Monday Links: June 9th, 2008

• Here’s great reporting from the NY Times on a provocative list produced by a group of economists who set out to prioritize pressing needs in the world. The group of 8 economists was asked to “spend” a hypothetical $75 billion in the most effective way. Their full list of solutions is too long to excerpt, but check it out and see if you agree with their priorities.

• Following up on my biking-related post last week, Columbus Ohio announced that it will be implementing a $170 million biking plan. According to TreeHugger:

58 miles of bike lanes will be added, as well as a downtown bike station (complete with bicycle parking and changing areas) [...] ‘one of the biggest goals of the bike plan is to tie the area’s trail system to neighborhoods and streets that will have bike lanes or bike signs.’

• Sensibleunits.com might be my new favorite almost useful–but hilarious–website. Basically, you type in any kind of length, area, or mass measure (say 14 inches, or 300 pounds) and get back more “sensible units” that are easier to visualize or convey. In my examples, 14 inches=36 stacked CD cases OR 1.8 five month old human fetuses end to end [gross...]; 300 pounds=7.6 microwave ovens OR 27 average domestic cats. Good to know. Try it out and leave the funniest examples in the comments.

• For all of you recent grads out there who are about to enter a world of pain the world of work, Brazen Careerist offers 64 Action Items for the Newly Employed. They include things like “Participate in or organize a co-worker happy hour,” “Have only one drink at the happy hour,” and “Thank anyone who helps you with anything.”

• Jarred and I are avid fans of Garfield Minus Garfield, where the fat orange cat is cleverly removed from Garfield comic strips leaving only poor, pathetic, awkward Jon the human. As it turns out, Garfield’s creator thinks the site is pretty neat too [Hat Tip: Matthew Ingram]:

Jim Davis, the cartoonist who created “Garfield,” calls himself an occasional reader of the site, which he calls “fascinating.” He says he is flattered rather than peeved by the imitation. “Some of them really work, and some of them work better,” Mr. Davis said

• If you have Firefox, and a whole lot of free time, you can now access 2,000 original Nintendo games through your browser. Apologies in advance to your boss and any coworkers who might be counting on you. I’ll be sticking with WeeWar, thank you very much.

That’s all for now folks. Have a wonderful Monday.