Category: Quickhit

[A new way to multiply](http://clubtroppo.com.au/2007/12/22/a-seriously-cool-way-to-multiply/). Nice party trick, but it kinda falls over when you’re working with four digit numbers. The proof that it works in all cases is left as an exercise for the student.

[The adorable animals of YouTube go out on strike with the Writer’s Guild](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npqx8CsBEyk). From the writers of the Colbert Report. The writer’s strike is not going away any time soon, but some interesting things are happening in the interim.

[Book Design Review covers the best of 2007](http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-favorite-book-covers-of-2007.html). Some great design here – the kind of books that you know are going to be interesting just judging from their covers.

[A table made from a DC-4’s wing](http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/aviation/table-made-of-dc+4-wing-shall-be-mine-334367.php). The only problem is that you’d need to review your entire decor to match.

[Buy a 50mm fixed lens for your SLR](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2007/october#sun-14-jdd). They’re cheap, and they make a massive difference to your pictures. I got one recently, and the picture’s are superb.

[The true story of black debaters in the Jim Crow South](http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/thegreatdebaters/trailer1/). A little bit from the ‘great teacher inspires students’ cookie cutter mill, but the trailer suggest that it’ll be a deeper than average.

[The US Civil War in Four Minutes](http://www.idkwtf.com/videos/latest-videos/the-civil-war-in-four-minutes). Nice summary of what happened, shows just how long it took for any ‘progress’ from the Northern point of view.

[The 15 wealthiest fictional characters](http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/11/richest-fictional-characters-oped-books-fict1507-cx_mn_de_1211fictional15_land.html). I suspect a lot of the writing for this one is done while the participants are quite drunk.

[A fantastic mobile to phone home on](http://io9.com/335383/retro+futurist-cell-phone-made-from-rotary-dialer). Could be a very profitable phone – think of all the replacements people will have to buy after spinning it too hard.

[Swearing in baseball in 1897](http://www.kottke.org/07/12/seven-things-you-can-never-say-while-playing-oldtimey-baseball). Not safe for work. In fact, it’s hard to imagine any context where the kind of language in this would have been appropriate…