Early Modern Texts

"Here are versions of some classics of early modern philosophy, prepared with a view to making them easier to read while leaving the main arguments, doctrines, and lines of thought intact."

The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time

# It has to have electronic and/or moving parts of some kind. Scissors count, but the knife does not.
# It has to be a self-contained apparatus that can be used on its own, not a subset of another device. The flashlight counts; the light bulb does not. The notebook counts, but the hard drive doesn't.
# It has to be smaller than the proverbial bread box. This is the most flexible of the categories, since gadgets have gotten inexorably smaller over time. But in general we included only items that were potentially mobile: The Dustbuster counts; the vacuum cleaner doesn't.

Mad #33, June 1957

The Potrzebie System of Weights and Measures

The Bleat, 01/31/05

"I’m just glad I’m stupid enough to be hopeful...."

Crazy Rich

Are Americans rich because they're nuts?

That's the thesis of a new book, The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot of) Success in America, by John D. Gartner, a psychotherapist and clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School. America may be the dominant force in the global economy because we're a nation made of somewhat Crazy Eddies—gonzo businessmen and -women who may be genetically predisposed to take big-time risks.

A Likely Story: THE Cinnabon Recipe

Rolls:
1-1/4 oz. pkg. Yeast
1 c. warm milk
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. melted butter (do not subsititue margarine- blech!)
1 t. salt
2 eggs
4 c. all-purpose flour

Filling:
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 TBS. cinnamon
1/3 c. butter

Icing:
8 TBS. butter, softened
1-1/2 c. confectioners sugar
1/4 c. (2 oz.) cream cheese
1/2 t. real vanilla extract
1/8 t. salt

Rolls: Oven to 400 F.
(1) Disolve yeast in milk.
(2) Mix in sugar, butter, salt, eggs, flour. Mix well.
(3) Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead into a large ball. Cover; let rise 1 hour.
(4) Roll dough into a 21' x 16' wide rectangle. Load 'er up with the filling (see below).
(5) Roll from long-side to short-side. Pinch the ends.
(6) Using very sharp knife (I prefer a serated one) cut into 1 inch wide rolls, making sixteen. If want fewer, bigger rolls, cut them wider.
(6) Grease your preferred baking pan (I like mine to be all squished up next to the other)- I generally use an 11'x 13' pan. Then place rolls in pan and into oven.
(8) Bake until the rolls are slightly browned and not doughy. This will vary according to your oven. Just don't overbake.
(9) When done, take 'em out and cover them in the delicious icing.

Filling:
(1)Soften butter, so that it is spreadable.
(2) After dough has been rolled out to the gigantic rectangle, spread the softened butter all over.
(3) Sprinkle brown sugar over entire buttered rectangle. Use more if you like more.
(4) Now sprinkle the cinnamon over the now sugary, buttery, doughy, rectangle.


Icing:
Cream it all together with an electric mixer. Spread on hot rolls.

THE Cinnabon Recipe

"THE Cinnabon Recipe"

The Guardian | Political protest turns to the radical art of knitting

"Knit your own purse grenade: Should be knitted in chunky army green and gunmetal grey on 4mm needles. Grenade is fastened with a kilt pin and keyring."

Welcome to The Neti Pot Company (tm)

"The nasal passages are lined with a thin layer of mucus that is one of our body's first lines of defense against disease. A nasal wash keeps this layer of mucus moist, clean, and healthy."

INDC Journal: That's a Bad Day

"Back up your critical files before you send a computer away for maintenance or repair"

BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In Pictures: Fantasy coffins

"Isaac Adjetey Sowah's showroom in a suburb of Accra has some of the most colourful coffins to be found anywhere."

The Skeptical Optimist: a1. National Debt

Some of you who have seen the new National Debt Thermometer might be curious about the history of our debt burden.

American Prospect Online - ViewWeb

“There is no crisis in Social Security,” said Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois. “We know that left untouched with no legislative changes, Social Security will make every single payment, with cost-of-living adjustments, for at least 37 years. People seem not to be buying the White House’s crisis argument.

Google Fight : Make a fight with Googlefight

"Make a fight! Type 2 opposite keywords:"

Project Implicit

"The demonstration site for the Implicit Association Test."

Googlism

"Googlism.com will find out what Google.com thinks of you, your friends or anything!"

THE ECONOMISTS

___ THE ECONOMISTS ___________________

What You'll Wish You'd Known

"When I said I was speaking at a high school, my friends were curious. What will you say to high school students? So I asked them, what do you wish someone had told you in high school? Their answers were remarkably similar. So I'm going to tell you what we all wish someone had told us."

Two Minute Offense

"I think it was Charles Krauthammer who first said that the difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans believe that Democrats are wrong and Democrats believe that Republicans are evil.
"

McDuck Capitalism

'For simple, readable, easy to understand examples of how the capitalist system actually works (as opposed to how Marx and Keynes claim it works) libertarians laud “Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt. For my money, though, you can’t beat “Capitalism in One Comic Strip” by Scrooge McDuck.'

The Man in the Arena - April 23, 1910 - Theodore Roosevelt Speeches- Roosevelt Almanac

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Squirrel Fishing

"A new approach to rodent performance evaluation"

An Alternative Inaugural Address

"What if George W. Bush weren't a compassionate conservative . . .
by P.J. O'Rourke "

CAMERA STABILIZERS

"It's really very simple for anyone to build for their Mini-DV camera and is superior to a full-blown vest & arm for steadying Mini- DV shots"

Bottle Cap Tripod for Digital Camera by Yodobashi (6 Colors)

"The world's first bottle cap tripod by Yodobashi. It magically turns a bottle into a tripod, ideal for night shot and self protrait. The bottle cap tripod fits bottles with 28.5 to 30.5mm diameter."

Take-apart Camping Cooking Tripod.

"It cost $22.64 to build this tripod and its carrier. "

Build a tripod head

"Occasionally, you have a special need for a sturdy tripod head that can be used to support many different instruments."

Jake Ludington's MediaBlab - DIY Bottle Cap Tripod

"These step-by-step instructions for creating a digital camera tripod from a Pepsi bottle are inspired by the Bottle Cap Tripod for Digital Camera From Japan as featured in Gizmodo."

YOUR OWN TRIPOD, CHEAP!

"using crutches to make a tripod"

$14 Steadycam

"The Poor Man's Steadicam"

The Comfy-Chair Revolution

"I've noticed a gradual change in public surroundings over the past few years, and I think it's driven in part by personal technology. Unlike the hard, unappealing settings of traditional retail space (ground rule: 'get 'em in, get their money, get 'em out'), more and more places instead appear designed actually to encourage customers to linger. "

(LILEKS) James : the Screed

"NOTES FROM THE OLIVE GARDEN

I thought this would be quick - another Guardian column taking some snide swipes at the rude Colonials."

The Red Sea (washingtonpost.com)

"Want to know why George Bush won? Set sail into the crimson heart of America"

BMI Calculator at Keep Kids Healthy

"Fill in the following bmi calculator form to figure out your child's body mass index (BMI) and his or her risk of being overweight or underweight."

BMI - Body Mass Index: BMI for Children and Teens

"In children and teens, body mass index is used to assess underweight, overweight, and risk for overweight. Children's body fatness changes over the years as they grow. Also, girls and boys differ in their body fatness as they mature. This is why BMI for children, also referred to as BMI-for-age, is gender and age specific."

Marginal Revolution: Blink

"In one study we were watching newlyweds, and what often happened with the couples who ended up in divorce is that when one partner would ask for credit, the other spouse wouldn't give it. And with the happier couples, the spouse would hear it and say, 'You're right.' That stood out...for a marriage to survive, the ratio of positive to negative emotion in a given encounter has to be at least five to one."

Bach Cantatas Website - Introduction

"Welcome to the World of Recorded Bach Cantatas"

Rob Galbraith DPI: A look back at the NC2000

It boasted a 1.3-megapixel CCD — and the unprecedented advance of removable storage media — in a digital sub-assembly built around a Nikon N90 (F90) film SLR. All for a cool US$17,950.

Infothought: CBS Report file has been modifed! Cut and Paste now prohibited!

"Encrypted: yes (print:yes copy:no change:no addNotes:no)"

Dave Barry Official Website

"The Pulitzer
Sunday, August 30, 1987
CAN NEW YORK SAVE ITSELF ?
DAVE BARRY"

Vodkapundit - How I Spent My Christmas Vacation

"Because my wife loves me very much and understands sometimes I need to spend 15 hours in the basement doing 'cool' things, she got me a Lego Star Destroyer for Christmas."

FACEANALYZER

"THE ONLY AUTOMATED FACE READER IN THE WORLD"

100 things we didn't know this time last year

"Each week the Magazine picks out snippets from the week's news - interesting newsbites that we learn along the way, and find their way into 10 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Week every Saturday. So at the end of the year, here is an almanac of those things we learned."

Kristof: It's Time to Spray DDT

"If the U.S. wants to help people in tsunami-hit countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia - not to mention other poor countries in Africa - there's one step that would cost us nothing and would save hundreds of thousands of lives.

It would be to allow DDT in malaria-ravaged countries."

The Sentinel Online - Archived Story

"The Mechanicsburg Middle School eighth-grader scored a perfect 1600"

OODA Loop

"'OODA Loop' (Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action)."

Internet Anagram Server / I, Rearrangement Servant

All the life's wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie."

Winds of Change.NET: The Toyota Taliban

"I've often seen the term 'Toyota Taliban' used to refer to non-governmental 'aid' agencies and U.N. bureaucrats. I've even used it myself on occasion. What does it mean, and where does it come from?"

Simon World :: Parents' prayer

"O Lord, let me give thanks to the makers of all Toy Story movies and water-based paint."

In the middle of Iraq, it's gaming, gaming, gaming for the American military

"Soon after the battle for Fallujah ended in November, U.S. Marines brought their Xbox consoles, Gameboys and laptops forward and started fighting the Covenant hordes in ''Halo,'' Mario and Luigi's worst enemies and those irksome roommates from ''The Sims.''

"

Reason magazine -- Dave Barry Interview

"All I Think Is That It's Stupid --
Dave Barry on laughing at Very Big Government"

Flour, Eggs, Sugar, Chocolate . . . Just Add Chemistry

"'When you add water to flour and stir,' she says, 'these two little proteins - glutenin and gliadin - grab water first, and each other, to make these springy elastic sheets of gluten.'"

Catallarchy � What Does The Free Market Require?

"Does the free market require intelligent thought and predictive ability among its participants to function"

Coyote Blog: Latest NEA School Report is Absurd

"Latest NEA School Report is Absurd"

Coyote Blog: Fisking the NEA's Improvement Ideas

"Fisking the NEA's Improvement Ideas"

The NitPicker's Guide to the Lord of the Rings

"The following is a lengthy list of deviations to be found when comparing the text of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and the translation of those texts to film as undertaken by Peter Jackson, et.al."

Tales of the Shanghai Ikea

The FTC's website on Credit

"Soon you'll be able to get your credit report for free. A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months, from www.annualcreditreport.com. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights and how to order a free annual credit report."

The Banty Rooster - The Banter - A Must Read Email From an American Soldier!

"Then, after a routine for here but hardly routine day in the OR, my day was made. I'm referring to the interaction I witnessed and helped facilitate between a young injured soldier and a high ranking official. Here is how it happened:"

King William's College general knowledge quiz

"King William's College quiz

Pupils at King William's College on the Isle of Man have suffered this fiendish general knowledge quiz for 99 years. The average score is just two. Answers in the new year
"

Christmas sheet music

http://www.mfiles.co.uk/other-christmas.htm


http://www.noelnoelnoel.com/leadsht/shtmx.html


http://www.freesheetmusic.net/Holiday.html


http://www.christmas-carol-music.org/


http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/

Eat 'Supermeals' to Protect Heart

"Eating meals that include all ingredients known to improve cardiovascular health could add years to your life, according to new study findings released Friday."

Monument to fallen mouse erected

"China has erected a monument for a little thought of, but important martyr -- the mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and monkeys who gave their lives to science, especially the testing for SARS vaccine."

Harbin Pictures

The temperature in Harbin reaches forty below zero, both farenheit and centigrade, and stays below freezing nearly half the year. The city is actually further north than notoriously cold Vladivostok, Russia, just 300 miles away. So what does one do here every winter? Hold an outdoor festival, of course!

In Damascus, they voted for George W. Bush

While the results of this year's American election may have liberal Democrats and much of the extended international community shaking their heads in disbelief, a surprising number of Arabs seem to have not only expected President George W. Bush's return to power but also supported it.

Caltech Michelin Lecture

"Aliens Cause Global Warming

A lecture by Michael Crichton
Caltech Michelin Lecture
January 17, 2003

My topic today sounds humorous but unfortunately I am serious. I am going to argue that extraterrestrials lie behind global warming. Or to speak more precisely, I will argue that a belief in extraterrestrials has paved the way, in a progression of steps, to a belief in global warming. Charting this progression of belief will be my task today.
"

Belfast Telegraph

"Alexander the Great was one, as was Billy the Kid and John McEnroe. Now scientists believe they can explain why some people are left-handed, and it's all to do with coming out on top in a fight."

Telegraph | News

"Men and boys who use laptop computers on their knees could be risking their fertility, according to new research."

The Original Code

"Standards of the Comics Code Authority for editorial matter as originally adopted"

CNN.com - Dude -- professor studies 'dude' - Dec 8, 2004

"A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word 'dude,' contending it is much more than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters, slackers and teenagers."

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Ideas / Friedrich the Great

"Dismissed by critics as a free-market extremist, economist Friedrich Hayek is gaining new attention as a forerunner of cognitive psychology, information theory, even postmodernism. A reintroduction to one of the most important thinkers you've barely heard of."

How birthrates color the electoral map

Despite the endless verbiage expended trying to explain America’s remarkably stable division into Republican and Democratic regions, almost no one has mentioned the obscure demographic factor that correlated uncannily with states’ partisan splits in both 2000 and 2004.

Despite the endless verbiage expended trying to explain America’s remarkably stable division into Republican and Democratic regions, almost no one has mentioned the obscure demographic factor that correlated uncannily with states’ partisan splits in both 2000 and 2004.

The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Everybody's Business: My Favorite Mistake? Not a Million-Dollar One

"MY mother's mother, God bless her soul, used to say when a mistake was made, 'Don't worry, you'll do it again.' By that she meant that the human animal is so constructed that we barely learn from our mistakes, so let's not let them get to us. We're all human, and we all make mistakes."

Eminem Is Right by Mary Eberstadt - Policy Review, No. 128

If yesterday’s rock was the music of abandon, today’s is that of abandonment. The odd truth about contemporary teenage music — the characteristic that most separates it from what has gone before — is its compulsive insistence on the damage wrought by broken homes, family dysfunction, checked-out parents, and (especially) absent fathers

TCS: Tech Central Station - Stem Cells and Philosophy

TCS: Tech Central Station - Stem Cells and Philosophy:
"What this is, it seems to me, is not science but scientism; and when men argue that philosophical or theological objections to theory X or procedure Y ought to be discounted, and the decisions about its use made purely on the basis of 'good science,' it is very difficult for a detached observer to conclude that they really mean what they say."

Chuck Colson: The Prophecy of C. S. Lewis

Chuck Colson: The Prophecy of C. S. Lewis: "C. S. Lewis was born on this date in 1898, and forty-one years after his death, one thing has become startlingly clear: This Oxford don was not only a keen apologist but also a true prophet for our postmodern age."

Interesting optical illusion

Interesting optical illusion

Stein in Oakland

Untitled Document

The Spectator.co.uk - Dumbing down: the proof

The Spectator.co.uk - Dumbing down: the proof

photos from under tokyo

photos from under tokyo

re Podhertz and the incredibles

The Corner on National Review Online

Incredibles DNA comment

The Corner on National Review Online

The Leadership Institute's Resources: Speeches

The Leadership Institute's Resources: Speeches


The Laws of the Public Policy Process

NPR : Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish Recipe

NPR : Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish Recipe

The New York Times > Week in Review > When Every Child Is Good Enough

The New York Times > Week in Review > When Every Child Is Good Enough:

Times Online - Sunday Times - Tom Wolfe

Times Online - Sunday Times - Tom Wolfe

Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | No more heroes

Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | No more heroes

The New Republic Online: Not Credible

The New Republic Online: Not Credible

Design Observer: writings about design & culture: The Designibles

Design Observer: writings about design & culture: The Designibles

Tom Wolfe -- Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died

Tom Wolfe -- Sorry, But Your Soul Just Died: "ten i"

Bilbo Baggins/Leonard Nimoy

Bilbo Baggins/Leonard Nimoy

IMAO: Ninja FAQ

IMAO: Ninja FAQ

Teleflip Home

Teleflip Home

The next time you need someone to email you directions, a recipe, sales information, or maybe just a few sweet nothings... tell them to TELEFLIP™ it, at:

(yourcellphonenumber)@teleflip.com.

CNN.com - The outspoken Bill Cosby - Nov 11, 2004

CNN.com - The outspoken Bill Cosby - Nov 11, 2004

Photos from the rally in SF on November 3, 2004

Photos from the rally in SF on November 3, 2004: "ow"

USATODAY county map

USATODAY.com

Instapundit.com - election day reminders

Instapundit.com - election day reminders

Funny NTY Quiz

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/politics/campaign/31points.html

gas station on the corner of w. grand and market.
$10 a block.

Praxair

gas

supply place on the NE corner of Gilman and the frontage road in

Berkeley