Ikea, the Swedish retail chain, showed its green credentials yesterday by giving all 9,000 of its workers a free bicycle. -Nice.

Deer in the Yard. Excellent + 1.

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Comprehensive list of musicians who've covered the song Stagger Lee. [via metafilter]

Shame as a spectator sport? To believe that, you have to believe that Trump has moral standards, although I suppose one can believe that The Donald has moral standards for other people. You also have to believe that Conner is truly ashamed, not pretend ashamed, of stories that have garnered more press coverage than her coronation. -Miss USA, it's an odd world we live in.

What happens to all the trash generated at Antarctica's McMurdo Station.

BBC photo gallery: Life in Antarctica.

From the Denver Post's photo slideshow of the Colorado Blizzard. More.

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Sea shanties and drinking songs.

No updates until the first week of January as I'm off tomorrow on an aeroplane to Boston for some family holiday time. In the meantime, enjoy yourselves immensely, thanks for the interest, and ho ho ho.

MSNBC's Year in Pictures.

What hail can do to an airplane. [via linkfilter]

The history of mobile libraries. [via metafilter]

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Monitoring the South Pole ozone hole.

There is also a spy-novel quality to the extraordinary lengths to which the Sox went to keep their quest secret. When Henry decided to send his plane to southern California last Monday, the Red Sox logo on the plane's tail was covered. -Interesting article on how the Boston Red Sox signed Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The Grateful Dead (and others) win the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

A buncha vintage coffee paraphernalia. [via thingsmag]

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Photos from the Atlanta Pop Festival, July 1970. [via thumbrella]

Is The End near? Part I.

The Force behind the weblog Look At This offers up 14 issues of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic as an early Christmas gift. Also, a website devoted to Fat Freddy's cat.

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Father Guido Sarducci offers up his worst Christmas song ever.

BBC: Migrants 'shape globalised world'

Allergy-free cats for sale at $3,950 each!

Horseradish has proven amazing resilient, enduring for 3,000 years because of its versatility and popularity. Over time, the plant has been used as an aphrodisiac, a rub for lower back pain, a cough medicine - even as a treatment for food poisoning, scurvy, tuberculosis and colic. -Horseradish growers worry after drought.

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Get high on life.

Choose Reality -This is a statement of belief for people who identify themselves as Realists and who believes that real reality as it really is, is an important position to assert.

History of Christmas cake.

Make your next corporate event, awards banquet, trade show, fundraiser, sophisticated party or advertising promotion a hit by having "The Three Stooges " be part of the entertainment. They look, talk and act like the real performers and are a perfect complement to any special event. -Three Stooges impersonators.

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San Francisco Chronicle's annual geography quiz.

Mormon at your door - a quick reference guide.

Zipcode search of US lighthouses.

Introducing the high performance, road-hugging, ultra-narrow Tango. -An offering from the Commuter Cars Corporation.

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Journey to deep sea vents.

Molecules with silly or unusual names.

A comprehensive listing of Nebraska's state symbols.

YouTube videos of a Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir (and Joan Baez) 1987Christmas concert. Good shit.

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Dog toys for Hanukkah.

BBC: Rare tiger mauls monitor camera. Excellent.

The most accurate In-N-Out Burger secret menu.

The US Post Office fan page.

An look back at the interesting lives of North Carolina's famous and quite hefty McCrary twins.

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Military scientists discover that nuclear war would be bad for the planet.

It seems that hardly a week goes by without reading in the press of another case of a passenger getting drunk and running amok on an aircraft and abusing the crew. Now we have a new phenomena, Aircrew who abuse passengers. That's not possible? You don't believe it? Ask the Phillips Family, who were enroute via a Virgin Holiday, to enjoy sun and fun in Florida. -Virgin Atlantic Airways aircrew are liars.

The Moon - What is it and who made it?

Real time tracking of a variety of Pacific Ocean marine life. Cool.

Information and photos about WWV, WWVB, and WWVH, the shortwave radio timekeeping stations in Colorado and Hawaii.

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Why is Singapore in the “wrong” time zone?

The Florida Meat Goat Association. You're welcome.

A short, effective video illustrating the flammability of a Christmas tree. Be careful out there.

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The visual guide to bovine reproduction. Wow.

Eels should be alive and brisk in movement when they are purchased, but the 'horrid barbarity,' as it is truly designated, of skinning and dividing them while they are so, is without excuse, as they are easily destroyed 'by piercing the spinal marrow close to the back part of the skull with a sharp pointed knife or skewer. -From the 1845 Modern Cookery for Private Families.

Large collection of Florida agriculture TV public service announcements.

Heard it in the playground.

Observing eclipses safely.

Fireworks glasses.

Movies about Mars in alphabetical order.

Tree of Life, from a collection of Mexican art found at Cozumel's Galería Azul.

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Hurricane shutter types.

The world's greatest suction cup museum.

Feeling much better, thanks. Still not 100% though. I do hope never again to cross paths with whatever it was that I crossed path with. Or something.

A jersey chair. [via sportsfilter]

How to calculate Pi by throwing frozen hot dogs. [via mystic chords]

Today's San Francisco is a bit precious, an overpriced enclave of foodies and dandies and consumers, but Tergis remembers when there were pockets of working-class people, radicals and artists who gathered here. -Turk Tergis, a San Francisco resident for 68 years, reflects on the city.

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AP: Water War Brewing Along Mexican Border.

BBC: Psychopaths' brains 'different.'

The history of Moscow's Central Telegraph.

A 1977 Harley Davidson XR750, the world's best Evel Knievel replica.

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Apologies for the delay in updating. I seem to have contracted a nasty bug that's kept me in bed sicker than a sick dog. Not fun.

Much information on Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

Some examples of mutilated US currency.

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A brief guide to mold, moisture, and your home!

They essentially lay in storage for more than 40 years, well beyond Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, until the past summer. Tiff Garcia and Matthews came up with the idea of combining art, commerce and community service by displaying the oils and selling prints of one, in part to raise money for an art scholarship for San Francisco college students. At least 5% of the gross proceeds will be used to fund the college scholarship. -Jerry continues spinning in his grave.

Sunshine in Government Initiative.

Peugeot Bicycles catalogs, 1929-1989. [via coudal]

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The Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH). Excellent.

How to whistle loudly.

Windshear and Turbulence Warning System at Hong Kong International Airport.

Real time Alaskan road weather information (with cams!).

22 pages of Alaska Railroad photos. Nice.

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Psychedelic research around the world.

Q:Do you have a favorite sound? A: Bacon. In a frying pan. If you record the sound of bacon in a frying pan and play it back it sounds like the pops and cracks on an old 33 1/3 recording. Almost exactly like that. You could substitute it for that sound. -From an interview with Tom Waits. [via amy on the web]

FAA acronyms.

“How’s the fishing?” Hiss asked. “I got two stripers and 35 bags of Doritos,” the captain answered. -A container filled with salty snacks washes ashore in North Carolina. More photos. Perfect. [via o-store]

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Supplies for a Happy Birthday Jesus party. You're welcome.

YouTube video of Jimi Hendrix performing at the BBC in the late 1960's.

AP: Some Bears May Not Sleep Through Winter.

Swim jobs. Potentially useful.

A large collection of fluorescent minerals. More minerals.

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Corporate power, influence, money and interlocking boards of directors page.

In Southern California in June, a sea lion charged several people on Manhattan Beach and bit a man before waddling into the water and swimming away. In Berkeley, a woman was hospitalized last spring after a sea lion took a chunk out of her leg. Last year, a group of sea lions took over a Newport Beach marina and caused a vintage 50-foot yacht to capsize when they boarded it. -The sea lions, they're angry.

BBC photo journal: Life in a Caracas barrio.

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The world famous asphalt museum.

A maritime flag typewriter. Also, a Morse code translator.

Many exotic birds are banned from importation because they are endangered, so collectors pay a steep price on the black market. And smugglers are increasingly creative. One squeezed 44 Cuban melodious finches into small plastic tubes and taped them to his legs for a flight into Miami. -A look at the smuggling of exotic pets and stuff.

Babes With Books - Smart girls are hot! -A weblog devoted to just that. [via j-walk]

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Propeller carving steps.

The book art of Richard Minsky.