crazy artist | Dalton Ghetti

Dalton Ghetti is a sculptor, using the lead in a pencil as his medium. There's a great write-up over at Design Swan.

Keep on keepin' on | The Big Round-up

Everybody gets into their own head sometimes, and it can either be enlightening or disheartening. There are plenty of tidbits out there for personal development, for making your life (hopefully) better, for making you (hopefully) a better person.

Let's just start on creativity... there was an article in Scientific American about increasing creativity through the imposition of psychological distance, which Jason Kottke describes well.  It reminds me of an interesting post about "10 keys to leading creative people".

As a book-type person... or... a person who sometimes reads... here's a good one I found from Pickthebrain with 5 ways to improve reading comprehension.

I've always been interested in personality tests, and ran across this note in organization monkey: it's an online personality type tester, called mypersonality.info.

Speaking of organizing, here a cool design idea, that is also frugal: find vintage calendars and re-use them. As a result of the rotation of months and days in a calendar year, old (sorry, "vintage") calendars you find at a garage sale can substitute for that brand-new one you're going to buy at Oscar's in October for $25. [lifehacker]

To some random thoughts: An important factor for one's development is the decision-making process, and Scott Adams over at Dilbert.Com posted a few thoughts on how he makes decisions with incomplete knowledge.  The Atlantic had an article about the Science of Success.
I love lists in sites. Here's something from freestyle minds.
30 habits that will change your life.
And from the "clutter control freak blog", StacksandStacks.com -- 5 ways to slim-line your wardrobe.

Dumb Little Man puts together some fantastic things to think about. And a thing for the number 7. Like these:
7 Pieces of Wisdom from Socrates.
Choose to Spend Time on High Impact Activities.
A 360-degree approach to improving self-confidence.
7 Must-Read Life Lessons from Abraham Lincoln.
The Bare Essentials: Simplifying your life.
How to discover your productivity patterns.
Do you track your achievements?
Are you your own worst (financial) enemy?
10 amazing life lessons you can learn from Albert Einstein.
Amazing life lessons you can learn from Albert Einstein, part deux.
7 amazing lessons from 7 distinguished billionaires.
The 7 most inspirational quotes ever.
7 profound lessons from 7 of our historical leaders.
The golden rule of great leadership.

Zen Habits is another fantastic source of thoughtful items. Like these:
11 Creative Ways to Avoid Becoming a Workaholic.
The best goal is no goal.
12 classic zen habit posts to read.
Letting go of attachments, from A to Zen.

I don't know if Zen Family Habits is a related sister-site, but...

43 simple ways to simplify your life.

Get Rich Slowly is a good spot for financial tips. Like these:
Learning to budget with the JARS system.

And, of course, Lifehacker has a skill for finding interesting personal tips and diluting them into a synopsis of what you'll find at another article of further depth.

Assess your hobbies to free up time.
Make a possibilities calendar to take advantage of unexpected free time.
Use the universal edibility test to find food in a survival situation.
Detect a good liar by knowing their most effective tactics.
Identify less obvious signs you need to get organized.
Banish the miscellaneous category when you're organizing.
Set up a praise folder to track successes.
How to avoid choking under pressure.
The evolutionary reason for depression.
Set up a home recycling station you'll actually use.
Diagnose your personal finances with eight questions.
A top-to-bottom guide to saving money around your house.

And when it's all over: The seven steps to sweet slumber, from the folks at Good. And something to wonder about while you fall into blissful slumber: are you an asker or a guesser?

citiZEN | Stop Drinking Bottled Water

Via: Term Life Insurance

brilliant timewaste | You Have To Burn The Rope

The game You Have To Burn The Rope, while cute, is nothing super-special... but listen to the music! And be sure to play it right through to the end (it's short)!

Thanks haha.nu.

crazy musician | Prince's solo for Guitar Gently Weeps performance

pong'd | Crush the Castle

Crush the Castle 2 is a fantastic flash game, totally addictive, from Armour Games.

Evil Genius | How to trick people into thinking you're good looking

interlude | Jewel does Karaoke as "Karen"

Undercover Karaoke with Jewel from Jewel

useless mental tidbits | APM: Actions Per Minute, as demonstrated by Korean gamers

Crazy Musician | Brandon Flowers "Crossfire"

The lead singer for The Killers, Brandon Flowers has a solo album, called Flamingo, being released in September. This video, also starring Charlize Theron, is a funny (and cool) concept.



And there's a better story over at Stereogum.