bump + grind

it's always cool seeing a place you think you know...from a different perspective. the place is the Swiss town called Zug. the perspective being..."can i do a 360 kickflip off that?"

refugees

Will a trade in human beings ever be acceptable? One of the issues Professor Michael Sandel raises in the first of his 2009 Reith Lectures on "A New Citizenship"

found

it's deceptively simple...and like PostSecret could get very, very addictive. they collect found stuff: "love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles - anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. Anything goes..." so go get your voyeuristic glasses on and begin to wonder, if i make some crap does it automatically become more important when someone else finds it?

the dangers of smoking lettuce

apparently, it's not very good for you . so says Representative from Indiana, steve buyer. clever man.

barack obama's ears: a history

that's right. a look at some notable events in the life of Barack Obama’s ears.

music on the surfaweb

we all know about LastFM and Pandora but they don't really help you when it's just one specific song you want to listen to.

and here's where Songza comes in. type in a song/artist...and off you go.

my recommendations for songs to songza?
* "Kiss the Sky" - Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra
* "Make Light" - Passion Pit
* "Collection of Stamps" - I'm From Barcelona"
* one of my favourite songs, "Be Still My Heart" - Silje Niergaard

montage a gogo

it's a very easy, pleasant way to waste five minutes: montage-a-google . typing in your own name can be quite interesting...and bizarre.

hammer pants

i like flash mobs. i like the creativity, the diversity of people involved, and the element of surprise that comes with them. so it's no surprise that i think this is brilliant...

what compels a man to wear a hat?

Once upon a time, men felt naked without hats. That's certainly not the case anymore. But we shouldn't be too quick to pronounce the death of the hat, however.

the exhilaration of survival

Tim Kreider: Fourteen years ago I was stabbed in the throat. This is kind of a long story and it’s not the point of this essay.
The point is that after my unsuccessful murder I wasn’t unhappy for an entire year.

I wish I could recommend this experience to everyone. The catch is that to get the full effect you have to be genuinely uncertain that you’re going to survive. The best approximation would be to hire an incompetent hit man to assassinate you.

more penguins

so it turns out that penguin poo is visible from space. apparently that's how they track the little blighters....

blossom in spring

gay penguins

two penguins in a german zoo, both boys, were given an egg to look after.

They are doing a wonderful job of it by all accounts.

No surprise there then?