A list of "Road" Songs Songs about musicians being "on the road" don't qualify unless they actually mention roads. Songs about cars, rather than roads, also don't quality. A song can qualify if it mentions a highway even if the rest of the song is about something else. more inside

Tunak Tunak! [real, 2nd mirror]

Finance and trade under Edward III: The London lay subsidy of 1332 "The reign of Edward the Third is one of the longest in history, and long reigns tend to possess an interest which is even more than proportionate to their length. It is, however, an interest that springs not so much from unity as from contrast and change, the beginning and the end of such a reign lie in different worlds. The three visitations of pestilence in 1349, 1361 and 1366 make this especially true of the reign of Edward III..."

Konane is an ancient Hawaiian board game. (Remove one central piece, take opponent's pieces by jumping orthogonally, last person to move wins.) Game-theoretic analysis.(PDF, PostScript, PowerPoint.) A downloadable version.

A Day in the Life of Africa - 100 photographers, 9 timezones. Flash slideshow. Big, beautiful and absorbing. Mouse to the flanks for more info. on each photo/country.

The original binary code. Morse code beats text messaging in speed test. A 93 year old former telegraph operator smoked a 13 year old text messaging opponent in a speed test. This reminds me of an old math teacher who delighted in beating us in speed tests of slide rule versus a calculator. Email still beats USPS though.

Curious George: iPodder Is there a way to use iPodder (or any other application) to automatically download mp3's, given an RSS feed of an ordinary mp3 blog? iPodder, as far as I can tell, will do this only if the blog entry is a podcast. I'm not sure what that means exactly, and after spending some time with google, I've decided that neither do most people on the internet. I hope some monkey is more enlightened than I.

Hayao Miyazaki's latest film trailer is now available for viewing. The film has been showing for six months in Japan and is finally due to reach American shores in June, and it looks to be worth the wait. Miyazaki came out of retirement yet again to make this one, so whether or not this will be the last is anybody's guess. via Nausicaä.net

Straight Outta Compton Nina Gordon from Veruca Salt covers NWA

Are you a Republican? Answer a few simple questions and you can find out. more inside

Jail for 'Robin Hoods' who cost Microsoft millions Sorry for the yahoo news FPP, but I wanted to take the time to really poke fun of these guys for being, as the prosecutors described, "sad individuals living as they do for very large parts of their days and nights in a virtual world, in front of a computer monitor, cocooned from existence." What |0z3rs! On a wholely unrelated note, Microsoft offers "A parent's primer to computer slang". Finally!

Mascots who give me the creeps. Check out the picture on the right. Is it just me, or is this the stuff of nightmares?

Queen Anne's Revenge? Has Blackbeard's ship been found? Excavating a legend.

Dozen penguins at SF zoo die after chlamydia outbreak. Sigh. My efforts as a sexuality educator have been sadly mispaced. I should have realized after these guys came out, that the penguin community was sexually active and in need of outreach.

Discover now Sanford Bennett’s highly effective secrets on how to: • Restore and maintain overall vitality thru simple “exercises in bed” • Remove wrinkles in the face and neck, and maintain beautiful skin using “palm friction” • Reduce an obese abdomen by “percussion stomach massage” • Rejuvenate sagging muscles of the cheeks, throat and chin with a special massage technique • Cure rheumatism and varicose veins without medicine using the “palm friction” method • Minimize falling hair using scalp massage techniques and controlled hair-pulling exercises. • And many more unconventional but proven highly effective fitness and beauty tips for the middle-aged and beyond.

Ho, hoe, ho He was friendly at first, but he soon called Hayden a "snitch bitch hoe" and hit her in the head with the back of his hand. This is from an opinion filed by the justices of the 7th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. Read footnote #1 (bottom of page 2). Link goes to the 9-page opinion in PDF format.

Curious George: Bypassing the IT Guy ... The IT manager at the office of a "friend" has blocked access to one of his favorite websites. Does anyone know of a website or a service or some other method that will allow him to access that favorite site? I know that sites such as Bloglines do a good job of aggregating content from other sites -- but Bloglines shows only headlines, summaries, and links to the original site. Ideas? Anyone?

May 6th (the first Friday of May) is No Pants Day. There's a no-pants photo gallery and even no-pants music. You can also participate in this year's pantsless photo contest. I ain't afraid of no pants. more inside

Tour of a 3D model Kiva (Better with QuickTime). Kivas are large underground structures built by the 'ancient ones', aka the Anasazi, of the Chaco Canyon.

Today is the 30th anniversary of the 1975 Omaha tornado which killed "only" three (compared to the Easter 1913 Omaha tornado which killed 101) and yet was the costliest in U.S. history. It was seen by thousands when it ripped through a popular race track at post time. Weather Service chronology of the event. Aerial damage photos. Tornado season is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere. Make sure your children know what to do in the event of a severe storm or tornado warning. Be safe.