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It's easy to get lost in a fog of Wikiaddiction, clicking from page to page in a frenzy of learning and searching and mining, but who has the time these days?

Here's a handy list of 25 Fascinating Wikipedia Articles. Things you've never heard of, things that will shock you, and things you might just find irrationally cool.

1. Joshua A. Norton
2. Numbers Station
3. Year Without A Summer
4. Halifax Explosion
5. Battle of Los Angeles
6. Otto Skorzeny
7. Pando
8. Project Orion
9. Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic
10. Art Intervention
11. Wow! Signal
12. Fan Death
13. War Plan Red
14. Old Man of the Lake
15. ETAOIN SHRDLU
16. Scoville Scale
17. Zone of Alienation
18. Elm Farm Ollie
19. Erdős–Bacon Number
20. Toynbee Tiles
21. Dark Side of the Rainbow
22. OpenCola
23. Demon Core
24. Cargo Cult
25. Boston Molasses Disaster

Of course, don't just settle for my picks. A veritable treasure awaits you at Wikipedia:Unusual Articles. And if you're in a charitable mood, throw them a couple bucks for being awesome.

-JD

Seriously, you guys. Have pity for the young generations that came before us. Video games couldn't have arrived soon enough, in my opinion.



-JD

So for a long time now I've been a big fan of the NPR radio show and podcast Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!, which is a brilliant little comedy/trivia/news/interview hour that breaks insane news stories, interviews famous people and deliberately quizzes them about things opposite to their area of expertise, and other wonderfulness. This is one of my all-time favorite segments, regarding a certain Microsoft personage's reaction to the greatest horror unleashed on the unsuspecting computing world.



Visuals not necessary to watch, since it's, you know, radio.

-JD

The video you didn't realize you were waiting for so badly, the Star Trek gag reel!



-JD

Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be
via The Onion

-JD

-JD

Terrible news for the music world and especially my fellow Children of the Eighties.

The group a-Ha is breaking up after 25 years. You may remember their first little ditty, but what have they been up to lately?



-JD

It really feels weird getting into a new fandom, and doubly weird (for me, at least) getting into one that's still going on. I'm just surprised I hadn't started watching Mad Men earlier, as I've been living in the past basically since I was born, but along with the incredibly well-researched and presented "world" they build whirling around an advertising firm in 1960 Manhattan comes interesting characters and a gripping if deliberate plot.

One thing, though. It makes me really want to start smoking.

-JD

Wow. This commercial (yes, commercial) is absolutely stunning. What if James Dean had lived?

-JD

I wouldn't have imagined that George Lucas actually made a remake...



-JD

An Xbox may one day save your life. And you thought it was just a noisy space heater!

-JD

Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, a man who saved a billion human lives, died yesterday. If you've never heard of him, you should now.

-JD

You Are "Good Day Sunshine"

You are optimistic, cheery, and open hearted. You believe every day is a new start. You could have the worst night of your life, and you'd still wake up with a smile on your face. You are able to appreciate life's sweetest moments, and time often stands still for you. You are a truly joyful person. Your life is full of life, laughter, and sunshine.

-JD

Holy frig's crap. The Mannahatta Project is an interactive, graphical map of Manhattan Island, as it appeared in 1609, before European colonization. The slab of land that is now the foundation for a vertical, artificial environment, lush and green and primeval once again. The picture above? Times Square.

-JD

Now while you or I may not have any trouble navigating in our three-dimensional world (unless we've imbibed several powerful beverages and are confined to moving two-dimensionally), it may be more than a little difficult to understand the fourth dimension and beyond, since we have no control over them. Or do we? This really nifty little video helps us understand all the way up to the tenth dimension, where literally everything possible is contained.



-JD

Let your friends know what an incredible smell you've discovered with these fantastic Star Wars trash compactor bookends!



From the same awesome people who brought you the great but now sadly discontinued Mos Eisley bookends.




-JD

Many of us probably read Choose Your Own Adventure books, and more often then not suffered quick, unfortunate fates due to our choices. Was it a fair show or did we really have to tiptoe not to end up eaten by the dragon? The answer is...the deck was stacked from the start, thanks to a data-cruncher to decided to map the possibilities.



Full size PDF chart here.

-JD

If any of you might consider yourself that breed of geek known as a Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan, it will behoove you to visit Woot.com now. No, right now. NOW.

UPDATE: Sorry guys, they sold out only about six hours or so after I posted this.

-JD

Rice pudding is a good thing.

Rice pudding with plumped, warm raisins is a better thing.

And rice pudding with plumped raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and cream whipped in...is a marvelous thing.

-JD

For those of us who have fond, fond memories of sitting cross-legged in front of a gray and black box with a square-edged controller in our hands, trying to find the entrance to Level 7 (under the lake) or tapping in the Konami Code (up up down down left right left right B A), the Internet is here to indulge our pursuit of happiness yet again. VirtualNES has a huge selection of original NES games, ROM hacks and homebrews, all playable for free in your browser. Now, where's my 17-year-old hand-drawn map for Back to the Future Part II...



-JD