The Sonic Society is a clearinghouse for small independent radio theater troupes all around the world. Some of my own favorites for passing the drive time: Decoder Ring Theater and Icebox Radio Theater. more inside

the idiot test.

How to build a rocket stove , following Larry Winiarski's Rocket Stove Principles. These highly efficient, easy to build cookstoves can cook a meal using a handful of twigs, so the inventor says. more inside

Footbag world record thwarted. more inside

Real-estate barter. Screw the red paperclip, just put your house/land/FEMA trailer/whatever up on this website and watch the offers come rolling in. more inside

The Directory of Open Access Journals is a portal to 3416 free, full text, peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journals. Talk about the weather, dig some prehistory, learn why making websites isn't computer science. Learn how to build an aqueduct or a bridge. more inside

monkey want comix What are your favorite smart daily/weekly comics? Here are a few of mine. It seems like I used to have more than this though, at least enough to last through a cup of coffee.

it's ok, you're safe now. more inside

Today is the fifth Friday in February. It only happens once every 28 years, so get it on while you can.

The Electric Arc Radio Show Behold: Minneapolis' audio-only answer to the thriving local indy-film scene! It's current, (and it's on MPR's "the current."), it's more mind's-eye theater. more inside

The National Film Challenge is a contest in which aspiring filmmakers are given a prop, a line of dialog, a genre, and forty-eight hours to make a short film. The entry deadline passed in October, and the fifteen finalists have been selected. Now you get to watch and vote for your favorite in the "Audience Award" winner. Enjoy! more inside

A tough-guy's Christmas Story (part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5). more inside

The Blinky Pointer Video Remember that String theory in two minutes thing that made cosmology fun for the rest of us? Well, this is sort of like that, except with memory management in computers. And for those of ya at work or using VAX terminals or whatever, there's a text version on the same page.

How to iron a shirt. That's it, really. It's taken me this long to learn how to do it. I've been called "master of the rumpled look," I've heard "Dave, meet an iron." Now, thanks to the internets I can finally fit in in cube land.

New Pong! Control the paddle by tilting your laptop (sorry, mac only). more inside

Favorite Accoustic bar/cafe? Hey Monkeys! So it's mid-july already, which means it's time for musicians such as myself to start booking October and later. Which, as it turns out, is when I plan to begin my 2nd annual winter music tour. more inside

Curious Ramblin' George: help name my rocketship In five short weeks I'll be rolling down my driveway for a road trip of unknown duration and no specific destination (though I have a few general time/space coordinates plotted). This spring I picked up my new home on wheels, a 36-foot trailer made in 1951 by the Spartan Aircraft Co. A rig like this deserves a name, but I'm having trouble coming up with something that fits. A little Heinlien, a little Jules Verne, a little Homer (not necessarily Simpson). I'd sure love to hear your suggestions. more inside

Curious George: Which blog? In yesterday's thread, we found that several of us monkeys are planning to cut loose from the man for a while. So, what blog host would you use to chronicle such an adventure? more inside

It's been fun, Doc. Doctor Fun, aka David Farley, set out in 1993 to post 10 years' worth of daily comics. He completed that task earlier this week (it took 13 years). Arguably the longest running web-only comic ever produced, there won't be any more new ones. Fortunately (especially if you like jokes about heads in jars) there's an archive. more inside

Monkey fiction Because thursday is the new Friday, and everyone has 15 minutes to blow off around 3. Those of you for whom 3 pm and/or thursday has already passed, read it faster. Or backwards. or whatever. more inside