closing some tabs

ok, when i'm not busy doing things like making food or building snowforts or going to dances or being kept in mental hospitals, i collect cool things for you to look at or play with that sit on a back window of my browser and now it's just too much stuff. i have to close some tabs.

so here's your linkdump of interesting stuff to play with, if you have a few spare hours.

first, i don't know what news you're watching about the demonstrations in egypt, but if you're watching american channels, you're getting squat. if you want to know what's going on over there, you should be watching al jazeera english. come to think of it, they're a pretty good new source all the time. one thing about news is that every outlet has some bias. that's why you should get your news from different sources, ans not all ones that agree with everything you do, unless you're rush.

i'm not. i like people to think for themselves.

ok. then you can go over to the nasa extreme planet makeover and play with planets. you can configure your own planet and also look at some existing ones. and you can download your own planet for your scrapbook or whatever. it's kind of fun, but it won't take up your whole morning.

if you need things put in perspective for you, you can check out the scale of the universe. the swirly version isn't as clear as the regular version, but it's awesome looking.

and if you're still in the mood for physics-y things, sixty symbols is a fabulous collection of short videos on topics of physics and astronomy. when i have friends over to watch videos, they're on my list. with your friends, maybe not so much.

and here on earth, you may be aware that the island nation of tuvalu is disappearing as the ocean levels rise. so there's the tuvalu mapping project that runs in google earth so you can have a look around there.

and while we're mapping things with photos, have a look at historypin, where historic photos get pinned to contemporary views in google earth.

if you like los angeles, or if you just like looking at maps and interesting places, there's hidden los angeles, which is a good place to look at stuff you'd never get to see in that city. offbeat monuments, museums, and if you're hungry, you can find a place to eat.

if you'd like to look at state-by-state health stats in the US, this site not only provides some awesome charts and tables, but it's one of the sources that are being used for some very interesting interpretive maps lately. if you really like maps with US health and income statistics, you'll like this one, too.

i have more than a passing interest in language and dialect, so if you're really nerdy like that, you can look at a pretty exhaustive map of north american english dialects. if you're really nerdy, you may wish to learn the west saxon literary dialect from the university of calgary.

and if you're going to tweet any of this, you might as well have this one. but you maybe also want to consider how your information travels, which kind of brings us back to egypt. and yemen. and china. and the UK. and the US...

there. now i can close some tabs and go out to play in the snow.