Month: November 2007

[The 100 most notable books of 2007](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/notable-books-2007.html?ex=1353387600&en=df1533ad84161f24&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss). Plenty of books that you won’t have seen yet. Plenty that I’ll never even consider reading as well…

[The horrible shoes ‘Crocs’ are not only ugly, but also dangerous](http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/10/psa-crocs-arent-just-ugly-theyre-dangerous/). I really don’t understand the Crocs thing. For kids, sure – kids have no taste and do stupid things. But all the adults? Arrrgggh!

[A $1 per gallon increase in petrol price would reduce obesity by 15 per cent](http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2007/09/cross-elasticity-surprise.html). Makes a nice amount of sense on an intuitive level too. Makes you wonder what the other unintended consequences of a carbon tax might be.

[From a very funny column by Michael Lewis](http://www.reason.com/blog/show/122335.html): >This is what happens when you lend money to poor people. As always, with these things, there’s a bit of a grain of truth in there. Especially in this bit: >I trusted these people to get their teams of lawyers to vet anything before they signed it.…

[A clock in France’s Pantheon was fixed by “cultural guerillas” who broke in and conducted their restoration in secret](http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2217067,00.html). It’s a wonderful idea. Of course, if it’s a Harry Seidler building conventional guerillas might be preferred.

[Don’t send your children out on railroad tracks for coal](http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/10/do-not-send-your-chi.html). OK, it’s from the 1920s. Which just shows the ‘warning about the obvious’ thing some liability specialists love to point out isn’t that new a trend.

[Furniture pieces that you can use to build almost an infinite range of shapes](http://www.conelrad.com/daisy/index.php). It’s a good thing I don’t have one of these. I’d never stop rearranging it while watching TV.

[10 of the best from SkyMall](http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/skymall.s-scariest-stuff/10-reasons-were-doomed-skymall-edition-326183.php). Incredible proof of the imminent destruction of society. The Hitch Critters are very scary.

[Star Wars recast with various celebrities](http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?contest_id=17338&display=photoshop#entries). As with all Worth1000 contests, some of the entries are quite poor. But the best 10 or so are pretty clever.

[The Discovery Channel is casting for a show where you have to construct Rube Goldberg machines](http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/26/rube-goldberg-realit.html). OK, it could be a lot of fun. But it’s far more likely that it’d suck. Hope they work that strike out quickly.