Category: Interesting links

BBC News’s magazine section has a piece on foreign sayings that could come in handy.

A Google Maps zip code decoder.

In this article, from a Prohibition-era history archive, Percy Andreae takes on the arguments of Prohibitionists. It was about alcohol, but its principles have wider application:

Somewhere in the Bible it is said: “If thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off.” I used to think the remedy somewhat radical.
But to-day, being imbued with the wisdom of the prohibitionist,
I have to acknowledge that, if the Bible in general, and that
passage in it in particular, has a fault, it lies in its ultra-conservativeness.
What? Merely cut off my own right hand if it offend me? What business
have my neighbors to keep their right hands if I am not able to
make mine behave itself ? Off with the lot of them! Let there
be no right hands; then I am certain that mine won’t land me in
trouble.

Canada’s National Post explains how hurricanes are named, how they used to be named, why they’re running out of names this year, and the importance of Hurricane Bob.

Nico Colchester’s old article is just as valid today.

Burma Shave signs were iconic American advertising from the fifties. Witty billboards posted along a stretch of highway so they read as a little snatch of doggerel, either advertising the benefits of shaving, or with a little safety message. Fiftiesweb has a collection of the old slogans, and more on their history.

Example:
If your peach
Keeps out
Of reach
Better practice
What we preach
Burma-Shave

and

On curves ahead
Remember, sonny
That rabbit’s foot
Didn’t save
The bunny
Burma-Shave

Guy Kawasaki’s email list points out the useful presentation tips and tricks at Presentation Zen.

I posted to MeFi about the BBC’s excellent immigration stats microsite.

At first look, I love the new Guardian look. Let’s see what happens on Monday.

The oldest map of Great Britain has now been made interactive by Oxford University. You can zoom in, put on overlays, and generally muck about with it right here.