Of my arsenal of unique skills, I covet my ability to name things. To be more specific, I like naming systems, or at least groups of things. I take great pain in some of the more unfortunately named things in my consumer history.

I owned and operated a website for the Mitsubishi Montero Sport while owning one. It was difficult to get the message across that the Montero Sport was not a Montero, nor a smaller or related version. A few years later, when I was actively looking for a Montero, a prospective seller drove his truck 60 miles for me to see it, only for me to then discover what was advertised and discussed as being a Montero, was actually a Montero Sport. Frustrating.

Among my favorite bands is another example of bad naming strategy: The The. What was previously ironic and rebellious (The Smiths?), is now virtually impossible to google (is this a real verb yet?).

I found this article today with maps that have had their place names researched and translated to English. The staggering blandness and often erroneous naming is a delight my sarcastic sensibilities. Granted, many places have been named after their unique geographical attributes (Western Steps, Land to the Right), but others…
The Thousand Islands, and the next group over, The Hundred Thousand Islands. Town of Happiness, next to Town of Submission. Palace on the coast, and Here is the Palace located a little further inland.

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-37310.html

Enjoy.

I once telneted to cdnow.

If that means anything to you, then you know I’ve been around the Internet for a while. I’ve done my share of web design and creative directing. Rarely do I see a site that leaps over everything else I see in my daily web life.

I’m a bit old-school in my web design preferences. I enjoy the art of a finely spun html page over a flashy interface. But there’s no reason a site shouldn’t be able to pull out all the stops. Websites for musical artists have this freedom. And when someone with the right style and skill pulls out all the stops?

http://www.jamesmorrisonmusic.com/site.html

This site loaded really fast. And the interface is beautiful.

The 2006 Automotive Enthusiast Toydrive finishes at $19,560; my.IS has a great showing in second place with $3,200 in contributions. Methinks that’s mighty damn impressive for a bunch of Internet car guys (and gals).

Now we just have to figure out where our money is going before this Sunday!

Check out this fantastic article about decoding facial expressions I came across the other day. If you take nothing else from it, know that real smiles are involuntary and use entirely different muscles than the smile you contort your face into when a photographer says “Cheese”. But the article goes into so much more - I found it a fascinating read.