A collection of things I’ve noticed or bookmarked; some new, some dated.

My faith restored. According to a recent Harris poll, the top five most prestigious jobs are firefighter, doctor, nurse, scientist and teacher. Farmers came in 9th. Actors, stockbrokers, business executives and real estate agents ranked last.

Endless hours of family fun can be had perusing the archives of accident photos at the US Naval Safety Site. I know that nearly all of my readers -in a mad dash- have already clicked through but for the two of you who are left, most of the photos are very funny -very educational- and sadly, some are tragic. Important workplace safety reminders too; I wonder what poka yokes could be devised for some of these? You won’t find a better argument for 5S than this.

Coroflot is a design related free networking service where artists and designers of all kinds can post a portfolio and work samples. A devil of a time waster is their real-time feed of site activity. The latter is evil, absolutely evil.

Industries other than apparel are becoming increasingly affected by the costs of obesity. Now it’s the makers of medical devices and equipment like MRIs. So how come the BBW contingent isn’t going after them with the same vociferousness they go after us (you should see my hate mail)? Why are consumer goods of relative insignificance held to a higher standard than are critical goods? It doesn’t seem entirely fair.

Fashion Fantasy League is another time waster. It’s like fantasy football but you construct your own team of fashion designers and celebrities. Collect points when your team members are mentioned in WWD, featured on magazine covers or photographed on the Red Carpet. The season opened May 1st but you can bookmark it for next season.

What do you think of the recent trend in extra tight denims? The first thing that comes to mind when I hear about tight denims is yet another of my pet peeves, namely the makers of narrow legged pants never get the size of the ankle opening right. It’s always too small. The smaller a size gets, the more those proportions are skewed and believe me, your ankle doesn’t get smaller in even proportions to your hip. That’s why it’s important for manufacturers to select the measures of their median size with care and monitor grade rules with actual product testing. It’s ridiculous that the pant will fit, only you can’t get your foot through the opening when you’re trying to take them off.

More start up lessons from Paul Graham.

Speaking of business, the Working Knowledge newsletter from Harvard Business School says that low prices don’t always equal more customers. I’ve always agreed that cutting prices isn’t necessarily a good idea. Still, the article makes no mention of permanent price reductions based on attained internal efficiencies.

I’d meant to tell you about Bookins. It’s an internet based book swapping service. Other than postage, it’s free. List the books you want to give away and set up your wish list for books you want. Pretty neat. I’ve been pleased with the service.

Speaking of free swaps, I’ve told you about Freecycle before. It’s like ebay but free. Join your local chapter’s email list to post the stuff you want to get rid of, typically things that are still good but you don’t want to go through the bother of selling. You can specify donations to not for profits only if you prefer. Some 6th graders in Texas managed to get some fabric and supplies they needed to make personalized pillow cases for kids with cancer.

There’s another swap service called Swap Thing. I haven’t tried it myself.

A tough tough quiz (scroll down) from Kevin Kelly on your knowledge of your local environment. If you can answer 10 of the 30 questions without cheating, tell us all about it. You’ll get a gold star.

See the DeathClock if you want to know when you’ll check out. Pessimists are forewarned; the Deathclock says “I’m sorry, but your time has expired! Have a nice day”

If you enjoy good writing (and animals), do read this lovely essay of a lonely rose. If you liked that, here’s another. You’ll thank me. Really.