The Power of Nightmares , by Adam Curtis, is now available online. more inside

When it comes to winning or even making the shortlist of prizes in fiction, poetry, art, architecture and music, women fare poorly. Why? Are professional women artists less talented than their male colleagues or are women simply being denied equal opportunity? more inside

Picture Australia
A vast repository of digital images from a large number of libraries, archives, museums, galleries & universities. There are more than a million images accessible.

It all started with some spiderwebs. more inside

Database of inflight incidents (via FAA/NASDAC). Pilots and flight attendents can get immunity from FAA sanctions by filing an report. Colorful searching shows not just technical reports that help improve safety, but bizarre incidents involving nude sunbathers, drunk passengers, and crew falling asleep. (more) more inside

In 1895, Sven Hedin , a Swedish explorer inspired by tales of lost cities under the sand, trekked across China's forbidding Takla-makan desert (meaning Place Of No Return). He barely survived, and over half of his party perished, including his problematic guide, nicknamed Yollchi, the pointer of the way. The Takla-makan is the second largest desert in the world, but it may still be hard to find.

Marathon's Story. Huge, aging Mac nerds need only click on this link. Wow. "In addition to these questions is the question - who is communicating this message to us? The first line is typical of Leela "Your last mission was a success, but I have terrible news". The reference to your last mission is presumably the clearing of the Engineering Section of Pfhor to prevent them from detonating a bomb (Shake Before Using...). If you had successfully completed the earlier level "Bob-B-Q" you would have received the following message from Leela..."

Magical Musical Mayhem A delighfully whimsical interactive Flash program that invites you to create your own ambient music contraption. Addictive and enchanting. Via Waxy

Curious George, Undergrad Edition: So, on July 31st, I'm breaking my piggy banks and heading up to the University of Montreal for a certain physics conference. It's my first academic conference and I've never been up to Uni of Montreal, so I've got some questions. more inside

Spaceweather PHONE is an astronomy alert service from the creators of Spaceweather.com. When auroras appear over your hometown, your phone will ring. When the space station is about to fly over your back yard, your phone will ring. When planets align ... you get the idea. Costs money. But could be useful.

Curious George: My grandfather, who hates most everything, turns 80 this week and I have no idea what to get him. more inside

Daily Jigsaw I have no idea how many of you already know about this, but the puzzles are decent, and you can adjust the difficulty level. They amuse me, thought I'd share.

Jei Atacama, Healer, and Doctor of Oriental Medicine brings you Atacama Healing Water! That's right, for a mere US $64, you too can imbibe 16 ounces of water that has been spiritually empowered. more inside

WockyJivvy encourages attempts to get truly bad poetry published in anthologies. An excerpt from one selected as a finalist for publication in the National Library of Poetry: "My cat is chewing on her butt;/It makes me think she is a nut./I try to drown the fleas in spray;/They jump and shout and just yell "Hey!"

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) , adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. more inside

Happy Birthday Blue! As mentioned here, here, here, here, sort of here, kinda here, here, here, more inside

This guy reckons the 'gas model' of the Sun is wrong and that it has a 'hard and rigid ferrite surface' below the photosphere. Whaaaaaaat??

Allons enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de Gloire est arrivé. Words, sheet music, history of La Marseillaise. more inside

Biting the hand that feeds you. Not for the faint of heart.

A pictorial survey of uniforms worn by British schoolboys over the years