I personally like things a little stranger, but not a bad stop for the shopping season.

StrangeBuys.com

Despite the cheesy name, is basically just an anime version of IMDB. Handy!

Anime News Network Encyclopedia

I dont really read these often. But they're amusing enough.

Best Web Comics of 2004

] Students at one of the area's largest Christian schools
] are reading a controversial booklet that critics say
] whitewashes Southern slavery with its view that slaves
] lived "a life of plenty, of simple pleasures."
]
] Leaders at Cary Christian School say they are not
] condoning slavery by using "Southern Slavery, As It Was,"
] a booklet that attempts to provide a biblical
] justification for slavery and asserts that slaves weren't
] treated as badly as people think.
]
] Principal Larry Stephenson said the school is only
] exposing students to different ideas, such as how the
] South justified slavery. He said the booklet is used
] because it is hard to find writings that are both
] sympathetic to the South and explore what the Bible says
] about slavery.

This is an interesting story. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Its difficult to tell. Does this "Christian" school teach "different ideas" about Religion? If so, then I'd say this is no different. If not, then I'd say they are being selective about what to indoctrinate and what not to indoctrinate.

newsobserver.com Christian School teaches multiple views on Slavery

] NewsKnowledge and The Hive Group have joined forces to
] bring you News Maps, visual maps of the NewsIsFree
] headline database. News Maps allow you to quickly scan
] dozens of news articles and instantly understand what's
] being reported all over the world.
]
] Each square in the News Map is an article. You can obtain
] additional detail on each article by moving your mouse
] over it. You can read an article by clicking on it.
]
] The Hive Group's Honeycomb algorithm organizes news
] headlines by source. Size and Color information indicate
] article age and popularity (described below). You can
] easily filter and rearrange you results to view articles
] that meet certain criteria, or that contain certain text.

Very cool!

NewsIsFree: NewsMaps - in collaboration with The Hive Group

"We're interested in the habits, rituals and small (and occasionally big) methods people and teams use to get their work done. And in the specific anecdotes and the way people describe their own relationship to their own work. Here's a list of some stories and habits. Not sure it is actually useful for anything. Do any patterns emerge across stories, other than the obvious stories of super-focus, super-dedication?"

Study Habits of Creative People

Crazy cultists are building an anti-science museum in Kentucky. You can take a virtual walkthrough. Some choice quotes:

] Peer back into the deepest recesses of the heavens,
] and discover that the latest images of the stars
] confirm an all powerful Creator, not a random bang!

] The Bible is true. No doubt about it! Paul explains
] God's authoritative Word, and everyone who rejects
] His history-including six-day creation and Noah's
] Flood-is ‘willfully’ ignorant.

] Everywhere you turn, science confirms the biblical account!

] The first man walked with dinosaurs and named them all!

] God’s Word is true, or evolution is true. No millions of
] years. There’s no room for compromise.

] The only way to cover our sin is the horrific death of
] an innocent substitute.

] Mingle with the unsuspecting people of Noah’s day,
] ‘eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.’
] Why listen to that crazy preacher who warns of coming
] judgment?

Of course, they won't tell you when they plan to open it cause they want to carrot the openning date to raise more money. I'd almost suggest a road trip when it opens but I'm afraid they'd kick me out, or worse, serve koolaid.

Creation Museum | Walk-through

Check It! Free annual service now begins for the Western United States. The rest of us will have to wait a while.

Free Credit Reports For All!

For those of you into that sort of thing. Passingly interesting.

Divorce Statistics

This is also pleasing.

http://www.dirtgalleryla.com/images/CKraft/ck_hitler_lg.jpg

Pictographic Goodness