The Daily Pick

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Goodbye Daily Pick

That's it for The Daily Pick. Thanks to all those who've visited, posted, sent emails, and supported the site. Do visit TomKealey.com, where I'll keep the DP alive in spirit. Rock on.
posted by Tom Kealey at 2:46 PM | link | 1 comments

Monday, October 17, 2005

Found Notes



And... Jessica points our way to Found Notes. It's just what it sounds like: the weird, the beautiful, the creepy, the not safe for work. Great found notes here.
posted by Tom Kealey at 10:58 PM | link | 0 comments

Found Photos



Found Photos is updated.
posted by Tom Kealey at 5:20 PM | link | 0 comments

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Human Oddities Museum

Gretchen Worden was the curator of the human oddities museum known as the Mütter. She passed away last year, and there's a terrific article in the NY Times about this strange and wonderful individual and her collection.

This, her friends agree, is how she would want to be remembered: her own Gretchen Worden Room at the Mütter Museum, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia's collection of medical specimens and instruments. It's a small room, in a former storage area Ms. Worden jokingly referred to as "the tumor room." But it has been handsomely fitted out with display cases of polished wood and glass, filled with the kinds of spectacularly grotesque anatomical oddities Ms. Worden spent her adult life explicating as the museum's director and tireless promoter.

Thanks Boing Boing
posted by Tom Kealey at 8:38 PM | link | 0 comments

Saturday, October 15, 2005

More Bug Photos



Scotty Hutchins writes in and asks us to check out Meniscus Climbing Insects. Great photography, and "one really nerdy joke (see Figure 9)."

Do check out the censored bug sex in figure 9, along with my favorites: the water-walkers.

The border between land and water may appear flat to us, but to water-walking insects, there may be significant topography. Here the water measurer Hydrometra treads carefully atop slippery rocks protruding from below the water surface.

Weird and wild
posted by Tom Kealey at 11:47 AM | link | 0 comments

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Smurfs Bombed for UNICEF



"The people of Belgium have been left reeling by the first adult-only episode of the Smurfs, in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes.

The short but chilling film is the work of Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, and is to be broadcast on national television next week as a campaign advertisement....

The short film pulls no punches. It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom- shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs."

More here.
Thanks John Jeff Hoffman!
posted by Tom Kealey at 5:46 PM | link | 0 comments

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Sarcastic Fashion Photos



Many fashion photos, plus added sarcastic comments, of both male and female models at Threadbared.com. This site is hilarious.

Thanks Allison J.
posted by Tom Kealey at 9:59 PM | link | 0 comments

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Google Maps: UFO Sightings



Google Maps has taken date from the National UFO Reporting Center and mapped out sightings from September 2005. What's going on in Ohio?


via MetaFilter
posted by Tom Kealey at 10:18 PM | link | 1 comments

Video Game Sweatshops



1up has a great feature story about the farming and selling of currency within online roleplaying games. Find out how all the World of Warcraft Gold and Star Wars Galaxies Credits are getting on eBay and who is making real life cash.
posted by Anonymous at 11:02 AM | link | 0 comments

Austin Kleon: Writer, Illustrator, Library Worker



posted by Tom Kealey at 10:23 AM | link | 0 comments

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Python vs. Alligator



Python wins. No, wait, Alligator wins... This photograph is too gross to post on The Pick, but you can see it here. The 13 foot python swallowed the 6 foot alligator, then exploded.

Thanks Christine!
posted by Tom Kealey at 11:36 AM | link | 0 comments

Book LiveJournaled, Discovered by Editor, Published



Cherie Priest's debut novel Four and Twenty Blackbirds was syndicated on Livejournal, discovered by an editor from Tor, and published. More from Boing Boing.
posted by Tom Kealey at 11:33 AM | link | 0 comments

Old Movies Reimagined with New Trailers



Boing Boing and others have located a series of re-edited movie trailers on the net. The Shining has been re-edited to seem like an uplifting family drama, Titantic is a ghost story, and West Side Story is a zombie movie. Great edits all.
posted by Tom Kealey at 11:30 AM | link | 0 comments

Chicago Transit Authority Tattler



I like this site, the CTA Tattler. It's a blog about one individual's observations while traveling the Chicago rail, subway, and bus lines.

I saw my newest sleep posture last week: A 40-ish guy sits by the window, his elbow resting on this knee. His head is turned, tilted down and to the left, cradled gently by his own hand. His mouth is agape, a pink tongue protruding ominously. A least he's not snoring.

Of course, the empty seat next to him is the last to be filled by a passenger. She gingerly say at the edge of the seat.

posted by Tom Kealey at 11:27 AM | link | 0 comments

San Francisco Skiing



Here's some photos from the San Francisco Chronicle of the ski event on Fillmore Street last weekend. The event dumped tons of snow in the neighborhood.
posted by Tom Kealey at 11:23 AM | link | 0 comments

Wild Gorillas Using Tools



Well, I guess the human race's dominance is about over.

"Two female gorillas have been photographed using sticks as tools to get through swampy areas, the first time the apes have been seen doing so in the wild, researchers reported on Thursday."

via Backwards City
posted by Tom Kealey at 11:20 AM | link | 0 comments

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Community Daily Pick

Thanks for the howls of outrage. The Daily Pick will return this week, this time as a community board, with around a dozen bloggers. More soon.

posted by Anonymous at 5:41 PM | link | 1 comments

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Two Headed Tortoise



Thanks to David Pescovitz over at Boing Boing, who found this photo of a two headed tortoise found in Havana last week. From the People's Daily Online:

A woman holds a baby tortoise with two heads in Havana September 27, 2005. The tortoise was found some days ago on a river bank at the city forest. According to scientists of the local aquarium who inspected the animal, it seems to be perfectly healthy.
posted by Tom Kealey at 11:08 PM | link | 0 comments