Cindy Adams doesn't hate Boston... nearly as much as Boston hates her. Have you ever seen a "top-shelf" news paper/website expend this much effort to make one has-been NYC gossip columnist to task?

Family of Faggots. Meet the Doody family of Woolverhampton. They've been named the Faggot Family of the year by Mr Brain's Pork Faggots.

Meetup Chicago - 8/13 or 8/14? The good folks over in the Blue are tossing around the idea of a meetup the weekend I'm going to be in Chicago (as discussed here and here). Are there Monkeys that are available and would like to either gracefully crash the party or meetup of our own accord?

Ron Reagan speaks:  The Case Against George W. Bush (in Sept. issue of Esquire). more inside

The CSS Zen Garden "A demonstration of what can be accomplished through CSS-based design. Select any style sheet from the list to load it into this page." There are some wonderful examples here of what CSS can do when used by talented designers.

Dance George, dance! In the spirit of a certain obliging feathered being, here's George. He dances, he looks for WMD, he can use a computer... just don't ask him about his enemies... And there's something very, very frightening you shouldn't ask about...

Curious and Hungry George What is your favorite inexpensive hole in the wall restaurant in your home town? Any great ethnic places, cool breakfast joints or funky hamburger/taco/falafel stands that you'd be willing to share? more inside

The abacus. Great website devoted to the first mathematical calculator. If you've ever been curious about how they work, this should teach you all you need to know. A nice complement to the slide rule thread.

One of the latest specific sites of terror warnings was structurally flawed when it was built. What with all the new (and rather specific) terror alerts in the last 24-48 hours, my memory was jogged. The Citigroup center, which stands about 4 blocks north of me, was a subject of some conversation back around 1998 or so. It seems that back when they built it in the 70's, there was a flaw that went unnoticed during design, permit and construction phases. The building was completed in 1977, and in 1978, the chief designer (William LeMessurier), discovered that the "skyscraper's bolted joints were too weak to withstand 70-mph wind gusts." Hmmmm... more inside

The Amazing World of Keith Norval. Whimsical oil paintings I saw over the weekend and wanted to share -- this one especially.

The Wackier World of Japanese Ice Cream So y'all already know about wasabi ice cream, but why be satisfied with horseradish when you can have horseflesh? Make mine a double cone!

Can a robot have a Londonderry Air? Dannybot, a short film by Frank Lesser, explores the future when robots will fight our wars for us. There's even a roblog.

Niger Story Really Falling Apart I was going to write a post about this, but this is better. Kevin Drum outlines in painful detail how the whole Niger uranium story is going to hell. It's hysterical. The CIA never actually looked at the documents. The CIA also didn't believe the British reports that Iraq was trying to buy uranium. But it doesn't matter since Joe Wilson is a liar. Josh Marshall is also working on a story (not for his blog) about the Niger documents. more inside

You've gotta love the ingenuity of nerds...

Feel Like Crap? Eat a June Bug. Or maybe you just feel crazy, "trapped in a never-ending nightmare filled with threatening blood-red evil beings you are unable to escape." Hey, we've all been there. Remember, "It is difficult to eat just one." Just ask this dog.

The classic painting come to life ... well, cartoon. This is one of the best flash cartoons I've seen yet - the story is interesting, the writing is fairly good, it's funny without being silly. Best of all, it's based on the classic painting of Dogs Playing Poker. Beats the heck out of BadgerBadgerBadger. Shamelessly stolen from Linkfilter for your enjoyment.

A joint study by the British Council and the Goethe Institute has discovered that most Brits accociate Germans with three things: Hitler, Beer and Soccer. Rhetorical question to self: What's wrong with Beer and Soccer?

Let's spoil the movie! If you haven't see The Village don't read this thread because I want to talk about it without being vague. more inside

Black Hole Strikes Deepest Musical Note Ever Heard

A rare tooth-in-eye operation has enabled a Thai teenager to see again after six years of blindness. Good Lord, this is amazing.