It Gets Better

The first few panels of Lucy Knisley's touching It Gets Better comic.

Link roundup

1. Crayons work great on dry erase boards.

2. KOTOR is $2.50 at Steam today.

3. Latest edition of Drew Magary's mailbag.

*Buy Darth Revan toys at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Bow and arrow used to send phones into Brazil jail. Via.

2. Venezuela is the murder capital of the world.

3. "While some complain it is unfair, district officials have decided that the ban on short skirts on girls does not apply to cheerleaders."

Link roundup

1. New Marvel vs. Capcom videos show off a truly devastating, screen shattering finishing move by the Super Skrull.

2. Intel pays Dell a whole lot of money to prevent them from using chips made by rivals.

3. The most valuable material the LA Times has ever published - - its ranking of Los Angeles public school teachers and school. Thankfully, the school my boys will attend gets an excellent score.

*Buy Skrulls at Amazon.

You Shall Not Pass

It's Gandalf vs. the Balrog in this t-shirt design by Joshua Smeaton for Threadless. Click on the voting widget if you'd like the chance to buy it:



And if you missed the announcement, I'm giving away a $50 Threadless credit as described here.

Link roundup

1. Funny animated ad for Astroglide (NSFW).

2. Videos of techniques used by talented teachers. (First video will autoplay, and then click on the links on the far right.) Via.

3. Pole dancer at the beach.

Soviet Arts Poster (link roundup)

One of several Soviet posters on display in this gallery. The posters are from the book The Soviet Arts Poster: Theatre, Cinema Ballet, Circus: 1917-1987.

And a few more links:

1. Lucy Knisley takes a look at nerd girls.

2. Made to order bobbleheads.

3. Shades of 1984 as schools discourage kids from having a best friend.

*Buy bobbleheads at eBay.

International Federation of Shofar Makers (link roundup)

Made up Jewish union labels by Jewnion on sale here. Via.

And a few more links:

1. The founders of a high-performing charter school in the San Fernando Valley have been charged with embezzling $200,000.

2. The New York City teachers union has an office in Boca Raton, Florida.

3. A study indicates lots and lots of drinks marketed to kids contain lead.

*Previously: Jewish zodiac t-shirts.

*Buy Gustave Dore's illustrated Bible at Amazon.

Cat with laser eye (link roundup)

Cat with an unusual affliction.

And a few more links:

1. School is designed to make people accept workplace domination.

2. Glowing review by Cory Doctorow for the irresistibly titled Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City. $10 at Amazon.

3. The mysterious counterfeiter lurking in downtown LA was finally arrested.

*Previously: James Cameron's Laser Cats 5.

*Buy ray guns at eBay.

A still from the next James Bond movie (link roundup)

Obama staring at Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

And a few more links:

1. Pistachio Asparagus Pesto on Linguine recipe.

2. Here are the apps Gina Trapani has on her Googlephone.

3. Convincing explanation for why California and Florida should absolutely not be spending money on highspeed rail.

4. Why colleges really look at extracurricular activities instead of just grades and test scores.

*Previously: Rick Astley is James Bond.

*Buy James Bond posters at eBay.

Death (link roundup)

Death by Nigel Quarless.

And a few more links:

1. Tim Gunn evaluates super hero costumes.

2. Could Super Punch magazine be around the corner? Here's a supposedly simple tool for turning Flickr photo sets into magazines. Via.

3. A high school in Texas is getting a $60 million football stadium.

4. I'm not sure if this description of the massive calorie meals at Claim Jumper is supposed to scare me away, or intrigue me.

*Previously: Star Wars Death Troopers fan trailers.

*Buy NFL bobbleheads at eBay.

Jesus Fish/Ray Gun stickers (link roundup)

Jesus Fish/Ray Gun stickers by Travis Pitts on sale at Etsy.

And a few more links:

1. Strange experiment at Gawker. Most (all?) of their blogs switched to partial rss feeds, but also made full feeds available. Just a test to see how many people would bother switching over? Here's the new full feeds:

Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/vip
Gawker: http://feeds.gawker.com/gawker/vip
Deadspin: http://feeds.gawker.com/deadspin/vip
Kotaku: http://feeds.gawker.com/kotaku/vip
Gizmodo: http://feeds.gawker.com/gizmodo/vip

and so on.

2. A Michigan school district was ordered to pay $800,000 to a student who was bullied for years. Via.

3. Batman as Venom illustration.

*Previously: Ghostbusters versus Jesus.

*Buy Gustave Dore's illustrated Bible at Amazon.

Vintage NBA logos (link roundup)

Vintage NBA logos - - in almost every case they're superior to the modern versions. Via these sites.

And a few more links:

1. FYI, "farmers aren’t breeding for pigs who know how to have sex."

2. Colleges that are so desperate for students that they send out prefilled out applications. Via.

3. Simple way to download Youtube videos.

*Previously: NBA logo desktop icons.

*Buy NBA bobbleheads at eBay.

Many-eyed monster wreath (link roundup)

Many-eyed monster wreath by Mandy Jouan, who has various items on sale at Etsy.

And a few more links:

1. Reebok claims its shoes will tone your butt and legs, and according to the NY Times, bases that claim on "a single study involving just five people, not published in a peer-reviewed academic journal."

2. Interactive database and map that includes test score data for all Los Angeles Unified School District magnet programs.

3. Read about "The Lobster All-Sky X-Ray Monitor."

*Previously: McDonald's serves lobster.

*Buy telescopes at Amazon.

The Aliens bow to their master (link roundup)

Snoop Dogg and Aliens by Yellow Duck.

And a few more links:

1. Papercraft turkey.

2. USC students draw first blood, splash UCLA's Bruin mascot statue with cardinal and gold paint.

3. A parent unhappy with his son's lack of playing time on the high school basketball team hired a private investigator to follow the coach. The PI watched the coach drink at a bar, and then reported him to the police when he proceeded to drive away. Via.

*Previously: Xenomporph stapler.

*Buy Alien toys at eBay.

Cats for Gold (link roundup)

Find out more right meow. Via.

And a few more links:

1. California's projected budget deficit is much worse than thought.

2. Describe your favorite bookstore and win free books.

3. The Gates Foundation wants to give Boston's best teachers bonuses. The Boston Teachers Union is fighting the bonuses - - unless every teacher in the union gets an equal share. Via.

*Previously: Metal sculptures by Nemo Gold.

*Buy "I Can Has Cheezburger?: A LOLcat Colleckshun" at Amazon.

Jockslayer

Nerd versus varsity dragon t-shirt design by Emory Allen. If you'd like the chance to buy it, vote by clicking on the voting widget:



There's also various goodies available for download at his site including this cyborg:



*Previously: Dragon in a wagon.

*Buy plush dragons at eBay.

Hubba Bubba Gum Billboard (link roundup)

Billboard wrapped in Hubba Bubba gum by Gitam BBDO.

And a few more links:

1. Westlaw (online research tool for lawyers) advertisement mocks people who ask librarians for help.

2. Sounds like D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty was caught pulling strings to get his kids into a more desirable public school.

3. Fox news anchors "tart it up" on the cover a magazine.

*Previously: Transforming Decepticon billboard.

*Buy Wacky Packages trading cards at Amazon.

Yuki 7 cosplay, comic book cover (link roundup)

Kevin Dart has posted a Yuki 7 cosplay gallery and a Yuki 7 fan art gallery. The comic book cover is by Joscha Van Deijk.

And a few more links:

1. Warren Ellis: "I'm just heading into the intensive part of the Marvel Anime job, which involves writing detailed outlines for each of 48 total anime episodes."

2. kozyndan has an Etsy shop with original (expensive) art for sale.

3. Creepy story about the first day of kindergarten.

*Previously: Yuki 7 paper toy.

*Buy vintage spy tech at eBay.

Gasworks t-shirt (link roundup)

Gasworks t-from Wayne's World, immortalized as the newest t-shirt at Last Exit to Nowhere.

And a few more links:

1. Vampire movie Let the Right One In to be remade with Miley Cyrus. Via.

2. Golden cat armor.

3. The September issue of Popular Science features a "Scouting guide to the top high school inventors" in America. I don't think the full article is available online yet, but for example, Daniel Asturias goes to school in Texas, was quadrilingual by age three, and recently designed an underwater geothermal complex for geyser-like heat vents.

*Previously: Miley Cyrus to be the next Venom.

*Buy vampire toys at eBay.