Alright, so that didn’t work out as planned. If it had been planned. I really should start reading more modern poetry. (Although by now you may already be aware of how I feel about poetry.)

Anyway, so here it is: another episode of Le Linkage, and this one’s about all the wonderful stuff making its way into my RSS reader as of late. Some of it is thought provoking, some just fun to read, but most, I’m sure you’ll side with me, won’t make your eyeballs bleed. (There now, that’s better, though not by much.)

What If…: What if you could go back in time to change something about your life? I’m of the opinion that is not only useful when learning your lessons from past mistakes (especially the mistake of inaction). This post, however, puts a new twist to this question, one that makes you really ask “what if…?” (h/t A Rain of Frogs).

The Search for Meaning: When are people truly happy? Not after the fact of accomplishment, but in the act of the accomplishing. We are creators, and as such true happiness comes to us when we have a purpose, and when that purpose has a meaning. (Think of the word “meaningful”, what does it say to you? This gives us a clue as to the importance of meaning.) The lack of meaning brings desperation. The existence of a meaning brings with it faith and subsequently hope. (h/t Wurkit Books)

The Need to Understand Pop Culture: I’m not exactly what you’d call a “fan” of pop culture, yet the need to understand it has made itself apparent to me over the years. It hasn’t been an easy transition — I, like other social outcasts, thought it to be somehow beneath me — but it has been an enlightening one. What I find most perplexing now is how one person can deride and even ignore his own culture on one hand while on the other glorifying another which does the same, but in another language. (h/t Helpdesk Magazine)

Why Unsubscribe from a Blog: RSS is a wonderful thing. With one click you can get all of the content from a website you’ve just found delivered to you directly. Of course, the subscription part is easy, it’s the unsubscribing part that sometimes isn’t (depending on how much of a pack rat you are, I guess). What gets you to unsubscribe from a blog? Conversely, why would you really want to subscribe to one in the first place? As for me, I’m very picky about who I subscribe to, and most often won’t subscribe on a first visit. If I find I’ve visited your site multiple times, then I’ll put you on. This is because I have a strong pack rat instinct, which means that once your on my RSS reader you’ll probably not get off of it, unless I find your content boring in the long run (meaning for months), or your blog goes to bunk. (Lack of updates will NOT get me to unsubscribe.) (h/t Pelfism is Contagious)

Gender and Fan Studies: I’ve been around the anime/japanophile subculture for quite a bit, and one thing I’ve always found interesting is how almost predictably rigid the characteristics of people in that subculture are. I suppose these are but accented outgrowths of the culture in general, but I find they’re much easier to identify there than in other subcultures. The following is a set of essays in Professor Henry Jenkin’s blog studying just that: the role of gender in fan cultures. Very interesting read, especially to students of gender studies. The title link, by the way, is only the first post in the conversation. Here are the others: (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5, 7) I’m sure there will be more, so keep an eye out. (h/t Confessions of an Aca/Fan — This, by the way, is one of my favorite blogs, and is a suitable supplement to the question asked by Helpdesk Magazine’s Michael Ono.)

Public Service Announcement on the 9Rules/Pokemon Quarantine: Alright, so the rest of this stuff is thought provoking, now for something more light hearted. This is one of the funniest posts I’ve read, and while it’s pretty much a “you had to be there” humor piece (specifically dealing with a Pokemon thread which garnered over 1300 replies in a forum where a “big” thread gets just over 50), it should be good for at least a smile. (h/t hthth)

Blogathon for Cancer Research: Fellow 9Ruler Kamigoroshi’s blogging for a good cause, and you can help! She’s looking for sponsors for a 24 hour blogathon. All proceeds go towards cancer research (and seeing as Kamigoroshi’s a cancer researcher, this is only fitting). The sponsorships don’t have to be much — maybe $10, or the price of a couple of frappuccinos at Starbucks — and every dime helps. Considering cancer rates are rising, doesn’t it make sense to help, since there’s a fairly good chance you’ll need the research in the future? Factoid: 0.8% of the total US population is diagnosed with cancer every year. Think about that. Now, go and donate.

(Edit) Why Barack Obama Scares Me: “What really scares me about Obama is that he quit smoking!… We don’t need a president who might nuke Mexico over a bad burrito because he’s having a nicotine fit.” (h/t Roblimo)

As a side note before I begin: some of this stuff reminds both The Wife and I about a Far Side cartoon we both saw a few years back. A man is walking to his kid’s bedroom with a book under his arm and a smile on his face. A little kid laying in bed, covering up to his (or her?) nose, yelling “Daddy, please! Not another bed time story!” The caption on the cartoon: “Bedtime at the Stephen King household.”

Alright, now back to your regularly scheduled Le Linkage:

SciFi.com Drive In: I love old sci-fi movies. They’re fun to watch, think about, and when necessary, make fun of a-la Mystery Science Theater. For those of us who enjoy old science fiction, SciFi.com (the online presence of the SciFi Chanel) has an array of old movies (including Metropolis and Le Voyage Dans la Lune, serials, and other miscellaneous films available for streaming in the drive-in section of their site. While there, make sure to check out their book reviews and their massive stock of Battlestar Galactica content.

Is That a Photoshop?! Yes, actually, it’s a fake. A frigg’n good one. She’s not real.

If You Could Live Anywhere, how about Abakalin? If this artist’s rendition of a topopolis is anything near accurate, sign me up! Of course, there’s that whole matter of construction and it taking more materials than there are on Earth… or most of the Solar System for that matter.

The Last Question: If you love science fiction chances are you love Issac Asimov. What better way to appreciate the man’s genius than to read his tale about what he expects the last question to be. Can you guess it? And can you guess the answer? (For you evil Doug Adams minions, no, it’s not 42.)

Super-Toys Last All Summer Long: This story will seem fairly familiar to any of you who’ve seen the movie A.I., since it is the inspiration for the film. This short story was written by Brian Aldiss and was first published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1969. It tells a tale of of humanity in an age of intelligent machines and of the aching loneliness endemic in an overpopulated future.

I, Cthulhu: If you know the name Neil Gaiman, you’re probably aware that he’s to blame for the great-but-gory Sandman comics. What you may not know is that he’s a spectacular author in his own right. In this short story, Gaiman shows us the lighter side of The Old Ones, starting with Cthulhu. (If you’re not familiar with the H.P. Lovecraft “Cthulhu mythos” you may not get all the humor presented here. Still, it’s a good read.) After this, check out some of his other short stories.

Final Fantasy Short Stories: I’ve talked about this before, but seeing as I’m reading a lot of short stories these days, I thought it fitting to bring up again. There were three short stories published a while back which cover the backstory of the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, specifically the two years between the movie and the game Final Fantasy VII. The stories aren’t fan fics, but were published by Square-Enix. These are well written and worth a read: The Maiden Who Travels the Planet, Denzel’s Story, and Tifa’s Story.

Business School Podcast for Free: America’s leading business schools — Wharton, Duke’s Fuqua School, Harvard — are all making courses available for download via iTunes. (If you expect me to tell you why this is good, you’re wasting your time. Go check it out now.)

The Perfect Mark: Ever wonder if anyone actually ever falls for those emails we all get promising to make you rich if you help out some Nigerian widow stash US$45-million in your bank account? Wonder no more: the answer is yes, and who they ensnare might surprise you. This New Yorker piece is an actual story about a guy who, in his greed and pride, fell victim to these scammers and ended up in jail for it. [Source: Black Marks on Wood Pulp. Also, reminds me of this previous Gnorb.NET piece on avoiding CraigsList scammers.]

Becoming Human: So, how did we get from where we were 4,000,000 years ago as simple, knuckle-dragging Australopithecines to the current state of Homo Sapiens? This very interesting Flash video shows you where we came from and how we got here.

Washington’s Farewell Address Translated into Modern English: In the course of human history, not many have had quite as strong an impact as General George Washington, the first President of the United States. His farewell address is agreed upon by historians to be one of the finest in all American politics, since it deals with issues we struggle with even unto this day. The problem is that since it is written in 1790’s English, most people today can’t really understand it, which is why xkcd undertook the task of translating the piece into modern English. One his commenters upped the ante, reposting a modern day translation of the American Declaration of Independence.

The Height of Hubris? Ever seen the movie Gattaca? In it, the main protagonist is a lowly, genetically inferior human trying to get to space. In the process, he begins transforming his body, one of the ways being limb-lengthening surgery. In this BetterHumans piece, Simon asks whether his personal desire for such a surgery (available from a reputable source for as low as US$20,000 in China) is hubris, or whether he really is justified in wanting to make himself taller. After all, “The majority of CEOs are over six foot, the taller US presidential candidate tends to win the election, and people earn more money, on average, with each extra inch of height.” Here, he outlines reasons for and against the surgery. A very interesting read, especially for those interested in Transhumanist topics and cosmetic surgery.

The Last Question: So, we’ve seen where humans came from and where we are. Now, where are we going? Sci-Fi legend Isaac Asimov tells a short, trillion-year tale of how this whole human experience might end, and maybe how it began. “The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five-dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way…”

Multi-Touch Monitors: This is seriously cool. In this video, Jeff Han and Phil Davidson demonstrate how a multi-touch driven computer screen will change the way we work and play.

Holy Crap! Is This Real?! And now, for something totally different.

Online Game: Dodge: Simple and Addictive: Does it get any better than that? It’s the kind of game that keeps you as entertained as a stoner watching a side-loaded washing machine. Whoooa…. hey, nachos!

Well, that does it for this week. You can check out the previous episodes in the Le Linkage category of Gnorb.NET.

Star Trek Schematics: Space ships have always fascinated me, which is why I found this site absolutely amazing. Here you’ll find a collection of schematics for a number of Star Trek vessels and stations. Want to know what Deep Space Nine looked like, level by level? What about a Romulan Bird of Prey? You’ll find it here.

Springtime On Mars: With all the stuff we’re sending to Mars, you have to wonder what it’s going to look like in a few years. Check out this funny video depicting that Mars — and its inhabitants.

Futurismic Sci-Fi Stories: If you enjoy reading original science fiction, whether just barely sci-fi or far out adventures, this is a site I highly recommend. A number of (what I can only presume are amateur) authors submit their stuff to this site, and the result is one of the best free collections of original sci-fi on the net. Don’t expect any fan fiction here.

Orion’s Arm: What’s the future really going to look like? Nobody knows, but this site is dedicated to creating a fictional future more realistic than any by basing it on what we actually know today. If you’re like me and you enjoy the actual technology and historical developments more than you enjoy character development, this is one for you. It’s like reading the history of Earth from the standpoint of someone in the year 12,000-ish.

Top Ten Servers in Movies: Face it, in every sci-fi film where a human battles technology an evil mainfraim is inevitably at the center of everything bad that has been happening. This is a subjective list of the top ten servers in movies. And yes, it does include HAL.

What might life be like 50 years from now? Can we expect robots voting? Will there be Chinese on the moon? While some of these predictions may seem outlandish now, let’s not forget that the technological singularity is predicted to happen sometime around 2045. (This date may change, but that there will be a technological singularity is almost without a doubt.) After that, AI may really be asking for voting rights, and as for the Chinese, I expect them to be on the moon — and start setting up colonies — much faster. (How they’re going to get stuff from there to Wal-Mart, I have no idea.)

Meet Pleo (Is it alive?): The Wife’s been asking for a dog. I think I’ll get her one of these instead. After all, who wouldn’t want an android baby dinosaur walking around the house?

Sci-Fi South Park: I know, I know. Not exactly what you’d call sophisticated, but South Park actually has a couple of rather interesting episodes for those of us who enjoy science fiction. The two linked here (one of which is 30 minutes, the other 1 hour, split into 2 videos) use elements from movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator and Akira to get the full effect. Funny stuff, if you can get past the overall crudeness of the series (and I’m not talking about the animation style).

• Trapper Keeper: Cartman’s Trapper Keeper threatens to take over the world. After he’s done bragging, a stranger tells him that it will soon take over the world if they don’t destroy it now.
• Go, God, Go, Part I and Go, God, Go, Part II: What happens if we abolish religion altogether? This hour long episode, split into two parts, asks that question and attempts to answer it (insofar as South Park every attempts to answer anything) from the standpoint of the 26th century, where two atheist human factions and an atheist sea otter faction are vying for control of the Earth. Apparently, in this future, space travel hasn’t gone all that far, although flying cars have. !

That’s it for this episode of Le Linkage. More episodes can be found in the Le Linkage category page.

Like always, if you like this post, bookmark it! You can also find more Le Linkage episodes in the Le Linkage section of Gnorb.NET.

How to Build a Profitable Home on the Web: The title explains it all. What it doesn’t tell you is that this is a collection of videos that show you what you need to do. Good way to start your journey into the world of blogging and search engine optimization.

What’s Your Web Page’s True Relevance? This is extremely helpful for anyone who is interested in increasing their overall sphere of influence. Unlike other similar tools, this isn’t limited to Google, but instead encompasses things like .gov and .edu domains, Del.icio.us, Yahoo! searches, DMOZ, and a few others. This is a fairly interesting tool which gages your overall strength, unlike the Google PageRank algorithm, which measures importance. According to this, my page strength seems to be at around a 3.5 for www.gnorb.net and 3.0 for gnorb.net. How do I unify those, I wonder?

How to Optimize Your Blog for Search Engines: This is the billionth article written on the topic, but its written by one of the best in the industry, ProBlogger, and one of the few people who can actually say “I make a living from blogging!” Besides, this was posted on my birthday, which gives it an automatic cool factor.

212 Sure Fire Tips for a Successful Blog Launch: If you’re entering the world of blogging with the intent of becoming at least somewhat famous, this is the post for you. Remember, however, that having great content and making lots of money aren’t always related. Sometimes — a lot of times — making money comes from creating lots of little crappy sites that generate a lot of traffic. Most bloggers write because they love writing about topics they know a lot about. (In my case, I’m an expert at my own interests.) If you’re writing to be famous, take a look at these tips.

Secrets to Beating the Sandbox: Ok, so you’ve gotten your blog up and running. Now, how do you get to Google quickly, since that’s probably where most of your traffic will be coming from? This tutorial teaches you the best way to cut your Sandbox time from months to days. Hint: interlinking with similar sites helps an awful lot. Interlinking with Google-trusted authority sites is even better.

Banned from AdSense? It’s Your Own Damn Fault! Once you start a blog, if you’re looking to make money, chances are you’ll start the way most of us do: by using Google AdSense. If that’s the case, make sure that you’re not doing anything which will get you banned: bannination = lack of payment. Sure, they don’t come down hard on you if you’re earning $100 every 18 months, but once your blog becomes successful and you start making thousands a month, that’s when you’ll really start seeing Google’s scrutiny. The basic lesson is this: keep it honest. Even if you are honest, read this to make sure you’re not accidentally breaking the rules.

Webmaster World: Finally, if you don’t know about this site, now you do. And you should, since it’s just about the best site on the Web for general SEO information. Other sites (including some I’ve worked for) have done a great job at playing catch up, but all in all, this is where the brain-trust lives. Read what’s here with a notepad on hand: you’ll need it.

Download Online Streaming Videos:As you can probably tell, I love watching videos on YouTube. Yes, I’ll admit, I tend to watch more bits of copyrighted material (like The Colbert Report and South Park) than I do stupid people tricks (with the exception of the Angry German Kid and the Numa Numa guy). Once in a while, however, I run into videos I’d like to keep, videos I can’t really purchase, like Chihiro Onitsuka’s Little Beat Rifle music video. KeepVid exists for times like that, by allowing users to download the FLV (Flash Video) file and play it like any other video. You’ll need to download an FLV player to view the videos, but you can find those just about anywhere (including KeepVid.com) for Windows, Mac, or Linux. For you Firefox users, however, there are also extensions that will allow you to download all sorts of media content.

Comic Book Loving Political Junkies Rejoice! The Slate Online has published a comic book version of the entire 9/11 Report. Unlike just about every other comic out there, this one features real world situations, with very real heroes and villains. And unlike the ABC docudrama on the matter, this one actually sticks to the facts. Very well worth reading, especially if you want to read the 9/11 Report, but don’t care to slush through a thousand pages of government documents. More government documents should come in the form of comic books. Think about it, how much easier would doing taxes be if your forms featured Batman, simplifying the efforts The Confuser and TheObfuscator while keeping Mr. FreezeYourAssets at bay?

Super Hero Thanksgiving: Speaking of comics, ever wonder what your favorite super heroes were thankful for during Thanksgiving? Probably not. Someone out there did, however. If you need a cheap laugh, this will probably do.

Quantum Mechanics Made Relatively Simple: In this series of audio and video lectures, theoretical physicist Hans Bethe explains quantum theory and makes it simple enough for just about anyone to understand. These lectures were originally intended for the residents of his neighbors at the Kendal of Ithaca retirement community, but now you too can learn about the physics of the very small, even if you don’t have a full grasp of higher level mathematics.

China and Copyright law: Ever wonder why the Chinese seem to take such a flippant attitude towards copyrights? Here’s a hint: a large part of it is cultural. AsiaBizBlog is a great resource for anyone planning to do business in China, and this particular podcast covers the issue of copyright in a way we in the west can easily understand. (Not that it’s a hard issue, but rather because it is very nuanced.)

5000 Years of Middle Eastern History in 90 Seconds: No wonder these people are always fighting! This flash video goes through 5000 years of history, from the Sumerians to the current day political situation in the middle east. Very interesting video.

Language Roots of Indo-European Languages: Most of us know that English came from a combination of Germanic and French dialects, and that Romantic languages all came from Latin, but did you know that Latin was a subset of something called Latino-Faliscan, and that this language had the same roots as Celtic and Indo-Iranian? This language map shows all of that and more. Very interesting for those into language philosophy and linguistics.

Imagine Earth without People: There’s a saying that goes something like this: Get rid of all ants and parasites in the world and in 50 years everything dies. Get rid of all humans in the world and in 50 years everything flourishes. The sad part is that, for the most part, that’s true. But what if suddenly, tomorrow, every human on Earth disappeared (as in “off the planet” not as in “dead”)? What would the planet look like? What would happen to the bridges and buildings? How long would things last? Very interesting reading for anyone who likes to think about alternate realities.

Lots of Classic Games in FLASH! Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pacman, Snake, Frogger, Simon and other classic games, all in flash. Like the classics? Get ‘em here.

PlanetQuest: Help Discover New Planets: How thrilling would it be to discover a new planet? More than 100 planets having been discovered outside our Solar system. Why not get in on the fun? Using distributed computing — like what the SETI@Home project uses — PlanetQuest hopes to help discover even more planets, some of which may even hold life and be habitable for humans. The project isn’t done, so no software can be downloaded yet. Still, how cool would it be to someday have your descendants travel to a planet you helped discover?

Google Reader: These days, it seems as if you can’t go more than ten steps without reading about what Google is doing. The problem is that, other than search, most of their efforts have met with little fanfare. That may not be the case for long, if Google Reader is any indication. If you’re looking for an RSS reader, especially if you’re looking to replace your current account, check out Google’s newest tool. Robert Scoble did, and it looks like he liked it. After seeing it in action for myself, I may jump the Bloglines ship and do the same. (I’d like to thank Roy for sending this tip.)

Fark Search Engine: While Fark started out being nothing more than a site featuring a picture of a squirrel with giant testicles, it has quickly become one of the Internet’s most interesting “news” sites. Unfortunately, using their search functionality sucks. That’s why someone has come up with the idea of creating a Fark-specific search engine. Now, you don’t have to search the archives or tackle the thoroughness of Google to find that funny headline you saw three or four months back.

Anyway, what follows is a list of links you’ll want to bookmark and keep for future use (Alternatively, you can just bookmark this story and be done with it. To bookmark this article, just click Ctrl+D, unless you use Shadows or Del.icio.us, both of which I highly recommend. Click here to save this page on Del.icio.us.) With that, enjoy this episode of “Le Linkage”!

Cars.com: This is it: The mother of all car sites. While not the best site for everything car related, if you can only go to one website to find a new car, go here. That’s because this site allows you to search for new and used vehicles, do all types of research, and read professional as well as user reviews on just about every car on the market. I never trust just one source for my information, but if I had to, I would trust these guys.

Car Talk: If you’ve ever tuned in to their radio show, you know that Click and Clack aren’t just funny (in a “who can tell the most corny jokes” sort of way), they also know what they’re talking about. This website isn’t too focused on car research for buying. It’s more focused on car research for owners: Where are the good mechanics in my town? What can I do to save some money in fixing this $10 issue the dealership is charging me $200 for? Should I really be the one to take my transmission apart, and if so, how? These questions and more are answered by this pair of brothers. You can listen to them on National Public Radio (at 10:00am on Saturdays, 91.3 FM in Miami/Fort Lauderdale). Great show and great site. By the way, these guys are affiliated with Cars.com.

Automotive.com: Like a number of the sites on this list, this is an everything-you-need type of site. If you just want to do a bit of quick reserach, this website will give you everything from professional and user reviews, to prices for new and used vehicles, to where you can find the cheapest gas around your town.

Another site to consider along these lines is Edmunds.com, which also has forums in which you can talk to other buyers or look for advice from folks more experienced than yourself.

Auto Consumer Guide: This website iis mostly focused on reviews: lots of them. These aren’t your standard “brand new car, gee how it rides” review. These are some of the most comprehensive reviews for new and used vehicles. Crash test ratings, recalls, expected maintenance costs, reliability — you got it all here. This site became one of my all-out favorites when looking for a car.

CarReview.com and CarSurvey.org: Both of these websites include a number of reviews from owners of the vehicles, and responses from readers (who are usually looking to buy the same type of car or are owners of the car model being reviewed). Of these two, I prefer CarSurvey.org, simply because it’s better organized. Another site to consider is Epinions.com.

Kelly Blue Book: When you’re finally ready to talk numbers, make sure you’re really ready. The KBB website will show you how much you should be expecting to pay for a car. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is gospel truth, but what you see here is usually a good indicator. Here’s a hint: When you’re buying a used car, or trading in a car, make sure to look at the “Trade In Price”. When it comes to buying a car, you can get a little bit of a hint at what the dealer might have paid. When it comes to trading in a car, this number will likely be higher than what you’re offered, since dealerships usually use their own whole sale value, which is based on what they expect they can get for the car at auction. In any case, if someone is trying to sell you a car for $18,000 that is listed here as $11,000 for trade in (and I’ve seen this happen), either be willing to fight to get the number down or be willing to walk.

Another site you may be interested in is the N.A.D.A. guide website, although I didn’t use this one as extensively as the KBB when buying my last car.

Car Payment Affordability Calculator: Before you’re ready to talk numbers, make sure you know what you can afford. Now, what “you can afford” means — well, now, only you can answer that. How much do you want to pay per month? If you’re planning to use the Chinese payment plan — Won lump sum — then this won’t matter, but if like most of us you’ll be breaking the total cost down into payments, then check out this super handy calculator. It shows you the entire amortization schedule, as well as what were to happen if you increase payments. This is the best calculator I’ve seen, by far. (Note that the page I’ve linked to actually includes a number of other financial calculators. I thought that might be handy in the future.)

Find technical service bulletins (TSB) and Car Complaints: Once you’ve decided on a car, you can see what kind of problems you may face, and the complaints others have had with your car. Who knows, it may get you to change your mind. This site also list all of the TSBs released by manufacturers, so you can be sure that your local dealership doesn’t give you the runaround with covered issues.

Alright, well that does it for this episode of Le Linkage. This post is just part of the ongoing Le Linkage series. More posts in this series can be found at the Le Linkage section of Gnorb.NET.

Searching for Free Music with Google: Using this page, look for any artist or any song and with the help of a special a Google search query, this site may well just find it for you. Heck, I even found stuff by Sun Yan Zi, which is almost impossible to come by in this side of the world.

Strangest grammatically correct English sentence: Really, if you’re into grammar and the weirdness of the English language then you’ll love this short article on the strangest grammatically correct sentence in English. After reading that, I thought of my own: “Dogs dogs dog dog dogs dogs dog,” which translates to “Dogs other dogs chase, chase dogs other dogs chase.” Can you come up with others?

Drivers! Glorious Windows Drivers!: There’s nothing I hate more about software than having to find drivers. The problem is especially bad if you’re using Windows, since the OS is pretty much useless unless you have the drivers needed for it to work properly with your computer. (In Linux this isn’t much of a problem.) Anyway, if you’re stuck for drivers, this site may just have what you need.

Hope, Despair and Memory: An essay by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel discusses why for him, hope without memory is like memory without hope. “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” This essay is especially powerful given recent world events.

Ubuntu System on a Memory Drive: The coolest thing about CD-based Linux distributions is the fact that you can have your Linux distro just about anywhere. The bad part is that with those distros, you really can’t save anything so you’re pretty much relegated to single session computing. Sure, you can set up printers, have programs load up at lightning speed, and even download stuff off the Web. But if you’re the type to tote your OS around on a CD for use in different places, you’re also probably the type that likes to customize his environment, and that’s where the problem is: one reboot and it’s all over. Well now, if you use Ubuntu, you can save your system settings (and other items) on a memory drive! Just plug this baby in and you have YOUR computer with YOUR stuff back, with just a CD and a memory card. How cool is that?!

Alan Watts MP3’s and Podcasts: If you enjoy eastern philosophy, but don’t have the time to read a bunch of texts, then the downloadable Alan Watts lessons are definitely for you. If you know who Watts is you’ll know the value of these recordings. If you’ve never heard of the guy, click on one of the links and find out a bit about him.

Online Game: Proximity: This game’s pretty simple: Place your pieces in such a way as to make most of the board yours. What gets complicated is the strategy involved in order to make it happen. Very addicting, fun game.

The World’s Biggest Diamond Mine: Originally, this was supposed to be the “world’s biggest hole”, but as it turns out there are a couple of man-made holes larger than this one. (Insert “I used to work for a bigger hole than that” joke here. And no gay jokes, please.) This set of pictures shows exactly how big this thing is: it’s so big, flying over it has been banned because it creates such a powerful and large vortex of air over it. (You can replace “it’s so big” with “your momma’s so fat…”) What’s even more interesting is that this hole — about a mile wide and half a mile deep — is found right in the middle of a town in Russia.

Let’s Complicate Some Issues: Don’t you hate it when some nutty left-winger comes up to you to tell you how wrong your conservative values are, and how obviously right they are because, let’s face it, it’s a simple issue? And what about when some nutty right-winger comes up to you to tell you how wrong your liberal values are, and how obviously right they are, because it’s a simple issues? In this essay, the author talks about the complexity of real life issues and why “the only way either liberals or conservatives can turn them into such exercises in obviousness is to omit big parts of the picture, [which] guarantees that we’re not seeing it accurately.”

Comic Book Foreign Policy (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3): I’ve been following this set of articles for a little while now, and they’re pretty interesting. The author talks about how the comic book industry is making comics a serious ground for political and ethical debate using today’s real-life issues. A must read for anyone who enjoys comics and politics, pro-war and anti-war alike. (As of this writing only three parts have been written. There’s still a fourth one to come.)

//Edit: Part 4 has been published.

Free Older Moves: The title says it all. Movies where the copyright has expired, which are now in the public domain, are made available here for download. (Bittorrent required.) Some greats and greatly bad are here, such as the infamous Plan 9 from Outer Space. I haven’t searched, but I don’t think Manos: The Hands of Fate has quite made it to this list. Yet.

English as a National Language: Does it Require Protection? “The problem isn’t just restricted to schools and papers. There are places in THE US of FREAKIN A that you can go and feel like a feel like you just crossed a border. Not only will English not be the residents first language, you’ll be lucky if it is spoken at all.” With the election-year politics dominating Washington, puff-my-patriotic-chest amendments such as the one making English the official national language of the United States are being brought up (again) by one side or the other in order to get the votes of single-issue voters. But does English really need protection as the National Language? (By the way, if the quote at the beginning sounded good, you’re in good company: it sounded good to all the people who agreed with you back when it was first written — in 1890.)

Chad Vader: What if instead of the Death Star, a dark lord of the Sith was in charge of your local supermarket? This hilarious Chanel101 Web series attempts to find out. Super hilarious!

Carbon Calculator: Interested in living a “Carbon Neutral” life? Let’s face it: unless you’re blinded by politics, you know that human activity is severely affecting the planet’s climate, making creating what’s been dubbed a “climate crisis”. While your government (local or national) may not be doing much to help protect the environment, you can find out how much you’re affecting the environment on a personal basis, and how much it would cost you to invest in technologies to help you be as “carbon neutral” as possible.

So, How Big is Earth Compared To…? If you’ve ever been in an astronomy class (or have ever been in an astronomy-themed conversation), you know that compared to Jupiter and the Sun, the earth is tiny. Do you realize exactly how tiny? The following images from 3D modeling software show how big Earth is compared to every planet from Mercury to Pluto (yes, I still count it as a planet) and the Sun, and how big the Sun is compared to other stars, such as Rigel, Aldelbaran, and Betelgeuse.

An Introduction to Buddhism: When first learning about Buddhism, it’s easy to get confused with terms like “rebirth”, “karma”, “eight-fold path”, “Skandhas”, “noble truths” — you get the drift. But if you’re interested in Buddhism, or just learning what it’s all about, this page offers a number of essays to help you get started. (I recommend starting with the Five Minute Introduction.)

World’s Largest Nuclear Explosion: “The Tsar Bomb was the largest nuclear weapon ever constructed or detonated. It was detonated at 4000 m altitude the 30th of October 1961 at Mityushikha Bay test range, Novaya Zemlya Island. It had a yield of 50 Megatons.” With video goodness horrifically frightfulness and morbid beauty. I’d post the video here, but I’ve already posted entirely too many videos.

Zombie Dogs and Lazarus Pigs: These are a couple of blog posts I wrote for the BetterHumans.com, a website dedicated to Transhumanist-related news. Although I don’t consider myself a transhumanist per-se, but I find any news regarding longevity (through nutrition, biotechnology, and cryonics) and cybernetic enhancements supremely interesting.

A Future in Which You Won’t be Forced to Retire: (This also came from BetterHumans, but was originally posted at FightAging.org) If technology is able to keep working our job/business, immune from the ravages of aging, why would anyone be forced to retire? The essay itself is interesting (covering the medical science itself and the economic factors to take into consideration), but the comments are themselves worth noting. This brings up a couple of questions: What do you consider “work”? Does work have a good connotation to you or a bad one? What do you consider retirement? Is it good or bad? How would economic reality change with a population that doesn’t succumb to aging?

Cars.com: Ok, I know, this one deserves a post all by its lonesome, and I’m sure it’ll get one, but if you’re in the market for a new (to you) car, then this is the place to go. Research on all makes and models, affordability calculators, listings from all over the country, and advice as to the best auto shops and auto repair places near you. Absolutely a must-know website when looking for a new (or used) vehicle. (Can anyone tell why I would be posting this here now? Hmm…)

Bus Routes in Fort Lauderdale: I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s noticed gas prices in Fort Lauderdale have shot up to over $3.00/gal for regular unleaded. That’s because Lebanon and Israel have a little scuffle going. But wait, neither of those countries produces oil. Is it relat — nah, probably just a coincidence (right?). Anyway, if you want to save yourself some money, you can always try the Broward County bus system. You can buy a month pass for about $32. Having lived in Hillsborough County — home of the absolute worst public transportation system in Florida — the Broward County options seem pretty nice. The problem: My 20-minute ride to work (each way) becomes a 60-minute ride (each way) if I take the bus. Is it worth it? Actually, maybe. Besides, time on a bus means I get to meet more people and have time to read. (Not related to the link above. Really.)

ScienceBlog.com — Drunks Don’t See the Monkey: “It’s pretty difficult to overlook the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, or even an average-size person dressed in a gorilla suit. But a new study indicates that people who were given a simple visual task while mildly intoxicated were twice as likely to have missed seeing the person in a gorilla suit than were people who were not under the influence of alcohol.” Lesson: never try to spot a man in a gorilla suit while tipsy. Because if you can’t spot the gorilla, what good are you?

Engadget — Korea to test 1,000 remote-controlled domestic robots: “The Ministry of Information and Communication … will begin placing 1,000 wheeled, cell-phone controlled automatons — dubbed URCs, or ubiquitous robotic companions — into households and kindergartens this fall as a trial run for new robot technologies. The URCs will do the usual handling of domestic tasks as we might expect (and some … like cleaning rooms and reading books to children), as well the usual hanging out, taking care of pets, [and more] … The only thing at all disconcerting about any of this is the fact that unlike normal household droids, these URCs will be operated wirelessly from a central computing center ala I, Robot.” Having just watched that movie agan, the thought of a remote controled robot companion isn’t one I’m at all too comfortable with.

Akihabara News — The Wonderbra powered USB keyboard: Ok, uhm… hmm. How do I… err… geez, oh man… heh… I mean… Hmm. So, like, anyways, I uhmm… hmm… How do I put this? Uhm… What?

USB powered keyboard bra with USB powered camera tail that can be switched out with other USB powered items, such a lights and memory sticks. You have to see this for yourself [Angelkitty.jp]. I guess what I’m wondering is where exactly that thing is supposed to be plugged.

KurzweilAI — Frozen Brains Awaiting Resurrection Day in Storage: (From St. Petersburg, Russia) “Kriorus, the world’s first cryonics company outside the United States, located in Alabushevo village in Russia, has two brains in cryonics storage so far. The price: $9,000.” Just what we need, Russian discount cryonics. “You want better brain? Lie down. We do operation, take out brain now. Give you new brain next week. We freeze brain now so if you want back later, you have. ”

My Heart’s in Accra — Book review: “Globalization and its Enemies”: “This is the basic question development economists try to answer. It’s a question with profound practical implications – if we could suggest strategies that consistently helped nations grow wealth, we could address a huge range of problems in education, public health and state stability. It’s also a question that both development economists and political commentators are surprisingly bad at answering.” A very thorough book review and critique by Ethan Zuckerman. Good reading for anyone involved in economics or business.

The New Yorker — How can someone live with only half a brain?: This week’s New Yorker features a particularly interesting article about the hemispherectomy operation. In this procedure, an entire side of the brain is removed as a treatment because of cancer or chronic seizures. The incredible thing is that if the hemispherectomy is done when a patient is very young, the remaining hemisphere does double duty and the child often develops normally. (This one also came by way of My Heart’s in Accra.)

Index of 1,000 Full Length Anime On YouTube: (via Digg) “There are no ads or garbage clips to weed through, just 1000 anime episodes and movies. This index includes The Animatrix, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Samurai Champloo, Serial Experiments Lain, Ultimate Avengers, and more.” Not weird and not news, but I’ll be damned if I don’t put this link up.

Jesus is Not a Republican: An article by professor Randall Balmer which explains the history of the Republican/Evangelist Christian partnership from the perspective of a Bible-belt evangelist, as well as the dangers that such a partnership poses to both the Church and the political climate in general. Great read for anyone tired of the whole “You’re either a Republican or are going to Hell” crowd. Kierkegaard must be rolling in his grave.

Free Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science Video Lectures: I’ll be the first one to admit that although I may not have the brains for higher level mathematics and theoretical CS, I certainly don’t have the patience for them, at least not enough to pay for a college course in them. Still, finding free video lectures like these is always a treat. After all, although I may not be crazy about mathematics, I can’t deny the simple beauty found in an equation.

Family Guy: The Best of Stewie Griffin, Part 1: This is self explanatory. If you like Family Guy, this is a great find. If you don’t like Family Guy, this is still a great find, since it’ll allow you to see what everyone else finds so funny without having to waste half an hour of your life.

BetterHumans: For a while now, I’ve had a deep interest in the field of cryonics, the practice of cryopreserving humans or animas that can no longer be sustained by current medical technology for possible later revival in the future. This eventually led me to information on a number of new philosophical ideas, such as transhumanism (the idea that new sciences and technologies should be used to enhance human physical and cognitive abilities). This site covers news and information regarding that movement. (I’ll very likely be discussing this in the future on Gnorb.NET, especially after some recent posts I’ve read across some of my favorite blogs.)

That’s all I’ve got for now. More later (whenever that may be).

The Journalist Express: Need to do a large amount of research on current events quickly? This is the place to do it. Hundreds of links to major news sources and information repositories. Especially useful if you know someone fond of twisting facts, or of you (like me) like to dig for information quickly.

Star Wars Origins: Frank Herbert’s Dune: “Lucas has often acknowledged Dune as an inspiration. In early drafts of the Star Wars script the influence was much more obvious – the story was full of feudalistic Houses and dictums, and the treasure the Princess was guarding wasn’t the Death Star plans, but a shipment of ‘aura spice.’” This guy makes a real good case in saying (from what I gather) that the Star Wars universe is what happens a few thousand years after the Dune universe. Great read for Sci-Fi geeks.

Math Humor:“Top 10 Excuses for Not Turning in Math Homework: 10. It’s Isaac Newton’s birthday. 9. I couldn’t decide whether i is the square root of -1 or i are the square root of -1. 8. I accidentally divided by 0 and my paper burst into flames. 7. It’s stuck inside a Klein bottle…” You get the drift. Math humor that’s funny to even the most numerically challenged of us.

Get an MIT Education For Free: Well, not quite. But you can check out hundreds of recorded MIT lectures from home. True fun for those of us who are dumb enough to let our child-like pervasive curiosity live past the point of maturation. And for nerds.

Alaska Route 11, Dalton Highway: Now this is what I call a vacation: driving 400 miles through the middle of nowhere with nothing but you, your car, and the Arctic circle. This is where I’m planning to hang out for a few weeks in 2007. Fairbanks, Prudhoe and Barrow, here we come! (Seriously, you should check out the pictures on this site.)

The Subnixus: Good blog covering the last days of an 8 to 5 job. Good read on everything from online marketing to important philosophical matters. Mostly I’m putting this link here ’cause I’m entering the Las Vegas Giveaway they’re doing now.

SemioLogic: Wordpress is a wonderful tool, but if you’re looking for a CMS, by itself Wordpress just isn’t enough. The SemioLogic Wordpress plugin turns your blogging software into more of a content management system, allowing you to set up both static content sites and dynamic content sites from your Wordpress install. As of this writing, version 3.2 for WP 2.0 just came out, so go ahead and try it out.

Pizza Guy Delivery Stories: It seems the more your job forces you to deal with people, the stranger the stories are you’re able to tell. This collection of stories comes from pizza delivery drivers all over the country. If you’ve ever worked customer service or tech support (or in delivery, for that matter) you’ll enjoy this set of tales and not feel bad at all for these people, because you’ve been through similar, if not the same. Funny, funny stuff.

How Readable is Your Site?: If you run a website (likely a blog) then you’d probably be interested in seeing how readable your site is. This tool will help you figure out if you’re writing for the masses or if you’re better off saving your words for top secret government. Overall, my site’s just a bit more complicated than Mark Twain, but less so than TV Guide. Still, some posts should have been academic papers instead.

HUGE list of linux commands. On one page: This page just warms my command line-lovin’ heart: it’s a massive collection of a buttload of Linux commands, with a short explanation of each one, organized alphabetically within sections. (This link provided to you by Digg.)

Need to Email Large Files?: DropSend allows you to send files of up to 1GB and doesn’t require installing any application to your computer. (Source: The Evangelical Outpost)

If you have any seriously interesting links you think readers should know about (no cas1n0 or p)rn sites, please), drop me a line in the comments section.

The History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less: Forget reading Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, this site goes over the history of the universe in less words than I’ll use in this post. (This goes under the “It’s-funny-’cause-it’s-true” file.)

How to be a Successful Evil Overlord: If you were an evil genius, what would you do? Or rather, what wouldn’t you do? This page lists 100 things evil geniuses would be smart to avoid, like #15, “I will never employ any device with a digital count-down. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable. I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.”

Project Gutenberg’s Online Book Catalog: Every book ever written in any language? Not quite, but if you’re looking for something in the public domain, there’s a good chance it’s here, whether it’s in English, Hebrew, or Esperanto. (By the way, I thought this to be fitting for the holiday season.)

Free Classic Audio Books: If you’re like me, you’re just as likely to listen to a book-on-tape (or CD) as you are to read one. This page contains more than enough classics (and non-classics, like the The 9/11 Commission Report) to keep your MP3 player full and your travels well read. One down side: it’s text-to-speech, so don’t expect the greatest of voice acting. Not bad for text-to-speech, however; it’s a bit less boring to listen to than the Opera browser’s text-to-speech functionality, and a heck of a lot nicer than Firefox’s plugin which does the same thing.

The Laser Game: The poing of this game is simple: use all types of reflective surfaces and objects to pass a laser beam through pre-determined points. This one’s for the puzzle solvers, and those meditating.