Song Search and Retrieval by Tapping

"This site lets you search for a song, by tapping the rhythm of its words (lyrics).

Let's say you have a song stuck in your head, and you don't know the name of it. Never fear! Load up our search screen, and try tapping the rhythm of the song on your space bar while humming the tune. Tap the space bar for each syllable that you sing. It's that simple!" - Link

Save the 76 Ball

"Nearly one year after we launched our campaign asking ConocoPhillips to reconsider their 'destroy all balls' policy towards the historic blue and orange Union 76 Ball gas station signs, the Texas energy giant announced to the Wall Street Journal that they have changed their course. Focus groups held last fall told them what nearly 3000 signers of the Save the 76 Ball petition have already told us: people love the 76 Balls, and don't want them to disappear." - Link

Way Better Than a Regular Ol' Clock

"Humanclock.com shows a photograph of the current time, with the photo changing every minute of the day (all 1,440 occuring minutes on Earth!) Thus you end up with a rotating picture clock sorta deal." - Link

Cat parasite rules our lives

"Toxoplasmosis may alter people's moods (women become more friendly; men become more paranoid), recent studies suggest that infection by the parasite may also cause people to become more prone to feeling guilty, develop schizophenia, have auto accidents, or be born male." - Link

What Looks to be a Groundbreaking Game

"Spore is the evolution of Will Wright’s Sim series (Sim City, The Sims, etc). Spore will be a Sim-everything. You will be able to create and evolve a creature from the cells up. You’ll control and evolve your creature as he mophs from a single-celled organism until his species is conquering the galaxy.Will describes the game as a massively single-player game: while the gameplay is all single player, the content in your world is asychronously pulled from other user’s machines. This means that everything you see in the game is actually created by other players." - Link

The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy

Alan McConchie did the Internet survey to map the regional distribution and popularity of pop vs. soda:

"Using the World Wide Web to gather and process data from across English-speaking North America, I intend to plot the regional variations in the use of the terms "Pop" and "Soda" to describe carbonated soft drinks." - Link

BAN DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE!

"Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death." - Link

The Life of Riley

The Life of Riley, a fairly new blog written by Olive Riley and Mike Rubbo. Olive is 107 years old, which may make her the oldest blogger ever. The stories from her life are fascinating. From her first post:

"Good Morning everyone. My name is Olive Riley. I live in Australia near Sydney. I was born in Broken Hill on Oct. 20th 1899. Broken Hill is a mining town, far away in the centre of Australia. My Friend, Mike, has arranged this blog for me. He is doing the typing and I am telling the stories. He thinks it’s a good idea to tell what’s going on. He already made a film about me a few years back and people liked that, so they might like this blog too, he says. We’ll see." - Link

Branch - beautiful and recycled

"...there’s an element to shopping that we find quite troubling. We buy things that appeal to us—we love a product’s styling, for example—though we may have little idea of where a product comes from. What materials went into its manufacture? Did the wood used to make that chair contribute to deforestation in Asia? Were toxic chemicals used to create the lustrous finish? The people who actually fabricated the product—were they paid a fair wage and provided a safe, comfortable environment in which to do so? How far did the product have to come in order to get to the store, and how much fuel was used in that process? And what of the lifespan of the products we buy? Eventually—sooner or later, but eventually—a product will outlive its useful life. What then? Does it get thrown away? Is it made such that it’ll sit in the landfill for hundreds (or even thousands) of years before it degrades? And in going through that process, will it release toxins into the environment?" - Link

How the USA PATRIOT Act redefines "Domestic Terrorism"

"In a chilling analysis of the PATRIOT Act, the ACLU points out that the new definition of 'domestic terrorist' redefines any US criminal as a terrorist, exempt from due process and an open trial. 'Domestic terrorists" can have their assets seized without a hearing, have their educational records pulled, and a host of other nasties. 'Terrorism' is now officially meaningless: as far as the PATRIOT Act is concerned, if you do anything the government doesn't like, you're a terrorist. When you put it that way, it seems even less likely that we'll win the 'war on terrorism.'" - Link