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Monday, June 19, 2000
--Water Towers of the World--
I like this site because it includes the Brooks Catsup bottle shaped water tower in Collinsville, Illinois. When I was little, my parents drove through the town to get to my uncle's house, and we passed that bottle so many times. Few things are cooler when you're six years old.

Amazingly, the Castup Bottle also has its own home page.

There's also the Compton Heights water tower, which is in St. Louis city. You can see it from I-70 on your way out to the airport.

You can visit its homepage, too.

Friday, June 16, 2000
--The Mr. Peanut Chronicles--
Salon article investigating the restrictions on advertising mascots and the expectations their corporations have of the icons. This really is corporate culture at its funniest and most frightening. I'm just totally weirded out by the fact that Pillsbury has a person whose job it is to keep track of the Doughboy and his public image. The more Doughboy-centric first part of the article can be found here.

Thursday, June 15, 2000
--Phosphor Dot Fossils--
A page full of information about (among other games) classic arcade video games. I was overjoyed to see the inclusion of my personal favorite, Moon Patrol. There was only one arcade that had this game when I was little, and that was the Showbiz Pizza that I didn't get to go to very often. I wish I had a moon buggy.

Thursday, June 15, 2000
--Takashi Yamamoto--
{via the fantabulous gmt+9}

This guy is running for a seat in the Japanese Diet, which is their version of parliament. Since the page is all in Japanese, I can't read very much of it. All I can make out is the big red headline, which says "Nandeyanen?!" Fortunately it features one of the few kanji I actually know. Still, there are some great images, particularly:

The guy's logo, which features a snail for some reason.

Here's a very pissed off snail.

Wednesday, June 14, 2000
--Nerd Liberation Movement--
MmmHey!

"The Nerd Liberation Movement is dedicated to people who are smart and are not afraid to admit it. In today's society, smart people are persecuted. We learn to act stupid so that normal people are comfortable around us. Some of us are tired of hiding the fact that we are intelligent people. We want to be able to express our intellect without ridicule. We are tired listening to stupid ideas that if you are smart, then you must be deficient somewhere else. We are tired of being accused of bragging, when we are only thinking."

Check out the movement's official seal. Bill Gates would be proud.

Wednesday, June 14, 2000
--License Plates of the World--
License plates from around the world. For some reason, I've always been interested in this topic.

Here are the plates for my home state of Illinois. The one bottom row, center is the current one. Not too flashy, but it looks good. Late this year or in early 2001, they're going to replace it with the more garish design that's in the bottom row, right hand column.

Being from the St. Louis area and going to uni in Cape Girardeau, I've also seen a lot of Missouri plates. The old one (pre 1996, I think) was brilliant in its simplicity, just red with white letters. The coolest part is that it became a great looking black with yellow letters for trucks and vans. Now the plate has that weird wavy "water" design, which looks OK, but it's no substitute for the last version.

Wednesday, June 14, 2000
--Mildred's House of Signage--
Interesting and strange signs from Chicago.

Particularly great:
House of 220 Volt Appliances
Lincoln Low Cost Auto Insurance

Wednesday, June 14, 2000
--Chuck Woolery Album Cover--
Just go look at it. C'mon.

Wednesday, June 14, 2000
--Rare Chinese chair breaks under 'thoughtless' museum visitor--
This reads like some old Three Stooges short!