I never run out of links!

This post comes to you from the fourth happiest state in the US!

• Famous photos recreated with legos.

• Time's Year in Photos. The Boston.com version comes in three parts! And then there's the decade!

• ooop -- one more photo bullet: Photos that changed the world!

• The odds of a white Christmas.

• 10 New Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know About.

• Incredible snowflake photography!

• Fat Nation.

• Oh, this is so cool. You know how frustrating it is not to know how to pronounce unfamiliar words? At Forvo.com, you can hear those words uttered by native speakers of whatever language is challenging you at the moment! (You can also help out by adding spoken words to the site.)

• The Known Universe.

• Check the weather, Star Wars style!

update: • Main Street, not C Street.

Friday Creature

Toward the end of the summer (which wasn't all that long ago here in Tennessee!), my friend Jason and I took a walk through the grounds at the Tennessee Aquarium after having lunch downtown. I'm used to seeing butterflies inside (there's a great exhibit at the top of the Ocean Journey building), but I didn't know they also had some butterfly gardens outside, which is where we saw this lovely specimen. (Is it just me, or did it alight on what looks to be a lego flower?)

Have a great weekend, everyone! We're hoping to get the yard raked of all its leaves on Saturday before some rain moves into the area on Sunday. In the meantime, in addition to enjoying your regular weekly variety of creatures on the modulator's ark, check out Optus Whale Song, a very clever ad released last spring by a telecommunications company in Australia (if you've got broadband, make sure you opt for the larger format!).

Weekend Links

Things that caught my eye recently...

• Oh, Sarah Palin, why do you make me think of you and your horrible inadequacy?!? I don't deserve that (more here!).
• The world in lego!
• Sesame Street made a joke, the wingnuts freaked out and Colbert had some fun. Honestly, I have no use for Sesame Street or the muppets since that horrible Elmo made his debut, but cut the shaggy rags a break -- it was a freakin' rhyme.
• These photographers color outside of the lines.
• Islands seen from space.
• Al Gore (the thinner version!) visited The Daily Show last week.
• Where are you getting your Thanksgiving turkey and how much will you pay for it? Years ago, when Emmie was a bleeding-heart teenager, she announced that she would not be eating any Thanksgiving turkey unless it had been a happy bird who had lived a good life. I said ok, I'll give it a whirl, and picked up a free-range, organic bird (and took some long, deep breaths to get me past the sticker shock). I cooked it up and was amazed at how much more moist and delicious the turkey was that year, and have paid the premium prices ever since. It really is better meat.
• The History of Birth Control.
• Leviticus also said...
• US Exclaves.
• This link is a bit older, but I loves me some Sarah Vowell!
• Letters of Note.
• Al Franken has gotten to work (he's not funny (much) -- he's just really good).
• Feed the World!
• In America, people of all faiths are welcome here to worship Jesus in their own way.
• What's happening to American conservatism?!?
• A difficult goodbye.

How many legos can you cram into one post?

(Image source)

I've been saving up for this post for a while. You know I loves me some legos. Here they are in every way, shape and form...
•the brick testament -- the ultimate in all biblical legos!!
•cube dudes (lego superheroes)
•a functional lego cello
•lego jesus
•cool, stylish lego creations
•classic paintings done with legos (also here)
•greatest minifigs
•world record tower
•lego safe
•i lego ny!
•lego venice
•beijing games in lego
•sitcom sets
•wonderful lego creations
•best business cards ever
•bizarre lego sets
•pharaoh on the thames
•yourself in lego
•some kind of weaponized turkey?
•guess the lego movie star
•video games
•obama inauguration
•silence of the lambs
•box4blox
•lego desktops

News & Notes

Here's a bit of a news catchup link list:

• Dick Cheney will be visiting the Chattanooga area later this month. Hopefully, he won't have access to any guns.

• An aide-mémoire for the poor souls who struggle to recall what happened before this week.

• A question of judgment.

• Oh, the confusion! ("In Dick Morris's defense, he is a lying sack of ..." -- well, just watch!)

• LEGOd Video Games!

• Fightin' Joe Biden!

• Sometimes Samantha Bee is funny and sometimes she makes me laugh out loud.

• Hahaha -- McCain $$$ being sent to Obama campaign (maybe that will teach them not to steal?)!

• Awesome! McCain gets Rickrolled! (Ha -- when are they going to drop that green screen?!?)

• Ugh. That greedy bastard.

Linkitude

• If you are trying to follow all the news from Sunday's tragic church shooting in Knoxville, Michael Silence has all the details. Just scroll down.
• When it comes to supporting the troops...
• Amazing auditory illusion
• Quite a fiscal legacy
• McCain attack ad is "literally not true"
• How to survive a plane crash
• Don't talk to the cops!
• Not only is John McCain a spoiled whiner, but he's also wrong about the press (and -- oh, dear! -- a liar!)
• Your next car?
• Speaking of cars, VW plant could spur high-speed rail link!
• Lego album covers
• Obama's VEEP announcement any moment now?

The Illustrated Bible -- with Legos!

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I love legos. Here's another grand project using the little interlocking building blocks: The Brick Testament from the Brendan Powell Smith (wiki). Check it out! (via Crooks & Liars)

I ♥ Legos!

Is this lego week or something? Several people have sent me links to cool lego stuff recently -- remarkable coincidence, synchronicity, or something to do with the recent Wired cover story?

Shrug. It doesn't matter. It's all good -- I come from a lego family, so I'll always have a soft spot for things made of the little plastic bricks. These creations and places are cool:

Dick Cheney legos
Spiderman II and other lego movies
Brokeback Mountain legos
bricksonthebrain
The Lego Suicides (via nextbrick)
lego camera
a flashback

and finally... how cool is THIS: you download the Lego Factory software, create a design, and then lego will send you a kit with the pieces you need to build your creation! Man, if this had been around when I was a kid, my siblings and I might never have left the house!

Lego Chruch

My sister and/or brother-in-law (without a signature, I usually can't tell) just sent me a link to this: Abston Church of Christ. It all started with a lego house and a cat. Freaky.