And More Random Links

Michael Palin for President: Pick the right Palin!

Hurricanes, as seen from orbit: They're deceptively pretty.

Sarah Jane Adventures Series 2 Cinema Trailer: I'm definitely looking forward to this, although I'm a little bummed out by the fact that apparently Maria is going to be leaving the show.

Ten things you don't know about the Earth: I did know several of these things, actually, but they're interesting.

World Names Profiler: Type in your surname, and it'll give you some interesting facts about it, including filling in a world map to show the places where that name is common. It correctly identified my own name as Irish in origin, but apparently said name occurs in the highest concentrations in the US and, for some reason, Poland. I then tried giving it my mother's (highly unusual) maiden name, and while it didn't have any information on the ethnicity -- it's unambiguously German, for the record -- and showed an almost blank map, it did spit out the first names of several of my relatives and some places associated with others. So I'm impressed by the quality of its database, but also a little bit creeped out.