Mark Wickens collects olive oil labels and fruit wrappers for fun and profit.

London: A Life in Maps Lovely microsite from the British Library. As well as the maps, some nice e-cards to send, and even a Google Earth layer. Cor blimey!

Death by lethal injection -- is it cruel and unusual punishment?

Doubloons! Every year during Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans, the various marching groups, known as krewes, toss to the crowd aluminum coins called doubloons. Doubloons typically have the krewe name or insignia on one side, and a depiction of that year's Mardi Gras theme on the other. Paradegoers like to collect the doubloons, and some can sell for $25 or more on Ebay.

Card companies now selling both the poison and the cure. Not rich enough selling Valentine's Day cards and pocketing some of the individual's average $92.30 spent each year, some greeting card companies are now aiming for the Anti-Valentine's Day crowd. Aah, the ironies of Capitalism...

A Designer Grand Piano (YouTube) Looks great; sounds tinny. more inside

Curious George: Sankyo for your help. Monkeying around with an old movie projector and roont it! more inside

Purple & Brown. Aardman at it again. more inside

BBC takes a look at 11^th September 2001 controversies. [NewsFilter] more inside

"The Last Good Morning" There's something about cereal mascots and the way they get burned into your head, especially the ones from when you were a kid. Between the constant barrage of commercials on Saturday mornings to begging your parents for a box of sugary crap just for a cheap, plastic toy, no wonder they worm their way into your subconscious. So, if you happen to have any cherished memories left you'd like to keep of them, please don't read this comic.

Niger economy benefits from trees. (Newsfilter, NYT registration may be required. Farmers in Niger have begun loving the trees they used to cut down to grow crops. more inside

Curious George: I forgot my parchment paper. I am making little curried potato pasties, but forgot to buy parchment paper at the store. Is there something else I can use to bake these on? Would it ruin them to butter the pan a bit so they do not stick?

Daleks as a force for good Missed this at the time. Would that all pitiless mutants bent on universal domination exhibited such a fine social conscience.

Nice wildlife photography.

Using Second Life to treat agoraphobia. "Meet Roberto, quite an eye-catching avatar who is one of the more interesting characters that can be found frequenting random areas of the Second Life world...Roberto Salvatierra...is a medical student from San Jose, Costa Rica, who suffers from the fear of open places and being out in public that is known as agoraphobia...his main reason for making his avatar resemble his real-life image as closely as possible was to help him in curing his affliction."

Curious George: Hope me find the name of a book Gettin' breezy in here more inside

Cows with guns! Go ahead, pretend you don't like it, pretend you didn't laugh, but if you don't wait for the chickens, don't come crying to me about it!

They Got Older, Too ...and in theory, wiser. We asked the pop icons you grew up with what they've learned about money. Bill Shatner, Cheryl Tiegs, Ron Howard, Denzel Washington, James Taylor and more with a sentence or two on what they've learned about money. via linkfilter

Curious George: Teacher tributes The recent, unexpected death of the favourite tutor of my college years, eminent Shakespearean A. D. Nuttall, prompts me to ask: who are the teachers who helped shape your life? Did they guide you in a subject that would become your life's work? Offer understanding during a difficult time? Or were they just generally cool and inspiring? Post your tales here.

Put Down The Duckie A classic, star-studded musical number to put a smile on your face. [YOUTUBE, MUPPETS!, SINGING] more inside