 Metre, BoingBoing
How a SciFi Writer Names His Characters, BoingBoing
Tool to Reclaim Old Lost Copyrights, BoingBoing
Mary Sunshine gets production order, TV Squad
Will O'Reily Appear on Colbert Report?, TV Squad
Sirius Wooing XM?, Engadget

Wallpaper Price, indexed
No Juice, indexed
Only if your Invest Wisely, indexed
Urban, Rural. Same Planet., indexed
Jackass of the Week, Daring Fireball
WoW Presentation by Joi Ito, Google Video (via BoingBoing)
Congressional Staffer Tries to Get His GPA Hacked, BoingBoing

In my current re-watching of the seventh season of The West Wing, I've come to two conclusions:

No show packs an emotional punch like tWW did.

...and...

No woman is foxier, somehow, than Mary McCormack.

So this, then, is good news.

Over the course of the past two years, I've faced questions about what I actually "do" with my "free time." So what I'm going to do is provide you a list, at the end of every day, for a week, with everything I've watched, eaten, read and listened to, all day long. This will give you lots of information and very little knowledge. I like the idea of that.

So here is a log for 02 Jan 07:

Ate:
11,00
(1) Red Baron Deep Dish Single, Three Meat
(158g) Raspberries, fresh, from Chile
-
16,00
(2) Garlic Herb Fish Fillet, HEB Brand
(1oz) Pretzels, Stick
(4oz) Dannon "Light 'n' Fit" Yogurt
-
21,00
(11oz) Lemon Chicken, HEB Brand (1/2 package)
(1oz) Pretzels, Stick
-
Other
(3) Gum, Trident Splash, Strawberry with Lime
(3) Gum, Dentine Ice, Arctic Chill

Listened:
c. 14,00
The Crane Wife by The Decembrists, tracks 1-8
-
c. 22,00
Ibid., tracks 9, 10

Watched:
Scrubs, ep. 5.03, "My Day at the Races"
     --  JD turns 30.

Comedy Central Presents, ep. "Mitch Hedberg"
     --  Mitch Hedberg performs.

Dharma and Greg, ep. 2.23, "A Girl Can Dream, Can't She?"
      -- Dharma dreams Greg's plane will crash, the couple spend their first night apart.

Dharma and Greg, ep. 2.24, "The Dating Game"
     --  The couple decides to go on a traditional first date.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, ep. 1.05, "Gun Fever"
     --  The bar is robbed, the boys buy a gun.

Dharma and Greg, ep. 3.01, "One Flew Over the Lawyer's Desk"
     --  Greg doesn't know why he became a lawyer.

Dharma and Greg, ep. 3.02, "Welcome to the Hotel Calimari"
     --  Greg's search takes him to interesting places.

Around the Horn, ep. "Jan 02, 2007"
     --  Showdown: Paige vs. Marriotti, Paige wins

Jeopardy, ep. "Jan 02, 2007"
     --  Final Jeopardy: Christmas Tree

The West Wing, ep. 7.08, "Undecideds"
     --  Santos campaigns in a black neighborhood after a boy is killed, must fix race relations, gives a good speech.

Pardon the Interruption, ep. "Jan 02, 2007"
     -- Wilbon out, Lebotard in.

Blackhawks at Blues
     -- Watched last five min. of 1st period

Law and Order: Criminal Intent, ep. 6.11, "World's Fair"
     -- A young Pakistani-American girl is murdered.
     (The jetliner that flies through the Unisphere as they talk to the murderer, in an episode heavily colored by the impact of 9/11, was either the perfect touch or somewhat crass. To me, it was moving.)

My Boys, ep. 1.11, "When Heroes Fall from Grace"
     -- PJ's aunt visits.

(10 min) Scrubs, ep. 4.25, "My Drive By"
     --  Credit where credit is due.

(10 min) Late Night w/ Conan O'Brien, ep. "02 Jan 2007"
     --  LL Cool J, Abigail Breslin, Gov't Mule performs

Read:
50 Best Episodes of 2006, #40-31, The Futon Critic
How to Pick a Mattress, Slate
The Most Amazing and Disappointing Cultural Events of 2006, Slate
2007 Trend Maps, kottke
Neoteny, Dictionary.com
Tuesday Morning Box Office, Defamer
When Shows Return, TV Squad
Degree Requirements, Bachelor of Philosophy, The University of Arizona
Eschatoalogical Taxonomy. BEYOND awesome.
Computronium, Wikipedia
Matrioshka brain, Wikipedia
Jupiter brain, Wikipedia
Megascale Engineering, Wikipedia
Ringworld, subsections on concepts, engineering, Wikipedia
Alderson Disk, Wikipedia
Technological Singularity, Wikipedia
Pak Protector, Wikipedia
inertial orbit: Definition, answers.com (Utterly unhelpful. Astronomy majors are welcome to chip in in the comments)
Beginner's Guide to Soldering
10 Kick Ass Opening Credit Sequences
The List: What's in and What's Out for 2007, Washington Post
Best of 2006 Results, jayisgames.com
Learn UFC Rules, Ultimate Fighting Championship (I like rule 24)

Restroom Automation, The Dilbert Blog
Giving Up Goals, Dethroner
New Year's Homepage, Dethroner
Michael Cera on self improvement, Dethroner
Carpatho-Ukraine, Strange Maps
Work-Life Balance, indexed
Why I Keep My Care Bears, indexed
Coming Soon: Indiana Jones and the Theater of Smashed Childhood Memories, Junkiness
Xbox 360 outsells..., Gizmodo
Silent Mouse Sucks, Gizmodo
HP's 30" Monitor, Engadget
Asustek's External Video, Audio for Laptops, Engadget
Portable NTSC/ATSC Tuner, HD Beat
Standing Babas Spend Years without Sitting or Laying Down, BoingBoing
Why You Hate Your Boss, BoingBoing
How the Brain Forecasts, BoingBoing (also: duh.)
Belgrade: Fake Bombings, BoingBoing
The Queen, kottke
Happy Birthday, Horsies!, kottke
Everything Was Serialized, TV Squad
Mr. & Mrs. Smith Gets Pilot Order (finally), TV Squad
CBS promos CSI Cast Change, TV Squad
The Five: Heterosexual Mancrushes, TV Squad

//

Also, yesterday I watched "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story." Quite interesting. Not log-material, per se, but I wanted to give those of you that stuck around to the end a little something extra.

The 86 Rules of Boozing

by way of Joel Johnson's Dethroner.

1115.org gives us an excerpt from John Edwards' announcement that he's running for president. Powerful stuff.

It's no secret that I've been behind John Edwards from the start, and even more so after I actually got to see him speak a few months ago, but I was afraid that he was too good a guy to run again, particularly after all the good work he's been able to accomplish with the Poverty Center at the University of North Carolina. The man would make a tremendous president, no doubt. No doubt at all. And so, for the first time in my life, I'm sacking up and contributing to a political campaign. And I'd hope you'll do the same.

Mormon president? No thanks.

Two weeks ago, upon learning that Mitt Romney's a Mormon, I went through this same thing in my head but Weisberg actually "typed it up" and "put it on the internet" for "everyone else" to "read."

1115.org on how Obama consistently slams Dems to advance himself.

And why you shouldn't vote for him.

And I didn't link to it just because it endorses Johnny E.

But that didn't hurt, either.

Minute by minute: what happens when you drink a coke.

I'm neither pro- nor anti- Classic Coke drinking, but the biology's interesting.

via Gizmodo.

"The Tragic Squandering of Jack Black's Awesomeness."

Slate questions the need for a permanent moon-base.

And makes a fairly compelling case.

Does Justin agree?

I'm just gonna quote the hosting web-page on this:

What I love about it is just when you think it couldn't possibly get any worse, it does. By a lot. And it does this more than once. I smile every time I hear it.

Oh Holy Night. Worst. Version. Ever.

via Junkiness

Subscription to Vogue: $12.95/yr
HDTV: $999.99
Identifying by name your favorite (semi-obscure) model from Vogue during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show: Priceless.

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It's also equal parts gay and straight, I think.

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I usually refrain from posting cheese-cake here, but I think you'll forgive me. Literally, I said, to the TV: "Hummina."

Larger.

More.

Scott Adams on moon real estate / vaporization.

Big Day (8,00, Tuesday, ABC)
I watched the pilot of Big Day when it aired last week, and, you know what? It makes it's time-slot-partner (the Danson-vehicle Help Me Help You) look like freaking early M*A*S*H. Yes, though Josh Cooke and Marla Sokoloff (the funnier/younger version of Jennifer Garner) are two of my favorite semi-crappy comedy actors, Big Day is such a travesty it's amazing. The premise: it is Cooke and Sokoloff's wedding day, and we're going to see it all, from 8:00AM to the end, one half-hour at a time, 24 style. Sounds horrible, right? Well it is. So very horrible. And it's not all the premise's fault, either, the writing itself is horrendous. It displays no ability to shape a story line and/or be funny. Either one, that's all I'm asking for: coherence or humor. I got neither.
And Wendy Malick's bitchy, controlling mother character? Worst. Ever.
Do NOT watch Big Day.
Preliminary series grade: F.

My Boys (9,00, Tuesday, TBS)
Jordana Spiro, who is husky-voiced in a not unsexy way, plays a writer for the Chicago Tribune who covers the Cubs. Only the cubs. And all her friends are dudes. And there's a new guy at work (from the Sun-Times), played by Kyle Howard--not playing 19 for once, thank god--and she's interested in him, but she doesn't know how to be a woman! Hahahahaha! It is funny because she works in a job that usually men have, and she is bad at being feminine! Hahahahaha! She has a stereotypically female friend who gives her advice like "you need to wear something cute." Hahahahahaha! Funny!
All mocking of the premise aside, the show's pretty well executed (provided you mute the damn TV during the opening and closing voice-over where she makes a baseball metaphor, reminding you that she, like, totally knows a lot about baseball). The cast is solid, and when she starts saying all the guy-like things as she's trying to hook up with the new-guy, watching him freak out because of it is pretty funny. And her friends, though somewhat stock-charactery, are funny (or at least funny-ish), though the tremendous Jim Gaffigan is underused.
Anyway, I can't give you a final grade yet, 'cause this one could go either way. If you're up for it, watch it tonight and tell me what you think. You can always catch one of the five re-runs of the Daily Show tomorrow.
Preliminary grade: C? B?

Rocky based on Jesus.

Apparently Jesus lost at the end of the first movie.

Who knew?

"But this shirt goes to eleven."

All three seasons of Arrested Development for 34$ on Amazon right now.

I've been holding out on buying until I could get a deal like this.

Now I own AD.

via dethroner.

Indexed: Vinn Diagram: Christmas -OR- Lord of the Rings

Discovered via Filmoculous' list of underappreciated blogs, via BoingBoing.

The new nail. It's amazingly better than the old nail.

via kottke

I SWEAR that I read more than just kottke, damnit, I read twenty, thirty damn blogs it's just that kottke's consistently the most damn interesting one, damnit. Damn.

Joel Johnson's Choose Your Own Adventure-style HDTV buying 'guide.'

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Some hilarious (and profane) fake CYOA covers (one and two) at Data-What, I don't know whence they came, but they rock.

You MUST watch last Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother: "Slap Bet."

It's available through CBS's Innertube. (Works both with Mac and PC) You'll have to click into "Other Shows" at the top, then "Comedies" then "How I Met Your Mother" then "Full Episodes." A pain, I know, but COMPLETELY worth it.

It is simply the funniest thing ever.

And so very well structured.

Seriously.

After that, make sure to follow this link. (NOT before, it'll spoil it.)

My GOD that's funny.

italisizy: Timeline of timelines. via kottke

Sir Turley: Timelines have a rich history

italisizy: So it turns out.
This part's my favorite:

1582
Gregorian calendar reform instituted.
Ten days dropped from the year. October 5-14, 1582 do not take place.

Sir Turley: Ha!

Regarding the new TV from the past few weeks:

Day Break (Wednesday, 8,00, ABC)
Taye Diggs is pretty. And he plays a detective who is accused of killing a DA. And he must prove his innocence. And he's dating the ex-wife of his former partner, who works now with Internal Affairs and is investigating his current partner. Oh, yeah, and the IA guy is working with the bad guys.
Convoluted no? But compelling in a lot of important ways.
Hm... now what was the other thing I was going to mention about this show.... Oh, that's right!
It all takes place, Groundhog Day style on the same day. Except that his injuries carry over from day to day. Actually used to good effect here.
What is, perhaps, most interesting about this series is that ABC is promising that by the end of the show's 13-week intra-LOST run, all questions will be answered and everything will be revealed. So, it's a continuing drama in the vein of LOST, Alias, The Nine, etc. but with a reasonable chance of actually having a satisfying resolution. Worth looking in to.
Preliminary grade: B+.
Did I mention that Taye Diggs is so very pretty?

3lbs.
House-light, but oh so very obvious, about that and about everything else. So, House but shitty. Fuck it, just cut out the middle man and watch House. Stanley Tucci is not good and Mark Feuerstein hasn't done anything good except for his four episode stint as Republican Cliff Calley on The West Wing. And don't be all "Good Morning Miami was good." No it wasn't. It was shitty. Ashley Williams was very cute and that confused you about the quality of the show. But she later went on to be Victoria on HIMYM and it made everybody happy.
Prelimiary grade: D+.
That would be a C- if it were anything resembling original.

House
I dunno about the season that's currently on, but if you're not catching up on House on DVD, we're no longer friends. Yes, I feel that strongly about this. House is the most consistently excellent drama on TV since Aaron Sorkin stopped writing The West Wing. Seriously, it's got something for every-one. There's a patient every week, but there's also a bevy of continuing stories about characters that matter and the things they do. And it's so damn FUNNY. How does a drama have any right to be that damn funny? Seriously.

30 Rock / 'Til Death
Have both picked up their game quite a bit.
30 Rock is still hit and miss, and the B-stories are consistently funnier than the A stories--except this week, where the B story BLEW ASS. But I blame Jane Krakowski. But for me to watch a show, week in, week out with both Jane Krakowski and Judah Friedlander? That says something about how good the rest of the show is. Or my extreme crush on Tina Fey. You tell me, people. But I feel like adjusting this show's grade upward to a solid B. Part of the new comedy Rock-Block NBC's putting together for Thursday night. Earl / The Office / Scrubs / 30 Rock? Why yes, please. Thank you. And, as always, watch "The Office" or I'll put your eyes out.
'Til Death is a little different story. Still much better than it started the season, I'm not sure if I can give it a full on recommend, but I want to note that each member of the four person ensemble was perfectly cast. Grade goes up to a C+. In a comedy-starved world, a C+ is pretty good.

Bones vs. Men in Trees, What About Brian
While I've tried to cancel as many procedurals off my schedule as possible, Bones is much better than the continuing dramas I replaced them with. Hence-forth, let it be known that What About Brian and Men in Trees are now to be known as Last Resort Shows, that is, shows to be watched only if my tivo is completely empty of GOOD content. And that Bones has been added back into the mix. And that I could triage what went wrong with Men in Trees or What About Brian if you want, but I don't think any of you ever b