I would have been in bed by now, if not for Shaun the Sheep.

Harrison Krix built an amazing replica of a laser rifle from a video game (Fallout 3):

So the guy goes down to his basement with some wood, sintra, styrene and paint and comes back up with that? May as well be magic. So impressive.

Al Gore is unconvinced by the “global warming can’t be true because it snowed” argument.

Darkly, darkly awesome: The Skull of Regret. The description of the drive-thru window. The deep-fat fryer as potential suicide implement. The pause before “ex-girlfriend.” All genius.

My wife read an article recently that suggested, probably semi-tongue-in-cheek, that figure skating is not a sport because it is subjectively judged, and the participants wear costumes and perform to music. While I’m not a big fan of subjective judging, I think this unfairly short-changes these athletes. So, out of a great breakfast conversation with some friends, this chart was born (made with gliffy):

Notes:

• While it seems to me that there are some fat professional baseball players, none of those guys can spend all their time on the couch, and most are in great shape, so baseball is a sport.
• Perhaps golf was a game before Tiger came along and raised the bar, and now it’s a sport?
• Not sure about NASCAR or bowling. I know there are physical demands, but can you compete on the elite level without athletic training? If so, game. If not, sport. I’m not making any judgments, I just have no idea personally.

Updated, Alternate: My breakfastmates had proposed a risk clause, which I had taken out for simplicity’s sake, so if you prefer, this version puts it back in. Also, thanks to Alec for the Hemingway clause that also made it in:

Updated, Personal Version: Personally, I like the Hemingway clause but not the risk clause, so this is the version I use:

Great stuff from Roger Ebert that’s not a movie review: The Gathering Storm.

Information is Beautiful just put out a great tool, Snake Oil? The Scientific Evidence for Health Supplements. Here’s a little more about it.

I haven’t posted anything about ChatRoulette yet. Sometimes it pays to wait, as the two best things so far came across my desk today: this movie by Casey Neistat, and this commentary by Danah Boyd.

Howard Friel checked every single citation in influential global warming denier Bjørn Lomborg’s Cool It. The result is The Lomborg Deception, coming in March. Sounds damning.

I think Steven Strogatz’s article on division is the best of his excellent “introduction to math” series so far. His series has quickly become one of my favorite reads on the web.

ToneMatrix is just what I need, a musical instrument that sounds cool no matter what you do. I’m going to file this under “casualgames” even though it’s not really a game, because it feels like playing.

Casting coup, Ian McShane will play Blackbeard in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I mean, that’s a franchise that has gone steadily downhill and I can’t imagine Rob Marshall at the helm will do anything but continue the slide, but still:

Perfect! I suppose an R rating is too much to hope for?