Welcome to this week's selection of Picks, where we hope you get your proverbial kicks on that Route 66-like thing we sometimes call the Information Superhighway. If on the other hand you really do want to get your kicks on, you know, Route 66, we suggest you go to Houston Chronicle Interactive's Virtual Voyager, because they're doing exactly that. HCI's Mark Evangelista and Glen Golightly recently spent time on "the Mother Road" and they've got a whole slew of stories and strange roadside attractions to show for it. Besides the terrific tales, this site includes a Route 66 trivia quiz, back-seat driver cam and a forum to "exchange stories, ideas and memories of" the highway.
Speaking of getting your kicks, here's a thought: on a scale of one to ten, just how happy is the Net? It's a good question. There's an easy answer. See HappyNet, a service of the Princeton Review, to read the latest charts, graphs and stats on this serious subject. Tell 'em how you feel. Do it for the sake of Net Happiness everywhere.
Happiness is not the first thing that comes to mind when you visit the BT Global Challenge, "the world's toughest yacht race." Thrilling high-sea adventure, yes. Happiness? Nah. On Sunday, September 29, "14 identical 67ft cutter-rigged sloops" left Southampton, U.K., on a race that will last nearly 10 months, about 30,000 miles, and will take them the wrong way around the world, with stops in Rio de Janeiro, Wellington, Sydney, Cape Town and Boston. The site promises news updates at least 4 times a day during the race; you know where to go to stay in touch. Also take part in the Virtual Yacht Race and have a shot at winning a trip to Cape Town, South Africa. We could say something here about being long-winded and awash in a sea of bad taste, but you already know that about us, so we won't.
Doubtless, sometimes we take poetic (or lack thereof) license when we describe these sites, but it's surely nothing like the poetic license to kill, so to speak, you'll find at the Central Intelligence Museum. The museum presents a series of, uhm, deadly devices "fabricated according to technical descriptions and/or schematic drawings of equipment allegedly produced by the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Technical Service." Fact or fiction aside, humor the morbidly curious in you with a look at the Flashlight Grenade, Itch-Flock Disseminating Pen-Gun, 35mm SLR Camera Bomb and (our favorite) the Sugar Dispenser Incendiary, amongst others.
The above mentioned is obviously fiction. Everybody knows that for years now the C.I.A. has outfitted their very own Martha Stewart Militia ("They're mean! They're heartless! They're color-coordinated!") with the latest line of Tim Allen Signature Tools as means to achieve their... well, to achieve their end(s). Need we say more?
It's the kind of thing you'd see in one of those B Movies that are frighteningly awful, if not just plain frightening. In which case, you could read about it at The Astounding B Monster, an online guide to the best bad movies. Billed as the "offbeat film authority", the ABM offers background information, history and reviews of a handful of splendidly terrible classics (The Man From Planet X, Blood of Dracula, Mesa of Lost Women, et al.) divided by genre. While you're there be sure to peruse "Blurbs: Hyperbolic Gems from the Brazen B Movie Posters of the Past." Go ahead, say it: Egads!
Don't like B Movies? You'd rather read Microscope, a weekly review of "the most creative and compelling ads the web has to offer"? Fine. Go ahead. Click here for extra value in banner banter.
In other news: the Kraft Foods Interactive Kitchen recently came online, with a veritable pantry-load of "food stuff". Krafty, indeed. Here you'll find features on entertaining, cooking and kitchen tips, shopping lists, good food ideas, and a large, searchable collection of recipes. You can even register to customize the site and store your favorite recipes online. All the right ingredients, you could say, of a recipe for success.
Hey, it's either that or read An Abridged History of the United States. Up to you. Take your pick(s).