From “Mutations,” by Jorge Luis Borges (The Maker, 1960):

Cross, rope, and arrow: ancient implements on mankind, today reduced, or elevated, to symbols. I do not know why I marvel at them so, when there is nothing on earth that forgetfulness does not fade, memory alter, and when no one knows what sort of image the future may translate it into.

• The child singer at the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremonies was dubbed. The fireworks were also faked for broadcast. But, opening ceremonies have been faked for a while now. The 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics used white sand instead of snow because it looked more like snow on TV. SPOILER: Some things you see on TV are not real.
• The 20 Most Addictive Browser Games. How did I miss 18 of these??
• The 2009 Bubble Calendar is pretty cool, but a little pricey at $50 (via k10k). I think I’d be better off with the $12 Cute Overload Page-A-Day Calendar anyway.

Two things. Individually pretty tasty. Together, worth a try, but probably just a sometimes food.

Vosges Haut Chocolat: Mo’s Bacon Bar.

• Were I still in Troy (or any of those smaller cities southwards on the Hudson), I would probably go to Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea. via Laughing Squid
• Hello! You There!, an anonymous letter writing service. via Veer Ideas
• Franz Kafka’s missing papers. And his missing porn.

I just finished reading The Mythical Man-Month. Overall it’s an interesting take on the field of software engineering that still seems to apply today, with a few exceptions. The author mentions that it took some criticism for not being technical. To me, that’s a little bit ironic, since the technical parts at this point are totally obsolete and not helpful, but the larger sense of how to build software, schedule, etc. still seems accurate.

My personal favorite part was a chart of exciting products.

Who knew Fortran was so exciting? Certainly not I, but it says so in a book, so it must be true.