Yes, the link is gone from the cover. I may get one occasionally in the Tech box on the cover if I write something snazzy. In the meantime:

• Clicked is always at Clicked.msnbc.com
• or Clicked.msnbc.msn.com
• Technically Clicked lives in the Tech section so I'm on the Tech/Sci front by way of the box for the Internet front. I'm also on the Gadgets front (though not in the box). (Yes, as someone pointed out I'll need to get a hottie head shot like A.S. Popkin - or at least socks with no holes.)
• Clicked is also in the Community section, which is what the Blogs page was, so you can click to that page for the link and that means you'll also find it in what we call the "fly out menu" for Community when you pass your mouse over the navigation on the left.
• Also, because of the new style of posting I've been doing (more on that later today) you can probably now read the whole thing in an RSS Reader. There will be no change to this link.

As for the thinking behind my particular neck of the redesign, Community seemed a better word than "Blogs, etc." Actually, the Blogs, etc name came from a time when blogs were the hot new thing so we needed to have the word front and center. But now the various community tools and means of participation have reached more of an equilibrium so we went with the more general name.

The reasoning behind losing blogs as the main focus of the Community page was that most of the traffic for blogs comes from their respective sections. Even on the editorial side, all of the blogs are written, edited and managed by their sections. It's not like a newspaper that has a separate "opinions" department. We'll find out soon enough whether we were wrong about that.

P.S. For folks looking for Cagle's cartoons, you can find him directly at Cagle.msnbc.com but we're making him part of the Politics section because he doesn't really fit in the Community category.

I'm pleased to announce that I got every question right on the virtual hip replacement. I'll open my medical practice on Monday. Make an appointment by e-mail. Cash only. Seriously though, I like this idea as a way of emphasizing the need for good health.  Not that I blame hip replacement patients for not taking care of themselves but in a more general way, putting yourself in the position of a doctor having to fix someone made me more aware of what it means to need fixing.

Where the Cool Photos Hang Out - I never solved the problem of how to display interesting and viral photos on this blog. Elsewhere on the Web concerns about copyright are a little more lax, but I'll get a call from the layer (or the media team) if I go posting random images willy nilly. But the one on this list I regularly check is FFFFound. It's photos and art found around the Web. Often following them to their source reveals a cool design site that is too niche to make onto my radar ordinarily. I'll repeat the NOTE that people who participate in these communities don't generally have hang-ups about nudity. If you or your boss does, you might want to skip this.

It's that time of year again: How to fix the family computer and save your holiday - This year I learned that my mother-in-law wants us to buy her a laptop and wireless router so she can have the Web around the house like we do. Ug.

You may have seen the news item that the founder of The Weather Channel says global warming is bogus. The essay in which is says so is here. And to be sure, he's not one of the skeptics who agrees it's happening but attributes it to solar flares. He full-on denies that there's such a thing as global warming. The melting of the ice caps and all those other signs are just part of a natural drift that will drift back again in 20 years; no biggie.

Days May Be Numbered for Flash Memory - I thought flash memory was the future?? I was all excited for thin, cool flash memory laptops. Apparently the new hotness is called programmable metallization cell (PMC).

The dollar's slide: 1/3 down and falling faster - Oh, and that article I thought was going to tell me the declining dollar is a good thing? It turns out it was an "Economic Myth Busters" piece.

"Miracle fruit is an obscure fruit that alters one's sense of taste, masking bitter and especially sour flavors, causing lemons, limes, beers, and lots of other things to taste amazingly good."

Dumbest idea of the day: Chess boxing. "The rules are simple. There is one round of chess - and then one round of boxing. Punching power alternating with brainpower." We always hear about Wladimir Klitschko being a Ph.D. but the point of being a smart boxer is to box smartly, not to box and then do something smart. Maybe they should sing and box to establish their cultural credentials.

Rosie explains that the MSNBC deal fell through in her own poetic way.

"The number of file-sharers disguising their BitTorrent activity with encryption is skyrocketing." At some point they're going to have to accept that there is a certain percentage of people who are not going to be defeated.

Jumper looks awesome... but... Sam Jackson, again?

I don't think I'd want to talk on a pen phone but it definitely looks cool.

The title today is a play on a lyric from an old rap song but for the life of me I can't remember who said it:

I'm not Jewish, Jamaican, but I'll keep makin'
Fresh new rhymes that'll keep you breakin'.
I got a lot of pages of rhymes for diff'rent ages
Somehow I knew that I'd be standin' on the stages.
Performin' and rhymin' is better than crimin'
It's simple like Simon, it just takes some timin'.

Ring a bell for anyone? The first two lines are the ones I remember but I found this whole block on a message board. It's the only reference I find in Google.

I interviewed the Guardian's environment correspondent, Paul Brown, about his new book on Global Warming. I actually talked to him last week but fitting it into this week's "green" coverage seemed like a good idea (though of course every week is green week on Clicked).

The book itself is really attractive. If you happen to be in a book store it's worth at least flipping through. The interview went well, but listening to it again in the production process I wonder if I sound like a skeptic. It's hard to ask "tough" questions about something I agree with.

This is the landing page with the link to the video.

Here's the mp3 link for download.

Unrelated to the content: The Voices in my Head series is a side project I've been pursuing to practice interviewing skills and learn online media production tools. For this one the publicist gave me some photos from the book so I was able to cycle through those with the audio along with the book cover.  I also introduced a small bit of video of myself at the beginning and end. One of the challenges of this series is what the video element should be when the content is only audio. I like the idea behind this one but I think I need some kind of title screen to run with the introduction so I'll try that next time. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Also, I don't know if I mentioned it before, but in case you're wondering where I get these authors, I work with an independent publicity company that pitches authors that may be of interest or have some connection to the news. Not only do they provide me with a variety of authors but I don't end up in any awkward relationships with specific publishers.

I spent the day in training class for the tools that build the newly redesigned msnbc.com coming soon. Then my nasty head cold caused me to fall asleep on the couch at like 7:30. So here I am wide awake in the middle of the night catching up on links.

Google maps find their way to gas pumps - Now that I have Google maps on my phone this isn't such a big deal but a few years ago it would have saved me a lot of money. You can't imagine how many "where the hell am I" maps of New Jersey I have.

Submarine-Launched Helicopter - With just two paragraphs and a little photo this may be the most amazing thing I read all day.

OK, I take that back, this is the most amazing thing I've seen all day. Police in Georgia, Tbilisi raid opposition TV stations. I watched this one first, which is three minutes of two people looking kind of nervous and eventually giving up the news desk to a third guy who's out of breath. In this one we get a bit of translation of what the third guy is saying. Check out this one with the reporter trying to deliver her report while choking on tear gas. I keep waiting for V to appear on the screen. (I should add, I don't know enough about this story to pass any kind of judgment or take sides. I'm highlighting these videos based on their objective drama.)

Speaking of undermining governments, can it really be a good idea to punish a country by helping it further repress its population through the restriction of access to the Internet? I understand the point of sanctions but I've always thought America's cultural influence was its greatest weapon. In some countries there might be an argument for blocking the Web to make it harder for terrorists to organize but the story I've always read in connection with Iran is that the web has been a means for dissidents and expats to help undermine the government.

Flight pattern visualizations are animations of flight paths over the United States.

How to make fire using a potato - I know I got burned by the glow in the dark Mountain Dew but this looks weird enough to be true. NOTE: For some ridiculous reason it starts with a few seconds of a woman in a thong.

'Heroes' Creator Apologizes to Fans - Wow, this guy really hates his own show. I don't have a problem with season 2 so far. It's a little frustrating waiting for answers but that's always been part of the show's appeal. I didn't hate the Hiro in Japan segments. We need to see him do some character building stuff so his future cool self makes sense.

Remember those spider sculptures made from confiscated scissors and I was wondering how to buy confiscated scissors? How To: Buy Items Confiscated at Airports

I don't know why but it wasn't until I read the BBC version of this story of the super model who doesn't like American dollars that I finally figured out that it's not about finance or economy so much as it's about how fashionable the dollar is - or now, isn't. I know, duh.

7 Countries Considering Abandoning the US Dollar (and what it means)

Canadian dollar passes US$1.10 mark in overseas trade Wednesday - Somewhere in my notes I have a link to an essay on why the falling dollar is not a big deal. I'm really wanting to find that link now.

All the Defense Appropriations Earmarks plotted on Google Earth - Other than seeing that there's a whole lot of them I'm not sure what I'm seeing in all these points on the map. There's kind of a red state/blue state pattern there but I reckon that's more to do with where the cities/people/industry are.

Nokia perfects the clicky tactile touchscreen - "We inserted two small piezo sensor pads under the screen and engineered in a 0.1mm movement in the screen itself." This news is most significant to cell phones but I'd love it if they could put a little tactile feedback in ATM screens.

I finally read the Google Blog post about "the Gphone," Android and the Open Handset Alliance. It's a software development kit for mobile phones. So on one hand the whole news story means nothing to almost everyone. On the other hand it means you may one day buy a blank cell phone and decide on your own what software you want to put on it. The important thing to note right now is that Gphone isn't about a kind of phone, it's about the software on a phone.

Why actors and models love to hang out with Hugo Chávez - "The Western weakness for other people's revolutionary violence, the belief in the glamour and benevolence of foreign dictators, and the insistence on seeing both through the prism of Western political debates are still very much with us." There's one aspect of this phenomenon that isn't mentioned in here that I always wonder about. You never hear anyone actually praising Chavez and anyone who pays attention knows what his deal is, so how do these celebs think of going to see him in the first place? My (wild) guess is that Chavez has a really good PR person who extends very compelling invitations. I don't believe Sean Penn wrote to the president of Venezuela and asked if he could come visit some day. I do believe Penn opened his mail one day and found out that the president of Venezuela was interested in meeting with him and talking about his political ideas. What? You wouldn't be tempted?

Cancer cured again

Tesla coils playing the Mario Bros theme are unsurprisingly awesome

Bloglines has published a list of its top 1000 feeds. From a surfing perspective it's not a very precise tool though I did find this Ven diagram comic blog and decided the exploration was worth it.

For the sake of closure: That guy who saw the girl of his dreams on the subway found her. She's an intern at Blackbook.

This is bound to be deleted soon, but I think this is the video of the Finnish school shooter making news this morning. NOTE: I don't have sound on the machine I'm at so I can't verify what this sounds like. Someone leave me a comment if it's objectionable.

UPDATE: I'm hearing now that this is not the one referenced by the AP. If I find another I'll update again.

UPDATE 2: A cache of the content of his YouTube account even though the main video in question doesn't play. Also Google's cache.

There's a zip file out there with photos and other stuff he put together. I keep hitting dead links but I think this is the same content.

UPDATE 3: Submitted to the comments, yes, from the descriptions I've read this looks like the main video in question.

The helicopter game requires only the left mouse button. No fight moves or keystrokes to remember. And yet it's still fun to play - I think because it seems like it should be easier than it is so every time you crash you say, "Oh, wait, that was stupid, I can do this. One more try..."

I was the only one on this list of ten addictive games I hadn't already played.

"Scientists have been astounded by the creation of a genetically modified "supermouse" with extraordinary physical abilities – comparable to the performance of the very best athletes – raising the prospect that the discovery may one day be used to transform people's capacities." Ah! I love astounding science stories that "raise the prospect."

Beware! T-Mobile Owns the Color Magenta - No joke, they really do.

Flash map shows what music is popular in different parts of the world. Backstreet Boys are big in Egypt. It draws from the Gracenote database though, so I'm not sure how well that describes trends in foreign countries.

Bread baking 101

Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day. This year folks are talking about him in connection with torture and trivia about George Washington not wanting the holiday celebrated because it had come to represent "government by fear, oppression of a minority, a celebration of arbitrary power." The Harper's article also says that Guy Fawkes Day was the reason for setting the date of our elections. (I find some confirmation of that in quick online searches.)

Yesterday was also the big fundraising day for Ron Paul. His online celebrants are flooding mailboxes and comment threads with stats and graphs about how much money has been raised.

I'm not sure what this site says but when you click the link, try not to break anything, ok?

Yes, I saw the Rosie news but no I don't have any inside info. I always liked her daytime show and I even liked her on The View (she certainly was good at making news) but I do feel some dread about the haters she'll draw. That's all part of it I guess.

Ze Frank posts a rare new video in support of the striking writers, reminding everyone about all the ass he kicks.

Barbie Becomes an Authentication Device for Pre-Teen Friendship - The entry is a little snide but in principle it's a good idea. The special doll authenticates friends in person so when the kids are online they can only chat with other kids they actually know. No online mystery friends. Of course, active parents could also probably manually double check an IM buddy list with their kid's friend's parents and save themselves having to buy another plastic piece of junk.

New Stephen King: "The Mist" - This looks good but the trailer kind of ruins it for me with too much info. The mist is scary but once you see the monsters come out and the storyline is described the whole thing is pretty much revealed. I'm sure the kid doesn't die in the end so the only mystery is what they're seeing at the very end of the trailer.

Amazing origami figures with a little bit of demonstration on how it's done.

Unlike many in the business I didn't find much enlightenment from the new newspaper circulation numbers (they're going down - gasp!). I did find interesting reading in Rupert Murdoch's plans for the Wall Street Journal. "I want to add major coverage of the arts, fashion and culture," he added. When asked whether he was aiming to kill the New York Times, Mr Murdoch replied simply: "That would be nice." I'm not a fan of being a dick about crushing the competition but another newspaper with that kind of breadth and resources would be great.

Suicide Bombing Makes Sick Sense in Halo 3 - But not really. It's a good headline and no doubt we'll see the nation's great hand-wringers fretting over the news that video games train our kids to be suicide bombers. But what the guy actually writes is that since he's not good enough to stay alive in the game, he tries to spite the other players by taking them out with him. It might give him sick satisfaction but I don't really see how it makes sick sense unless he's aligned with another player in the game or logged in on another machine using one login as a player-weapon.

Brilliant Lego ads. Of course that's a dinosaur. ADDING: The link seems to e having trouble. Here's another link with the same photos.

I'm playing with NPR's new music site and it's so staggeringly easy I can't get over it. I've listened to NPR audio before so maybe my machine already had the download but on this visit I just clicked the link and my song popped up in the player and started play. Maybe that's not very miraculous but then as I poked around I clicked the "add to playlist" buttons here and there and watched them stack up in the player's list.  No registration, no download, no install, no confused loading screens and no commercials.  Possibly the best part is that it draws from member stations' content without making me change players (or even sites). So I added a jazz track from WBGO as easily as a Yo Yo MA recommendation.

I can't help but think it's a bad idea to create a site to find a girl you saw on the subway. It's sort of the idea behind the "missed connection" listings except that the guy makes his name and contact info so public. I wish he had included some explanation for why she's the girl of his dreams and not just a pretty girl he'd like to meet. That's the part that makes it seem a little creepy.

Regardless, this has the hallmarks of the kind of thing that turns into a story worth following so on the chance we're getting in on the ground floor of something fun, there ya go. We'll have to keep an eye on his blog to see if anything happens.

UPDATE: Here's video of him describing the situation and answer some of the questions people have been asking.

If two examples make a trend, there's a new trend in examining news headline edits. The Quick Brown (works best with Firefox) automatically watches the Fox News site and notes edits made to headlines. At first glance right now it looks like they're making an effort to tell the Pakistan story in terms of the White House advocating democracy. The inspiration cited on the "about" page points to this oddly designed page and explains the idea well. (The idea is not "we thought of ways to make Fox look bad and tried this." It's more about the faster pace of news.)

Here's a similar idea executed on the BBC site. His visualizations page also has cool displays like this graphic illustration of how headlines are updated as a story develops.

Toddler with eight limbs branded 'reincarnation of Hindu god' to undergo life-saving operation - That angelic face no doubt increases perceptions that she's a reincarnated god.

"Sure, it might be a bit better, but is it better enough?" Seth Godin writes a critique of the culture of ridiculously expensive and competitive undergraduate colleges when ultimately the outcomes of attending them really isn't all that different. "I'm talking about the incremental cost (and anxiety) separating consumers of the 'top' 500 schools from students of the 'top' 50."

"What do Islamofacism, methamphetamine production, tort lawyers, and homemade fireworks have in common? The answer is that they are all part of the seemingly inevitable process of destroying the childhood Chemistry Set."  The conclusion mentions, "What is at stake here is no less than the future of America's competitiveness and the innovation the make the United States the magnet for international entrepreneurs and scientists." It makes me wonder, is there a country that's still unregulated enough that it would overtake the U.S. in terms of childhood chemistry set scientist rearing? India? Russia? Is the chemistry set going globally extinct or are the instructions just written in Chinese now instead of English?

Historic Texas town for sale - Cheap.

I don't see what the big deal is, but I guess a story that allows the use of the phrase "Maria Sharapova's Crotch" in the headline is going to get traction. The short version of the story is that a guy claims he was fired from an advertising company because he complained about a honcho at the company for, among other things, taking a sneaky upskirt of Maria Sharapova during the filming of a commercial. Now he's suing.  The photo is included in the suit. The Smoking Gun has the whole thing. I don't even think this needs a "NOTE:" because she's in her regular tennis clothes - short skirt with the panty-like undergarment - and she's sitting with her legs up in the air. Then again, having a co-worker send you "crotch shots" of a client is pretty uncool no matter what.

Can you "use the force" to find things faster? The idea here is that a "relax and take a step back" strategy for finding things can be more effective than a more active search. There's an example so you can test it but it didn't work for me.

I was feeling pretty bullish on Hayden Panettiere's dolphin activism after watching this AP video. (NOTE: Like many animal rights videos, this one has some blood). She doesn't appear until the end of the clip and she was an actual active participant, not just a spokesperson and she seems genuinely to care. But the Daily Mail's inclusion of a posed bikini picture from what appears to be the scene of the weeping returned me to my cynical self.

Folks are taking seriously rumors that Facebook is going to add music features like MySpace has.

Friday's Blackout boycott took wing on the Web - I hadn't heard about the boycott but as the article explains, that's beside the point.

J.K. Rowling is going to write a new book but only print up 7 of them - apparently for charity auction. You have to think that at some point the text is going to leak to the Web, which raises an interesting opportunity for small scale book publishing sites. I think I mentioned once that I have some bootleg e-book versions of a few of the Harry Potter books. I imagine one day finding a nice font to render them and print them (and the rest of the series) into one of those massive books that sits on its own stand (although now that I've said it out loud, that sounds like a stupid idea). Similarly, if I had the content of the new book I might like to print out a bound dead tree version to put on the shelf with the others.

UK paper lists the top U.S. liberals and conservatives.

A wool fetish? At first I thought this was about jokey knitted fetish gear but I think it's about people with an actual fetish for the feeling of yarn. Sorry, but it's still funny.

I talked to William Bonner about the perils of following the crowd and how trendiness can lead to disaster. This may go without saying, but his book reads a lot like the answers he gave. He answers with stories and illustrates with examples. Granted, I invite all of the Voices guests to speak at length because the format is so open, but Bonner is particularly suited to the longer form. I frankly struggled with the questions, as you'll hear, but he carried the interview well.

You can download the mp3 here or else this page has the audio in the video player for faster loading.

As you know, I write Clicked based on a number of meme trackers that purport to show the most popular links online (and yet somehow manage to produce different results). Lately I've been thinking that a lot of blog link traffic has surely migrated to Facebook posts and how do I find a meme tracker that shows what's most popular among those? (Anyone know of one?) So far I'm only able to find lists of the most popular links in the networks of which I'm a member. While poking around I clicked this recommendation from my friend and colleague Bruno and I've been re-clicking the play button all morning.

[YouTube:kGAmnjZYxdU]

The singing angels part reminds me of Lou Reed's "Take a walk on the wild side."

I know Halloween is over (and according to the decorations already up on the commercial avenue nearest me it's now Christmas) but a "YouTube video" costume is worth noting.

Speaking of costumes, this personal space skirt would have done well alongside the urban camouflage item yesterday.

I found the above link among the many Core 77 where I also checked out the Rogue Bench item (a couple of guys installing park benches on their own). We saw a similar effort in my neighborhood not long ago.

These "rogue" public art projects stand in stark contrast to what Bruce Schneier describes as "the war on the unexpected." Lacking the ability to identify actual terrorists (assuming that's even possible), citizens and authorities inevitably react to the unusual. I don't mean to say the art contradicts what Schneier is saying. It's just interesting that there seem to be a lot of public stunts, from zombie marches to Improv Everywhere to magnetic LED characters at a time when the public is particularly skittish about the unexpected.

Speaking of excesses in the war on terror, this guy has himself waterboarded so you don't have to. Y'know, part of the point of torture is the fear and unknown outcome. When you know what's going on and you're able to stop your own torture when it's too much for you, that's not really torture. I'm not sure this guy did anything more than have two guys flush water up his nose for 24 minutes.

Speaking of waterboarding, A Handy Chart To Follow Senators' Positions On Mukasey - If your senator(s) is on the fence or on a side you don't agree with, get in touch and let them know. One day this will be standard practice in political coverage. Presently TPM is the only place I know of doing it consistently.

And P.S. Yes, it's torture.

Speaking of political activism, That Hillary video - This is just the trailer for an hour long movie but the trailer is 14 minutes long. It's enjoying significant popularity in places like Google Video but I don't see how most of America is going to care enough to try to follow this guy's complaint. The movie is part of an undeniably larger trend online of throwing mud at Hillary. Her detractors are a passionate and dedicated bunch.

Speaking of political attacks, 'Criminal' Botnet Stumps for Ron Paul, Researchers Allege - The suggestion here is that the reason Paul is so popular online but not so much offline is that his online support is artificially inflated by hacks and tricks.

I believe this page has a bottom, I just never reached it.

Speaking of bottomless pages, Pattern Analysis of MegaMillions Lottery Numbers - You have to be a real stat geek to make anything of this but in the way that smart, hard work is admirable, this is something to behold.

Wicked cool CGI back-hoe spider.

An On-Line Color Thesaurus - This is pretty cool. Enter a color name and it shows you "synonymous" colors and also opposites.

Wow, they're making a Meryl Streep movie out of the Julie/Julia project. The article mentions the book but if you're really old and nerdy you remember when it was just a neat little blog. It could be one of the best blog success stories ever.

Speaking of new movies, Wanted would have more appeal to me if it didn't look like a big budget version of that new TV show Chuck. I'm already getting sick of the whimpering regular guy shtick in Chuck. That said, the visuals in the trailer are really amazing and Angelina looks to be her usual awesome self.

Speaking of movies, this one needs to be made, and I don't mean Waterworld: Robot Boats Hunt High-Tech Pirates on the High-Speed Seas - This time it really is robots. These boats can be set to track vessels automatically. The rise of the machines cometh. Find Sarah Connor.

You don't have to be a designer to enjoy the humor in this. If you don't get it, there's a distinct chance there's a designer out there with pins in a voodoo doll with your name on it.

Salacious gossip corner:

• The National Enquirer has the full audio of Dog Chapman using the N word. Unfortunately the context is not immediately clear and at one minute and 25 seconds long, listening to it has used up all the time I intend to devote to the story. NOTE: Not only does he say the N word a bunch of time but also a lot of F bombs. Obviously put your headphones on for this one.
• Speaking of the original audio you've been hearing about. The Britney Spears phone interview is online here. I only listened to the first part and immediately wished I had my 7 minutes and 50 seconds back, but in the spirit of linking to primary material when the news is giving clips and pieces, here ya go.
• And lastly, Lance Armstrong and an Olsen twin sounds like the beginning of a "walked into a bar" joke, not a gossip item.

Does search need social networking? Can you imagine wanting to meet people who search with the same terms you did? My first answer was a flat no. The whole thing seems ripe for porn spam ("I see you've searched for boobies..."). But if I actually needed help with something it might be a good idea. Will a 180mm rear tire fit in place of the 160mm stock tire on a 2002 FXSTDi? Assuming the question isn't too specific, finding someone with experience with that query or its subsets would be useful.

There is apparently a secret hidden message in that Gorbachev Louis Vuitton ad.

"These are things I find abandoned in books or stuffed on the book cart at the jail where I volunteer."

Awesome levitating lamps - Looking through the company site I don't see any detailed explanation of how the lamp is powered. Since their specialty is this new levitation technology, I think the floating light is just battery powered.

"Here is a complete list of the finalists for The 2007 Weblog Awards." -annoyingly not hyperlinked.