Flies with banner-ads: Is it possible to be cruel to flies? From the article: "The banners..seem to be causing the beleaguered flies a bit of piloting trouble. The weight keeps the flies at a lower altitude and forces them to rest more often" Zooming into cells: Interesting flash app that lets you zoom from the size of a coffee bean all the way to DNA. via mefi mefi and here Future direction for computer User interface: via Kottke ..and finally a nice big list of the "best" music videos of the decade. I'm surprised, given my advancing years, how many of them that I've actually heard of. 101 best music videos of the decade via Kottke

Ignore that Japanese commentary and just look at the video. This is a guy jumping off a 10 metre tower and landing in an inflatable pool with 30mm of water. Say hello to Professor Spash: I particularly like the multiple replay effect, reminds me of those old Van Damme movies.. via Kirainet.com

Am I imagining things or has there, since sometime last year, been a cupcake fad of sorts? No less than three chains have opened in Sydney selling overpriced and oversweet and overdesigned cupcakes, some of which I'm forced to eat because some one else likes one occasionally. These new cupcake places don't just sell little things with pink icing and sparkly bits on the top designed for little princesses - the new ones look like they could be worn on women's hats at Royal Ascot.. In addition unlike their ugly big cousin, the stoic muffin, which generally gets thrown in a paper bag without much care and attention, these new creations are gently wrapped in an origami like paper box with cellophane window to show off your faffy purchase to the world. So is this just a Sydney or Australia thing? Answers on a postcard to.. Update 23/10: Well I got an answer faster than I thought. It's all to do with Sex and the City is it?

I usually wake up briefly at around 6.50am, thanks to the annoying gap in my window blinds, and squint at the morning sun before falling back asleep. This morning though, I was left wondering if there was horrible huge bush fire or I'd been teleported to Mars during the night. The orange colour in the sky, everywhere in the sky, was so unnerving I actually got out of bed at 7am - that's very unnerving. Stepping out onto the balcony the whole sky was just the strangest rust colour I've ever seen. Turning on breakfast TV at least let me know that the world wasn't on fire and that, logically enough, it was a big dust storm. Having said that, nothing like it has been seen in Sydney in more that 60 years. The colour had faded by the time I went to get my train to work (dust everywhere on the seats). The air was still dusty enough to taste and the visibility next to nothing and stayed that way for the next few hours. Lost of amazing photos on the Sydney Morning Herald site..

See also: Forrest Gump (1949), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1951) via metafilter

Nokia haven't made nice looking phones in a long time, but I have to say their first venture into making computers is much better. This tiny one looks pretty sweet - I'll have one please.

This is a little slow to start off, but this entry from "Ukraine's got talent" is pretty darn cool..