“The ‘Nuclear’ Option: Russia Threatens Poland Over U.S. Missile Shield”: HOLY SHIT. This part freaks me out: “He said the deal also includes a ‘mutual commitment’ between the two nations to come to each other’s assistance ‘in case of trouble.’” That certainly reminds me of “entangling alliances” and the last war they caused.

South Ossetia Photos Taken By a Russian Soldier: wow. I can’t understand any of it but the pictures speak for themselves.

2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony: looks like quite a spectacle. You know what else looks like quite a spectacle? This. {via}

Where the Hell is Matt?: so this thing’s been going on since 2006 and this is the first I’ve heard of it? Gosh, this Internet thing is pretty big. Definitely check out the higher-quality version. {via}

Indian Baby Dropping Ritual: why hasn’t that caught on here in the states? I just don’t get it. {via}

Pen-Spinning Tournament 2008: holy crap! I’m a pen spinner but I have a hard time saying that after watching these videos! {via}

UK YouTube: click on one of the Featured Videos. April Fool’s! Wife: “why does that bring you such joy?” Me: “I don’t know, but it sure does.” Wife: “that is more funny to me than anything else”

Chinese MC Hammer: ho hum about the actual video and the move-by-move imitation. What really gets me is the knitting lady in the background, apparently oblivious to the goings-on. {via}

Rolling Bridge: arresting concept.

Ferrari vs. Smart Car: wow, that is incredible. But it seems like it’d be unstable since it wasn’t designed to do that kind of speed. {via}

The Deadly Huashan Hiking Trail: who would willingly hike that? Oh, right. American tourists.

Dubai is Nuts!!!: 3,900 foot tall skyscraper and 107 square miles of amusement park. Yeah, nuts about covers it. There must be a lot of money in oil…

Extraordinary Breastfeeding: whoa. Just wow. Good gravy.

HEMA: I don’t think the page is rendering quite right.

Only in Russia: these are great!

“A Pregnant Man?”: I am so glad that there weren’t any pictures of the forty-year old “thing” that they removed. I don’t feel like puking this early.

Chinese Snow Sculpture Festival: wow, that’s beautiful work.

Some Not-So-Usual Photos: bizarre staged scenes in Russia.

“Magic Kingdom or Glass House?”: I’m more than a little skeptical of a bustling “free market” country based around an Islamic monarchy. Still, the policies I’ve read about seem sufficiently liberty-oriented that I’m intrigued.

Cartoons by Roodie Doodie: kind of funny comic. {via}

“Sudan Protesters - Execute U.K. Teacher”: seriously, WTF! WTHF. My mind is boggled. At least Scientology’s finally been beaten for most difficult PR job, religion category. {via}

“Sins of the father”: this was such a hard article to stomach. I cannot fathom how a father could allow this (and all the preceding actions) to occur. How is that honor?

Top Gear Tiny Car Review: reviewing the world’s smallest production car, the Peel P50. I love the part where he drives through offices.

Dreamy Concept Cars at Tokyo Motor Show 2007: these are definitely some of the coolest cars that will never ever see the light of day. Fo’ shure. {via}

Lost Cities: yeah, it’s linkbait but it’s good linkbait.

Top Gear’s Carbage: why must people ruin cars with their mods? Because they can? Oh, okay.

How’s My Parking?: I parked it just fine every time!

Prince Charles Reviewing the Troops: we had a head of state like that about a decade ago.

Three countries use non-metric measurement systems: from the metric system article on Wikipedia. I think this is supposed to make Americans feel backward or something, but I just can’t muster up any concern.

Mr. Lee CatCam: German cat gets wired. Must’ve removed all the photos of him licking himself. {via}

Japanese TV Tetris Game: this game looks designed to put people in the water. {via}

2012 London Olympics Logo Unveiled: at first it was ghastly but now I can only see this when I look at it. {via and via}

[UPDATE (6/6/2007): Apparently, the logo is an abstract rendition of 2012. That makes it marginally better but still dreadful. And I desperately want to stop seeing that logo because of that animated version linked above.]

Search Without Boundaries: wow! Wow. I feel like another page has turned for Google today.

Broadcasting House, 1932: scan of a book about the BBC’s Broadcasting House circa 1932, a lovely example of Art Deco in London. {via}

Google Maps - Classic Mini: looks to be an art installation near Rotterdam, The Netherlands. {via}

Ninja Warrior - Makoto Nagano: I’ve mentioned this series before, but this is the best run I’ve seen. {via}

The Treehouse at Alnwick Garden: 6,000 square feet of tree-based luxury living. {via}

Karoshi: death from overwork. That’s a pretty tough condition from which to recover.

Mini Turbo: 220 HP on a classic Mini!?! I can’t even imagine.

Rent a Village: your company can lease an entire village in Switzerland, Austria, or Germany or the entire country of Liechtenstein. {via}

“Home becomes an ‘island’ in building row”: the picture says it all.

Sophie Cat: billed as the “cutest cat in the world.” I don’t know if that’s official, though.

Dynamite Surfing: but what about the little fishies? {via}

World Mapper: interesting maps that purport to show exactly how bad the United States is. Because we’re bigger on the maps. It’s disgusting, really. {via}

The VOCO Clock: has 50 phrases recorded by Stephen Fry to wake you up politely. I have no idea who Stephen Fry is (even went to his IMDB page) but he sounds British and I know there’s some Brits in my reading audience.

Mini V-8: guy took an old Mini pickup chassis and reconstructed it with a V-8 engine. Sadly, no video or real stats on the dramatic change.

Subtle Ad: oh boy! {via}

Britain for Americans: a cheeky guide to England.

Miss Russian Nuclear 2007: I just like the idea that there’s somewhere in the world where being associated with nuclear energy is a-okay. Too bad it’s in a rapidly-devolving authoritarian state.

Venture Vehicles: this looks crazy slick. I could see owning one of these for a daily commuter except that I can’t seem to discern any cargo space whatsoever.

[UPDATE: Apparently, there's a similar site for the same car at Fly the Road.]

La Chute: dancers captured mid-dance. Looking at some of the images, you have to wonder about the rest of the dance they were performing. {via}

Let VA Fly: I sure wish we had a “choice in air travel” so I signed.

World’s Most Complex Origami: uh, holy crap! {via}

Snack Characters: that is some wild packaging. {via}

eLivestock: buy and sell Australian livestock online. I love the Internet.

Astronomy Picture of the Day - February 5: wow, I love these sorts of pictures where several unnotable events in themselves are captured in a single frame (okay, so this is a stitching of three panoramas, but still). Awesome.

ZCars - Single Engined Mini: holy crap! {via}

Plen: “desktop hobby robot.” Who doesn’t need that?

[UPDATE (1/26/2007): $2,000!]

[UPDATE (2/3/2007): Here's some video of it in action.]

Soviet-Era Roadside Bus Stops: is it just me or do a lot of these bus stops seem to lack a concomitant road? {via}

GDP Map: that is so cool! It is quite illustrative of what a powerhouse our economy is. {via}

Normal Room: this is the kind of thing I love the Web for. The site is a photo gallery organized by room so that you can see what the same type of room might look like around the world. Skews heavily towards Boise, Idaho at this point. {via}

Weirdest Japanese product ever on Flickr: yeah, that’s pretty weird. The comments have translations of the package.

Top 15 Fountains: what no Fountain Hills?

Alternate Uses for Everyday Items: it’s all in German, though. With all the German names for these gizmos, it reads like an Ikea catalog. A bizarro Ikea. {via}

Words of a Man’s Mouth: guy bought a diary (of sorts) in a Hong Kong shop, scanned it in, and is looking for help on the Web to translate it.

Ninja Warrior: just caught this over the weekend. It is amazing and wonderful to watch. Sadly, they’re half-hour shows and it takes forever to get through one round of challenges.

gDiapers: flushable diapers. Plus all the tree-hugging, landfill-filling propaganda you’d expect.

Hydropolis: project page for Dubai’s underwater hotel. {via}

Most Dangerous Roads in the World: holy hell, why wouldn’t they just fix the roads? {via}

Lifestyles of the Rich and Fascist: that is sick, sick, sick.

Strange Soviet Buildings: strange doesn’t begin to describe them.

Urban Ruins in Japan: I love me the urban decay. {via}

World Map: I’m pretty good at geography and the best I could get was a 60. {via}

[UPDATE: Spoke too soon … 66!]

Abandoned Resort: and here’s another view. And another. {via}

Serrenia: beautiful (and pricey, duh!) new master-planned community in Egypt. Wait, was that really Egypt? Umm, Dubai is one thing but Egypt is not somewhere I’d pine to live. {via}

Incredible Machine: this is enchanting and incredible. These shorts are used for a children’s TV show in Japan.

Japanese Ski Lodge Chair Prank: can you imagine a whole show of that sort of thing? Come on, networks, get on it. {via Dennett}

Optical Illusion: spontaneous decapitation. {via Dennett}

Sushi Pictures: aww, how cute! {via}

Otter Watching Holidays: who cares about otters?

Mykola Syadristy: another microminiaturist whose work is absolutely freaking amazing. {via}

Colourful Coffins: may as well give your funeralgoers something to look at besides your dead mug.

Wine Dogs: shining the spotlight on the dogs of Australia and New Zealand’s wineries because, well, umm, the cats kept running away? I honestly can’t fathom who would be interested in books or calendars of these dogs besides their owners who may be pretty wealthy from selling wine. Ahhh, I get it now.

Watermelon Special Fruitcarving: wow, now that’s something.

Bossaball: new sport I’ve never heard of that’s a mix of “volleyball, gymnastics, soccer, and capoeira.” Checking out some of the videos has me completely befuddled.

Top Gear Mini Ski Jump: classic, of course. {via}