Another stupid-busy freelance day, but enjoy this really well-crafted Modest Mouse video crafted by a group of fans for a contest. [via Wooster Collective] (Thanks, Matt!)

All times Eastern.
• 6PM, Science Channel – Extreme Engineering: Venice Flood Gates. Venetians attempt to keep the city from going underwater.
• 6PM, National Geographic – Tribal Secrets: The Wodaabe. Three important ceremonies of the Wodaabe tribe in Niger.
• 6PM, G4 – Ninja Warrior: Sasuke 6: Part 1
• 6PM, History Channel – Mail Call: [...]

Jim T. writes:
I’m going to the optometrist on Friday and am in the search for a new pair of glasses (as well as getting contacts again). I never really looked at glasses as a fashion accessory as much as a necessity because I am blind as a bat and have been since I was five, [...]

All times eastern.
• 6PM, G4 – Ninja Warrior: Sasuke 5: Part 2
• 6PM, Science Channel – What If: The Oil Runs Out: The days of conventional oil surpluses are coming to an end.
• 6PM, Discovery Health – Critical Incident: 48 Hours of Violence. Road-rage victims; victims of shooting.
• 6PM, National Geographic – Amazing [...]

Roller-skating used to be a big deal. In the ’80s, my small town had its own rink with a competitive speed skating team. It wasn’t something weird, either. People were actually proud when their kids did well.
When the roller-skating craze started in the late ’70s, Nike thought it could get on the fun train by [...]

Darren Barefoot has written this “Geek’s No-Fuss Guide to Better Dressing, which I think is fair to call a viable strategy for those unsure in personal taste but desirous of heightened levels of snazz. He suggests finding a couple of local stores with a nice selection and letting their able attendants help your choose your [...]

We went out to dinner with our neighbors the other day and ended up discussing movies; the topic turned to the upcoming Transformers flick. Our friends aren’t particularly snobby or anything, but they expressed disbelief that I could be so excited about such an obvious rock ‘em schlock ‘em robots adventure. Susie reminded me that [...]

From the Organic Consumers Organization:
Despite receiving more than ten thousand comments from consumers and family farmers opposing various aspects of a late May 2007 proposal, the USDA has approved a rule that will allow 38 new non-organic ingredients to be allowed in products bearing the “USDA Organic” seal.
The USDA’s passage of this proposal has resulted [...]

All times Eastern.
• 6PM, Science Channel – Driven to Invent: The Electricity War. Electrical pioneers Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse engage in a bitter rivalry.
• 6PM, Discovery Times – Real Gangs of New York: Corrupt politics and brutal gang wars plague early 19th-century New York City.
• 6PM, History Channel – Man, Moment, Machine: [...]

I am slightly disappointed by Grant Stoddard’s piece in New York detailing his survival adventure on Ruffle Bar island in Brooklyn’s Jamaica Bay. Turns out a couple of books and a pair of Vans don’t make the best survival gear, especially when a tropical depression comes bearing down. But I remain captivated by the idea [...]

What is it about old men beating up young guys that is so charming? Violence, on the whole, is to be avoided at all costs, but when a senior citizen puts five in the kisser of some young punk, it loses all its frightening overtones.
Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery [...]

All times Eastern.
• 6PM, History Channel – Modern Marvels: The Supermarket. Safeway’s distribution center; supermarket pioneers and the chains they created.
• 6PM, Discovery HD – Beyond All Limits: Capsized Barge and Bomb Disposal. A salvage team prepares to right a capsized logging barge; bomb disposal teams clean up an island.
• 6PM, Science Channel [...]