Brand Bethany Hamilton Remember the 13 year old surfer girl who got her arm ripped off by a shark? Pretty sad story...but things improved pretty quickly. Turns out her tragedy made her a perfect media personality and cash cow, and now the industry sharks are circling. Bethany has a best selling book, a movie deal (think 'Blue Crush' meets 'Rocky' meets 'Chariots of Fire'), and a line of perfumes that "capture the smell of the ocean". Wonder if they capture the smell of blood in the ocean? (ouch, sorry, that's mean). Oh yeah, and she also discovered Jesus Christ. more inside

Socks Capitals Worlds Apart -LA Times- To bypass registration Alabama vs China in a world sock domination smackdown.

Say Goodnight America Economic collapse, bankruptcy, the annihilation of national sovereignty, receivership (led by Paul Wolfowitz), "a society entirely designed to service the needs of corporations", and an inevitable attack on Iran in June this year. All designed by Bu$hCo. Is this a huge conspiacy theory, or an accurate prediction? more inside

Pretty in Pink [NSFW]

Get Perpendicular! Hitachi seems to be so proud of their breakthrough in hard drive storage technology that they made the cheesiest flash to promote it.

The Lance Krall Show! Spyke TV is about to premire The Lance Krall Show. An off-centered, often hilarious sketch comedy rampage from Lance Krall and Co. You may remember Lance from Joe Schmo as "Kip The Gay Guy". Not only is the show looking good, but There is a great stash of sketches that you can watch. This is good.

Who Is The Cat? New unpredictable reality show. If this is a double, shoot me.

Finally it looks as if Yahoo is beginning to make the right kinds of noises.

Say hi to Duck Cheney. Alan Greenspan, mebbe you'd better start looking for another job soon.

I shouldn't check the news before lunch. Yes, from the party who posted the (at the time, low-profile) story of the human-finger-in-fast-food-chili comes another story that should be urban legend. SFW.

Sleight of hand: Extreme Card Manipulation. "Warning: Don't buy this DVD. Almost no one can actually do the stuff you're about to see...Minimum recommended daily practice time: 4 hours.... Throughout your training you'll destroy five or more decks per day." Watch the 2-minute trailer and blow yer mind. (Me, I can do a riffle shuffle and sometimes not spray the cards into your face by accident).

Old Black Dog, he knew my name. He takes the form of a huge black dog, and prowls along dark lanes and lonesome field footpaths, where, although his howling makes the hearer's blood run cold, his footfalls make no sound.

Vintage Paperback Covers including lesbiana, sleaze, and good old Science Fiction. more inside

The world's oldest 3D porn has been discovered in Germany.

The incredible Wing Wing is a Hong Kong native who immigrated to NZ ten years ago. She sings the greats for retirement homes and hospital patients. Now she's been discovered by the creators of South Park. You may have heard of Wing before, but if not then I highly recommend downloading at least one of her tracks to hear her unforgettable voice.

MySQL Madness My cache seems to require optimization and flushing all the time, or the database locks up. Is there an SQL query that will automatically optimize and truncate the cache table on a regular/periodic basis? more inside

So yeah, Google maps' new satellite images feature has really been turning heads since its inception. myGmaps (alpha) "enables you to create, save and host custom data files and display them with Google Maps." A booming new Flickr pool, MemoryMaps, lets users share their old neighborhoods with others using Google Maps satellite captures and Flickr's note-labeling feature (blame mathowie - he started it.) Also of interest is the cool new blog Google Sightseeing, which links satellite Google Maps of famous US locales such as Area 51, the Hollywood sign, and the Golden Gate Bridge. more inside

What's the Matter with Kansas? Homophobia, rampant Fundamentalism, assorted manic idiocy and outright insanity. Things certainly have changed since 1896, boy howdy. Much more than William and even Tom would like to admit, I think. My good friends have a question for Kansas. Kansas, y'out there?

'Me eat less cookies,' says Cookie Monster Oh dear...the apocalpyse is nigh!

On August 7, 1974 a Frenchman named Philippe Petit walked a high wire [strung via fishing line and a bow & arrow!] between the two towers of the World Trade Center. He discusses his exploits here and here. Anyone, IMO, who is proud of being arrested more than 500 times around the world is worth a look! more inside