Curious George: My (Not-So-Golden) Arches The saga begins: I decided recently (like last week) to take part in a women-only duathlon -- 3.5km run, 10km bike, 1.5km run. However, a couple of days after making the decision I sprained my ankle. The duathlon is next month. more inside

The "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation "marks".

Books that make you dumb. The title is misleading, because it's a list of the most popular books on Facebook, listed according to the users' college network, compared with average SAT scores for those colleges. more inside

Apparently Mozart won't actually make your child smarter, says this email (Snopes is mute on this particular email; here's the Wikipedia page on the Mozart Effect), but here are some alternative composers parents may wish to try, for varying effects. (Thanks to our own Pallas Athena for the laugh.)

The prehistoric version of middleclasstool's workshop has been found.

Before the end of the last ice age, a hunter-gatherer left a bag of tools near the wall of a roundhouse residence, where archaeologists have now found the collection 14,000 years later.

(Note: ancient overalls were not found.)

"...sometimes the cabin gets airborne and comes down with a thump..." Justin Jones and James Castrission are about midway through a trans-Tasman kayak journey, hoping to be the first to kayak from Australia to New Zealand. They left Forster, north of Sydney, on November 13 in a heavily modified kayak with cabin large enough to sleep the paddlers top-and-tail, and with plenty of computer hardware for nav tracking and communication. However, their tall, square cabin is causing them to move backwards at about 1km/hour in head winds. Whatever: we here in NZ are just hoping they stay alive. more inside

Human hair + mushrooms + tanker oil = beautiful roadside landscaping. Buh? (Via.)

The sound of one cat purring. The audio version of Cute Overload.

A junior history major at the University of Texas writes an informative article in defense of dresses. more inside

SelfpostFilter Returns Post your accomplishments, your own web content, anything you've made, anything you're selling (although, uh, please not your eBay auction selling your nosehair, that's just icky). The continuation of this thread which is now too big and unwieldy to read.

Now that you've eaten Thanksgiving dinner, see what a week's worth of food looks like in different societies. Via Reddit.

All UK families with a child under 16 are at risk of fraud and identity theft, after the government loses two CDs in the post. The CDs are password-protected but no mention has been made of any form of encryption, meaning it's a sure bet the CDs will be easily accessed, especially if the Chancellor's password is "hello". It strikes a blow to the government's push towards centralisation of all records.

Queen's (Dr.) Brian May (CBE) is now Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University. After finally attaining a PhD in astrophysics, the university made Queen guitarist Brian May an Honorary Fellow earlier this year and he now takes over Cherie Booth (aka Mrs Blair) as the university figurehead.

Hello Kitty is 33 today. Celebrate by purchasing Hello Kitty Barbie, among other limited-release items.

Movember is about to begin! Officially the purpose of Movember is to raise awareness of prostate cancer, but for most participants it's a testosterone-fest to see which man can grow the most body hair in one month. Here are some manly men from last year's Movember: I am reasonably confident that the male monkeys can be (and probably are) hairier than that. I plan to grow a beautiful flowing handlebar mo myself.

Our intrepid reporter returns triumphant with this Philippine photostory about cockfighting There was also some, I don't know, military action or something, but I fully admit that these photos really stood out to me. Those among us that are fond of chickens may not want to click the link. more inside

Curious George: Sucking it up Hi, I am boring. My vacuum cleaner motor blew up and I can't abide a dirty floor, so I'm planning to buy a replacement tomorrow (#2 had a look at the motor but it's a cheapie designed to die after 5-7 years). We looked online at possible replacements but it's surprisingly difficult, because I am good at making things difficult. more inside

The candy blog can, cause she mixes it with love and makes the world taste good. A blog. About candy. That is all. May cause hunger and/or sugar cravings.

Daniel Greenberg taught a group of students of different ages six years' worth of arithmetic in 20 one-hour sessions. It's an example of the learning style at Sudbury Valley School, MA, and Mountain Laurel Sudbury School, CT. The schools are democratic: staff and students vote on everything from curriculum to clothing to hiring and firing. There are no exams and no grades.

Today is "Blog Like it's the End of the World" Day. The "blogosphere" (I hate that word, even though it was on The Daily Show) is blogging about some weird events. It almost sounds like the undead are walking. more inside