Breaking the Fourth Wall

A Tumblr dedicated to eye contact. Via.

Ugly Renaissance Babies

Ugly Renaissance Babies, the Tumblr.

Thai Flood Hacks

Thai Flood Hacks Tumblr. Via these sites.

Magic: The Gathering plus Googly Eyes

Magic Cards With Googly Eyes, the Tumblr. Via.

*Buy Magic The Gathering cards at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Irritating. Very irritating. (The Duck is apparently George Parros, a Princeton graduate.)

2. Bathroom signs. Via.

3. Lee Bretschneider is currently accepting commissions to draw Twitter profiles.

4. Blog dedicated to analyzing the accuracy of information written on the blackboards in pornographic movies. Via.

Link roundup

1. Sad Etsy Dogs, the blog.

2. Great article at Grantland about the collapse of Barry Zito and how Scott Boras promotes his clients.

3. If enough people like Id's Rage Facebook page, the iOS version will be free for a week.

Blog devoted to scanned sandwiches

Blog devoted to scanned sandwiches. (Mmmm, lobster roll.) There's a companion book, too. Via.

Link roundup

1. A claim that Adobe is paying for text links. Via.

2. "A third Los Angeles building inspector has been fired in a corruption probe."

3. The Bad Deal is devoted to pointing out dumb deals at Groupon and other daily deal sites. Via.

Not now, Skeletor!

Not now, Skeletor! the Tumblr. Via.

*Buy Skeletor toys at eBay.

Great images from Google Maps

One terrific photo after another (and a really cool, minimalist site), and apparently all taken from Google Maps. Via.

Animals with stuffed animals blog

Animals with stuffed animals blog. Via.

Link roundup

1. T-shirt design contest, where the goal is to remix McBess's art.

2. Niche blog The Yelp Elite highlights amusing comments by Yelpers. For example:

Russo’s is a master of details…can’t help but notice the napkin changes that are made throughout the evening….1st is a Damask napkin, followed by a Chic dinner napkin and later changed to a Wilshire dessert napkin….Can’t imagine the huge pile of linens in the laundry area.

Via.

3. Tsunami stones in Japan:

Hundreds of so-called tsunami stones, some more than six centuries old, dot the coast of Japan, silent testimony to the past destruction that these lethal waves have frequented upon this earthquake-prone nation. But modern Japan, confident that advanced technology and higher seawalls would protect vulnerable areas, came to forget or ignore these ancient warnings, dooming it to repeat bitter experiences when the recent tsunami struck.

Via.

Link roundup

1. Yahoo's reporting that Jamarcus Russell's life coach fired him.

2. TechCrunch reviews Nike's Nike+ SportWatch GPS. Doesn't sound like you get nearly enough value for $200. Probably makes more sense to buy an app, or the Nike+ Sport Band for a quarter of the price at Amazon.

3. "Look at This Fuckin Hipster Food Truck," the Tumblr. Sample post: "Look at this fuckin three-dollar sea salt." Via.

Link roundup

1. AOL says it was losing $20 million a year on the News & Finance category.

2. Gallery of sad boyfriends modeling goods on Etsy.

3. The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole will be published in 2012. Stephen King explains:

At some point, while worrying over the copyedited manuscript of the next book (11/22/63, out November 8th), I started thinking—and dreaming—about Mid-World again. The major story of Roland and his ka-tet was told, but I realized there was at least one hole in the narrative progression: what happened to Roland, Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy between the time they leave the Emerald City (the end of Wizard and Glass) and the time we pick them up again, on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis (the beginning of Wolves of the Calla)?

There was a storm, I decided. One of sudden and vicious intensity. The kind to which billy-bumblers like Oy are particularly susceptible. Little by little, a story began to take shape. I saw a line of riders, one of them Roland’s old mate, Jamie DeCurry, emerging from clouds of alkali dust thrown by a high wind. I saw a severed head on a fencepost. I saw a swamp full of dangers and terrors. I saw just enough to want to see the rest. Long story short, I went back to visit an-tet with my friends for awhile. The result is a novel called The Wind Through the Keyhole. It’s finished, and I expect it will be published next year.

It won’t tell you much that’s new about Roland and his friends, but there’s a lot none of us knew about Mid-World, both past and present. The novel is shorter than DT 2-7, but quite a bit longer than the first volume—call this one DT-4.5. It’s not going to change anybody’s life, but God, I had fun.

*Buy The Dark Tower at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. Gallery of photos of Obama waving begrudgingly.

2. Consumerist says, "The search engine police at Google have penalized Overstock.com after finding that the online retailer was artificially boosting its prominence on search results by effectively paying for links on .edu sites."

3. Scientists have named a new dinosaur species Brontomerus or "thunder-thighs" because of the huge thigh muscles it would have had. Via.

*Buy Obama toys at eBay.

Women Laughing Alone With Salad

A gallery of Women Laughing Alone With Salad. Via.

Women Laughing Alone With Salad

A gallery of Women Laughing Alone With Salad. Via.

Angry people in local newspapers (the blog)

Angry people in local newspapers (the blog). Via.

Angry people in local newspapers (the blog)

Angry people in local newspapers (the blog). Via.

Link roundup

1. 50% off t-shirts at Zazzle until midnight tonight with the code TSHIRTSALE50. Perfect time to customize a chimera t-shirt.

2. Uncomfortable Moments With Putin (one of Buzzfeed's 60 favorite Tumblrs).

3. Cool dystopian comic by Jess Fink. Reminds me a little of Aeon Flux.