Today's Links
From the New Yorker archives: "A Visit from Saint Nicholas (In the Ernest Hemingway Manner)", by James Thurber.
I'm ashamed to say this fellow is Torontonian. Here's his website to find out why.
Boogie, a street photographer from Cuba. His stuff is amazing.
The people in my office used to have Friday afternoon rubber band fights until it became Monday-to-Friday afternoon rubber band fights and the practice was discouraged. This Aussie company has taken it to another level entirely.
books we like - a social networking book recommendation collective. Terrific! You can add your own recommendations and see those of others - contribute to a greater whole. "Books We Like is "activist e-commerce", a way for progressives to use their online book purchases to effect change, by aggregating their Amazon (or other online booksellers) purchases. BWL facilitates that, maximizing the resulting sales commissions, and pooling them to fertilize progressive independent media. Every book purchase captures about a dollar that would otherwise go uncollected; that's potentially millions per year! 100% of profits go to public-interest media efforts, of which BWL is a good example." It even has customizable RSS feeds.
Kuro5hin has a neat story about a particular whale the NOAA has been tracking: "For the last 12 years, a single solitary whale whose vocalizations match no known living species has been tracked across the Northeast Pacific. Its wanderings match no known migratory patterns of any living whale species. Its vocalizations have also subtly deepened over the years, indicating that the whale is maturing and ageing. And, during the entire 12 year span that it has been tracked, it has been calling out for contact from others of its own kind." There's a link to an audio sample of the whale's call - the wonders of the internet!
The BBC's 50 things to eat before you die - I've already had 40 of them - how about you? I haven't had Moreton Bay Bugs, Cream Tea, Kangaroo, Guinea Pig, Shark, Barramundi, Reindeer, Australian Meat Pie, Durian Fruit or Cornish Pastry. I think I could probably knock off most of the rest of them by moving to Australia.