Links, 2,3,4

Okay, not a Rammstein related blog (although I have been snowboarding to the strains of Mein Herz Brennt of late) and I know I owe you all a catch up post (I've drafted a couple that I will put most of up before I head a bit south) but for now I'll just stick up a few links that I think you might enjoy.
The first is an optical illusion,
http://blogoscoped.com/files/stripes.html
which is just sooooo cool! Swiral might want to take care, the image appears to flicker a bit when used but I don't think it's a problem.
Next is the Boston Globe's Hubble Space Telescope advent calendar, which I hope will be up after Christmas.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/hubble_space_telescope_advent.html
Worth checking out just for the first animated image!
Next, still with the Boston Globe, is the firs part of their images of the year.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html
This is part of the Big Picture series (stick it on your feed reader, it's worth it!) and the photos range from the sublime to the astonishing to the disturbing to the gut wrenching and graphic.
Now for a collection of sceptical thinking blogs:
Bad Astronomy - Phil Plait's Science and Sceptical blog (and lots of Dr Who stuff).
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre's Blog, including his articles on critical thinking from the Guardian and lots about health scares and misuse of statistics.
Bad Martial Arts - martial arts without mystical explanations.
Finally, another webcomic:
http://dooomcat.com/wp/
Bear Nuts. If anyone remembers my Bondage Bear, it's kind of like that; care bears gone bad...

At work we've been trading maths jokes, including the "classic" one:
There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary, and those that don't.
And another one:


How is Hallowe'en the same as Christmas?



Because 31 Oct = 25 Dec.

Sorry, even I found that one a bit bad.

When I finally catch up I'll tell you about the skid pan training, the snow boarding and the bed.
Not related stories, although that would be a good one!