Beyond Rivalry

Is it going to rain today: Yes or no?

Same info at Umbrella Today?, and you can get a text message sent to you any day you'll need your brolly.

Admit it. Certain things make you desperately unhappy, and you don't know why -- the Sbarro at the mall, the taste of Jolly Ranchers in winter, the woman in the Buick station wagon you saw at the KwikTrip, the Food Network after ten p.m.

In 100 words or less, please answer the question, "What makes you so unhappy?" in the comments field [at his site]. Selected answers will appear in Dean Bakopoulos's new novel, My American Unhappiness, forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in late 2009 or early 2010.

I'm not the first to say it, but, hey, way to outsource the novel!

In a continuing series ...

I've been saving them up for this post.

It's Lovely! I'll Take It!, "a collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings. With love." And comments. Don't miss it.

potentially nervous:  "The world's going to hell. Here are some bunny photos."

How I Spent My Stimulus. Tell your story.

Kim's Page o' Chopsticks. Chopstick wrappers, actually. (Thanks, Mike.)

That's the name and content of the website of a female, vegan veterinary technician: "I work with a lot of injured wildlife. Also not wild animals that are just in a lot of pain. Sometimes I have to euthanize them. I decided to record each animal I euthanize here." 

via TMN 

I Found Your Camera (or Memory Card): A brand new website where you can look for your orphaned photos or share pictures that have come from a found camera.  (via PostSecret today)

In a continuing series ... 

Abandoned Couches

( via WaiterRant )

Maybe that sounds like a metaphorical title, but it's not.  (via, and explained by, Neatorama)

And definitely check out the 30-Second Bunnies Theatre Library. Casablanca, Napoleon Dynamite, James Bond medley, Christmas Vacation, It's A Wonderful Life, Caddyshack, Reservoir Dogs (bleeped and unbleeped), Jaws, Fight Club, and lots more, all re-enacted in 30 seconds by bunnies!

Wrecked Exotics: "The internet's largest collection of exotic car crash photos. We display over 6,000 wrecked exotic cars to show you the real consequences of reckless driving. These car crash pictures involve some of the most expensive automobiles ever produced including Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mclaren F1, Bugatti and more. All in all, you'll find almost a quarter of a billion dollars worth of damage within this car crash collection."  (Photo: wrecked 2005 Bentley Continental)

Yet another in a series of websites with a very slender focus. (For previous: here, here, here, and here.) 

Brief History of the Invention & Development of Barbed Wire, from the Devil's Rope Museum in McLean, TX. Essay topics: Brief History of Barbed Wire; Before Barbed Wire; Open Range to Total Enclosure; Essay on Fences; BW Biographies. Plus --  Links to Making Wire, Wire Identification (a Barb Wire Collecting Guide), Barb Wire Images, War Wire, Barb Wire Monument, and a Barb Wire Collage (why?). 

Another one:

Stand In A Queue: Standing in Queues Across Britain. Photos and commentary about standing on line, whether on foot or in vehicle. I particularly like this one (illustrated with a series of photos):

"Most would call this a traffic jam, but really it behaves like a queue. We are on a dual carriageway and at the end is a roundabout where most of us want to turn right. If we were on the continent both lanes would be filled, with cars trying to nudge into the right lane just before or even on the roundabout. But we're not on the continent, this is England.

"As soon as you realise you are not in the lane that you should be, you must instantly stop and indicate. Then slowly and apologetically, for you are a queue jumper, you must nudge your way in, and once in you must either wave thank you to the driver who has just let you in or flash your hazards to show your appreciation.  It is much more of a social taboo to queue jump than it is to hold up traffic, and it is this queue jumping taboo that keeps us from doing it closer to the roundabout. Because if we did, people would tut."