You have reached the end of the Internet

This link is one of the funniest I've run across:

http://www.google.com/reader/next?go=noitems

What's the point of it? I have no idea. I just like it.

Trade books with me!

I read a lot. Side-effect: stacks of books that I don't intend to re-read. Solution (I hope): I've posted them on BookMooch.

So ... trade books with me! By the time you read this, I'll probably have more listed.

So far I've got:



And of course, other people have posted their books too....

Down with stupid junk mail

I just signed up for GreenDimes, a Palo Alto startup company whose sole objective (and business plan) is to reduce junk mail. In return for my $36, they promise to harass the evil people who send me the stuff and get them to stop. They also plant trees.

I find it strangely Kafka-esque (or Mafia-esque) to fork over my credit card number in order not to receive something. On the other hand, if it works, it will be so, so, SOOOO worth it.

Besides, I bet this company was founded due to sheer frustration - and I get a kick out of that. "What do you mean I have to spend my time, energy, and recycling bin space throwing out this stupid stuff I didn't even ask for?! I would SOOO pay someone else to get me off these lists! Hey, wait a minute ... what if ... ? "

Pissed-off-ness is the mother of invention :)

This is just cool

Every now and then I run across something that is just plain cool. These Hubble photos rank way up there. My favorites, in case you don't like clicking links:







I mean, wow. Just ... wow.

How can llamas help defeat biological weapons?

Made you look, didn't I? This headline is lifted wholesale from HowStuffWork's article of the same name. It was so intriguing, I just had to post it.

Favorite quote:

...llamas are our friends. They're soft, good-natured and amusing to view...

and the meat of the article:

Llamas ... produce an antibody that is incredibly sturdy. It has no light protein chains, only heavy ones, making it not only hardy but also simple, with a tiny binding site.... Scientists can create these single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) quickly.... Because the binding site is so small, they're far easier and less expensive to engineer than other kinds of antibodies.... Using these tough, simple antibodies, scientists could develop a library of sensors to detect every bio-weapon imaginable -- and then very quickly develop antibodies that bind to new threats as they come up.

Isn't that fascinating? You should read the whole article. It's neat.