Railway Photographs American, Australian, British, Canadian & New Zealand Railway photographs. The first site was a haphazardly lucky find and then I looked further and there are gazillions of photographs of trains online. These are just a small sample.

emails "pose threat to IQ" The distractions of constant emails, text and phone messages are a greater threat to IQ and concentration than taking cannabis, according to a survey of befuddled volunteers.

Amazon directory of free MP3 Downloads "Amazon has put together a single page listing all the free, no-DRM MP3s you can download from their site, as promos for CDs." And it updates every six hours. (Via Boing Boing.)

Sita Sings the Blues. A new twist on an old myth, featuring our friend Hanuman (via bb).

Stoned Monkeys go ape on villagers - and I mean really stoned monkeys. In other primate periodicals, Jewish gorillas stay kosher at Passover. more inside

The how's and why's of blowing off the church. Seems like this guy might wanna take a look.

T shirts have been mailed - Some extras are available Yeah, yeah, this is my second post of the day... Big deal. Ok, I just got back from 2 hrs at the post office. The mofi T shirts have been sent. This was a shit load of work! more inside

Berkeley Prof loses laptop, calls in the FBI, SEC and CIA: A Berkeley professor has had his laptop stolen and at the end of his lecture tries to scare the thief straight. Real Video of the lecture. via BoingBoing via Engadget. more inside

Help the Monarch Butterflies (reg req, sorry). MonarchWatch, an organization started by University of Kansas professor Orley Taylor, announced today that they are looking for 10,000 volunteers to set up "way stations" to help Monarch butterflies in their annual migration from Mexico to Canada and back. more inside

The Slow Loris. Incredibly cute proto-primate with the unusual feature of secreting poison from its elbows. Which leads to a distincly non-threatening defence posture, and hanging out with bald guys, apparently. Obligatory wikipedia page here.

History of Pop-up & Moveable Books: I still think this type of 'art' is pretty magical even in the digital age. I had a pirate ship pop-up book as a kid. So if you're stuck for a child's christmas present...

Delphion Research - not the most thrilling intellectual property website, definitely not the best of the web. But their archives of obscure patents (complete with animated demonstrations)? Entertaining. And...odd.

Everett: a permanent ecovillage Some guy I don't know named Daniel Rirdan sent me an email inviting me to join a venture he is starting. Its called the "Everett Venture", and he describes it as "a Burning Man-like, year-around settlement encompassing all aspects of living". The key thing here is that it appears to be focused on raising 150 children in a new way - the way Hillary Clinton recommended. Utopias have been often tried, and usually failed - sometimes ending up as creepy cult-like communities. more inside

The hanging of 38 Sioux at Mankato, Minnesota on December 26, 1862 following The Dakota Conflict Trials which condemned over three hundred participants stands as the largest mass execution in American history.

Cool Or Demented? Is Andrew McLean... more inside

Curious George - Digital Camera Buys? Hi all. Can anyone here point me to a non-biased resource (web page or publication) that has well researched, up-to-date reviews of digital still cameras? I've been itching to buy something in the neighborhood of $400-$600 that would also allow me to have some substanital manual control and as well as easy point and click capabilities when I need them. Obviously, the higher the pixils and bigger the chip the better. And I don't need SLR, but if a cool one exists in my price range, I'd consider it.

The Real World: Des Moines Imagine the reality TV high jinx when 8 polymorphously perverse beings (3 females & 5 males) begin sharing a $10 million, 13,000-square-foot home near downtown Des Moines... Are any of you one of the chosen?

Darth Vader's got a blog Because even dark lords of the Sith have their bad days.

The Lump Charcoal Database. BBQ Season is here, time to roll out the grills and start smoking large hunks of meat. The lump charcoal database will help those of you that are BBQ obsessed pick the right lump charcoal for your needs. It includes the Lump FAQ, full Charcoal Reviews and a handy dandy Comparison Of Charcoal Burn Times And Ash Production. more inside

Curious George: Bring on the Bundt! I have the most awesome bundt pan, but I don't have an awesome recipe to go with it. What are your best recipes for bundt cake? more inside