Workers of the world, read a bunch of stuff! You have nothing to lose but your time:
Happy invoicing!
- The 3 key parts of news stories you usually don’t get - "I’ve come to the conclusion that there are four key parts to news stories, and we typically only get one of them, even though journalists possess all four, and the other three are arguably more important." Journalist Matt Thompson has some important points for you to think about before you link to that nonsense from the Daily Mail.
- Did the Ancient Egyptians Inhabit the Grand Canyon? - "One of the most revered historical institutions in the USA, if not the world, is the Smithsonian Institute, compilers and keepers of American history for as long as anyone can remember. Would they – could they blatantly ignore the existence of a staggering historical find, because it seemed too radical for conventional thinking? " That would be a no. Still, Tony Leather goes into some depth on the subject (pun intended).
- Interview with a scammer – Part One - Nigerian student "John" spills the beans on his time as a 419 scammer. "Maybe 9 or 10 out of every thousand emails [would get a response]. Then maybe 1 out of every 20 replies would lead to us getting money out of the victim in the end."
- The Semantic Web in Action - "...skeptics have said the Semantic Web would be too difficult for people to understand or exploit. Not so. The enabling technologies have come of age." Interesting overview of the (possible) future direction of the web from Scientific American.
- Brother Sharp (Xī Lì Gē / 犀利哥) - "A homeless man who spends his days and nights wandering the streets of Ningbo, Zhejiang province, has almost gained star status, thanks to his “good looks and sharp dress sense”. A growing number of Internet users are tracking the whereabouts of the still unidentified man, whose “fans” have nicknamed him Brother Sharp (犀利哥). He is one of the most talked about personalities in Chinese cyberspace today." (If that link doesn't work because of the Chinese characters, you need to upgrade your browser.)
- To slash or not to slash - So, should it be http://example.com/foo or http://example.com/foo/? Here's Google's advice.
- 10 Weirdest Diseases - including such delights as "Jumping Frenchman Disorder" and "Blaschko's Lines: strange stripes all over the body"
- Why a Bad Economy Is the Best Time to Start a Business - "Since 1851, the US economy has been in periods of contraction roughly one-third of the time, yet sixteen of the blue-chip companies that comprise the Dow 30 were founded during recessions and almost 60% of Fortune 500 companies began business in a bear market... Maybe you should hold off on praying for recovery while you get Plan B going.
- Frozen Grand Central - "On a cold Saturday in New York City, the world’s largest train station came to a sudden halt. Over 200 Improv Everywhere Agents froze in place at the exact same second for five minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station." Improv Everywhere's detailed account of "the mission", with video and photos.
- Nimoy Sunset Pie - images of Leonard Nimoy, usually in the character of Spock, with pies. Oh, and often sunsets too. I don't know why either.
Happy invoicing!
