How to give and receive criticism. RTFA prior to commenting! more inside

House Republican leaders blocked and appeared to kill a bill Saturday that would have enacted the major recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission

The Best Paper Airplane in the World. It's don't know enough about the field to vouchsafe this claim, but I did build one--it took about 10 minutes--and it did fly. Not too straight, but it did. Probably need about 10 tries to perfect.

The Electric Sheep Thanksgiving Special. [Via No Touch Monkey!]

Yetisports. Because penguin violence is just good clean fun.

The NBA imitates Slap Shot. more inside

Nerdfilter. Say no more. Not actually via Mefi, although it is linked there.

Typography FINALLY Meets the Web - This is freaking GENIUS. If you have designed web pages, you know that the only practical way to move beyond 4 or 5 basic fonts is to make a graphic (gif, jpg or png) using your font. Not any more! (This is big! if you are a fontaholic and have been frustrated by this longstanding web limitation) more inside

Everything you ever wanted to know about monkeys. (Scientifically, that is -- from the kind folks at Google)

Dolls and role models Yue-Sai Kan started Yue Sai WaWa, a Chinese fashion doll, to provide a doll for girls in China and elsewhere that isn't blond and blue-eyed; in Iran, Dara and Sara provide role models felt to be more compatible with devout Islam as practiced there, as does Razanne. In Japan, Barbie herself is much younger than in North America, while this Australian company is trying to introduce Feral Cheryl (the anti-fashion fashion doll). How many other alternatives or adaptations have there been to this fashion doll, in an effort to better reflect ethnic or cultural differences or simply to provide an alternative? more inside

Inside the MonkeySphere via Linkfilter

Curious George - Commie Pinko Bastards I've been wondering lately about the (apparent) demise of communism. From the fall of the Berlin Wall, to the free market reforms in China and Cuba, is this economic system truly destined to history’s garbage heap? It seems China (excepting Taiwan and Hong Kong/Macao) is capitalist (communist in name only) with a totalitarian government. To me the idea of communism always made sense. But in practice communism always comes with a unhealthy dose of totalitarian governance. What countries that are called communist actually practice it in it's purest forms? Is it possible to practice a pure communism in today's world?

On the warpath: For over a century, the New Zealand rugby union team has been laying down a challenge to it's opponents before every match in the form of the Haka (240k .mov video). A fearsome Maori dance, the Haka is intended to scare the opposition into submission. Here you can learn how to perform it for yourself.

Serpent's Wall "60 years ago a Kiev's area witnessed ones of the most severe battles of WW2." The woman who gained fame for her motorcycle trip through Chernobyl visits another Soviet landmark.

Curious George: Gas or Electric Coffee is my lifeblood, my hope, my dreams, and so I boil a lot of water every day. Since my electric version broke a few months ago, I've been using an old school whistling stove top kettle on a gas hob. The question I've been pondering while I spoon out the Illy, oh my wisest of simian siblings, is which method has the least environmental impact? Gas or electric?

Curious George: Made in China. Here in the US I am absolutely astounded by the amount of merchandise made in China. It seems to be a quiet revolution that swept over retail America during the late 1990s. One curiosity that comes to mind is Wal-Mart, which back in the 1980s trumpeted "Made in the USA" on all of its TV commercials and has since gone a full 180. What are your thoughts on whether Made in China is good or bad? Is there any virtue in trying to buy American? And are there any department stores that maintain American inventory?

Virtual walking in Europe. This is in response to the great California Coastline Project thread a couple of posts down: Pages Jaunes has a really fun feature in which you can take a virtual stroll in any number of European cities. [Flash] more inside

A headless, bullet-riddled body - the Black Hand - a severed head put on public display. A Mystery to this day - November 19, 1904: hunters make a shocking discovery on a remote road outside Pennsylvania coal town Shamokin. A headless, naked body with multiple bullet wounds. 100 years ago.

The virtual California coastline. Over 20,500 photographs (totaling over 134GB) of the current California coast are now online, covering from the Oregon Border (42N latitude) to the Mexican Border (32.5N latitude), except for the Vandenberg AFB restricted area. An additional 5833 images from 1972, 8000 images from 1979, 4173 images from 1987, and 1074 images from 1989 are now online. more inside

What kind of Target merchandise is this? Possibly NSFW (?). On sale, 10% off. Free shipping. Offered at Target's "Red Hot Shop" Similar items: "Entertainment" Item availability: 4-8 weeks "No Picture Available" URL may be retracted at any time. more inside