First, watch this:

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=hans_rosling

Then, go to http://gapminder.org/ and click around. And finally, have fun with this: http://tools.google.com/gapminder/ :)

http://emg-zine.com/item.php?id=173

Well... What can I say? Ursula Vernon is great, as always.

http://www.theoryoffun.com/theoryoffun.pdf

It's not as long as it looks, and quite enjoyable :)

http://www.atelier-v.ch/info.htm

30 unusual ideas. Which one is your favourite? :P

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2006/08/things-you-really-need-to-learn.html

Long but good :)

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=ken_robinson

A very good talk (on education).

Of course, you can just watch them all, or pick the ones that sound interesting to you:

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/

:)

Warning: Contains graphic, NOT work-safe pictures!

http://wreckingboy.livejournal.com/318545.html

Not erotic or amusing either. Fairly long, but can be skimmed easily. I think it's important enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih3djTbpXOw

It's the first part of a 5-part video, a combination of a digital painting tutorial and a talk about life and work, and how to do something you love for money and not end up hating it. He talks about art specifically, but it really applies to any creative work (design, programming etc.) and maybe more than that. It's a bit slow and quiet, but still very good. You can get the other parts from the "Related" block on the right.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=398998

*dies laughing*

...but it's quite sad, really.

http://www.artweaver.de/index.php?en_version

Yay! Free mini-Painter! Can you believe it? :P

And now for something slightly different... A quote.

"It takes true innocence to know your own darkness."

http://escherdroste.math.leidenuniv.nl/

http://www.soulcatcherstudio.com/exhibitions/blossfeldt/
http://www.artphiles.com/photophiles/KB.html
http://www.vintagesmith.com/images/Blossfeldt/BlossAlbum/
http://home.flash.net/~pdnb/Blossfeldt/blossfeldt1.html

Just some old photos of the ones that feed on sunlight...

http://www.gelnika.com/

OK, sorry for that. I just thought it was pretty good for such a short piece of writing. Here's some non-violent non-written non-fiction to cheer you up:

http://media.putfile.com/Lady-Goes-Crazy-on-Trading-Spouses

http://amasci.com/miscon/myths10.html
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/cargocul.htm

http://www.vandruff.com/art_converse.html
http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/
http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/courses/inflogic/clinical.htm

http://www.propagandacritic.com/

I'm going to visit my grandmother... Two nights to get there, three weeks there, two nights to get back here. I should be back on 11.08. Of, course, I'll try to get a bit of Internet access while I'm there, but I might not succeed :P

So, have fun, make Elftown nicer, don't bother [Hedda] to death (try [Lerune] or [True, plain and simple] first) and see you in August! :)

http://nanobox.chipx86.com/browser_support.php#summary

Internet Explorer 6 vs Firefox 1.0 vs Opera 8

http://www.stunicholls.myby.co.uk/menu/amazing.html
http://www.stunicholls.myby.co.uk/menu/crossing.html

Games written in CSS...

http://www.werkema.com/software/spacemonger.html
Sweet. Just what I needed right now :)

Lovely little Flash movies :)
http://www.biteycastle.com/animation.htm

(thanks to [Isilando])

http://www.omniglot.com/
Whee, writing! (the technical side of it)