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Sometime between December 23rd and December 24th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Recall: Snow globe poses fire hazard: Talk about going from cold to hot. Approximately 7,000 snowman snow globes were recalled today for posing a fire hazard. The transparent globes at the center of Hallmark's Jumbo Snowman Snow Globe can magnify the intensity of sunlight passing through the glass, causing nearby objects to catch on fire.
• eBay: Rare Seattle/NW States Seasonal White Christmas Snow – eBay (item 170288410743 end time Dec-25-08 13:53:34 PST): Rare Seattle Area or Northwest Washington Snow, .24 acre by 15" deep  of premium white stuff to enhance your home and gardens and create a White Christmas atmosphere. Great snowman building material, wet enough for good compacting. Lot includes preshoveled piles or groomed snow for easy hauling and also special underlit with Christmas lights bush snow, very lovely!  All can go, sorry no delivery, you haul. Bidding starts low to make this affordable for all even in these economic times.  So buy it all and wrap some up for gifts!  Make it into snowballs and put in your freezer for later, like those Christmas in July parties at your place, your guests will be impressed!
• VHS era is winding down: Pop culture is finally hitting the eject button on the VHS tape, the once-ubiquitous home-video format that will finish this month as a creaky ghost of Christmas past. After three decades of steady if unspectacular service, the spinning wheels of the home-entertainment stalwart are slowing to a halt at retail outlets. On a crisp Friday morning in October, the final truckload of VHS tapes rolled out of a Palm Harbor, Fla., warehouse run by Ryan J. Kugler, the last major supplier of the tapes. "It's dead, this is it, this is the last Christmas, without a doubt," said Kugler, 34, a Burbank businessman. "I was the last one buying VHS and the last one selling it, and I'm done. Anything left in warehouse we'll just give away or throw away."
• Forer effect: The Forer effect (also called personal validation fallacy or the Barnum Effect) is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people.
• Roger Ebert chooses some of his favorite quotes from bad movie reviews:: Keanu Reeves is often low-key in his roles, but in this movie, his piano has no keys at all. He is so solemn, detached and uninvolved he makes Mr. Spock look like Hunter S. Thompson at closing time. — "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

Sometime between December 18th and December 23rd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Tagalus: Ever find yourself looking at Twitter and wondering what all this talk about #motrinmoms means? Searching Flickr and not understanding why someone would tag their photo #ip4?
  Tagalus lets users define tags so that others can understand what they're talking about. Other users can vote on definitions and decide which best describes the given tag.
• More snow, ice, wind on the way this weekend: Don't look forward to the weekend. It's not over. Not even close. Saturday night, forecasters say, the sequel will arrive. The region — expected to stay below freezing in the meantime — will again be hit not only by snow and ice pellets Saturday night into Sunday morning, but by winds that could reach 50 to 70 mph, with peak gusts of 90, in the foothills. "This next system could actually be worse than what we just had," said Jeff Michalski, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
• In a First, Gay Rights Are Pressed at the U.N. (But not by the United States): "An unprecedented declaration seeking to decriminalize homosexuality won the support of 66 countries in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, but opponents criticized it as an attempt to legitimize pedophilia and other 'deplorable acts.' The United States refused to support the nonbinding measure, as did Russia, China, the Roman Catholic Church and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference." More info from ECCO: "Alone among major Western nations, the U.S. has refused to sign a declaration at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality. Co-sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the declaration was signed by all 27 European Union members, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. There was broad opposition from Muslim nations, and the United States refused to sign…."
• Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Passes Away: Today is another sad day for Trek fans, TrekMovie was just informed by the Roddenberry family that Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away this morning at the age of 76. The first lady of Star Trek’ died of leukemia at her home in Bel Air. At her side were her son Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry along with family and friends.
• 2008 Mug Shots Of The Year: What makes a good photograph? A compelling subject, proper lighting, and exquisite composition would certainly be components. But what makes a good mug shot? A compelling subject, of course. And a cow costume never hurts.

Sometime between December 16th and December 17th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• TIME’s Person of the Year 2008: Barack Obama: "…two years from now, I want the American people to be able to say, 'Government's not perfect; there are some things Obama does that get on my nerves. But you know what? I feel like the government's working for me. I feel like it's accountable. I feel like it's transparent. I feel that I am well informed about what government actions are being taken. I feel that this is a President and an Administration that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information, that believes in making decisions based on facts and on science as opposed to what is politically expedient.' Those are some of the intangibles that I hope people two years from now can claim."
• PHOTOS: Cyanide Millipede, Huge Spider Among New Species: They're not kidding about the "huge" spider — we're talking a 12" (one foot) legspan here. EEEP!!!!!
• Aegisub: If programming languages were religions…: Perl would be Voodoo – An incomprehensible series of arcane incantations that involve the blood of goats and permanently corrupt your soul. Often used when your boss requires you to do an urgent task at 21:00 on friday night.
• Save Handmade Toys From the CPSIA: Place your vote here to help keep handmade toys from being banned, thanks to poor quality control in Chinese toys necessitating stricter controls on imported toys.
• Apple Announces Last Year of Christmas: CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2008—Apple® today announced that this is the last year for Christmas. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, spoke at a joint press conference held with Santa Claus at the North Pole this morning. He announced: "Apple has been honored to work with the North Pole the last several years to make Christmas possible, however, we have decided together that this is the last year for Christmas."
• The Periodic Table of Awesoments: In 300 B.C., years before the birth of black Jesus, Aristole postulated that all good things were made of "win." That was a pretty good guess, but he was drunk and probably also having an orgy. Modern day awesominers know there are actually 118 fundamental "awesoments" that compose all good things. The Periodic table of Awesoments can be a very useful tool. It's designed to show the relationships between awesoments, and often one can even predict how awesoments interact simply by their positions on the table.
• Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” Barbie® Doll: In 1963, Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, gave us a tale of terror not soon forgotten in his film “The Birds.” Dressed in a re-creation of the stylish green skirt-suit worn by the film’s ill-fated heroine in an iconic scene, Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” Barbie® Doll celebrates the 45th anniversary of the acclaimed film. From the doll’s classic ensemble to the perfectly painted expression to the accompanying black birds, every aspect captures the film’s infamous appeal.
• World’s First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years: A dictionary-size assemblage of 37 interlocking dials crafted with the precision and complexity of a 19th-century Swiss clock, the Antikythera mechanism was used for modeling and predicting the movements of the heavenly bodies as well as the dates and locations of upcoming Olympic games.

Sometime between December 15th and December 16th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld: Apple® today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. (Wow…if this came from anywhere other than Apple's own PR site, I'd think it was a hoax.)
• Drillers Accidentally Create First Live Magma Observatory: Drillers accidentally hit a pocket of molten rock underneath a working geothermal energy field in Hawaii, a lucky break for geologists that could allow them to map the geological plumbing that created everything we know as land. The unprecedented discovery could act as a "magma observatory," allowing scientists to test their theories about how processes transformed the molten rock below Earth's surface into the rocky crust that humans live on today.
• The Crow Reboot: Crow Reboot Will End In Eyelinery Tears: Oh, this is just bad: the guy who directed The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen wants to "reboot" The Crow, and, "whereas Proyas' original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style." (sigh) Why are there so few good remakes of bad movies out there, and so many bad remakes of good movies? Why are there even so many damn remakes? What happened to originality?
• BURGER KING® FLAME™: "Body spray of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat." Oh, my lord. Amusingly, and really frighteningly, this doesn't seem to be a joke. A special scent from Burger King…because nothing says, "Take me now, you big, strapping hunk of man meat!" like the smell of the Whopper. Or maybe they're just b(r)oiling the message down to, "Eat me!"
• The WSDOT Blog: The Washington State Department of Transportation has a weblog. I've been following their Flickr account for a while, but just found the blog and their Twitter account today.

Sometime between December 11th and December 15th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• 6 Insane Discoveries That Science Can’t Explain: We like to feel superior to the people who lived centuries ago, what with their shitty mud huts and curing colds by drilling a hole in their skulls. But we have to give them credit: They left behind some artifacts that have left the smartest of modern scientists scratching their heads. For instance, you have the following enigmas that we believe were created for no other purpose than to fuck with future generations.
• Moratorium declared on Capitol displays: The moratorium applies to Westboro's application, along with pending requests for a Buddhist display, a Jewish banner, a mannequin of Satan holding a statement against atheists and wishing them a merry Christmas, an aluminum pole in celebration of the invented holiday of Festivus, and a "Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Display."
• Google Zeitgeist 2008: As the year comes to a close, it's time to look at the big events, memorable moments and emerging trends that captivated us in 2008. As it happens, studying the aggregation of the billions of search queries that people type into the Google search box gives us a glimpse into the zeitgeist — the spirit of the times. We've compiled some of the highlights from Google searches around the globe and hope you enjoy looking back as much as we do.
• Hold onto that e-waste just a little bit longer: If you've been waiting forever to unload that old TV or computer, Jan. 1 is your lucky day. A new state law requires electronics manufacturers to start safely recycling four of the most-discarded items, with no charge to consumers. Washington's law is the first in the nation to require electronics producers to pay for the whole process.
• 10 useful iPhone tips & tricks: I’m sure that many of you are “power users” and probably know most of these tips and tricks. But I suspect that a lot of you are more casual iPhone users and will find this list useful. Even our team members that I showed the draft of this post to (people I consider iPhone experts), all picked up at least a tip or two that they weren’t already aware of. So I’ll bet there’s something for everyone here…

Sometime between December 8th and December 11th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• 10 useful iPhone tips & tricks: I’m sure that many of you are “power users” and probably know most of these tips and tricks. But I suspect that a lot of you are more casual iPhone users and will find this list useful. Even our team members that I showed the draft of this post to (people I consider iPhone experts), all picked up at least a tip or two that they weren’t already aware of. So I’ll bet there’s something for everyone here…
• Austenbook: Jane Bennet finds herself very unwell. :( //Elizabeth Bennet is going to stay at Netherfield with Jane. // Louisa Hurst saw Elizabeth Bennet's petticoat and is absolutely certain it was six inches deep in mud. // Elizabeth Bennet is improving her mind by extensive reading.
• Chinese ‘classical poem’ was brothel ad: A respected research institute wanted Chinese classical texts to adorn its journal, something beautiful and elegant, to illustrate a special report on China. Instead, it got a racy flyer extolling the lusty details of stripping housewives in a brothel.
• Writing My Twitter Etiquette Article: 14 Ways to Use Twitter Politely by Margaret Mason – The Morning News: One drunk tweet might be amusing. Unfortunately, when you’re drunk or high, Twitter is like a can of Pringles. You don’t want to break the seal. One drunk tweet leads to 20 poorly spelled missives on one amazing house party. If you think texting your ex is embarrassing the next morning, try texting all of them.
• If Gamers Ran The World: They’re 45 in 2018 when they stand for office – that means they were born in 1973. They would have been four when Taito released Space Invaders came out; seven when Pac Man came out. In 1985, when they were 12, Nintendo would launch the NES in the west. At 18, just as they would have been heading to University, the first NHL game came out for the Genesis/Megadrive and might consumed many a night in the dorm. At 22, the Playstation was launched. At 26, they could have bought a PS2 at launch; at 31, they might have taken up World of Warcraft with their friends. They would have been a gamer all their lives. Not someone who once played videogames, trotting out the same anecdote about “playing Asteroids once” in interviews; someone for whom games were another part of their lives, a primary, important medium. Someone who understood games. (This is my generation — exactly, as I was born in 1973 — that he's talking about here. Sometimes I wonder how I became a geek without being a gamer.)

Sometime between December 5th and December 8th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Paramount Filming Klingon Hamlet For DVD: Paramount is headed to the Twin Cities to film Commedia Beauregard perform two scenes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in Klingon for the new Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country special edition. This is obviously due to the famous dinner scene when Chancellor Gorkon proclaims "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon." According to Kidder the two scenes will be the "taH pagh, taHbe’ (to be or not to be) speech, along with ‘the gravedigger scene (which includes the ‘Alas, poor Yorick’ speech’). On the second scene Kidders adds "they wanted that, because they wanted to use a Klingon skull."
• Merlin Mann’s Amazon Store Blog: This is my new blog, where I curate items that I have hand-selected for inclusion in The Merlin Mann Amazon Store. That way, you can make smarter buying decisions about the sort of gift that might be right for each of the very special people on your list — as well as being kind to your pocketbook, right?
• Strobist: Four Reasons to Consider Working for Free: I would like to talk about working for free. Why? Because I think it is one of the fastest ways to make yourself a better photographer, whether you are a pro or an amateur. If you are wondering if I have completely lost my mind, make the jump to judge for yourself.
• Eye Spy: Filmmaker Plans to Install Camera in His Eye Socket: The eye he's considering replacing is not a working one — it's a prosthetic eye he's worn for several years. Spence, a 36-year-old Canadian filmmaker, is not content with having one blind eye. He wants a wireless video camera inside his prosthetic, giving him the ability to make movies wherever he is, all the time, just by looking around. "If you lose your eye and have a hole in your head, then why not stick a camera in there?" he asks.
• WordPress Audio Player: Flash-based audio player WP plugin.