1. Photos of Shaq and his tiny girlfriend, who was apparently on Flavor of Love.



2. "An employee of the Mark Twain House and Museum in West Hartford, Conn., has admitted in court to embezzling $1 million from the organization that maintains the author's historic home."



3. Penelope Trunk has a good take on negative blog comments.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Arguments against attending cooking school.

2. XKCD on media reports of hacking. Penny Arcade on the 3DS.

3. Diablo III will allow players to auction off virtual goods for real money. I wonder if that will be a major selling point, or just a feature that benefits gold farmers (The Old Republic looks nice, but if I can make money while I play...).

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Want that cute guy to call you? Pick him up on a rickety bridge. Via.

2. New short story by Kelly Link. (I haven't read it yet, but I've liked everything else I've read of hers.) Via.

3. The winners of the inaugural Google Science Fair.

4. Always nice to be reminded that I'm not the only person who prefers email to Twitter and Facebook. (I love Google Reader, too.)

5. FYI, I'm continuing to experiment with Super Punch 2 at Tumblr and mostly post images there that I'm not also posting here.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Some interesting predictions about the future of the legal profession. Via.

2. Apple not only censors emails sent by Me.com users, but doesn't even tell the users that their emails have been blocked?

3. The keys to finding a job in Hollywood.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. You didn't really buy that nonsense about how great the yakuza was for keeping order in Japan after the tsunami right? The nuclear power plants failed probably in no small part because they were dominated by the yakuza.

2. The latest incredibly raw personal story from Penelope Trunk - - the heart of the post is a really good message - - if you want a happy relationship, you have to be brave enough to tell you partner what's really bothering you.

3. The BBTS has new Marvel Universe preorders - -sets feature Tony Stark, Iceman, Absorbing Man, Astonishing Wolverine, Magneto, Ultron, Darkhawk, Sub-Mariner, X-23, Steve Rogers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy I posted earlier today.

READ MORE - Link roundup

Fennec fox.



Lightning strike.



Arctic fox and meal.



Soldier after battle.



Wisdom from Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake.




Wire sculpture.



Ferris wheel on a cold winter day.

READ MORE - Image roundup

1. Penelope Trunk explains how she's helping her teenage neighbors start a business:

I told myself I will send them lots of links so they learn about entrepreneurship. But the boys did not have computers. Further, they do not even get homework that involves computers because not all the kids in the local high school have computers at home. They do research for reports only from books in the library.

Then it occurred to me that they don’t read. They can read, they just don’t read.

“What was the last book you read?” I asked Zach.

He couldn’t remember. Then he remembered: “The Scarlet Letter, for school.”

“It sucked,” said Mitch.

I told the boys that entrepreneurs read. They have to read. The problem is that if you don’t read you don’t know where to start reading. I decided we’d have to start with reading about sex, to keep them interested. I gave them Dennis Cooper. They liked it. After a while I slipped in articles about entrepreneurship.

Much more at the link.

2. Not too surprising that the Dark Tower movie/tv series is starting to look DOA.

3. Beautiful pictures from Disney's maiden cruise to Alaska. And speaking of Disney, you can win passes to see the new Star Tours.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Another great storytelling lecture by Jim Shooter, utilizing a Fantastic Four story drawn by Jack Kirby.

2. The secret to Pixar's success? "Pixar seems to have realized that if you can get the dad to come to the movie and love the movie, the whole family will come. Maybe more than once. And they'll probably buy the DVD and the video game, too."

3. Gawker calls Jesse James "a voltron composed of every bad ex-boyfriend in the world."

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. "In honor of the new crime thriller video game L.A. Noire coming to Playstation®3 and Xbox360® on May 17, 2011, the Los Angeles Times and Rockstar Games present this special archive edition Crime Map detailing just a few of the fascinating and frightening crimes that made 1947 such a landmark year for LAPD detectives." Via.

2. From a longer article about design school, advice I wish I had when I was still in school:

Ask anybody that went to school what they thought of it, and you will get the same response. “It was ok, not great. But this one teacher changed made it all worth while.” It’s exactly that one or two teachers that you connect with that make the school experience “worth it”. When you find your mentor, go out of your way to take more classes with them. Ask them for guidance and have them critique your work HARD. Their advice will be more than worth the tuition.

3. Plastic Army Men with PTSD and various injuries. (Some might find these offensive.) Via these sites.

*Previously: Killzone Army Men.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Sounds like Reddit's screenwriting forum is a great place to learn and get critiqued.

2. Frank Frazetta was apparently a cover model for books in The Man From S.T.U.D. series, which you can find at eBay. (Specific titles include, "Rape is a No-No," and "The Solid Gold Screw.") Via.

3. An interesting dilemma -- what's more important: Does Obama honor his pre-election pledge and acknowledge the Armenian genocide? Or does he renege so that he can avoid infuriating Turkey and rely on Turkey's help in preventing current killings?

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Calvin and Hobbes by Francesco Francavilla.

2. Penelope Trunk on how to turn your child into an entrepreneur.

3. "Wrightwood woman who drugged, painted horses as part of sales scam sentenced."

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. If you missed it, I announced a new art contest, and the prize is four t-shirts from Last Exit to Nowhere.

2. Amanda Hocking, the author who got a lot of attention last week for making good money selling ebooks of her novels talks about the years of work that have led to her success. Via.

3. Dustin Harbin has been posting one great (cheap) commission after another.

4. Another difficult contest with a great prize from Mike Allred.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Kotaku on the 3DS: "six days in, and I've already ditched the 3D. I loathe it, and it's a feature I can do without." By comparison, Destructoid doesn't report negative side effects, but does say, "Games look just as good when the 3D is all the way off, mind you." But by all means buy one at eBay.

2. Tips for laid of writers/reporters.

3. If you missed the announcement, art from the Super Punch Tarot is now on sale at Bear and Bird Gallery. Enter the coupon code "spFREESHIP" at checkout for free U.S. shipping on all purchases through midnight on March 19, 2011. There's a reduced shipping rate available for international users too, but you'll have to email the gallery. (Sorry everybody, there's no printed decks available, and only some of the art from the deck is available for purchase.)

4. The BBTS has plush Angry Birds and a 2012 Giger calendar.

READ MORE - Link roundup

1. Penelope Trunk on getting married:

You will attract who you deserve. If you don’t like who you are getting, change yourself. If you can’t change yourself, get a reality check.

2. The Dalai Lama:

In general I think that anger is a sign of weakness and tolerance a sign of strength.

3. Brilliant: Dim your alarm clock's display by taping a binder divider over it.

READ MORE - Link roundup