250 Years of Serendipity. The word "serendipity" (aka "accidental sagacity" or the art of making unexpected discoveries) was first coined 250 years ago today, on 28 January 1754. To mark the anniversary: a new book, The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity, not just a history of the word but "a protest against that rhetoric of science that defines discovery as anything other than a messy blend of inspiration, perspiration, error, and happy chance".

"Interview with a Fungus" (PDF) is the winner of the 2003 Shell Economist Writing Prize. [Via World Changing.]

Making Sense Of Marcel Duchamp. An excellent primer on one of the First Modern Men.

Not since we attacked the darkness has role-playing humor been so good.

A True Legend of the Intraweb... You'll see a lot of parody candidate sites popping up on the web this year. This was one of the first... and the most obvious.

Resources for poor music students A myriad of free musical scores (some repositories having very limited bandwidth; some dealing only with early or later chamber music; some specifically for pianists). Are the cheap miniature study scores of my youth obsolete? (Mostly PDF, with some Postscript.)

Life in the Sell Lane - Glamour and intrigue. High stakes. Seamy competition. Selling cars is no easy racket, as this undercover journalist can attest. It's a long read, but highly worth it, especially if you're in the market for a new car.

A bean that grows into a plant with a leaf containing a printed message... that's impossible, right? How the heck do they do this?

Squarespace: New Blog Tool I just came across a new blog tool that seems to have a lot of promise: Squarespace. It has some bugs (just released on January 6), but it provides a ton of features into a very smart architecture. Highlights: --"Module" concept for adding site features like journals, file storage areas, links, and discussions easily --"Clients/ audiences" feature that allow for dynamic site personalization based on login --"Drop box" that enables file upload/ storage by dragging a file into a browser --Direct server file management capability --Excellent access logs/ statistics tracking --Virtual hosts, XML feeds, and other features we've come to expect from such tools --Structure/ style customization I just found this yesterday, so I haven't gotten too deep into it yet, but these people are definitely on the right track of moving from mere blog management to complete site management.

Giovanni Guareschi's The Little World of Don Camillo: these stories center on the often-rocky relationship between Don Camillo, a priest in a small Italian village, and the mayor, a communist, and they brought world-wide fame to their author and illustrator. more inside

And to think today would have been productive (Flash)

Rise of a ruling-class family. An excerpt from Kevin Phillips' new book about the Bush family, "American Dynasty."

A suitable contender for the Republican nomination more inside

RateMyTeachers.com: The most recent newsletter of the National Education Association [NEA, the nationwide teachers' union] had an article about this site, including the opinions of some outraged teachers who want to sue the site. Actually, I think it's a good idea, and not only because my students like me. more inside

Movie Rap.Com
Not the best reviews, but better flow than Gene Shalit. (via bif riv)

Movie Title-Screens! They Make Great Screen-Savers and Wallpapers! Be the First Kid to Collect the Whole Set!

Right Wing Bloggers On Kay Report This is what happens when you let your political bias take the place of facts. Ditto to Michael Moore on the left.

Bill Gates attempts to save the world...again. "...a "payment at risk" system...would mean the senders of e-mail would pay a fee if their mail was rejected as spam. The system would not deter genuine e-mailers, such as friends and relatives, who would be confident their mail would be accepted." [Via Neil Gaiman's blog] more inside

Your doggie needs a business card.

The great escalator Take a ride on the 800 meter long escalator that connects various Hong Kong shops. [Warning: 85 Mb Quicktime movie] The punchline can be found at 18 min 23 when a sign states filming is forbidden.