http://www.swordbilled.com/words news. culture. writing. the end of humanity as we know it. etc. Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:51:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 Too bad about the "your property is greater than .5 acre and is unobstructed" requirement. Because otherwise I would totally buy a windmill. http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/04/17/will-skystream-37-work-for-me/ BEIRUT - Nantes - from The Flying Club Cupby flyingclubcup http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/04/17/flying-club-cup/ 100 Best Non-English Films Ever Made (Edward Copeland, via FirstShowing.net) Because everyone, apparently, has exactly the same feeling when they're in one place. Fold a towel monkey, towel dog, even a towel lobster. (via Lifehacker) Portal to museum podcasts (via Research Buzz) "Is your child a tagger?" Coming up next in the series: "Does your child eat 'candy'?", and "Is your neighbor building a space ship?" (The first one's earnest; the latter two, not so much.) (via Ectoplasmosis) http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/04/17/catching-up/ It doesn't quite have the same menacing connotation as "The Blob"... yet. LEWISTON - A 50- to 60-foot doughy mass is clogging a sewer line under the city's main drag, and crews have been unable to budge it. "We're not sure exactly what it is," Public Services Director David Jones said Wednesday. "We're just trying to get rid of it. We want it to stop clogging up our pipe." The Blob's... er, the Dough's PR flak on full force days after its discovery, blame for "blockage" is directed elsewhere. The plot thickens. (First article via BoingBoing; second article via Sun Journal) http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/03/30/the-dough/ ...whatever "back" is. http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/03/29/away-and-back/ It doesn't look like much, but what you're looking at is the number of cell phones "retired" in the U.S. every day -- 426,000. View a close up, and other similar photo montages of consumption at Chris Jordan's Running the Numbers. (via GOOD Magazine) http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/02/19/numbers-in-pictures/ Technical difficulties are cropping up now and again. You may notice the past rearing its ugly head. Hopefully it will all be over shortly. http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/02/09/well-thats-annoying/ Caption reads: "Louis cuddles his Mr Potato Head". (via BoingBoing) http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/02/09/aww/ You know you want one. Now learn how to make your own, in 15 easy steps! (The last step -- "Display proudly -- Enjoy your elephant!" -- being, of course, the best.) (WikiHow: "How to Fold a Towel Elephant") http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/01/29/towel-elephant/ Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000? Assume for the moment that prices of goods and services will stay the same. Surprisingly -- stunningly, in fact -- research shows that the majority of people select the first option; they would rather make twice as much as others even if that meant earning half as much as they could otherwise have. How irrational is that? Surprising, and not. But are people really that status-conscious? I mean, I know they are. But, really? (LA Times: "Why people believe weird things about money," by Michael Shermer [13 Jan 2008]; via Lifehacker) http://www.swordbilled.com/words/2008/01/29/anything-as-long-as-its-more-than-you-get/