Lunchtime Diversions for Friday, June 22

Welcome! This is a blog to keep you occupied for five minutes at lunchtime, when you feel as though it's safe to engage in non-work-related internet usage. No sports; no politics. Just stuff you might find interesting - unless you have the same set of bookmarks as I do, in which case we should have lunch some time.

Celebrity news of the day will be in short supply, because I hate celebrity news. It's either fluffy tripe - see what Katie Holmes wore when she took her adorable daughter to the playground, after alerting 3 hand-selected photographers! - or mean cheap snark about stupid pretty people doing pretty stupid things. Yesterday we had Alex Baldwin with a sheet over his head, which was pretty good; you had to trust it was Baldwin under the fabric, and not a body double. But he hasn't punched anyone today or tweeted something obnoxious, so forget him -

-- hold on, THIS JUST IN:

As soon as I find out what language this is, I'll pass it on to copy desk so they can remake page one.

Things you wish they had not told you: Starbucks will no longer sell pulverized insects.

Dang. It's like the switch away from cane sugar. Just won't be as good.

Movie news:Nevermind "Brave" - there's a "Monsters Inc" prequel trailer:

Then there's this.

FIRST LOOK: 'Spongebob' Stop-Motion Special, 'It's A SpongeBob Christmas!'

They're made of felt. Like old Rankin-Bass stuff. Homage! But they're underwater. So the felt shouldn't look dry. If you're thinking . . . well, how do they make fire underwater? you're not the first.

Tech news: you probably know about Microsoft's Surface tablet-ultra whatever; Engadget seemed to like it, even if the "hands on" experience did not include having actual hands on the keyboard. The unveiling was not without glitches, though; you have to feel bad for this guy. Quick! Get another one that hasn't frozen up!

Anyway: I came across another Microsoft thing that probably cost $250 million to develop, and will get yanked with little fanfare in a year or two: Tag. It's a site for making QR codes. The blog includes posts like "QR code art inspired by Flesh-Eating Plants," which might not be the traffic-magnet they want it to be - but then, some people just hate QR codes. I like them. They're ugly, but they can be useful. Point, click, and off you go; beats typing in an URL. But sometimes . . . .well.

That's right! The new iPhone will destroy all your accessories - possibly using time-distortion fields. Rendered useless! Just by existing! So don't buy the new iPhone. It's that easy. If you need step-by-step instructions, here you go:

1. When approaching the Apple Store, note which direction will take you away from the Apple Store

2. Take that direction

Repeat when necessary, and you will avoid the destruction of all things that work just fine now.

The piece includes this photo, with a terrifying caption. "Useless: The $850 Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8 is designed to work with the current iPhone's design."

Two miscellaneous links:

1. Stare at this for a while.

2. And . . . Tiny food. No, wait, that's not how it's done. Stunning, awesome pictures of tiny food. Because everything has to be stunning, unless it's Iconic. Although you could have a stunning photo of something iconic. Anyway, tiny food. If I had the time, I'd create gargantuan pennies, two yards across, then put them next to common every day objects and make people think I'd really achieved new heights in artistic miniaturization.

Finally, the local lore. We're getting a new office building downtown, the first in ten years.

Eh. It's nice enough, but its style and size wouldn't be out of place in a suburban office park. There's an ancient parking ramp on the site now, and when it's demolished, that means we will lose charming urban sights like this, the Corridor of Muggery: