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If you’re a fan of SF television shows, you might enjoy Dan Carlson’s Starship Size Comparison Chart.
Here you can find the relative sizes of various ships from television shows such as the following:
• Babylon 5
• Star Wars
• Star Trek
• Lexx
• V
• Farscape
Perfect browsing for geeks like me.
Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Television & Movies at 1:40 AM EST
Now that’s what I’m talking about! You did good, you really, really did. I can call you my friend and not have to feel ashamed, and I thank you for that, really I do. Thank you, that is just really great!
Funny, you’d think I’d have done better than this, considering I was born and raised in Saskatchewan (and have never travelled out of the country!).
I guess I’ve been watching too many American and British T.V. shows.
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 1:40 AM EST
Peter Callesen is a visual artist who does lots of exquisite work, but it’s his work with paper that particularly interests me.
I love browsing through the photos on this site, especially the Large Scale Paper Cut Installations and the Framed A4 Papercuts. To get to them, click on the links on the left of his site.
If you’re interested, you can also read about the theory behind his work.
Posted by Amy as Arts & Culture at 1:03 AM EST
It’s now time to vote for your favourite blogs; the shortlists are up at the 2007 Bloggies.
Scroll down when you get to the site, and you’ll see a variety of categories. Here are some of them:
• Best Canadian Weblog
• Best American Weblog
• Best African or Middle Eastern Weblog
• Best Photography of a Weblog
• Best Craft Weblog
• Best Food Weblog
• Best Sports Weblog
• Best Weblog About Music
• Best G/L/B/T Weblog
• Best Teen Weblog
• Most Humorous Weblog
• Best Writing Of a Weblog
• Best-Kept Secret Weblog
• Weblog of the Year
You have until 10:00 PM EST on Friday (02 February) to vote. Then you can check back on Monday 12 March to see the results.
I love the Bloggies—through them I get to discover all sorts of wonderful blogs that I would otherwise never have heard of. Last year I learned about Finslippy and Waiter Rant (they’re still must-reads).
This year I’ve only browsed very quickly, but I’ve already made some great finds (like Kill The Goat).
Posted by Amy as Blogs and Bloggers at 9:25 AM EST
Most of us have had a bout with insomnia now and then. We’re in good company.
This extract from The Book of Lists
This list mentions actors, authors, and a U.S. President. Here are my favourite attempts at cures:
• Marlene Dietrich: “the only thing that lulled her to sleep was a sardine-and-onion sandwich on rye.”
• Groucho Marx: “When he couldn’t sleep, he would phone people up in the middle of the night and insult them.”
It hadn’t occured to me to do anything so colourful; I usually just get up and write, blog, or do housework.
Posted by Amy as Notable People, Daily Life at 9:25 AM EST
Here’s something it’s useful to know in advance: How To Avoid a Moose or Deer Collision.
In my part of the world (Saskatchewan), there are quite a few deer and lots of accidents on highways involving them. We had a car totalled a few years ago ourselves when a deer wandered onto the road at night (don’t worry—we’re fine, and I think the deer was too; we slowed down quite a bit before the actual collision, so he ran off).
Still, since then, I’ve taken an extra interest in learning how to deal with such incidents. Here are two of the tips the page offers:
• “Honk your horn when you see a deer near the road!! This is the most effective way for deer to know where the car is coming from and heading to. Their instincts should do the rest.”
• “Sometime deer will freeze in car lights as you approach even if they are not directly in the roadway and then suddenly bolt into the roadway as you drive close by them. In some instances this will result in the deer hitting the side of the car. This is tough behaviour to encounter as slowing down could result in the deer being even more likely to hit your car. The best advice for this may be to keep driving at the speed you are going without any rapid change in speed or direction and let the deer’s natural instincts take care of both of you. It obviously helps to moderate speed in circumstances where this might happen.”
I like to be prepared, so I’ll be reviewing this web page from time to time.
Posted by Amy as Health & Safety at 5:04 AM EST
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You scored as Existentialist. Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility.
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What is Your World View?
created with QuizFarm.com
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 1:26 AM EST
TopFive Science Fiction has yet another great list up: The Top 10 Shows Hosted By SF Actors We’d Like to Forget.
Here are some of my favourites from the list:
• The Patrick Stewart Needlework Hour: Make it Sew
• R2 D2’s Celebrity Dance Party
• Michael Dorn’s family recipes take center stage on “G’agh Eats”
I like the number 1 suggestion, too, but I won’t spoil it for you—you’ll have more fun if you read the whole list.
Via SF Signal.
Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Television & Movies, Humour at 1:09 AM EST
Edge of Existence is an organisation dedicated to helping species that are close to extinction. EDGE stands for “Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered.”
The website explains EDGE’s mandate:
EDGE species are truly one of a kind. If they disappear there will be nothing similar left on the planet. Two-thirds are receiving little or no conservation attention.
Here are some of the animals that are the focus of EDGE’s efforts:
• Yangtze River dolphin
• slender loris
• hirola
• bumblebee bat
There’s also information on animals that have already been declared extinct.
It’s a well-structured site, with lots of information about each species and ways we can help.
Via Boing Boing.
Posted by Amy as Animals, Science & Nature at 1:00 AM EST
50 years ago Humphrey Bogart died at the too-young age of 57. He’s still an icon, and probably my favourite actor.
Ursi has put together a tribute to Bogey.
There are lots of good links here as well as some clips (such as the original trailer for Casablanca, a clip about Bogey and Bacall, and a scene from The Big Sleep).
Posted by Amy as Television & Movies at 1:00 AM EST
Ancient Cultures of the Southwest is a website that provides information about eight early cultures from southwestern America.
The site discusses the following peoples:
• Anasazi
• Mogollon
• Casas Grandes
• Salado
• Hohokam
• Sinagua
• Patayan
In addition to the text, the site contains photos of artefacts of each group.
It’s a good introduction to the history that stretches back to 400 A.C.E.
Posted by Amy as History at 1:05 AM EST
Cooking By Numbers is an intriguing concept.
It lists a variety of foods; you click on the ones that you have in the house and then it gives you a list of possible recipes that include those ingredients. Click on the recipe name and you get the recipe itself.
There are also various tips here; if you go to the “Skills By Numbers” sections you’ll learn how to peel a tomato, how to line a cake pan, how to cook couscous, how to brule, and much more.
It’s certainly worth taking a look at this site on those days when you’re stuck and just can’t think of what you could make.
Posted by Amy as Food at 11:47 AM EST
You know how certain things in your life are about as exciting as watching grass grow?
Well, just in case you don’t have a dull enough life, you can experience this phenomenon by going to this webcam to watch the grass grow (currently it’s in the regenerative cycle).
No grass was injured in the making of this webcast.
Via tawny grammar.
Posted by Amy as Humour at 8:52 AM EST
Here’s a site for all the animal lovers out there: the Animal Sounds Library.
Click on the photos of the different kinds of animals and a recording will play of the kinds of sounds they make.
In addition to such familiar animals as a cat, dog, or wolf, there are others that are less common. Here are a few of them:
• elephant
• penguin
• giant anteater
• camel
• gibbon
• hippopotamus
• raccoon kit
There are also links to some great information about animals.
Via Ursi’s Blog.
Posted by Amy as Animals, Science & Nature at 1:02 AM EST
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Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 1:21 AM EST
Rick Schrager is sorry to see that the number of letters sent by mail is declining, so he’s started The Letter Project.
The premise is simple: if you want to receive a handwritten letter from him in the mail, let him know, and he’ll send you one. For free. You tell him as much information about yourself as you’d like for him to write you a personal letter, and that’s it.
If you don’t tell him much about yourself, he’ll freeform:
Unless you are very specific in your request, I get to create the contents on my own accord. This being the case, your letter may contain things as banal as descriptions of what I encounter on my ride to work, abstruse quotes from ancient texts, or, something as simple (and useful I might add) as my recipe for the world’s best cheese-steak sandwich. I might even be inclined to fabricate a tale or two, just to keep things interesting. The letter you receive should be as convivial for you as it is fun for me to write. After you read your letter you can choose to reply, or not, this is entirely up to you. This project is not part of any plan to put you in the loop for chain letters, marketing, or similar nonsense.
I’m fond of receiving snail mail letters myself, so I can understand the appeal of this project.
Posted by Amy as Unusual, Daily Life at 1:21 AM EST
I’ve just come across the website for Project Tiger, an initiative in India that is aimed at preserving the tiger from extinction.
I hadn’t realised that tigers were so near to extinction. According to the children’s section of this site, the current number of tigers is only a fraction of what it used to be:
Today there are only about 5,000 to 7,400 tigers left in the world. These tigers would soon die if people do not stop hunting them. It is estimated that 100 years ago, there were 50,000 to 80,000 tigers in India alone.
Just one note about this site—although the navigational bar shows up on each page, it didn’t work for me. I would have to return to the site’s home page and click on the links from there.
Posted by Amy as Animals, Science & Nature at 1:09 AM EST
I’ve just discovered that Art Garfunkel is a voracious reader.
He’s kept a list of the books he’s read for the last 30 years, and they’re listed at the Garfunkel Library.
He has a wide range of interests; here are a few that he’s read:
• The Waning of The Middle Ages (Johan Huizinga)
• Just So Stories (Rudyard Kipling)
• Our Mutual Friend (Charles Dickens)
• To The Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
• The Book of Job
On his site he also has a list of his picks for the top 60 rock songs and his favourite pieces of classical music.
Via The Presurfer.
Posted by Amy as Music, Popular Culture at 6:14 AM EST
If you’re at all interested in British history, or if you enjoy historical novels set in the time of Elizabeth I, check out Life in Elizabethan England.
This website gives a good overview of the details of everyday living. It covers food, games, money, religion, occupations, pastimes, names, and much, much more.
Here are a few of the facts I learned on this site:
• “sack” is sherry, and “brandywine” is distilled wine; also, “most wines are sweet and rather heavy. They probably have to be strained before you want to drink them, and may still have solid matter floating in them.”
• a mercer is a merchant who sells cloth; a bowyer is one who sells bows (you would buy the arrows from a fletcher); you would have your portrait drawn by a limner
• most people in England did not have a middle name until the 17th century; a middle name was a European custom only
There’s a lot of good information here–you could be browsing for a long time.
Via Weblog V2.
Posted by Amy as History at 6:58 AM EST
If you have fond memories of a scene from the movies that involves food, you’ll enjoy Cinema and Company: Recipes From Your Favorite Films.
The site lists recipes that are featured in many well known movies. Here are a few of them:
• Caviar On Toast (Titanic)
• Knickerbocker Glory (Tea with Mussolini)
• Shrimp Cocktail (The Blues Brothers)
• Tuna Cream (Casablanca)
• Tara Muffins (Gone With The Wind)
I’d always wondered what a Knickerbocker Glory was; now I know.
Via Information Junk.
Posted by Amy as Food, Television & Movies at 2:27 AM EST
| This Is My Life, Rated | |
| Life: |  6.5 |
| Mind: | 6.6 |
| Body: |  3.2 |
| Spirit: |  9.6 |
| Friends/Family: |  4.4 |
| Love: | 7.3 |
| Finance: | 7.3 |
| Take the Rate My Life Quiz | |
Via Bourgeois Nerd.
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 1:12 AM EST
I found a site that’s good for a smile: Weird State Laws
Here are some laws that are apparently on the books in various states in the U.S.:
• If you want to read your favorite book in public to your friends, do it before 2:45 AM. (Georgia)
• It is a $500 fine to instruct a pizza delivery man to deliver a pizza to your friend without them knowing. (Louisiana)
• It is illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on. (North Dakota)
• While riding in an elevator, one must talk to no one, and fold his hands while looking toward the door. (New York)
• Coins are not allowed to be placed in one’s ears. (Hawaii)
Well, now we know.
Posted by Amy as Humour at 1:12 AM EST
The deadline is rapidly approaching to nominate your favourite blogs for the 7th Annual Bloggies–you have to get your nominations in by 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Wednesday, 10 January 2007.
The blogs in each category that receive the most nominations go on to a panel of judges. These judges vote on their favourites, and the top five become the finalists.
The finalists will be announced on Monday, 22 January, and you can vote from then until 31 January. The winners will be announced in mid-March.
I see there is no category for literary blogs, so I’ve tried to get around that by nominating some of my favourite litblogs in other categories (e.g. Books, Inq. in Best American Blog, Petrona and Grumpy Old Bookman in Best British or Irish Weblog).
There are lots of other categories; here are a few:
• Best Food Weblog
• Best Music Weblog
• Best New Weblog in 2006
• Most Humourous Weblog
• Best-Kept Secret Weblog
Spread the word!
Posted by Amy as Blogs and Bloggers at 7:41 PM EST
If, like me, you tend to automatically remember random bits of information, check out the International High IQ Society’s Trivia Challenge 2006.
Here are a few questions (multiple choice answers are listed):
• what is the main ingredient in glass?
• what bird is traditionally seen as the symbol of peace?
• who sang “Happy Birthday” to John F. Kennedy?
I had a respectable score, but not outstanding.
One caution—the “next” button is just above the “cancel” button, and I inadvertantly kicked myself out of the process three times before I got smart.
Posted by Amy as General at 1:21 AM EST
I’ve found a fascinating site that plays recordings of various space sounds.
Click on the various small buttons around the circle to the left and you’ll be able to hear the following sounds:
• black hole
• Ganymede’s magnetosphere
• cosmic debris
• spherics, tweeks, and whistlers
• the rings of Saturn
• Jupiter’s magnetosphere
• Sputnik
• Pulsar
• Vela Pulsar
• “Heartbeat” of the Sun
• “The Lion’s Roar”
You can also listen to recordings from various space missions (e.g. Apollo mission).
In the bottom left of the screen are three other buttons which will lead you to the sounds of storms (on earth), the sounds of whales, and the sounds of dinosaurs.
Finally, you can order merchandise: T-shirts, caps, and CDs.
I love this site–who knew that the rings of Saturn made a noise?
Posted by Amy as Science & Nature at 1:22 AM EST
Many of us have heard about mantras, but we don’t necessarily know much about them.
Here are some links that provide an introduction to two mantras that are used in Eastern religions:
• Aum (Om)
• Om Mane Padme Hum (Wikipedia entry)
• Om Mane Padme Hum: The Meaning of the Mantra in Tibetan Buddhism
All the links provide a great deal of information; the last one includes an entertaining parable about correct pronunciation (the parable is called “The True Sound of Truth”).
Posted by Amy as Religion & Spirituality at 1:04 AM EST
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I love Ivanova, so I can live with this!
Via Scribbling Woman.
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 4:48 AM EST
Every year we see a fair amount of forgettable music produced. Now you can see a roundup of some of the Least Essential Albums of 2006.
Here are a few of the categories they’re broken down into:
• Least Essential Album By An Actor Pretending To Be A Shit-Kicking Country Boy
• Least Essential Ozzy Tribute
• Least Essential Album Of 2006 (The Year Of The Fish In The Barrel)
• Least Essential Solo Debut From A Hip-Hop Legend
I agree that the world could probably do without The Biggest Loser: Music Featured In And Inspired By The NBC Series.
Via Rake’s Progress.
Posted by Amy as Music at 7:58 AM EST
If you’re looking to expand the number of fonts you have available to work with, check out Abstract Fonts.
There are more there than I’d ever be able to use—more than 10,000. They’re all free, too.
It’s hard to believe that there are that many variations on fonts, but there are, and some of them are pretty interesting.
Via A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance.
Posted by Amy as Arts & Culture at 9:36 AM EST
If you’re a fan of math and numbers, check out What’s Special About This Number?
There are bits of information about almost every number from 0-9999. Some of the information is something anyone can understand (e.g. 292 is the number of ways to make change for a dollar) while others are way above my head (e.g. 294 is the number of planar 2-connected graphs with 7 vertices). They’re all interesting to read, though.
Here are some sample facts:
• 1089 is one ninth of its reverse.
• 344 is the number of different arrangements of 4 non-attacking queens on a 4×8 chessboard.
• 2 is the only even prime.
• 18 is the only number that is twice the sum of its digits.
• 137 is the smallest prime with 3 distinct digits that remains prime if one of its digits is removed.
There are some numbers that so far have no special information attached to them (e.g. 295, 380). If you know of a fact unique to these numbers, the site owner would like to know.
Posted by Amy as Math at 4:52 AM EST
Happy New Year, everyone!
After a few tech struggles (caused entirely by some slow thinking on my part) I’ve moved to a new host (pair Networks) and am looking forward to blogging in the new year.
I hope you all had a great holiday season and that 2007 is your best year ever.
Posted by Amy as Blog Housekeeping at 5:08 AM EST
