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• From my faithful friend Jan, here are Five Great Auditory Illusions. The Barbershop one pretty thoroughly amazed me.
• Blogger Hugh Ryan calls himself the Word Nerd, and his posts explore the etymology of words that come up in current events and pop culture. See his post on traffic – a fascinating read for anyone who lives in a city with congestion.
• Buffy the Mosquito Slayer! A special dog trained to sniff out where mosquitoes breed so that they can be stopped. I support legislation that all dogs in the South be taught this useful trade.
• We at mental_floss know what our readers crave - explosions, disasters and of course … even bigger explosions. To quench your thirst, here is the Sweet 16 of building demolition videos.
• If you were intrigued by Stacy’s post on (in)famous graves, look for more of them here.
• Who didn’t love “I’m a man! I’m 40!” as one of the greatest sports press conference meltdowns? Here’s a list of the 10 Best for more amazing quotes and good ole fashioned fun.
• A rare photo of Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan is found almost 120 years after it was taken! (Thanks MadZapper)
• FreeRice.com allows you to improve your vocab while giving back. Not bad, right? I got to level 43 … can anyone beat me without using a dictionary?
• My friend Sarah sent me this great link – a seemingly normal online store … but wait for it to load …
• Another gem from PassiveAggressiveNotes.com. This one will ring true for anyone who has had food stolen by friends and co-workers. (More roommate drama that made me laugh can be found here.)
• This election year has been intense already, so you know what that means … some day soon, a made-for-TV-movie will be born. Who would you cast as Hillary? McCain? Romney? Here are some suggestions to get you started.
• Something we can never get enough of: snarky video game blogs. The Minus World explores the secret racism in Punch-Out, how a color blind gamer copes with the Red Ring of Death and what violent video games dinosaurs played before they killed each other off.
• My co-workers and I laughed so hard at this that I felt like I’d done several hundred crunches. Another dramatic soundtrack video on YouTube, but one definitely worth watching.
In addition to begging for links this week – flossylinks@gmail.com, of course – I also want to thank everyone for sending in some great stuff. Keep it up, and have a great weekend!
Comments (9)
Comment
Re: FreeRice, I’ve gotten as high as 46 (no dictionary). I use it as a bonus point project for my ESL students. They like it. But I allow them to use a dictionary.
posted by Joanna on 3-8-2008 at 7:04 am
ok, the barbershop thing is one of the COOLEST things i’ve ever hear. almost made me fall out of my chair looking for the guy though. freaky!!
posted by mri on 3-8-2008 at 10:27 am
I got to level 47 sans dictionary, and I think I’ll keep using this - it’s fun!
posted by Aemi on 3-8-2008 at 11:01 am
Is the Weather Channel video crashing anyone else’s browsers? (The Mosquito Slayer link). I’m running Safari on Mac.
posted by Tom on 3-8-2008 at 11:47 am
FreeRice: Got to 49 - thanks to some outrageously lucky guesswork…
posted by Michelle on 3-8-2008 at 4:45 pm
I LOVE the FreeRice.com thing. I’m up to 3400 grains of rice, which is surely enough to feed a few people. Can’t get enough. My level has hovered between 43 and 44 (you guys above me must be spoonbenders).
posted by adrienne on 3-8-2008 at 5:10 pm
I played for quite a while and got up as high as 45, playing in the lower 40s fairly consistently.
posted by Meg on 3-8-2008 at 6:18 pm
I’m kind of addicted to FreeRice.com. My highest level so far is 52, and I’ve amassed some 83,000 grains since Nov.
Either my geeky English major genes are showing, or I really need to get a life.
posted by Rose on 3-8-2008 at 9:56 pm
45! Best game ever.
posted by Sarah on 3-10-2008 at 3:59 pm