Greetings, friends, strangers and heads of state: in this post, I present to you the five most interesting things I have discovered recently. Why bother telling you about them? Because I think you’ll be interested in them, that’s why. Please, enjoy and interact. Take your time, and if you’re feeling friendly, leave a comment below.

1. Walk Score: How walkable is your neighbourhood?

Have you ever stared outside your kitchen window and thought, “Man, I should get outside more,” and then continued to stay seated and not do a damn thing about it? Well, it’s probably because your neighbourhood sucks for going on walks. Check your neighbourhood’s Walk Score - it’s a site that uses the magic of Google to scan your neighbourhood for coffee shops, restaurants, walking routes and parks, and gives you rating that tells you how good (or bad) your ‘hood is for taking a stroll.

Our current location in Airdrie gets a 6 out of 100. Yikes.
Our new neighbourhood in Burnaby gets a 57 out of 100. Sweet.

What’s yours? No need to divulge your home address to the public, but give it a spin and post your result in the comments below. (Note: there will likely be a javascript error that pops up. Just pretend it’s a message that says “Your calculation is complete!”)

2. Detroit without groceries, war without tears

A few months ago, I reported on the death of Detroit: enormous numbers of Detroit’s inhabitants are leaving the city abandoned, desolate and dirt cheap. Now, it seems grocery store chains are pulling out too, leaving the dying city a little closer to the grave.

3. What do you call that glow-in-the-dark insect?

Here’s a surprisingly interesting survey on American dialects conducted by the University of Wisconsin. After polling over 10,000 Americans, the survey provides region-specific, map-plotted answers to questions like these ones:

• What do you call the insect that flies around in the summer and has a rear section that glows in the dark?
• How do you say the final consonant in “garage”?
• Which of these terms do you prefer for a sale of unwanted items on your porch, in your yard, etc.?
• What is “the City”?
• What word(s) do you use to address a group of two or more people?
• How do you pronounce caramel?

4. Find good, affordable art

I love Boundless. I haven’t bought anything off it yet, but my wife and I have spent hours browsing through the selections, imagining what each piece would look like in our house. It’s compelling and addictive, mostly because it’s so fun to use. So you’re looking to buy a piece of art, right? Use the sliders to indicate your price range. Click on a colour swatch to make sure it matches your house. Select the type of piece you want by clicking an icon. Drag the sizer-squares to decide on a minimum and maximum size. Add keywords, if you want, and then start browsing.

If you find a piece you like, post a link to it in the comments below so we can all see it.

5. Talking to robots

Meet Eliza. She’s a chatbot. That means you can talk to her, just like you’re using IM, and she’ll talk back, as if she understands. Only she doesn’t, because she’s a robot.

Originally designed in 1966, Eliza has been adapted for the web for all to interact with. She was initially conceived of as a type of automatic therapist. You input a statement, and she responds to it by rephrasing it in the form of a question. You’ll quickly discover that this type of conversation goes nowhere fast, and tends to end with the human participant feeling much more frustrated than before. Try it out, though, because it’s ridiculously fun. And if you’re feeling somewhat irreverent, I highly recommend trying out iGod, another chatbot– this one offers “repenting made easy.” Yes, you can now chat with God (or at least a reasonable facsimile).