Number Quotes

Number quotes is a site that helps you beef up your arguments with numbers. Five out of seven imaginary people agree that it sounds more impressive when you punctuate arguments with made up fractions.


(From Wilmar)

Boyfriend Doesn't Have Ebola. Probably. *UPDATED*

Boyfriend Doesn't Have Ebola. Probably. *UPDATED* is a blog entry on Hyperbole and a Half, which proposes a new medical pain rating pictorial chart.

I totally want to cut this out and place it over the standard-use one. I hope the kids aren't too scared. Sigh.

(From Buzzfeed)

That's using your dipstick!

We've all seen the Castrol commercial where the Scottish man goes around whacking people with an oil dipstick. Well, oil is about the only thing this post has in common with that commercial. Oh, and the stick part.

Here are some great and odd food from around the world you can find a la kebob!

How about Goat Lungs or Seahorse?

No? Maybe you'll enjoy some delicious tentacles!

Not for you, then maybe just a lovely Smore? Or some Hot chocolate? Mmmm...yummy!!

(From Neatorama)

Taberinos

Taberinos is a simple-yet-addictive online flash game set to a demure tango. It's a cross between a pool table, spiderwebs, and a load of heroin. Basically every time the ball knocks into a white line, it disappears. Your goal is to make them all disappear. However, you have a limited number of shots, and regular nodes, angry nodes, and more to deal with.

I'm not sure why exactly, but the physics of this game seems ever-so-slightly off to me. It wants you to do things like hit tight corners right away.

Seriously, I wasted all afternoon on this already, and I'm only up to level 12. OMG I hope I don't have to drop out of school because of AN ONLINE FLASH GAME. And BTW... how do these people score HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of points on this thing? How?! Clearly I'm not using the angry nodes to their full potential.

Enjoy!

(From Kottke)

TubeGuitar

TubeGuitar is a website dedicated to helping people learn to play the guitar. I don't play the guitar. At all. And I would need at least some guitar playing knowledge to really use this website. However, I still find the videos fun to watch and if I had any clue how to play, I know I could use this resource to help me learn some cool songs!

(From me! )

Nine surprisingly useful single serving sites

Nine surprisingly useful single serving sites is a list article on Royal Pingdom describing the best single serving sites. I like how wholly visual and useful these sites are. Examples include "What time is it there?" "Stopwatch" and a site very similar to previous TOTI winner "Umbrella Today?." A+.

(From researching single serving sites)

That's What Bea Said

That's What Bea Said is a single-serving site that feeds you quotes by recently deceased LGBT icon, actress, comedienne and singer Bea Arthur. Bea is perhaps best known for her role as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls.

Also, I think you're supposed to pronounce it BEE like the insect. Buzz buzz.

Also, that's it.
(From random interwebs searches)

Reality Check

Reality Check is an allegedly user-generated ad for tampon/pads/liners. It mocks the soft-focus, spinning-women-frolicking-on-the-beach current motif that is used to hawk feminine hygiene products. Quite artfully executed too, I must say. Good work.

TMI: But can it make me switch from plastics to my least-favorite cotton-based variety brand? Only time will tell. Enjoy!

(From Buzzfeed)

The Indian Condom Song

The Indian Condom Song is a Indian Bollywood dance about using condoms. Safe sex and bolllywood dancing.. what else could you want?

(From )

Fiverr

Fiverr is the financial equivalent to "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" as what will people do for five dollars? The answer ranges from writing quasi-personalized love songs (be they ballads, Irish, hip hop, jingle, etc), giving medical advice, to answering any question on Dubai.

The Wall Street Jounal did a better job of explaining Fiverr than I ever could. But the quick run down is that all posting are fixed at five dollars so the bored/unemployed can make a quick buck while you receive some enjoyment for what's less than a movie ticket.

Fair deal, I say. And I'm incredibly tempted to buy "I will write and sing you a love song on youtube for $5." It's the narcissist in me.

(From Cam)

Stereomood

Stereomood is a streaming internet radio site that, provides "music that best suits your mood and your activities." Click on the mood and listen away.

A playlist appears and you can click on any song to hear it. You can skip, pause, and register free. Enjoy!

(From Metafilter)

Pictures From A Taxi

Pictures From A Taxi is a blog that simply posts a daily picture- a cab driver shares a simple image from his journey around New York City. Some are simple, some are fun, some are touching.

What I love is that with a single picture, he really captures the moments that make NYC what it is.

I also recommend his other blog- Cabs Are For Kissing- for some great writing about the adventures of a seasoned taxi driver.

(From: random luck in a blog search )

Grammar Challenge!

Grammar Challenge! is a post on HTML Giant (the internet literature magazine blog of the future) by Amy McDaniel. It challenges the best English language readers and writers among us to find the errors in 10 seemingly correct sentences.

The challenge states, in screaming caps, "IF NO ONE HAS YET TAUGHT YOU HOW TO AVOID OR REPAIR CLAUSES LIKE THE FOLLOWING, YOU SHOULD, IN MY OPINION, THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT SUING SOMEBODY, PERHAPS AS CO-PLAINTIFF WITH WHOEVER’S PAID YOUR TUITION."

Not going to lie, there are some toughies. Here they are:

1. He and I hardly see one another.

2. I’d cringe at the naked vulnerability of his sentences left wandering around without periods and the ambiguity of his uncrossed “t”s.

3. My brother called to find out if I was over the flu yet.

4. I only spent six weeks in Napa.

5. In my own mind, I can understand why its implications may be somewhat threatening.

6. From whence had his new faith come?

7. Please spare me your arguments of why all religions are unfounded and contrived.

8. She didn’t seem to ever stop talking.

9. As the relationship progressed, I found her facial tic more and more aggravating.

10. The Book of Mormon gives an account of Christ’s ministry to the Nephites, which allegedly took place soon after Christ’s resurrection.

Click through for the answers, and more.

(From More Kottke)

Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fan

You might recall a little post about a 3 Year Old Crying Over Justin Bieber.

Did you catch the follow up?

Jimmy Kimmel surprised the girl and her family with a face to face visit from the dream boy himself!



(From my own awesomeness)

Accident Sketch

Accident Sketch is a site that helps you explain what happened in a traffic accident via pictures. Unfortunately, it only works with Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. Ostensibly you could use this to show your insurance company what happened with a little more sophistication than your usual stick-figure-cars-scrawled-on-a-paper-napkin. Not sure if anyone has done this, though. The site also seems geared to a European audience.

So okay, it's probably not that useful, but basically it's just fun to play with the equivalent of paper dolls online. Enjoy!

(From JKottke)

70 Million by Hold Your Horses

The mostly male Swedish band Hold Your Horses dressed in drag to re-create traditional classical art for their music video.

70 Million by Hold Your Horses ! from L'Ogre on Vimeo.

Feministing writes,

Seeing these men adopting the roles of both men and women in classical paintings really serves to highlight the Guerrilla Girls' points about how women frequently appear in art: naked. Another lesson in why drag can be so powerful. It really makes you see gender norms in a new way.

Plus, seeing semi-naked Swedes is just fun. Anyone remember this? (think of it as a 2-for-1 TOTI)









(From ) Lindsay 

Papercraft: Simply Cut and Paste!

I remember getting those plastic models of my favorite cars as a kid and spending the day or weekend clipping the pieces apart and either clicking or gluing them together. It was great fun and I always guarded those models with my life.

Well, those days may be gone for me, but sites like Tektonten Papercraft and Cubeecraft are bringing back some of that fun. The best part is that this time, I don't feel like I have to threaten the lives of family and friends as these models are made of paper.

A couple of neat projects from Tektonten:

A few of my favorites from Cubeecraft:

There are several papercraft sites out there, but the two mentioned previously are the first two where I discovered this wonderful crafting hobby. Below, I've listed a few other good sites. Some use the Pepakura Designer to create the cutouts, but you can download the Pepakura Viewer here.

• IRP Papercraft
• Pepakura's Gallery
• Boxpunx
• Instructables
• Paper Shipwright
• Pyra:Minds
• The Toymaker
• Readymech
• AtomicMonkeyLTD
  

(From Tektonten, Cubeecraft)

The 65 Sketchiest Easter Bunnies

The 65 Sketchiest Easter Bunnies is a self-explanatory picture article of bunny costumes frightening little children or their viewers.

(From Buzzfeed)

Jeff Sheng Photography

Jeff Sheng was recently a topic in the press when his "Don't Ask Don't Tell" series was released. There are 2 volumes to this series- a collection of service men and women who volunteered to be photographed in uniform with their faces hidden and their stories told.

I was drawn in to his other works when I visited his website.

The "Fearless" series highlights college athletes who are gay and live out.

Most moving for me was "Revolutions of Memory." Sheng chose several locations and takes a unique turn on the classic panorama. He really focuses on the perspective of the person connected to the place. I was deeply moved by "Where Matthew Lay Dying."

(From random online clicking )

Harmony

Harmony is an online drawing java application by Mr.doob (Ricardo Cabello) that allows your sketches to look all tricked out with shading, and fur, and circles, and other odd brushes.

The metafilter post about it claimed it made your shitty drawings look less shitty. This is a controversial statement, but it did bring me joy.

Enjoy!

(From Mefi)

Wilbur Sargunaraj wants a Love Marriage

Mr. Sargunaraj seems to be every hipster's dream; I'm not entirely convinced he's not the product of some snickering kids in Williamsburg (or Tamil Nadu's equivalent). But he's just so delightful and genuine you have to kinda go with it.

For added kicks, check out Wilbur's website (the amazingly titled http://www.wilbur.asia, I kid you not), where he gives you plenty of little life tips and fun self-descriptors such as "If you like something fresh in the music industry- this is it!! Guaranteed! "He further defines his music style as "vocal chanting" (isn't all chanting vocal?). That said, even Roger Ebert likes him, so it can't be all bad ;)

Second video highlight? Blog Song, below:

(From Teej)

Layer Tennis: Game, Set, Match!

Layer Tennis sounds like playing tennis on several courts at once, right? Sounds difficult and nearly impossible, but that's not what it is at all. Layer Tennis is actually a competition, a live design project if you will, between two artists each week with each artist (usually working with Photoshop, hence the play on layers) vying for a spot in the final round. Two seasons have completed, and the third season just beginning.

Layer Tennis was started by Coudal Partners. What, or who, is Coudal Partners you ask? Well, in their own words, Coudal Partners is "a design, advertising and interactive studio in Chicago, as an ongoing experiment in web publishing, design and commerce."

If you'd like to see all of the past matches, which I highly recommend (they're amazing!), then
check out the Layer Tennis Archives.

Below are a few samples from the current season's matchups.

Hamid vs. Javanrouh: A Photographic Exhibition Match


Vinh vs. Felton: An Exhibition Match


And my favorite so far, Bruhn vs. Simonson: A Typographic Exhibition Match


(From Coudal)

Japan: it's Not Funny Anymore

Japan: It's not Funny Anymore  is a long blog entry on Kotaku.com about why all of the things you *thought* were cool about Japan. It reminds me of myself, when I write about London or the LSE. Everyone thinks it's a really great place, but after a while, it's just annoying.

My favourite part  is reading about how everything in Japan has meat in it (even "vegetarian" soup), and crazy office culture. Apparently it's normal to shout and knock your hands on your knees.

An interesting read.
(From )Peterlo

Gary: Landlord of the Flies

Gary: Landlord of the Flies, also known as Stranger than Eviction, is a blog chronicling Gabe's fight to get his security deposit back from his landlord and the exploits which take place during the struggle.

You see, Gabe was just your typical tenant living in a suburb of Chicago. He thought the landlord was a bit odd, but at $500 a month, the room was almost too good to pass up. Then along came Gary, but I'll let Gabe tell the story. Below is his very first post and overview of the blog.


"I am making this site to chronicle the craziest living situation I have ever taken part in. In the month that I subletted a room in this house in St. Charles (a suburb of Chicago), the police have come 5 times, my landlord has been handcuffed twice, and one roommate has been hospitalized. The focus is on my crazy landlord, Gary. Gary is a 63 year old, currently unemployed, overweight, homeowner who enjoys a frequent alcoholic beverage and cigarette. I believe he had bought this house with the intention of selling it for a quick profit. This did not work out, and last I’ve heard the house is going under foreclosure in September [2009]."


Upon finding the blog, I flew through the posts and finished them in one reading. It's a great mixture of humor, pity, cruelty, and includes a fair share of misspelled words and expletives. Below is my favorite post.

July 8: The Holy Grail

Finally, the Holy Grail of Gary correspondence: the drunken voicemail! I guess I slept through his call, but he was nice enough to leave a message. I’ll try to figure out how to get the actual voicemail on here in the morning. Having heard it, I think that it alone may catapult this blog to being bigger than google.

“Gabe… Gabe Dunn you little cunt, you little queer. If you think you’re going to get a uh a uh deposit refund from me…. kiss my fucking dick. I saw your little squirrelly ass… came in here today and didn’t have the balls to hand me your key, and I’m not sure it was your key, because I think you’re a little fucking … crook. I hope you rot in hell you cocksucker. (long pause) You little fucking dick. You little squirrelly bipolar dick…. I know you’re bipolar. You will not receive a refund of your stupid fucking deposit because you broke the contract you motherfucking little squirrelly dick. Take me to court you lying motherfucker. Remember…. Well, you don’t remember because you’re fucking queer. And you’re bipolar. You let the cops in my house you fucking dick. Take me to small claims like you threatened me. You DICK. You fucking little tiny fucking dick. That’s what you are. You’re a little tiny dick from… Fermilab. Call me if you dare… dick!”

Finer points of this voicemail:

1) “…you broke the contract….” I’m assuming Gary is talking about the part of the contract that read, “if the cops show up to arrest me, the tenant is responsible for keeping me out of jail.” I knew I should have read that thing more carefully.

2) “Remember…. Well, you don’t remember because you’re fucking queer. And you’re bipolar.” This part hit a little home because often times my queerness and bipolar disorder do cause me to forget things.

3) What could the purpose of this voicemail be other than to help me stockpile evidence for the ensuing court case?

There's a facebook page of the same name if you're into social networking or you can share your thoughts with Gabe at: StrangerThanEviction@gmail.com

(From reddit)

Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up

Accept Defeat: The Neuroscience of Screwing Up is a Wired article by Jonah Lehrer.

A few highlights:

Although the researchers were mostly using established techniques, more than 50 percent of their data was unexpected... It wasn’t uncommon for someone to spend a month on a project and then just discard all their data because the data didn’t make sense.
...
According to Dunbar, even after scientists had generated their “error” multiple times — it was a consistent inconsistency — they might fail to follow it up. “Given the amount of unexpected data in science, it’s just not feasible to pursue everything,” Dunbar says. “People have to pick and choose what’s interesting and what’s not, but they often choose badly.” And so the result was tossed aside, filed in a quickly forgotten notebook. The scientists had discovered a new fact, but they called it a failure.
...
There was a squirt of blood to the anterior cingulate cortex, a collar of tissue located in the center of the brain. The ACC is typically associated with the perception of errors and contradictions — neuroscientists often refer to it as part of the “Oh shit!” circuit — so it makes sense that it would be turned on when we watch a video of something that seems wrong.

And so forth. Very interesting.

(From Clayton M. )

Let Them Sing It For You

Let Them Sing It For You is a website where you can enter text into a player and it will then play your text in various songs. You know those contests on the radio where they mash 6 songs together and you win if you know the songs? That's what this sounds like. It is fun to play with and waste a little time on! It was conceived by Erik Bunger as a sound art project.

If you come up with a really good set of lyrics, share it in the comments!

(From Eternal Lizdom)

9gag

9gag is a simple microblog that features humorous, beautiful, or non-sensical images. Can we talk about how I hate starting sentences with numerical digits? It's an affront to grammar. But I didn't want to break tradition here.

Anyway, on 9gag you can navigate the blog with the keyboard letters k and j, as well as loving things with a quick L keystroke. Lots of hits and misses. Enjoy!

(From NB)

Lyrics Training Improves Your Foreign Language Skills Through Music

Lyrics Training is an easy and fun way to learn a foreign language through son lyrics.  You can choose a Youtube hosted video, select one of six possible languages (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch) and a mastery level. As the song plays, you fill in words that you hear.
It's surprisingly effective, and much more difficult than you think.
The choices of songs is very limited- so far Spanish has the best selection.
French only has Aicha (no Yelle!!) and German has the most pathetic showing of all, featuring only Rammstein's Du Hast. 


Still, it's worth a try!


(From ) Lifehacker/Fez

The Rumors Were True

The Rumors Were True is a quality, quality site by Christopher R. Kinsella Jr. He started his first two years of medical school in the Caribbean, transferred to Drexel, and is now amidst a competitive residency.

Normally, medical students think of the Caribbean as community college for medical schools. He admits himself:

"Like most people I tried to get into medicine in the states and was rejected for perfectly good reasons. Chief among them were:

1) immaturity
2) poor scholastic performance in spite of the tools to excel
3) horrible recommendations from teachers aware of points 1 and 2."

The fact that Christopher was able to go from there, to contributing to First Aid Step 1 (the Bible of the first part of the medical boards exam), and is now in a competitive residency is a testament to his tenacity and intelligence. His writing skills are way above par. It's wonderful to have re-stumbled upon his blog and see that he has recently had much hard-won success. For anyone amidst medical school or thinking of applying, this is well worth a read.

Enjoy!

Select quotes:

"I took two months to study for the USMLE Step 1, a test that covers the first two years of medical school, and while in Cambodia on my 6 week tour of Southeast Asia, I found out that I scored a 240/99 (the goal I set for myself). [Ed. note: this ~82 percentile!] While studying for this test, I began editing a review book (First Aid for the USMLE) just for fun and submitting my corrections and suggestions to the authors. They contacted me and asked for my CV, and now I am working for them and credited as an author on the 2008 Edition of the book. During this time, I applied for transfer to several medical schools in the US. Drexel University in Philadelphia invited me for an interview. What follows is the story of that interview and the outcome."

Another excerpt from the entry Pancakes Every Morning:

Looking at it now, I’m tempted to start the passive bragging of impossible odds. “You have no idea how hard it is,” I’d say. “Medical school is like trying to take a drink from a fire hose,” I’d brag.

And that’s total bullshit.
...
Medical school is like trying to eat five pancakes every morning for breakfast.

You know you can do it. A Premed advisory committee endorsed you saying, “He has the stomach for it. He’s committed.” And you prove them all right. Every day you show up with your first-year optimism and your annoying hunger for learning and you clean that plate (just kidding, it’s adorable). But you begin to notice that those pancakes are slowing you down a little each day and the sugar highs and lows are screwing with your sleep. Smart person that you are, you decide to pass on the flapjacks one day. You think to yourself, “Self, I’m going to eat ten pancakes tomorrow so that I don’t have to eat any today.”

But it never stops. Turns out that “self” isn’t the most responsible lender, and before you know it there are 40 pancakes in front of you and your plate needs to be clean by tomorrow. So yeah, at this point it looks impossible. But really, it’s your fault.

In the future, as I like to imagine it, I’ll be in charge of all medical school admissions. The process will be six weeks long and will consist of nothing more than showing up each morning to eat five pancakes, at which point you can then go about whatever you were going to do that day. At the end of the five weeks a few jaded, newly diabetic hopefuls will come to my office and, mixed with both pride and resignation say, “I did it. I finished those goddamn pancakes.”

“Wow,” I’ll say. “That’s very impressive. You must be very proud, and your parents must be very proud. Just one more thing.” They’ll reflexively clutch their stomachs, shifting their girth from one hip onto the next and groan, “What’s that?”

“Regurgitate it.”

Another final excerpt on how to write the perfect thank you letter, from the post entitled Embarrassment of Riches:

And with that, she asked if I had any questions. The night before, I had prepared six questions that sounded specific but were in fact broad and I figured this would cover me, but I ended up not using them. Instead, I asked about very practical things like, “Do Drexel students take advantage of international rotations?” I knew the answer to this, but asked anyway to bring up the fact that I understand the importance of being bilingual and have plans to do a rotation in Ecuador (with Aunt Lucy and Uncle Fred) and that I have already traveled and have stories to tell you that will kill some time and make you think that I am well-rounded and interesting.
I told her about Laos and how much I loved the people. I told her about filthy, filthy Cambodia and the Killing Fields. I told her about the motorcycle trip in Vietnam with Kelly’s heroics, our first stitches, and the pictures that I’d show her if only she’d accept me. The interview ended with her telling me that they would decide later that day (or possibly on Thursday) who would be accepted and that I would know either Thursday or Friday.

So the interview was split very much in two and while I handled myself as well as I could have in the first half, I think we both enjoyed the second half much more. After this, my day was over. I then went down to the bookstore, bought Drexel stationary, and wrote her the following letter.

"Dear Mrs. XXX,

As a writer, I depend on stories. There is something extra and hidden between the lines of a good story that would be harder to see if stated simply. You can imagine a much more interesting version of “he went to medical school,” for example. As an applicant, I notice when others have higher scores and I worry that someone might not see my stories tucked between my A’s and B’s. I wanted to thank you for inviting me to interview; it was my chance to show you some of the extra and hidden parts of my life that otherwise might have been missed on paper.

For Drexel, I hope to become a great story.

Sincerely, Me."

I would have mailed it, but as I said, the decision was being made later that day. I left the envelope with her secretary and caught the train back.

Voilá. That folks, is writing.

GREG RUTTER'S DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE 99 THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED ON THE INTERNET

GREG RUTTER'S DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE 99 THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED ON THE INTERNET is an obnoxiously-titled, large-fonted list of links you should be aware of. Pretty self-explanatory.

(From I forget)

Thinking Outside the Box in the Digital Age!

Anything to do with digital art or graphics these days usually involves some sort of program similar to Adobe's Creative Suite, GIMP, or Inkscape, but thanks to the great team at Neatorama, the skills of the artist known as shukei01, and loads of patience, all you need to create beautiful artwork is Microsoft Excel,



or MS Paint.



(From Neatorama, shukei01)