web-goddess

Dude, check out these hats from the FUTURE! They look like normal winter caps, but according to the manufacturer, they’re actually made from some space-age stuff that hardens the exact second something hits your head (like the ground), thus absorbing the force like a helmet. And then they go soft again. Does anybody else find this mind-blowingly weird?

More from the Snook: “It’s totally for real. It’s like silly putty — how you can pull slowly and it stretches, but pull it quickly and it snaps. Honey does something like that too. If you stir a pot of honey slowly, it’s just thick and gooey, but if you try to yank the spoon really hard it will freeze up tight. Basically wearing one of these would be like having silly putty all over your head (but hopefully more comfortable).”

I love that he’s so smart.

Some days my job is just fun. I just spent half an hour helping someone pick out wool to knit a koala suit. What’s it for? The forthcoming Snugglepot and Cuddlepie musical. The designer’s assistant has been in and out over the past couple of days collecting yarn for the costumes. I’m hoping he’ll comp me a ticket…

Um, not that I’m sitting at work hitting refresh on the BBC Sports site or anything… but ARE YOU GUYS SEEING THIS? The Poms are all out before tea on Day 5, and the Aussies need 168 off 36 overs. This is turning into a ripper of a match!

Fun link from the Snook: The UnSuggester. You enter the title of a book that you have and it tells you which other books you’re least likely to own. He writes: “Interestingly, the first search I did was for The Book of Skulls. Among the unsuggestions are several books in our library – The Lovely Bones, Stitch ‘n Bitch, Little Women, Naked. Hmmm… Those are all yours…” I should upload our bookshelves. Obviously we’d blow the system’s algorithms.

Huh. My boss Albert was on his way into the shop this morning when he noticed a woman at a stoplight with a coffee cup sitting on her car’s roof. He waved to get her attention and pointed at the cup. She called him over to thank him for the head’s-up… and gave him $15 in Starbucks gift cards. IT’S A PROMOTION. So if you see somebody driving around Sydney with a cup on their roof, let them know! Even if you don’t like their coffee, you can always give the cards to a homeless person.

Photos of crossing the Nullarbor. It’s a lot less sparse than I expected. I’d still rather do it this way though…

Everyone gather around the piano for that Christmas favorite… Jingle Rock Bell! Warning: That song WILL be in your head for the next day.

Whoa! Scientists in the UK have traced the polonium-210 that killed Alexander Litvinenko to a nuclear plant in Russia. DUN-DUN-DUUUUNNNNNNN! And the Snook just sent me a link to this gem of a Slashdot comment:

But it’s so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of Putin: is he the sort of man who would get the polonium-210 from his own nuclear reactor or his enemy’s? Now, a clever man would get the polonium-210 from his own reactor, because he would know that only a great fool would put the evidence within reach. I am not a great fool, so clearly I can clearly not believe the evidence in Russia. But he must have known I was not a great fool, he would have counted on it, so I can clearly not believe the evidence in front of me.

That is BRILLIANT.

Wii-Mania has finally gotten the better of me. I haven’t been this excited about video games since Super Mario Bros. 3 came out for the NES. (Remember how there was a preview of it in that Fred Savage movie, where his autistic little brother won the Nintendo world championship? Ahhh, youth.) Anyhoo, we placed our pre-order yesterday, thus ensuring that we’ll get a machine when they come out on Thursday. Anybody up for a Wii-B-Q next weekend?