Friday Links: November 19

Scott Adams vs The Jalapeño. [link]

Someone backs up my claim that a Hogwarts education is extremely limited. [link]

Truths for all humans. [link]

Why does the moon look so large on the horizon. [link]

You have 9 seconds to figure out this illusion.

Star shows in parking lots. [link]

I knew I should never deal with Dell laptops. They're well established as some of the worst laptops in existence. But this guy make a great case for never doing business with them at all ever again. [link]

Dummy boxes for your Christmas gifts. [link]

If I ever decide to replace my Segway this could be a contender. [link]

Exercise wheel for a dog. [link]

I don't see them actually saying what this is. I'm thinking it's a high tech litter. [link]

Quiz show about Hitler the Athiest.

6 things that would convince an atheist that a god exists. [link]

Now that the lunatic fringe has control of the House of Representatives let's have a look at who the leading candidates are to run the Energy and Commerce Committee.
In the lead is Joe Barton, former head of the committee. You may remember him as the person who apologized to the President of British Petroleum for being made to testify before Congress about BP's negligence dumping millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf. He's also received more money from oil and gas companies than any other member of Congress.
It's possible that he's become such an embarrassment that he won't get the seat. Another leading contender is John Shimkus. Here's his thoughts on global warming.

George Bush thinks the low point of his Presidency was when Kanye West said Bush doesn't care about black people. No, not Katrina. Kanya. We're glad you're gone George. [link]

Harry Potter sings "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer.

Truck that prints cobblestone roads.

How cats drink without getting wet. [link]

Picture: Shark says "NO PHOTOS!" [link]

How to make metals of any color. [link]

Cat vs Alligator.

There are no words. Just... madness. There are three videos of this woman in serious need of psychiatric help. [link]

Stickleback: a fish rap.

Two robots figure out how to make pancakes. The interesting part, for me, was right at the beginning before we ever see the robots. It illustrates how the robots work to figure out what they need and where to find it. [link]

Doctor Who fan service time:
Steven Moffat has always been meant to work on Doctor Who. He watched the show as a kid, he wrote the Doctor Who spoof "The Curse of the Fatal Death" for charity, he referenced it several times in his TV series "Coupling", he wrote the most terrifying episodes of the first 4 seasons of the new series, and now he's the Executive Producer and head writer in season 5. But before that he was this little kid. [link]

Now that I've mentioned "Curse of the Fatal Death" I suppose I should show it to you.

Dalek on Craig Ferguson.

A robot folktale. [link]

I haven't read the whole article, but the graphics are interesting. They're infographics about what New York has learned from 100,000,000 calls to 311. [link]

Picture: Boris Karloff relaxes. [link]

Guy made a touchpad with a pencil and paper (and Arduino). [link]

Use for old motherboards. Be sure to enlarge the picture. [link]

Finally. A REAL Green Lantern trailer. BOO YAH!

I've heard about this one letter win on Wheel of Fortune but seeing it is amazing. [link]

An Election - a short story by John Scalzi about a human running for local office in a world with dozens of alien species. [link]

That's a great dress. [link]

John Scalzi's movie descriptions. [link]

Frank Sinatra tells George Michael to suck it up. [link]

Some of the Phelps family were protesting at a funeral in Oklahoma and got their tires slashed for it. Then the tire repair place refused them service. Some will argue about free speech vs vandalism, but from my perspective it's verbal and emotional vandalism vs vandalism of stuff. [link]