Distractionfest 2007: first day

I have been -- as we Americans might say -- taken to the woodshed by my friend James, who berated me for not giving him sufficient distraction from his real work last week.

Well, farbeit from me to let a friend down -- or at least to do so two weeks in a row.

So I hereby declare this Distractionfest 2007, the first annual weeklong webfest in which bloggers everywhere (starting with me) will post the most amusing, annoying, bizarre, or absurd findings that they have gleaned from the web. If you choose to participate, please leave a comment below so I (and, more importantly, a procrastinating James) can see what you have found.

My first day's contributions consist entirely of links found at the faculty page of Abraham Stone, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

First, there is a mirror site of walruses.com. If you love walruses -- or know someone who does -- you can't resist this site. There is no explanation for the tragic heartbreak of why the original walruses.com is no longer with us.

Next up: Squirrel fishing. No, this is not a site about squirrels going fishing (although how cool would that be?); it is about fishing for squirrels. In a very reasonable attempt to enhance rodent perfomance evaluations, these engineers have devised a method known as squirrel fishing. You wonder about engineers who have such time as to think about how to exploit squirrels: what sort of a fellowship do they have (and where can I sign up?). Oh, I know what you're thinking: what about a theologian who can blog about squirrel exploitation? Well, I'll tell you: I don't have a fellowship. This site also supports G.K. Chesterton's dictum that it is not poets that go mad, but mathematicians -- or, in this case, applied mathematicians.

And finally, pictures of philosopher Rudolf Carnap's (pictured left) mother and father.

And James: You're welcome.