Links

1.  Ranking rich countries' commitment to the developing world:

I suppose this means most countries just aren't "earning" our help.

2.  Boy Scout earns all 121 possible merit badges.  You only need 21 to make eagle scout.  Here's a list of the 121 current merit badges, here's a list of those that have been discontinued since 1911.  If nothing else it's a good record of the rise of the urban, technology dominated culture of modern America and the decline of the agrarian. 

3.  Best of 2008: Blogs.  One of my favorite newly discovered blogs this year has been Kim Wolhuter's video/photography blog, Wildcast.  Wolhuter is a wildlife filmmaker (with quite a pedigree as both his father and grandfather were the head ranger at Kruger) operating along the Zimbabwe/South Africa border and he updates his blog with amazing frequency with video and photography of incredible quality.  It's a can't miss for wildlife geeks and today's post is a good example. 

4.  When a phillips is not a phillips, an exhaustive guide.

5.  Penguin's favorite book designs of 2008 and Robot 6's 25 best comic book covers. 

Best of 2008: Blog Post Titles

A late entry, but a clear winner:

Honey Bees On Cocaine Dance More, Changing Ideas About The Insect Brain.

Even better, the whole thing is interesting, not just the title.

Best of 2008: Seasons

Fall.

Best of 2008: Music

There weren't that many albums that bowled me over this year, but here are two worth a look.

I've mentioned Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago before and I'm still listening to it.  A lot.  Here's the band on Letterman a few days ago:

The other album worth mentioning is Human Highway's Moody Motorcycle.  

Honorable mention:  Mike Relm's Spectacle. and Jayber Crow's Two Short Stories.

PS - Two to look for in early January:  Andrew Bird's Noble Beast and Bon Iver's EP Blood Bank.