• The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Carlo Cipolla)
  nice to find this again, thanks to Tamara… originally in Whole Earth Review of Spring 1987
  (tags: nacirema anthropology)
• The battle of the rails
  "…Since freight railroads were deregulated in 1980, the number of large, so-called Class I railroads has shrunk from 40 to seven. There are now only four that matter: CSX and Norfolk Southern in the East, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe in the West. These four now take in more than 90% of the market…"
  (tags: railroads)

• The Machinery of … whatever
  "…Who though is this “we”? It is the deepest, most festering wound of 9/11…" (via a now-vanished post at Forbes)
  (tags: argybargy nacirema)

• Michael S. Hart – Gutenberg
  with grace and style
  (tags: thanatos gutenberg)
• 50 Watts Image Archive
  concentrated weirdness and wonder
  (tags: graphic design whoa)

• CogDog on dreams, cookies, etc.
  Surely one of the most graceful memorials I've read
  (tags: thanatos)

• Twitter network of Arab protests – interactive map | World …
  almost makes me a Believer in the utility of Twitter
  (tags: visualization twitter Arab_world)

Taksim Trio:

• Manchester scuttlers of the 19th century
  "…scuttlers were routinely demonised by politicians and sections of the press. Victorian gang members were derided as ruffians, brutes, barbarians, savages and "juvenile terrorists"… The demise of the gangs owed less to draconian policing and punishment than to a more forward-thinking response pioneered by former Guardian journalist Alexander Devine, a police court missionary (an early form of probation officer). His "working lads' club" for Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock, opened in 1887, inspired a generation of Mancunians and Salfordians to invest substantial amounts of both time and money in new facilities for education, training and recreation for youths in some of the poorest neighbourhoods in Britain."
  (tags: argybargy)

• Maciej is at it again, studying Arabic this time
  "Arabic… twists healthy minds in twelve ways…" (beautifully illuminated)
  (tags: language)

• B-Bender: Clarence White to Marty Stuart
  forgetting the sartorial solecisms, and listening past the twang, the musicianship here is pretty remarkable
  (tags: musics)
• NASA's view of Antarctic ice movement
  "…a map of every glacier on the continent, down to its individual shape and flow velocity, illustrating how water melting in the interior of the continent makes its way out to the coasts…" via Gizmodo
  (tags: visualization climate)
• Mapping the Republic of Letters
  Athanasius Kircher's eyes are just the FIRST reason to explore this marvelous site
  (tags: literature communication network)

• Who is Bifton?
  …ridin' the upside-down turnip truck to Tuscaloosa…
  (tags: euphemisms dialects)