"Zen Habits is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives. It’s about clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, find happiness."

An interesting system used to gauge proficiency in a language. The barest gist:

A Basic User
-A1 Breakthrough or beginner
-A2 Waystage or elementary

B Independent User
-B1 Threshold or intermediate
-B2 Vantage or upper intermediate

C Proficient User
-C1 Effective Operational Proficiency or advanced
-C2 Mastery or proficiency

Pay someone five bucks (like on Fiverr) to record an "ad" for you (whatever message you're wanting to drill into your own skull.) Set it as your morning alarm sound. (Or, record yourself.)

Includes information about the species as well as its relationship with humans (such as in mythology.)

Starts off with "An Introvert's Lexicon," comparing the definitions of common words in the minds of an extrovert and introvert. It then goes on to cover the differences briefly as well as talking about introversion specifically.

A form of prehistoric art found mainly in Atlantic Europe.

The name given to a particular symbol represented among the rock carvings of Val Camonica.

I heard this described as the most explicit poem in history.

Solid tips that hold true, at least, for American culture.

"Just how heavy were swords from the Middle Ages and Renaissance? This question (perhaps the most commonly encountered in this subject) is easily answered by knowledgeable students of the subject. While understanding of the true weights of Medieval and Renaissance swords is appreciated by serious enthusiasts and practitioners of historical fencing today, in contrast the general public and even specialists are often woefully ignorant on the matter."

(I want one.) "A fainting goat is a breed of domestic goat whose muscles freeze for roughly 10 seconds when the goat is startled. Though painless, this generally results in the animal collapsing on its side. The characteristic is caused by a hereditary genetic disorder called myotonia congenita. When startled, younger goats will stiffen and fall over. Older goats learn to spread their legs or lean against something when startled, and often they continue to run about in an awkward, stiff-legged shuffle."

(Or vishkanya.) A bit of Hindi mythology--the "poison girl."

Every community and subculture evolves its own sublanguage. I had to look this up after seeing it all over the place in survivalist articles: The End Of The World As We Know It.
I like it. XD

"This FAQ answers those questions that both non-barefooters and new barefooters ask of barefooters all the time, from the basic (obvious) questions to those on foot health, care, and treatment, as well as those on how to deal with a mostly shod world." (Not generally for me, but intriguing!)

An AI learning to converse. Talk with it and be impressed! Help it beat the Turing test!

To summarize: in a particularly awesome blog post, Neil Gaiman lets you know that George R. R. Martin is not your bitch.

An article taking a look at Roald Dahl, the man behind such beloved children's books as "James and the Giant Peach." He was actually not a particularly nice man.

This is what I got a few years ago on the MBTI. (In high school, I would get INFP, the Healer.)

One of the more interesting personality type assessments, the Myers-Brigg Type Inventory.

Administrators of the IgNobel prize, these folks locate, in their words, "research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK." Or possibly cry over public monies being spent in such a way.

Maybe a hundred quotes, and actually, this is just a subsection of your usual general-purpose quotation site.

A number of viewpoints on what the future of the American suburb will be, post-housing-bubble and with fossil fuels becoming scarcer.

A generator of random quotes from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga.

Interesting trivia facts about us people. We're kind of weird.

"Persuasion and Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today." Interesting ideas, though conspiracy-heavy. Plus there's the body of research that suggests that 'brainwashing' doesn't exist, just social pressures. (Yay for random psychology/sociology courses.)

A Flash-powered quiz, testing what you know about culinary etiquette around the world. (It does have some background sound, though nothing obtrusive.)

Cleanly-designed site with lists of names and meanings, organized by origin, including rarer ones like Persian, Phoenician, and Sanskrit.

Quick reference for all your grammar questions, and probably then some. In addition to the "easy" ones like then/than or good/well, there are even some I'm not familiar with. And I'm a grammar nazi.

A page with information about, you guessed it, how to disappear. A lot of interesting ideas, certainly things I wouldn't have thought of, and things I may shamelessly use in writing someday. :D

Test your senses with this BBC quiz.

Tips on how to tell if someone is lying.

The core concepts of Buddhism on one short page.

Teenagers can hear at higher frequencies than adults, and with this page, you can listen to the files and find out just where your hearing cuts out.

These people built bookshelves into their staircase. Lots and lots of bookshelves.

Tree shaping is one of the coolest things out there, in my opinion.

"Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which was posted on the Internet."

A section of Etsy (craft store site) with a color selection tool that's fun all by itself.

Including good concepts like the 80/20 rule, Parkinson's Law, and batching, as well as the importance of simple things like gratitude.

Quotations by category in a nice, clean layout.

Interesting article about Wal-Mart from the point of view of its vendors, which are heavily pressured about their prices.

"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success." (This site is trying to find the original source. I like how it sounds like Frodo is looking for people for the Fellowship.)

Enter your birthday and it will tell you a few factoids about yourself, such as the day you were born and about how many seconds you've been alive.