Cycling -
The Smithsonian's History of the Bicycle. The Exploratorium's Science of Cycling.

Web Japan aims to help people around the world get to know more about Japan and the Japanese. Sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). more inside

Suicide prevention thru fashion From their page: "No successful suicides are known to have been committed using these items." Don't the models look thrilled? via boingboing

The Coldplay code generator Encode messages in X & Y style! Fun, for about three minutes. more inside

Quotes from IRC conversations. Not as boring as I'm making it sound. Check out the top 100 quotes. Ihopeit'snotadoubleIhopeit'snotadoubledon'tletitbeadouble...

Bring out the aggressor that's hidden deep inside you. Super-detailed replica firearms from Japan. Where real guns are banned. more inside

The Batman comics writer compares his work to that of the recent film.

Dictator of the Month presents dictators from leading to least, consumate to crap. They're all here, folks: the oppressors, autocrats, despots, monarchs, potentates and tyrants of the world since 1900 (because adding *all* of them since the beginning of recorded history would probably be a bit of a tough task). "Biographies and picture galleries of both historical and current leaders- from the more obscure Maumoon Gayoom of the Maldives to the most notorious like Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union." Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov, otherwise known as Turkmenbashi, was dictator of the month January 2005. No doubt he'll swing round again because, well, he's just so fucking crazy.

Classic TV ads available in a variety of formats for your nostalgic (mostly black and white) viewing pleasure. Highlights for the month: Swanson's Three-Course Dinners, Campbell's tender-hearted Pork & Beans and Pillsbury Deluxe Cake Mix. You might want to head straight to the download page unless you've got broadband.

Student sleuths asked to help solve 1924 murder. The bombing that killed Mr. Verigin remains one of the most notorious crimes in B.C. history, all but forgotten and still unsolved.

Wondering George: which online forums do you spend time on? I work nights and often spend long hours killing time doing very little. I'm wondering what online forums the other Monkeys enjoy spending time participating in (aside from the rather obvious MoFi / MeFi)? Be it politics, technology, entertainment, special interest, sex, you-name-it - what are the engaging forum sites out there on the net?

Anti Rape Condom A South African inventor unveiled a new anti-rape female condom on Wednesday that hooks onto an attacker's penis and aims to cut one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world. more inside

Curious George: Log file analyzer. Any recommendations for a low-cost/free server log analyzer for Windows? Nothing fancy; I mostly just want to resolve IPs to domains and see what corporations/agencies are visiting my site.