] Each evening, thousands of Americans drift into Chinese
] restaurants or, if they are too lazy to go out, pick up
] the phone and order one of the most popular dishes on the
] menu: General Tso's Chicken, a sugary-spicy melange of
] dark-meat tidbits, deep-fried then fired up with ginger,
] garlic, sesame oil, scallions and hot chili peppers.
]
] Not one in 10,000 knows who General Tso (most commonly
] pronounced "sow") was, nor what terrible times he lived
] through, nor the dark massacres that distinguished his
] baleful, belligerent career. Setting their chopsticks
] aside, patting their stomachs, the satisfied diners spare
] scarcely a thought for General Tso, except to imagine
] that he must have been a great connoisseur of hot
] stir-fried chicken.
]
] Who was he?

Who Was General Tso And Why Are We Eating His Chicken? (washingtonpost.com)

] The LIBRARIAN
]
] ACTION FIGURE
]
] COMING THIS FALL, 2003!

Complete with "Shush-ing" action.

LibrarianActionFigure.com

] Amid a backdrop of far-off galaxies, the majestic dusty
] spiral, NGC 3370, looms in the foreground in this NASA
] Hubble Space Telescope image.
]
] Recent observations taken with the Advanced Camera for
] Surveys show intricate spiral arm structure spotted with
] hot areas of new star formation. But this galaxy is more
] than just a pretty face. Nearly 10 years earlier NGC
] 3370, in the constellation Leo, hosted a bright exploding
] star.
]
] In November 1994, the light of a supernova in nearby NGC
] 3370 reached Earth. This stellar outburst briefly
] outshone all of the tens of billions of other stars in
] its galaxy.

Best Hubble image I've seen yet.

RedNova News: New Hubble Space Telescope Image: Celestial Composition

] The photograph to the right is JESUS, The Hot Air Balloon
] as it appeared at Ridgecrest, California on November 7th,
] 1998.

in the words of Mike Morrison, "He is risen!"

JESUS, The Hot Air Balloon

] PERSONALIZED diamond CUPS KEEP YOUR GAME TIGHT AS YOU
] FLOSS $35.o0 ONLY (2 TO 5 LETTERS) WITH THESE!

I sure wish I could add these to my amazon wishlist before the holidays.

pimp cups

Scanning cellular phone calls, back when it was inexpensive, used to be exciting mostly because you weren't supposed to be able to do that. Once you'd done it, and done it for a while, it lost its edge. There was the occaisonal gem, like the time we caught a redneck admitting to her boyfriend (much to his chagrin) that she had tried LSD at a party the night before, but these were mostly lost in a sea of boring conversations about dinner and pets... This website is similar, but its about written notes, found floating in the street, and this guy has filtered out all of the grocery lists, flyers, and forms. All thats left is the acid.

FOUND Magazine, if you're bored

Ahoy maties! Make sure ye observe the fairest day! ARGH!

Talk Like A Pirate Day

] Late this year the company plans to begin auctioning the
] best seats to concerts through ticketmaster.com.
]
] With no official price ceiling on such tickets,
] Ticketmaster will be able to compete with brokers and
] scalpers for the highest price a market will bear.
]
] "The tickets are worth what they're worth," said John
] Pleasants, Ticketmaster's president and chief executive.
] "If somebody wants to charge $50 for a ticket, but it's
] actually worth $1,000 on eBay, the ticket's worth
] $1,000."

Ticketmaster are the true terrorists.

Ticketmaster Auction Will Let Highest Bidder Set Concert Prices

] Rummaging through the recycle bin of Net obsessions
]
] Good news: Net fashionistas have already declared the
] "flash mob" %u2014 in which participants follow
] instructions given by e-mail and mobile phone to gather,
] annoy passersby, and disperse %u2014 passé. Like a
] vapid-but-catchy summer anthem (here's looking at you,
] Nelly), a sartorial whim that everyone follows and then
] rapidly drops (hello, mood ring!), or the desperately
] annoying catchprase on everyone's lips (whassuuuuup
] indeed), various cybercultural oddities (a.k.a. memes)
] over the years have made a fleeting impact on Net
] culture, and sometimes beyond it.

USATODAY.com - Rummaging through the recycle bin of Net obsessions

] "You drink tap water? Are you crazy?" asks a 21-year-old
] radio producer from the Chicago area. "I only drink
] bottled water." In a trendy nightclub in New York City,
] the bartender tells guests they can only be served
] bottled water, which costs $5 for each tiny pint
] container. One outraged clubber is stopped by the
] restroom attendant as she tries to refill the bottle from
] the tap. "You can't do that," says the attendant. "New
] York's tap water isn't safe."

Hartford Advocate: What's in your Bottled Water?