Freaks, Geeks, and Hoochie Shows on the Road
Some histories of Traveling Carnivals, the American circus and the culture of Vaudevillian showmanship. more inside

Goth in the suburbs. He worships Satan! He desecrates the Bible! He gardens! He recycles! remember, real goths stick out their tongues when they rake.

Photo Poems. When words and pictures collide.

100 most mispronounced words and phrases in English. Shamelessly stolen from Those On The Blue.

Ice Volcanoes of Lake Superior. These volcanoes can grow up to 10 meters high, and actually do erupt like regular volcanoes.

Doctors remove worm from woman's brain.

Isreal welcomes Arnie. Is this really a suitable position for the guv to be taking or a new mode of groping for self-gratification?

Jane's unrelated sons. "Jane" is a human chimera; the product of two fertilised eggs whose DNA is mixed in the same body - and some of her children are descended from eggs containing one set of DNA, while others come from an entirely different strain. As this Nature article explains, the level of mixing can range form the trivial to the profound, and can result in non-hermaphroditic gender mixing in the same person, with an XY lung and an XX kidney.

Caring, Understanding, Nurturing Types. Atomic Kitten: "Take three gutter whores from a Liverpool council estate, mix with some slim fast, stinky cheese and annoying cover songs that were shit and annoying when first released and you get Atomic Kitten..." Possibly NSFW, depending on how your workplace feels about, uh, a certain word. [via stupid-stuff]

Aide: Rumsfeld Urged Iraq Attack Sooner I am really starting to wonder if Rumsfeld is fit to serve. He urged an attack on Iraq immediately shortly after 9/11. Richard A. Clarke, former White House counterterrorism coordinator recounts Rumsfeld reasoning. more inside

Flickr I'm not sure if this is a social networking thing or a group weblog. I think it's probably the former. It's in Beta, and run by some bloke called Stuart. I've just joined up, and I'm having fun. (You don't need an invitation to join.)

The Happy Monk. "Believe it or not, I became a monk because I am a hedonist at heart. The fun began when I became a monk. I am not trying to be flip by saying this. For me at least, being a monk is the way I can most enjoy my life, and I do mean en-joy. My life is en-joyed, filled with joy as an ongoing experience."

the world is your oyster

would you like a jelly baby...? the bbc says they've picked the new doctor who - christopher eccleston (from shallow grave & 28 days later). i think he's going to be great, but not as great as tom baker was, of course. feel free to disagree with me while i celebrate by knitting myself a very long scarf.

Piecepack is the public-domain game system that is to board games what an ordinary deck of cards is to card games. It is a set of board game parts that can be used to design and play a wide variety of games. Anyone may design and publish a piecepack rule set. Any manufacturer or individual may produce piecepacks. Give it a try for free. more inside

I can name that tune in 30 seconds... The latest web rush: sites that will tell you where a song you heard on a TV commercial came from. Adtunes vs. What's That Called? (U.S. version or U.K. version) Very important in a world where Led Zeppelin and Cadillac go together. more inside

Has the turing test finally been passed? As the BBC, The Register and New Scientist report, "paedophiles attempting to "groom" children in internet chatrooms can now be detected by a computer program". This program can successfully imitate an 8-year old child, and can then alert the authorites once it detects signs of paedophile activity. The software is the work of ChatNannies, an organisation dedicated to making chat rooms safer places for children. NannieBot is the first AI construct to effortlessly pass the 'Turing Test', after more than 13 hours of conversation the AI was still undiscovered!. more inside

Well, there's egg and bacon; egg, sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg, bacon and spam; egg, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, bacon, sausage and spam; spam, egg, spam, spam, bacon and spam; spam, sausage, spam, spam, spam, bacon, spam, tomato and spam; spam, spam, spam, egg and spam; spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam. or lobster thermador ecrovets with a bournaise sause, served in the purple salm Mr. Bunor with chalots and overshies, garnished with truffle pate, brandy, a fried egg on top and spam. Manila restauranteur opens Monty Pythonesque restaurant in which every dish contains spam.

Books of the bible in l33t-speakin' irc talk

Curious George: monkey banana meme The Hannah-monkey asked this morning "why do people think that monkeys just like bananas, instead of other fruit"? Help me help an eight year old - how did this pop culture association start, and is it true?