Link roundup

1. Rose George:

We have always used the sea for transport. But shipping has changed dramatically in half a century, and not always for the better. With containerisation, the days of romantic shore leave are long gone. In the dizzying pace of a highly competitive industry, a vast container ship can be loaded and unloaded in 24 hours. Before, an officer told me, he would wonder whether he had time for dinner. Now he doesn’t know if he has time to get a newspaper.

2. Lewis & Clark Law School has a job board that's password protected so only its alumni can make use of its listings. The school changes its password regularly. Alumni weren't amused when the most recent password was "fail8ure."

3. How to use humor to defuse difficult situations.

Link roundup

1. This is one heck of an advertisement for Brooks Brothers non-iron shirts.

2. Is the price of chocolate about to shoot up due to trouble in the Ivory Coast?

3. A report that Erin Andrews bashed Nike during a telecast, and is now a pitchwoman for Reebok. Via.

Link roundup

1. "Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it." Via.

2. "Military porn is China's preferred deterrence."

3. Entertainment Earth has the Mega Man model I've previously posted for $28.

Link roundup

1. Jay Leno continues to earn great ratings.

2. Democracy just might be flourishing in Iraq.

3. This actually makes intuitive sense to me - - a study indicates that when people think about their ancestors, they become more confident and actually perform better in intelligence and spatial tests. So, the next time you feel down or stressed, think about all the generations that came before you, and draw strength from the knowledge that they were probably a lot like you.

*Buy home DNA kits at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Cartoon Brew's gift guide. (Here's the gift guide I posted.)

2. If you hack the Smurfs iPhone game I mentioned the other day, it's apparently actually kind of fun.

3. David Sedaris brought a tip jar on his book signing tour and told people he was going to use money earned to buy himself candy. He made $4,0000.

*I too would like to buy candy. A LOT of candy.

Link roundup

1. Duff Goldman is opening a Charm City Cakes in Los Angeles.

2. China is aging much faster than the USA.

3. Popular Mechanics: We mailed a bunch of sensors on an epic journey to find out which shipping company is the most careful with your packages. Here's what we found. Via.

Link roundup

1. 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web by the Google Chrome team is both really informative and cleverly presented. It features illustrations by Christopher Niemann.

2. Speaking of the Chrome, I would make it my sole browser except for one strange quirk. When I upload images for Blogger in Firefox, the images automatically size themselves to fit within the column. But if I upload the image in Chrome, it won't size the picture properly, and it will typically overlap with the sidebar. Anyone have an idea why that would be?

3. Success comes from very hard work:

As a vivid illustration, Nietzsche cited Beethoven's sketchbooks, which reveal the composer's slow, painstaking process of testing and tinkering with melody fragments like a chemist constantly pouring different concoctions into an assortment of beakers. Beethoven would sometimes run through as many as sixty or seventy different drafts of a phrase before settling on the final one. "I make many changes, and reject and try again, until I am satisfied," the composer once remarked to a friend. "Only then do I begin the working-out in breadth, length, height and depth in my head."

Via.

*The HTC Droid Incredible is one cent at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Rom, Space Knight illustration.

2. Webcomic wedding proposal. Via.

3. Consumer Reports recommends shopping at Costco for eyeglasses. Via.

*Buy Rom Space Knight toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. At Photoshop Phriday: Porn Versions of Classic Films, Part II.

2. Perfect advice from Penelope Trunk for dealing with an unsatisfactory job situation (when quitting is not an option):

1. Make the person I’m dealing with feel special and important so they like being with me.

2. Stop letting myself use the language of a victim. If I choose to stay, then I am picking my situation so I need to talk like I mean to be where I am.

3. Find side projects to make life feel better. I tell people to add things to their job description so that the job gets better—different people, different learning goals. These are all things I can do now. To make things better.

(This blog is my side project.)

3. Download for free Reddit's college cookbook.

Link roundup

1. Cute anthropomorphic birthday cake paper toy. Via.

2. Simpsons executive producer Al Jean explains how Banksy came to storyboard last weeks opening.

3. Tips for finding an honest seller at a farmer's market. Via.

*Buy Simpsons toys at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Beyonce dancing at a block party on her in-laws' street.

2. Jersey Shore is apparently called The New Jersey Life of Macaroni Rascals in Japan.

3. Michael Caine offers his interpretation of the end of Inception. Via.

4. Hide your delicious lunch from office thieves by placing it in Lean Cuisine frozen meal boxes. Via.

*Buy Inception spinning tops at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Read about The Google Five, the creative lab responsible for endeavors like The Wilderness Downtown.

2. This free Android app lets you take a photo of the sky and find out how smoggy it is. Via.

3. "However, one thing I’ve learned about myself since I’ve been living as an unclutterer is the more I know about a chore, the more eager I am to do it. If I research sponges to learn which ones are the most durable, least likely to transmit bacteria, and best at cleaning a bathtub, I’m excited to use that sponge when I do the chore. Add to that research about methods for scrubbing and the most effective and safe-for-the-environment cleaner, and I’m downright giddy when I clean the bathroom." Via.

*The Droid II is $100 at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Thomas Barnett takes a look at the heir apparent in North Korea.

2. Seth Godin:

You can learn finance and accounting and media buying from a book. But the best way to truly learn how to do marketing is to market.

You don't have to quit your job and you don't need your boss's permission. There are plenty of ways to get started.

If you see a band you like coming to town, figure out how to promote them and sell some tickets (posters? google ads? PR?). Don't ask, just do it.

If you find a book you truly love, buy 30 and figure out how to sell them all (to strangers).

If you're 12, go door to door selling fresh fruit--and figure out what stories work and which don't.

Set up an online business. Get a candidate you believe in elected to the school board.

The best way to learn marketing is to do it.

3. I just finished reading Lev Grossman's The Magicians. Great book and I'd be reading the sequel right now if it was out. Like if Bret Easton Ellis was hired to write a new Narnia book. $6 at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Rick Bayless says the Top Chef Masters producers really, really tried to get the competitors drunk.

2. Tyler Cowen explains why being interesting and responsible are more important values than happiness.

3. You're wasting your time stretching before running.

Face on a rock (link roundup)

Acrylic painting on Smooth river Rock by Mike Maxwell on sale for $20. Via.

And a few more links:

1. An army lieutenant:

When I encourage young officers to go to grad school, I tell them to stay away from military people. Have lunch with the lesbian anarchists, attend the environmentalists’ weekly emergency teach-ins, and try to see the world through different eyes. That skill will come in handy later on in life.

2. Apparently BP's online magazine for employees has found a way to put a positive spin on the Gulf oil spill:

“Much of the region’s [nonfishing boat] businesses — particularly the hotels — have been prospering because so many people have come here from BP and other oil emergency response teams,” another report says. Indeed, one tourist official in a local town makes it clear that “BP has always been a very great partner of ours here…We have always valued the business that BP sent us.”

3. Last year Americans spent $168 million in mobile virtual goods.

*Previously: Cheerful rock.

*Learn how to draw faces with these books at Amazon.

This should convince you to stop drinking sugary drinks (link roundup)

Photos of sugary drinks next to food containing the equivalent amount of sugar. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Tweet and win an iPad.

2. Someone divided a New York City street into a side for residents, and a side for tourists.

3. Clever, subtle way to suggest someone see a shrink and that their "illness" is all in their head. Via.

*Previously: Sugar batteries.

*Buy pedometers at Amazon.

Edgar Allan Scissorhands (link roundup)

Edgar Allan Poe is back from the dead and out for blood.

And a few more links:

1. Top Gawker Media story tips: (1) "sex; crime; and, even better, sex crime"; (2) use another site's content, add a little verbiage, and think of it as a "pseudo-exclusive"; (3) post lots of photos, especially of naked socialites.

2. Seems like a solid idea: increase census participation by making it associated with a lottery.

3. Clever tear-off ad promoting Toy Story 3. Via.

*Previously: Poe's Gloomios.

*Buy Toy Story toys at eBay.

Arthur Conan Doyle (link roundup)

Arthur Conan Doyle by Graham Annable for Hey Oscar Wilde, It's Clobberin' Time. See also: Stephen King's Carrie by Ryan Cody.

And a few more links:

1. For anyone who watched Lost, Google doesn't seem to think there is a coffee shop at the corner of Sweetzer and Melrose. I can't remember off hand. (Since I visit Oahu fairly often, but have always lived in LA, it's strange to hear people talk and act like they're in LA, but so obviously be on Oahu. Almost like ... I'm living in an alternate reality.)

2. How to cancel your credit card without hurting your credit score.

3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online is free to play and runs smoothly. Via.

4. Several pages from Lucas Marangon's new Dark Horse comic. (I love the goofy Star Wars comics Lucas used to draw).

*Previously: Lost images by Ty Mattson.

*Buy Dharma Initiative collectibles at eBay.

Jersey Shore ad (link roundup)

One of the ads MTV is using to market Jersey Shore overseas. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Interesting sponsored post by CPK at Serious Eats.

2. Relatedly, here's a 30 minute interview where Jason Kottke talks about blogging. The most interesting points are:

-He gets 33% of his hits from direct traffic, 33% from search results, and 33% from third-party links. (That last number fascinates me, and I wish the interviewer had followed up. Kottke posts some interesting links, but he very rarely posts images, video, or text that's worth linking to. I suspect he gets that traffic from successful blogging friends that are part of the same ad network. By comparison, only a tiny fraction of my traffic is from third party links.)

-When he took two months off from blogging, his traffic fell by 50%, and it took nine months of work to get back to the former level.

-He's been unsuccessful selling RSS feed ads, and thinks John Gruber is uniquely successful in selling such ads (because people are desperate to promote their iPhone apps). (When companies approach me about ad space, they're uniformly interested in banner ads only, and show no interest in exploring more creative options such as sponsoring the RSS feed.)

-His advice to anyone who wants to make money blogging? Do what he did - - spend ten years of hard work before making any real money. (My advice is to find a lucrative niche no one else has thought of, or only blog if you enjoy it. Expert couponing will probably be a more certain money saver.)

3. Speaking of ads, here's one author's experience using Google TV ads.

*Previously: A city without outdoor advertising.

*Buy vintage advertising at eBay.

Widespread Panic album art (link roundup)

Cover art by Marq Spusta for Widespread Panic's Dirty Side Down.

And a few more links:

1. Tip: Use foam packing peanuts to hold nails in place and fill space for too-small screws.

2. Bearded lady paper doll.

3. Realistic rendering of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. Via these sites.

*Previously: Joan Holloway paper doll.

*Buy circus posters at eBay.