Actor Glenn Ford died yesterday. I won't claim to have seen a large number of his films, but I have said for years that he performed one of the best dying scenes in cinema. It occurs in Superman: The Movie, in which he played Jonathan Kent (Superman's human foster father). I won't attempt to describe what, on paper, is a simple moment. I'll just say that he captured a lifetime's complexity in a few seconds.

It was like web quicksand: I got sucked into YouTube for a half a day recently.

This was fascinating. There's a link to the complete film.
Me

If you've never heard a theremin, this is a mediocre, yet funny performance.
Don't Worry Be Happy

This kid is a fine juggler, his sister is cute, and it's absurd that he is in better physical condition than I'll ever be.
Vova juggling

Somehow at this point I got transferred to Metacafe, which I liked better. Here is some fun table tennis.
Master Ping-Pong

What fun!!!
Bottled Music

And now my favorite stuff, and what really made this surfing expedition worthwhile. I love stage magic. In unethical hands, stage magic is presented as miraculous and becomes a lie to make money. A true magician says "I achieved this through hard work and physical means. I'm fooling you because you're human." Magic always increases my wonder at the world.

Wow!
Unique card trick

Penn and Teller literally showing how it's done. So smooth I still couldn't follow it.
Penn and Teller

The amazing Cyril. First, some lovely coin work.
Cyril Coin

A famous trick, so showmanship is a must.
Cyril Card on Glass

Lovely. No knowledge of Chinese required.
Cyril Words on Cards

Simply beautiful. I love watching people's reactions. I'd flip out, too.
Cyril Street Magic

You won't believe it
Three Card Monty

Breathtaking
La dame inquiete
Palming

Basically a magician's commercial.
Bryan Tudor

This card transfer is incredibly fast, as demonstrated with the final pass.
Card to Top

And, finally, not slight of hand but very cool.
Tom Noddy Bubbles

My Dell battery is not among those being recalled, so it will not--as one article phrased it--erupt into flames.

I'm grateful, of course, but have found other items that will, under the right conditions, put an eye out.

This is a picture of how my stove would have looked before the incident. What's important is that I turned on the wrong burner. The plate is heating up instead of the pan.

Once I realized my mistake, I turned off the burner and touched the plate. It was only warm, not hot. I picked it up and then--and I want to emphasize this--I placed it on the burner to the right. Not dropped. Not smacked.

As soon as the plate touched the stove, it exploded. Let me emphasize that, too. Not shattered. Not broke. Erupted. The following pictures show the shards that landed seven feet away. Moral of this story? Always eat out.