The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto

The Assassination of Benazir Bhutto
A New York Times feature, with photos and an eye-witness account by the photographer, Getty Images' John Moore, of the last few moments of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto's life.

How Starbucks boosts sales at mom and pop cafes

Why Starbucks actually helps mom and pop coffee shops
This article from Slate is explains how independent cafes and retail shops can piggyback on the research and marketing of the coffee giant to succeed, despite Starbucks' best attempts. This sounds like great strategy for small businesses.

Getting personal service by phone

Get Human

Especially after Christmas, many people have questions about different products or services, and need to call a company's Customer Service phone number. In times like these, automated telephone systems can be helpful or really frustrating. You can get bounced from menu to menu, and your question may never be addressed.

Get Human lists numbers for a wide range of companies. It also tells you how to bypass the automated voice mail and get support from a real, live person!

Because of advances in technology, sound quality is getting increasingly worse

The Death of High Fidelity
In the age of MP3s, sound quality is worse than ever

Rolling Stone magazine's online article about music, and how the sound quality of music is getting increasingly worse because of advances in technology. Music producers are continuing to use audio compress to reduce subtleties in volume in music and make it LOUDER more exaggerated for radio and mp3.

Roger Ebert's Top 10 Films of 2007

rogerebert.com The year's ten best films
Esteemed film critic, Roger Ebert, checks in with his list of the best movies of 2007. The list contains his top 20 favorite movies, along with his favourite documentaries, animated movies and foreign films.

The Best ‘Best of’ Lists of 2007

Culturite : The Best ‘Best of’ Lists of 2007

Here are 25 different lists with the "Best Of 2007":

1. Best of 2007 Lists (the definitive meta-list by Fimoculous)
2. Master List of Online “Best of 2007″ Music Lists (a meta-music list by LargeheartedBoy)
3. Updates to the Master List of Online “Best of 2007″ Music Lists (updates to #2 by LargeheartedBoy)
4. 40 Best Raps of 2007 (top hip-hop tracks by CocaineBlunts)
5. 15 Best Candies of 2007 (delish sugar treats by CandyAddict)
6. 50 Best Websites of 2007 (multiple categories list by Time & - oh look - who’s a top news site?)
7. 30 Best Albums of 2007 (top rated by the critics and aggregated by Metacritic)
8. 25 Best Careers of 2007 (so choose wisely, my friends, by BizTech)
9. Most Hated Companies of 2007 (the most widely & heavily criticized, by BloggingStocks)
10. 100 Best Products of 2007 (because there can never be enough products, a list by PC World)
11. 22 Best Music Videos (some silly choices by MusicForKidsWhoCan’tReadGood)
12. 25 Best Books of the Year (fiction, non-fiction and more by Publishers Weekly)
13. 100 Best Films of 2007 (a mix of new and re-releases by TimesOnline)
14. 18 Best American Hospitals of 2007 (a incredibly paradoxical list by USNews)
15. Best Global Brands of 2007 (aka the biggest brands in the world, by Interbrand)
16. Best of NYC 2007 (best of the Big Apple, by the VillageVoice)
17. Best Biblical Books of 2007 (a “completely objective” book list by BiblicalFoundations)
18. America’s Best Restroom of 2007 (congrats to Jungle Jim’s, by ABR)
19. Best Parks of 2007 (for the adventure seekers, by National Geographic)
20. Best Industrial Design Products of 2007 (with slick imagery by RedDot)
21. Top 10 Depression Blogs of 2007 (a useful, if sombre, list by PsychCentral)
22. 2007 China Best Call Centre (the best operators ‘who will be with you shortly’ by CallCentres)
23. Top 100 Luxury Blogs of 2007 (an elite assortment by International Listings)
24. Best of What’s New in 2007 (products, inventions, and gadgetry compiled by PopularScience)
25. Top 60 Japanese Buzzwords of 2007 (vernacular awesomeness by PinkTentacle)

101 Simple Appetizers

101 Simple Appetizers in 20 Minutes or Less :New York Times
From the NY Times, "Minimalist" Mark Bittman has a list of simple, but gourmet appetizers to prepare, just in time for the Christmas season.

Instructions/ recipes are short, but to the point.

Geothermal Heating and Cooling

Geothermal: The Holy Grail of Heating and Cooling
Described as "the lowest hanging fruit" of carbon emission reduction, this article explains the concepts behind geothermal energy.

Where to find video tutorials

A Big List of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff

ReadWriteWeb has a list of websites with video tutorials to help you learn how to do all manner of things. Here is the short version of the tutorial list, but check out ReadWriteWeb for the full descriptions.

• Instructables
  
• SuTree
  
• TrickLife
  
• VideoJug
• Expert Village
  
• eHow
  
• Make: Podcast
• 5min
  
• ViewDo
  
• Sclipo
  
• Helpfulvideo
  
• TeacherTube
• Koonji
• Squidoo
  
• About.com
  

Where to watch MLB, NFL, NHL, NCAA and NBA online

Where to watch NFL, MLB, NHL & NBA online
From Last100, there is a list of all the official sites to watch pro and amateur team sports, like football, basketball, hockey and baseball, on the internet.

50 Top 10 Lists of 2007 from Time Magazine

50 Top 10 Lists of 2007

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/0,30576,1686204,00.html

 

List-a-mania!!!  Time Magazine has top 10 lists in the following categories:

 

News

• Top 10 News Stories
• Top 10 Underreported Stories
• Top 10 TIME.com Photos
• Top 10 Editorial Cartoons
• Top 10 Asia Stories
• Top 10 Mideast Stories
• Top 10 Religion Stories
• Top 10 Crime Stories
• Top 10 Oddball News Stories
• Top 10 Campaign Gaffes
• Top 10 TIME.com Most Popular Stories

Arts & Entertainment

• Top 10 Movies (Richard Corliss)
• Top 10 Movies (Richard Schickel)
• Top 10 DVDs
• Top 10 New TV Series
• Top 10 Returning TV Series
• Top 10 Non-fiction Books
• Top 10 Fiction Books
• Top 10 Songs
• Top 10 Albums
• Top 10 Live Performances
• Top 10 Theater Performances
• Top 10 Museum Exhibits
• Top 10 Graphic Novels
• Top 10 Children's Books

Science

• Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
• Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
• Top 10 Green Ideas
• Top 10 Natural Disasters
• Top 10 Man-Made Disasters

Pop Culture

• Top 10 Quotes
• Top 10 Buzzwords
• Top 10 T-shirt Worthy Slogans
• Top 10 Viral Videos
• Top 10 TV Ads
• Top 10 Magazine Covers
• Top 10 Fashion Trends
• Top 10 Fashion Must-Haves
• Top 10 Breakups
• Top 10 Scandals
• Top 10 Awkward Moments
• Top 10 Animal Stories

·                                  

Business, Tech & Sports

• Top 10 Worst Biz Deals
• Top 10 Best Biz Deals
• Top 10 Websites
• Top 10 Gadgets
• Top 10 Toys
• Top 10 Video Games
• Top 10 Sports Matches
• Top 10 Sports Moments

 

The Top 53 Places to Go in 2008

The 53 Places to Go in 2008 : New York Times

Because I know that many Linkjockey readers are looking for a new global tourist destination for each week of 2007, why not check out what the New York Times is predicting.

Which travel destinations and resorts are "hot" for 2008? Combining countries, regions, cities and neighbourhoods in their Top 53, the results are definitely diverse, but there is an emphasis on destinations with brand new high end resorts.
The Top 10 are:
1 LAOS
2 LISBON
3 TUNISIA
4. MAURITIUS
5. MID-BEACH, MIAMI
6. SOUTH BEACH, MIAMI
7. MALDIVES
8. DEATH VALLEY
9. COURCHEVEL
10. LIBYA

Free Indie Christmas CD

Free Holidaze Mix Album
ReadyMade Magazine is offering an album of Christmas music by indie artists as free mp3 download. The most famous artist on the album is Death Cab for Cutie.
Thanks to Hype Machine and Hypeful for the links.

Answer to the Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything

Answer to the Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything

I looked all over the net but I finally found the answer. Thanks everyone.

Oppose the proposed draconian Canadian Copyright legislation

30 Days of DRM: 30 Things You Can Do
Educate yourself about the proposed Canadian Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), which looks to be even more restrictive than the current American counterpart. While the current legislation is widely seen as being fair and appropriate, Michael Geist has a list of 30 ways that you can make your opinions known about the draconian changes to the Canadian DMCA that tilt control toward the biggest corporate media companies.

Michael Geist is the best Canadian journalist covering digital media issues, such as copyright, DRM and the Internet. He is also not afraid of calling things as they are.

What is a Shibboleth?

Shibboleth from wikipedia
It's an in-joke, a password, a key word, or a shared memory.

How to make an Origami CD case

The Spiral Data Tato -- A Curiously Complex Origami CD Case

Actually, today's link will teach you how to fold paper to create 2 different origami cd cases.

1. There's instructions for the simple paper compact disc envelope or CD sleeve.
2. There's also instructions for the more complicated, spiral origami cd cover. The instructions have printable patterns for both American and European sized paper.

This is the most fun I've had with paper since making those Star Wars paper models. I'll probably use one of these sleeves for packaging my annual cd compilation.

One Week of Food for Different Societies

One Week of Food for Different Societies Pictures of "typical" families from different cultures and countries with a typical week's supply of food.

DFA Halloween Mix tape

DFA Halloween 2007 Party Radio Mix mp3s
The people at DFA are record label honchos, djs, remixers, producers, musicians, and more.
Download the free mp3 of the live Halloween dj mix from DFA Records. Man, they make funky music.

The craziest NFL field goal you'll ever see

YouTube - Phil Dawson Crazy Field Goal
From the NFL's Cleveland Browns - Baltimore Ravens game yesterday, here's a video of a strange field goal play that I've never even heard of in a football game before.

PS. RIP BC Lions 2007

Jamie Oliver in Globe and Mail

Globeandmail.com : Salty chef, Spicy Tongue
Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef, dishes on his celebrity chef critics,
His side-projects include training programs for unemployed disadvantaged students to become cooks and chefs, and his attempts to revolutionize school lunches with healthy food.

Jamie also gives some thoughts on his favourite restaurants in different cities (Tojo's and Vij's in Vancouver).

US Law professor calculates he racks up $4.5 billion in copyright liability per year

Overly-broad copyright law has made USA a "nation of infringers"
A Utah law professor discusses the gap in copyright law between what the law allows and what social norms permit, even without doing any P2P filesharing.

Where are the canonical web designs?

Do Canonical Web Designs Exist?

An interesting question, and the short answer is "Yes." Google and Amazon are the canonical web designs of our time. Why? Go to the Canonical Web Design site to find out.

New model online record label: RCRD LBL

RCRD LBL

Finally someone seems to have the internet music business thing figured out, and it's the people behind Engadget and Gizmodo.
The music is available for free in DRM-free, 192 Kbps MP3s on a website supported by advertising revenue. Artists and labels sign up, and despite just launching this week, the roster is impressive.

Here are some of my favorite artists on RCRD LBL:

• Art Brut
• Bloc Party
• Jamie Lidell
• Justice featuring Mos Def and Spank Rock
• Prefuse 73

Today's Link Source: Wired.com Listening Post

Best dunker you've never seen: Kadour Ziani

Would you believe that the best slam dunker in the world doesn't play basketball in the NBA, and isn't American. Kadour Ziani is from France and he's only 5'11, but with 56 inches of vertical he seems to fly we haven't seen since Michael Jordan at his prime. Kadour's creativity and his athleticism take his dunks to the next level. My faves are the one-armed cartwheel dunk and the dunk over the car, are completely sick.

A video of Kadour Ziani from Metacafe:


Kadour Ziani - For more amazing video clips, click here

Video from Kadouir Ziani's appearance on the Best Damn Sports Show:

Remembrance Day

The Royal Canadian Legion: Poppy & Remembrance
November 11 is Remembrance Day in Canada, marking the date that ended the First World War. For more on the history of Remembrance Day, the poppy and Flanders Field, the Canadian Legion's page explains in more detail.

Vancouver gets a Beard Papa, and becomes slightly more civilized

Georgia Straight's Food of the Week: Beard Papa

Beard Papa's delicious, fist-sized cream puffs have finally come to Vancouver!
Vancouver joins the ranks of Osaka, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seoul, Bangkok, and New York to have our own franchise of the Japanese Beard Papa at the Aberdeen Mall at 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond.

How much is your NHL franchise worth? : Forbes magazine

Forbes Special Report: The Business of Hockey

How much is your city's NHL team worth?

Which NHL players deliver the most value to their teams?

For some people the business of sports is even more interesting than the games themselves. For these folks, Forbes has done a really good job of analyzing each NHL hockey team's value; based on their team, their market, their gate receipts, the broadcast revenue, their stadium contract, their brand and other financial factors.

FYI The Vancouver Canucks are the ninth most valuable team in the NHL at $211 Million.

The 15 tools every household should own

The 15 tools every homeowner should own
Christmas time is around the corner, and people are going to start asking me for my Christmas list soon. There's not too much "stuff" out there that jumps to mind, but I remember seeing this list of 15 essential tools that would help me fill-in the holes in my toolkit.
Now I'm not a homeowner yet, but I do get a secret thrill when I'm able to use my tools to build or fix things.

I'm also using this list of essential kitchen tools to build that Christmas list.

Top 100 Mac Apps

Food 2.0: Chefs as Chemists

New York Times: Food 2.0: Chefs as Chemists
An overview of some of the most recent development in the cooking world, where chefs are using techniques and ingredients from chemistry to develop a new style of cooking.

Paste magazine invites readers to choose own subscription price

Paste is a culture magazine that features the most creative new music, films and books, and includes a monthly cd with songs from the profiled musicians. In an effort to find new readers, Paste is taking a cue from Radiohead, and allowing readers to pay whatever they want for a subscription. What's the other catch? Well, there are 2; there's a minimum of $1 and the offer is only valid in the U.S:(

read more | digg story

Moby licenses tracks to filmmakers for free

Moby Gratis .com
Provocative electronica artist, Moby, has kindly made over 50 of his unreleased tracks available to independent filmmakers to use for free. On the Moby Gratis website, you can listen to streaming mp3s of all of them. Thank you Moby!
Today's Link source: TriggerStreet.com

How to win at Monopoly

How to Win at Monopoly - A Surefire Strategy

Monopoly is one of my all time favourites and, in my opinion, is one of the few board games that get better when played on a computer. Tim Darling has a "surefire" strategy to help you come out on top everytime.

Astronomy Photo of the Day

Astronomy Picture of the Day : NASA
As a link-of-the-day site, I'm also drawn to other sites that publish on a daily basis.
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day produces stunning space photos day after day, with an explanation of what you're looking at. There's also an space photo archive, with daily photos that go back to June 15, 1995.

Thanks to Wired's Geek Dad blog for mentioning

From Corporate Responsibility to Backstory Management

WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: From Corporate Responsibility to Backstory Management

An article from World Changing, with the theory that in the 21st Century, corporations will succeed with consumers by moving from corporate responsibility to taking accountability for their entire operations and supply chain.
Bonus points for reference to Vancouver's SF writer, William Gibson.

read more digg story

10 Ways to Affect Your Brand Search on Google

Ten Ways to Avoid a Google Reputation Management Nightmare
From Marketing Pilgrim, in short:
1. Get your own web site.
2. Start a blog.
3. Add a sub-domain.
4. Create a social networking profile.
5. Create your own social network.
6. Create a business profile.
7. Share your photos.
8. Claim your identity.
9. Create your own Wiki.
10. Get a free page from Google.

Saul Williams - List of Demands video

Trent Reznor said that it was this video that encouraged him to collaborate with Saul Williams.

Traditional Japanese Ghost Story

Néojaponisme: Night Fishing
A scary Japanese ghost story from 1911 has been translated into English. Happy Halloween!

NBA's Gilbert Arenas blogs

NBA.com Blog: Gilbert Arenas
Apparently, this is the best sports superstar blog. Don't say I didn't let you know.

Saul Williams releases album online with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor

The Web 2.0 World is Skunk Drunk on Its Own Kool-Aid

Micro-Persuasion - The Web 2.0 World is Skunk Drunk on Its Own Kool-Aid
An opinion piece about Web 2.0 by Steve Rubel, suggesting that there is new dot-com bubble, and what got us in this situation - greed.

BusinessWeek Special Report on Mobile Phones

Business Week Special Report on Mobile Phones Killer Mobile Apps
iPhones
Touch screens
Google Phones

Profile of NBA's Steve Nash from NY Times

Not to Get Too Mystical About It - New York Times
A really good profile of Victoria, British Columbia's Steve Nash, who was the NBA's MVP two years in a row with the Phoenix Suns. This article follows Steve Nash on his tour of Beijing, China with Yao Ming, and a host of other NBA players.
Today's Link source: Kottke

Da Vinci's hi-res Last Supper

The Last Supper in Detail
As of today, Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper painting is now viewable online in a high resolution 16 billion pixel scan. It's available for free to everyone with an internet connection, even if you can't get to Milan to see it in person.

Today's Link source: Yahoo! News

Japan's ESL company NOVA goes bankrupt

Nova files for bankruptcy with debt of ¥43.9 billion



If you're thinking about going to teach English in Japan, don't even think about working for Nova anymore. I worked for them for a year and a half, in Osaka and Tokyo, and had a great experience. Unfortunately for Nova's customers and employees, the company's hardball techniques have caught up with them.

Thanks to my man in Japan, EvenMe for the link.

2007 Top Travel Destinations

Conde Nast Readers' Choice Awards 2007
While Conde Nast is more of a luxury travel magazine (I normally prefer the budget travel), their readers have spoken and made their choices for the best travel destinations of 2007.
The categories are Top Cities, Top Islands, Top Transportation, Top Hotels and Top Resorts, and are divided up by region.
Yes, Vancouver, Victoria and many of the BC Resorts rated highly in the Americas surveys.

So where are the best hostels and best cheap flights?

Play NHL 94 hockey online

NHL '94.com
Longtime fans of hockey videogames recognize that Electronic Arts' NHL 94 was the best hockey game of all time. There were all the fights, one-timers, screens, monster hits, the players' and teams' real names, not to mention some of the all time great players, like Mario and Wayne.
Now you can play NHL 94 hockey on your own computer or online in leagues against others.
This is why they created the internets!

Classic Afro-funk mixes

I try not to get tooo worked up about things, but the Voodoo Funk mp3 blog has blown my mind. Voodoo Funk's creator lives in Guinea, and picks up classic African funk vinyl records during his travels throughout Africa, then creates hour-long mixes for the blog.

I haven't listened to all 11 mixes yet, but the Cooked from Scratch mix is my favourite so far. It's brilliant, brilliant, rare, soulful, James Brown-style grooves that blow the lid off the party.


Today's Link source: Metafilter

The Ultimate DIY Guide

25 Skills Every Man Should Know: Your Ultimate DIY Guide
Some pretty hard-core tips from Popular Mechanics magazine.

Quotes from CS Lewis

C.S. Lewis Quotes
Here are some quotes from C.S. Lewis, who was most famous for writing the Chronicles of Narnia books.

10 Ways You Will Change When You Become a Parent

10 Ways You Will Change When You Become a Parent
Several of the people closest to me have had babies recently, and I just wanted to give a shout out to them. Congratulations!!

Interview with Vancouver's SF author William Gibson

William Gibson Hates Futurists : tyeebooks.ca
An interview with Vancouver's own writer William Gibson about Vancouver, futurists, terrorism and his new book, Spook Country from The Tyee.
Today's Link source: Boing Boing

Legal victory for Fantasy Sports fans

Appeals court rules in favor of fantasy baseball company
The courts came through with a ruling against Major League Baseball, that Fantasy Sports companies can publish players' statistics and names as facts, without permission. Thank you for letting common sense prevail this time (pdf). Analysis here.

Today's Link source: Boing Boing

Convincing Video

Pretty solid logical argument.

Thanks to Silver Donald Cameron for the YouTube link

www.silverdonaldcameron.ca

Best cell phone news source

Engadget Mobile

I'm in the market for a new cellular phone. I love my old phone to bits, but the buttons don't work so well any more.

While there are some exciting phones that are available (and some that are not available), unfortunately Canadian wireless companies seem to be working together, because they all seem to offer expensive voice plans, overly long contracts, high cancellation charges, high fees, low-featured phones and/ or ridiculously high data download rates.

Engadget Mobile seems to have the latest and best news on North American mobile phones, and that includes Canada. So if and when the situation changes, and Canada gets the iPhone and/or reasonable data rates, I'll be ready to pounce.

Blogging R.E.M. songs

Pop Songs 07 - I’ll write about every R.E.M. song, eventually
R.E.M. was a seminal band of the eighties and nineties, and now the Pop Songs 07 blog is reviewing each song from their catalogue one-by-one. Some of the entries have links to free mp3 links of cover versions.
Cool concept.

What are the costs of reducing climate change? What has the biggest impact?

For Blog Action Day, Vattenfall's Climate Map (pdf) - Vattenfall's mission is to get rid of 26.7 billion tonnes of emission by 2030. Read about their 27 ways to cut emissions.

You'll be really surprised to see so many emission reducing solutions that actually save money on page 21.

Blog Action Day for the environment

October 15 is Blog Action Day; one day when blogs focus on ways to address climate change and the environment. Here are some of the best ones that I've come across.

Lifehacker: 10 Easy Ways to Live Greener

Instigator Blog: How Entrepreneurs Can Help Save the Environment

Freelance Switch - 29 Simple Ways to Become a More Environmentally Friendly Freelancer (+ Help Us Donate $500 to Charity!)

Chris Walks in the Bucket truck

Chris Walks in the Bucket truck
Originally uploaded by Christopher Walks

Uh, yeah. That's me pretending to do real work on power lines. Watch what happens when I stick my tongue on the wire. Safety first.

Best sites for streaming television

http://www11.alluc.org/alluc/tv-shows/
http://tv-links.co.uk (taken down Oct 19, 2007)

My friend Rhianfa recommended these excellent sites as the best ones for
complete seasons of a huge variety of tv shows. Brilliant!

Nobel Prizes - The Best of the Best

Nobel Peace Prize 2007
The Nobel Peace Prize 2007 was awarded today to 2 winners, Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Find out the other winners in Medicine, Economics, Literature, Physics, Chemistry and Peace through the history of the Nobel Prize.

Non-Toxic Cleaners

Alternative Cleaners and Recipes
Common household cleaners are often made with extremely toxic chemicals. Help your household get clean and go green with these easy to make, environmentally friendly cleaners.

Video of "The Band" in their final concert

Metafilter: "We gave our final concert, The Band's final concert. We called it The Last Waltz."

Thanks to YouTube, we can all watch The Band's final concert from San Francisco in 1976, filmed by Martin Scorsese. Epic live performances.

The list of tracks, with direct video links is here:
Don't Do It, Theme from The Last Waltz, Up on Cripple Creek, The Shape I'm In, Who Do You Love, It Makes No Difference, Such a Night, Helpless, Stage Fright, The Weight, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Dry Your Eyes, Coyote, Mystery Train, Mannish Boy, Further on up the Road, Evangeline, Ophelia, Caravan, Forever Young, Baby Let Me Follow You Down, and I Shall Be Released with a ton of guests.

Unusual articles to keep you reading for Thanksgiving Weekend

Wikipedia: Unusual articles

Someone has taken the time to compile a massive list of the weird and wonderful articles on Wikipedia.

Such as what?
For starters, how about:

Traditions and anecdotes associated with the Stanley Cup	An ice hockey trophy with a long history of abuse, superstition, and tests of buoyancy.
Snail racing	Ready, steady, slow!
Squirrel fishing	A sport of skill and patience.
Teddy bear toss	A Christmas tradition in minor league hockey.

Bovine bingo	A different way to play bingo.
Bummer and Lazarus	Two stray dogs that roamed the streets of San Francisco, California, in the early 1860s and were exempted from local ordinances.
Chicken hypnotism	Have you ever wanted to hypnotize a chicken? If not, why not?
Chicken sexer	A person who has been specially trained to determine the sex of chicken hatchlings.

Gef the talking mongoose	A poltergeist-like creature which claimed to have been an 80-year-old Indian mongoose, alleged to have haunted a Manx cottage during the 1930s.
Jackalope	A cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope.
Jersey Devil	A mythological creature said to inhabit the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

Emerald Cockroach Wasp	A wasp that can ride a cockroach and drive it, too.
Exploding head syndrome	Some people hear a massive explosion that wakes them up after being asleep for an hour or two.
Fatal hilarity	Is there really anything so funny you can die of laughter?
Female hysteria	A once-common diagnosis of a range of symptoms in women, cured through masturbation to orgasm.

Can't sleep, clown will eat me	A stock phrase that's become a popular joke-explanation for insomnia.
Cartoon physics	An explanation of the laws of physics as they have come to be (mis)represented in cartoons.
Cuteness in Japanese culture	It's not just Hello Kitty

Gimli Glider	Due to an input error, a Boeing 767 plane runs out of fuel mid-flight and becomes a glider.
Guided rat	Implanted electrodes let researchers "steer the animal over an obstacle course, making it twist, turn and even jump on demand."
David Hahn	A 17-year old known as the Radioactive Boy Scout, he irradiated his back yard attempting to build a nuclear breeder reactor from spare parts.

Now these are just a few of these strange Wikipedia articles, but rest assured there are plenty more. Have a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Thank you again for your great links, Kottke.

XO laptop is a total kid magnet!

The truth is, the XO laptop, now in final testing, is absolutely amazing, and in limited tests by the NY Times, a total kid magnet. Both the hardware and the software exhibit breakthrough after breakthrough — some of them not available on any other laptop, for $400 or $4,000.Designed as a low cost, scalable option for children in Third World countries, it's a breakthrough in education, computing, and hopefully, economic development. In November, you'll be able to purchase your own XO for $400, which includes 1 XO for you and 1 XO for a child in a developing country.
http://laptop.org/
http://www.xogiving.org/

read more digg story

Missing an old friend

I found a neat link today where someone makes some thoughtful, well written predictions about the future of web startups. I've got a bit of a soft spot for projections and futurism, and it's been a while since I'd seen much internet "futurist stuff".
I thought I'd give a "shout-out" link to an old friend of mine who is a futurist, and an important person in my wife's life, Tod Maffin. Incoming links are always appreciated, right?

A few days ago, I read an article of Tod's on The Tyee, and today I stopped by Tod Maffin's todbits blog for the first time in a while, and read that he's had a lot of struggles recently with depression. Yesterday marked an important day as he went public with his illness, and marks a turning point in his battle against depression.

Tod, we haven't seen you in a while and it's been far too long, but our prayers are with you.

Raise a Reader

Vancouver Sun - Raise a Reader

In yet another sign that it's hockey time in Vancouver, Henrik Sedin was
standing at the corner of Burrard and Georgia for the Raise a Reader
program.
Get going with your hockey pools!

Radiohead's new album - Charging “Whatever You Want To Pay”

Radiohead. Charging “Whatever You Want To Pay” For New Album
Fans Pay Whatever They Want for Radiohead's Upcoming Album

Brilliant marketing ploy by Radiohead for their In Rainbows album.

Remembering your first concert

First concerts: Thanks for the mezzanines (MSNBC)
Begging your mom to let you go, and rocking your first concert T-shirt

My first concert was Grapes of Wrath at the PNE in about 1990. I waited in line for hours to get into the free show, and ended up in the front row, crushed against the barrier to see this melodic, Canadian shoegazer band. Fantastic.

Are the mobile phone companies about to get knocked off?

A Cellphone Without Borders - New York Times
A company called Cubic Telecom is releasing a mobile phone that has the potential to take down the big mobile phone companies by targeting their ridiculous international rates, using a combination of VOIP and wifi. Brilliant. It's about time.

Best Links for Hockey Pool GMs

Hockey Pool Links and Resources - Fantasy Hockey Pool Stats .ca
Free Online Hockey Pools

They've dropped the puck!!
It's the first day of the NHL's 2007-2008 Regular Season, as the mighty Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks take on the Los Angeles Kings in London, England, and it's not to late to start a fantasy hockey pool. My hockey pool draft happens tonight, and I've been in pools where the picks weren't made until a week into the season, so there's still time.

For many Canadians, the start of the hockey season means that it's hockey pool time.
For many Americans, it's fantasy hockey time. Why the difference? I'm not sure.

The Free Online Hockey Pools link has a list of free fantasy leagues to try out your hockey predictions with total strangers. There are also templates for free bracket- or category-style fantasy hockey pools, which are the easiest type of leagues to host because you don't need everyone together in the same room.

The Hockey Pool Links and Resources has a list of the best places on the net to keep track of hockey statistics, injuries, rumors, news, player salaries, the season schedule and scores.
There are also team-by-team previews for the 2007-2008 NHL season. He shoots, he SCORES!!!

How to make a Powerpoint Deck that doesn't suck

Geek To Live: Rock your Presentation with the Right Tools and Apps - Life hacker
Some great tips on how to get beyond boring Microsoft Powerpoint bullet-point presentations and software demonstrations from Lifehacker.

Great Interviews of the 20th Century

Great Interviews of the 20th Century : Guardian Unlimited
The Guardian goes to their archives, and returns with their interviews of some of the most famous (and infamous) people of the Twentieth Century.

No 1: Richard Nixon by David Frost

No 2: Diana, Princess of Wales by Martin Bashir

No 3: John Lennon by Jann S Wenner

No 4: Marlon Brando by Truman Capote

No 5: Dennis Potter by Melvyn Bragg

No 6: Francis Bacon by David Sylvester

No 7: Marilyn Monroe by Richard Meryman

No 8: Sex Pistols by Bill Grundy

No 9: Malcolm X by Alex Haley

No 10: Adolf Hitler by GS Viereck

No 11: F Scott Fitzgerald by Michel Mok

No 12: Margaret Thatcher by Terry Coleman

No 13: Fidel Castro by Herbert Matthews

No 14: Mae West by Charlotte Chandler

How to make the perfect cup of coffee

Why Your Coffee Sucks (and How to Drink Great Coffee for a Fraction of What You're Paying Now)

I love drinking coffee, but haven't had the time or inclination to brew the "perfect" cup of coffee. I still might not, but I do appreciate knowing what goes into making it the "correct" way.

Tons of Classic Funk and Soul downloads

4 Brothers Beats
A great mp3 blog featuring a huge range of downloads of classic funk, jazz and soul tracks and albums from the 1970s and 80s.
A brilliant resource for music Tuesday!

Today's Link from Metafilter

10 Classic movies that are free online

10 Brilliant Complete Movies Online- The List Universe

The List Universe blog has 10 streaming old time movies that have had their copyright expire.

1. M 1931, Fritz Lang
2. The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer
3. Nosferatu 1922, F.W. Murnau
4. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939, Frank Capra
5. It Happened One Night 1934, Frank Capra
6. The General 1929, Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton
7. Begotten 1991, E. Elias Merhige
8. The Gold Rush 1925, Charles Chaplin
9. It’s a Wonderful Life 1946, Frank Capra
10. All Quiet on the Western Front 1930, Lewis Milestone

My Fantasy Hockey Pool Stats and Picks website

Apologies to regular Linkjockey readers. I've been pretty busy at work
recently, as well as working on my new website: Fantasy Hockey Pool
Stats .ca.
http://fantasyhockeypoolstats.ca

It's my first shot at the e-commerce thing, and it's been a struggle.
The first day of the 2007-2008 NHL hockey season is September 29, so I
needed to get the site done in a hurry. The concept is a comprehensive
guide for people in a Fantasy Hockey league or a hockey pool at a really
cheap price, with statistics that are easy to crunch in Microsoft
Excel. It's something that I've had to create for myself for the past 2
hockey seasons, but this year I decided that others might find it
worthwhile too.

Check out the http://fantasyhockeypoolstats.ca if you love hockey
pools. There are some linkts to some free online fantasy hockey sites,
andt hopefully I'll have up a free fantasy hockey bracket system for you
to organize with your friends in the next couple of days.
Cheers,
Chris

Don't Tase Anyone, Bro!

Amnesty International Exposes Widespread Taser Misuse

Initiated by the recent tasering of a University of Florida student, Daily Kos has compiled some compelling and relevant arguments and video clips from Amnesty International and around the web about the misuse of tasers by police.

Stream popular TV and movies for free!

This site is constantly updated and includes a large variety of TV series, UFC and boxing matches, music, and movies (even the ones still in theaters). This is like pirate bay only without the download time. Check it out!

read more | digg story

"Some teachers are miracle workers. The rest of us are not."

NYT - Please Cast Ryan Gosling as Me
New York Times opinion piece by a teacher that struggled to be like the inspirational miracle workers that teachers are in the movies, but failed. Will Okun describes what it's like to be a real teacher in a real school in Chicago with real students.
Real life isn't like the movies? Hmmm... It's still inspiring to know that most teachers are still trying to make a difference.

Illegal to hang your laundry outside?

WSJ: The Right to Dry: A Green Movement Is Roiling America

Wall Street Journal article about a growing conflict between families that air-dry their laundry and their neighbourhoods' Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, and one woman's battle that becomes a rallying point for a sensible environmental solution.

Hacking Ikea products

Ikea Hacker blog

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/

 

I think that a lot of people buy things from Ikea, and just take them home and use them as directed, but not everyone.  Some people are “hacking” their Ikea products, and promoting their projects online.

 

Ikea Hacker is a blog where people send in their ideas for converting, say:

the drawer that becomes a desk http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2007_08_01_archive.html

redesign the lighting units http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/search/label/lighting

create new kitchen shelving units http://shelterlife.thisoldhouse.com/2007/03/this_is_why_ren.html

 

For do-it-yourselfers, this is a great website for hacking/ re-purposing all sorts of Ikea goods.

 

Link source:  Cool News of the Day  http://reveries.com/?p=1277

 

Voice of singing software storms the Japanese Charts

Hatsune Miku
Apparently, the latest singing sensation to sweep Japan is a piece of software from Yamaha in the guise of Hatsune Miku.
Link Source: Metafilter

Most Overrated Menu Items -from Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain's Overrated Menu
The cranky celebrity chef chops up dining's hottest trends

If you haven't read Bourdain's awesome non-fiction books, I strongly recommend that you do. With none of the pretension that you'd expect from a "celebrity chef", he comes across as the "Anti-Celebrity Chef"; that is, a regular guy that works hard and takes advantage of the opportunities he's been given. He knows what he likes, and he's a straight shooter about it. And he gets into loads of mischief.

Link source: Popurls

'Heroes" Season 1 Report Card

Episode Guide- 'Heroes' Report Card: We Grade All 23 Episodes

I'm not a huge tv watcher, except for hockey, but I did enjoy the series 'Heroes" last year. In preparation for the new season, EW has reviews and plot summaries for each of the debut season's episodes. Good stuff!

Meme of the moment "Web 2.0 = The Mullet"

Buzzfeed - The Mullet Strategy
Business in the front, party in the back.
"The Mullet Strategy" is the term coined for web 2.0 sites that let users party, argue, and vent on the secondary pages, but professional editors keep the front page looking sharp. Sheesh.
In Canada, we used to call it "hockey hair".
Today's Link source: Kottke